Pura Fé

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Pura Fé is a Native American musician, best known for founding the renowned women's trio, Ulali and for creating her own style and genre that blends traditional native music and contemporary music. The musician Taj Mahal, once described Pura Fé: "With her voice soaring, footstomping, this beautiful songbird transcends time and brings the message of our Ancestors who have sewn this beautiful seed, that makes powerful music." She was born in New York City and raised by her mother, Nanice Monk Lund, whose parents are Tuscarora Indian, Black and Scott-Irish from North Carolina. Her mother was a classically trained opera singer who toured with Duke Ellington and his Sacred Concert Series. Her father Juan Antonio Crescioni-Collazo was from Puerto Rico, of Taino Indian, Spanish and Corsican ancestry. He named her Pura Fé which translates as "Pure Faith" in Spanish.

As an adolescent, Pura Fé studied and performed with the American Ballet Theatre company and performed in several Broadway musicals, including " The Me Nobody Knows," "Ari," and "Via Galactica." She also sang with the Mercer Ellington Orchestra and briefly trained at Martha Graham school. She attended Lincoln Square Academy. In the late '70s, she worked as a waitress at the famous club Max's Kansas City in New York.

[edit] Career

In 1994, she was nominated for a Juno Award for Best Global Recording for "Kanatan Aski & Pura Fé." She released the popular CD, "Mahk Jchi" with Ulali the same year on Corn, Beans and Squash Music and she appeared with Ulali on Robbie Robertson’s ‘Red Road Ensemble.' In 1995, she released her first solo album, the R n B inspired, "Caution to the Wind," on Shanachie Records. She also appeared on Jay Leno’s ‘The Tonight Show’ with Ulali and Robbie Robertson.

She has appeared on many recordings, including the Indigo Girls, "Shaming of the Sun," Miramax’s ‘Smoke Signals’ soundtrack, the Turner Documentary series ‘The Native Americans’, ‘1 GIANT LEAP’ DVD/CD, ‘The World Festival of Sacred Music’ concert/DVD for the Dalai Lama.

Pura Fe moved to North Carolina in the 90's to be closer to her Tuscarora roots. She volunteered to teach Native American youth in the rural Indian communities of Robeson County, North Carolina. She won the Community Spirit Award from the First Peoples Fund of the Tides Foundation, for her volunteered contributions.

In Indian Country, Pura Fe is a Smoke Dance Champion.

After hearing guitarist Kelly Joe Phelps perform, Pura Fe was inspired to pick up the guitar. She bought an acoustic lap steel slide guitar and after only six months of learning, she recorded her 2nd solo album, "Follow Your Heart's Desire," released on the Music Maker label. The album examined the influence of Indigenous music on Blues music.

Pura Fe' won a NAMMY (Native American Music Award) for Best Female Artist in 2006. She also won a L'Académie Charles Cros Award (France) for Best World Album.

In 2007, she released her third album, "Hold The Rain," on DixieFrog records with Seattle-based guitarist, Danny Godinez. The album includes an upbeat cover of the song "Summertime."