Khu.éex'

Khu.éex’ is an Indigenous band full of creative members, including storytellers, activists and artists, that bring this collective energy to the stage as one powerful unit. Our focus is raising awareness of social issues, stemming from the Native American struggle, that branch out to serious issues that effect all people. We are bringing a much-needed Indigenous perspective while keeping our tribal culture and endangered ancient languages alive through music, storytelling and art. 

We are members of the Tlingit, Haida and Blackfoot tribes. Some of us were raised in traditional villages with cultural knowledge and understanding of the protocols of the culture, while some of us were raised among the urban Indigenous community of the Pacific Northwest. No matter where we settle, we are keepers of cultural knowledge and language. 

The Khu.éex' Story 

Khu.éex’ began as a recording in 2013 after a chance meeting between Bernie Worrell and Preston Singletary. Together with Skerik and Stanton Moore, Gene Tagaban and Clarissa Rizal, we recorded under the direction of Randall Dunn. To date, Khu.éex’ has released a double album, “The Wilderness Within” and the triple LP “They Forgot They Survived”. In 2018, the triple LP “Héen” (which translates to “water” in the Tlingit language) was released. All albums were produced and released by the band independently. 

In 2016 the band experienced the passing of two key original members. Bernie Worrell, keyboardist and co-founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic (also, cofounder of Khu.éex’). Bernie left this Earth June 24, 2016. The music created with Khu.éex’ are Bernie’s final collaborative efforts. We also lost Clarissa Rizal (Tlingit) to cancer in December of 2016. She was a teacher of Chilkat weaving, mentor, artist, poet and singer. 

Losing two founding members of Khu.éex’ was devastating, but we were determined to rebuild the band and we found Edward Littlefield (Tlingit) a jazz drummer and composer who was also incorporating Tlingit melodies into his music. On Keyboards we developed a friendship with Tim Kennedy, a local Keyboard player, composer and improviser. On vocals is now Sondra Segundo (Haida) singer and composer.

The band explores Jazz and Funk/Rock with an improvisational style. The fusion of these styles with spoken word in English, Tlingit, Haida and Y’upic languages is unique. We are also striving to preserve these native languages though our music. This cross-fertilization results in a new sound. Performance art, using traditional masks and regalia accent the dynamic live performances.