Married Seth Cordova in August 2003.
Seth & I with our 4 legged children.
Nico, Issi, Chonteh, Carrieboo, Etta, Seth, & Muddy CORDOVA.
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Who is Nico Wind Cordova?
Nico comes from mixed blood lineage.
On her mother's side there is English, Scottish, and French with a little bit of East coast Native American. On her Father's side she is Assiniboine Nakota/Nakoda/Ojibwe Anishinaabe and Oglala Lakota with some Canadian French. The Assiniboine people are known as “the people who cook with stones" and are woodland peoples, a nomadic Nakotah tribe that traveled with their dogs and horses throughout the northern plains region and up into Canada. The Ojibwe, also more commonly known as Chippewa in the United States, are located in south eastern Canada and the Great Lakes region and places in Montana. There is a lot of French influence in both tribes of Nico's lineage. Nico is connected to the Assiniboine and the Canadian Algonquin band of the Ojibwe tribes by blood as well as the Turtle Mountain and Little Shell bands of the Chippewa tribes by marriage. She is the adopted daughter of the late Charles Fast Horse who was a Horse Nation Oglala Lakota Medicine Man and renowned artist from the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Pine Ridge Reservation. All of these tribes migrated with the animals for the season changes and had a very close relationship with the natural world that we call OUR MOTHER. Nico was raised primarily by her mother Anne E Crenshaw Morin and Aunt Lucy C Crenshaw Imano in Portland, Oregon. They say "It takes a village to raise a child" and Nico had a very eclectic and diverse village to educate and influence the person that she has become today. She went to several different schools as her young Mother moved around a lot trying to find her way, but mostly Nico attended M.L.C (Metropolitan Learning Center) through grade school and then went on to John (Quincy) Adams high school until her mother who was a Portland Public Schools English teacher, took a teaching job and moved to Hays, Montana. The move was partially intended to help Nico realize and find the part of her heritage missing because of her absent father. After she was enrolled, attended, and finished high school at Hays/Lodgepole school on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Hays Montana, Nico hit the road as a full blood musician. She has been a traveling professional musician and bandleader for over 45 years. Her experiences took her and her bands of up to 16 members throughout the United States and abroad. It wasn't until later on in life that Nico would learn the importance and value of her Native culture and heritage through Medicine man and spiritual leader Martin High Bear and her adopted father Charles Fast Horse. Charles took Nico by the hand to the graves of her ancestors who died defending their people. It was at Wounded Knee and Bear Butte that she found her connection to who and where she came from as an Indigenous Native American Woman. Some of the many facets of Nico's performing life include: band leader, lead singer, backup singer, and guitarist at nationally known nightclubs and venues around the United States, Hawaii and Canada, and opening for legendary artists such as: Ray Charles, BB King, The Coasters, Chaka Kahn, Queensryche, RAIL, Curtis Salgado, and Robert Cray, DK Stewart, just to name a few. Aside from the obvious accolades, Nico feels grateful and very blessed to have shared space and time with some of the most talented sung and unsung hero's on the planet. Nico has written music and lyrics for a number of songs, a few of which have won a local awards. She is a published song writer and music director for NPR syndicated Wisdom of the elders radio, Discovering our story TV, and several other video programs. Nico also was the award winner of the 2nd annual Portland Music Association Song Writers contest for her song Purely Sexual, a song about making it "cool and fun" to wear condoms while engaging in sex. Nico started her own record label, Arrow Records at age fifteen, eventually producing her own CD demo, "A Feather to Fly By." She brought her production expertise into her 2nd marriage with husband Ward Gene Wind Stroud and helped produce and market his Native Flute series CD recordings. Nico has performed for a number of organizations, benefits and events such as Wisdom of the Elders galas, Art Train with Portland Art Museum, Zonta International Auction, Native American chamber of commerce, Portland Metro's Camemah Community Children's Park opening. Portland's River Front Blues Festival and Rose Festivals and so many more. Nico has written monthly articles for Positively Entertainment and Dining newspaper. Nico owned and operated one of the only karaoke retail stores in Oregon (Nico's Karaoke Pony) for more than ten years and continues to operate it now from her home in Milwaukie OR. Nico married Seth Cordova in 2003 and together they bought their first home where they continue to thrive with their Australian Shepherd dogs who are to them called the "4 legged children". Nico's performances and presentations include all age groups and types of audiences. She has stories to share of her life's experiences on and off the road and the reservation. She feels honored to be called a song carrier. She continues to learn the songs of her relatives. Her songs come from old tapes or recordings of traditional family elders, and she was taught that dream songs are precious and sacred, that those songs are the genetic memories of your ancestors hidden in your heart to awaken at the right time. Many of her friends from different tribes have taught her their family songs, because "songs are meant to be shared". Nico has a beautiful memory from when she was living on the reservation and some of the other kids were giving her a hard time about being a ‘breed' (half breed) and she cried to her grandmother about how the attacks and insults were hurting her. Her grandmother (Gramma Margret) asked her, “Which half is Indian and which half is not?” Nico replied that she was all mixed up about the whole thing, to which her grandmother replied, “You're not a (breed) then, you're just all mixed up”. Nico laughed between the tears. Grandma then got really serious and said, “You are a horizon child my girl". Part of you lives in the great grandfather sky and part of you lives where the sky touches the earth. And because of that, my girl, you will never be anything that is not sacred and beautiful to the world, and especially to me, she said, "you will forever be my little indan girl". Grandma embraced her for a long moment with her wonderful, unconditional love. Nico will never forget her loving words. Nico is intent in honoring the spirituality and wisdom of her culture with her music and her connection with all living things, especially the animals. She believes in giving something back to the universe for the blessings and gifts she has received as a human being. She believes in the power of prayer and painting your own life how you want it to be. As an artist, song carrier, and animal advocate, Nico feels that our existence depends on the beauty we share and leave behind when our time here has come full circle. Nico Wind Cordova lives on the horizons and she will forever sing to and with the animal spirits especially the Horses and Wolves; Keeping her heart in harmony with the moon, stars, and all creation. |
