Yellowknife (Dec 15/06) - This weekend, one of Yellowknife's musical treasures is coming home for the holidays.

Juno-nominated singer/songwriter Leela Gilday will perform this Sunday at the Tree of Peace in Yellowknife to officially release her long-awaited second CD, Sedze ("my heart" in Denewa/North Slavey).

Leela Gilday performs at CBC's True North concert in June. The well-travelled Yellowknife performer will officially release her second CD, Sedze, this Sunday at the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre. - NNSL file photo

The performance will be Gilday's first in Yellowknife since the CBC True North concert in June, and comes hot on the heels of CD releases in Toronto and Vancouver.

Speaking from her new home in east Vancouver ("I live in the 'hood!" she says with a laugh), Gilday says she's excited to give the CD the Northern send-off it deserves.

"It's awesome. Totally awesome," she says, with the sounds of breakfast clinking in the background. "It's a long-time coming and a lot of hard work, but I had a lot of help and I feel really good about it. It's my baby."

Sedze continues Gilday's tradition of heartfelt, soulful tunes, propelled by strong vocals and sharp acoustic arrangements. It features live staples such as Dene Love Song, One Drum and Shine On, songs she brought to the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre for live recordings of Vinyl Cafe and the True North concert this summer.

Backing her up is the core of her Vancouver-based band: Okalani Leblanc on backup vocals, James Forrest on bass, with Jason Burnstick (who contributed the song Myself to the new album) rounding out the quartet.

Far from amusing images of Gilday dragging southern musicians kicking and screaming into the North, she says the Yellowknife show was the band's idea.

"It was a lot to ask them to come up to Yellowknife," she explains. "But they kept saying 'Why aren't we doing [a CD release] in Yellowknife?'"

From there, things were left in the hands of Gilday's parents, who have been working fervently to set up the show at the Friendship Centre, she says.

"They've really gone in guns-a-blazing," she says. "My parents have been working really hard on this."

So she's on her way, so long as the North's usual transportation issues don't rear their ugly head.

"I really, really need that ferry to work," she says with a laugh.

Hear that? It's the sound of Yellowknifers across the city knocking on wood. Join in.

The CD release event starts at 4 p.m. this Sunday, Dec. 17, at the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre.