Ballad of Norval (split with Albert Morton)

Shingoose provided the soundtrack as composer and singer on the acclaimed documentary on the life of famous Canadian painter Norval Morriseau ‘The Paradox of Norval Morriseau” directed by Duke Redbird. Together, Shingoose and Duke Redbird penned the song ‘The Ballad of Norval‘.

"In this revealing study of Norval Morrisseau, filmed as he works among the lakes and woodlands of his ancestors, we see a remarkable Indigenous artist who emerged from a life of obscurity in the North American bush to become one of Canada's most renowned painters. Morrisseau the man is much like his paintings: vital and passionate, torn between his Ojibway heritage and the influences of the white man's world. Jack Pollock, the Toronto art gallery owner who discovered Morrisseau's paintings in the early 1960s, comments on what makes them so unique."

Shingoose: lead vocals, acoustic guitar, ojibway medicine rattle, background vocals
Danny Casavant: high string acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Graham Shaw: vocals, banjo, harmonica, acoustic guitar, acoustic piano, electric guitar, percussion, background vocals
Gary Stefaniuk: electric bass (tracks: A1 to A6)
Gordon Osland: drums, percussion, congas
Arthur Polson: percussion, string arrangements, electric violin, first violin
Stanley Label: concert bass (tracks: A2, A3)
Bruce Cockburn: acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Rennie Regehr: viola (tracks A2, A3, A5)
Michel Zaitzeff: violin (track A4)
Ray Chrunyk: violin (track A4)
Charles Dobias: second violin (tracks A2 to A5)
Clara Belkin: cello (tracks: A2, A3, A5)
Richard Turner: concert harp (tracks A2, A3)
Ilena Greenberg: backing vocals
Susan Lethbridge: backing vocals

Arranged by Shingoose and Graham Shaw
Produced by Markandrew Cardiff, assisted by Shirley McKay
Engineered by Andre LaRiviere and David Dobbs

Album design by Fifty Fingers and Paul Hodgson
Cover painting "My Grandson and the Birds" by Norval Morrisseau
Photography by Roy Martin
Photography insert by Howard Cramer, Jean Buchanan

Special thanks to: Norval Morrisseau, Patti Henderson, Gary Ratcliffe, Bruce Cockburn and True North Records, Graeme Card, Ed Shechtman and Sidewalk Sailor Music, Diz and Bird, Graham Shaw, Arthur Polson and Duke Redbird