MARQUETTE, Mich.—Singer/songwriters the Derrell Syria Project and Bobby Bullett will perform at the next Beaumier Coffee House Series event at Northern Michigan University. The concert will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, in the Peter White Lounge of the University Center. Admission is free, with donations encouraged.

Syria has had a 30-year presence on the Marquette music scene. As a co-founder of Conga Se Menne, he has helped define a unique Upper Peninsula sound that has gathered attention far beyond the U.P. borders. The Derrell Syria Project is a musical group that features a floating cast of quality musicians and varies in size depending on the performance venue. They travel throughout the Great Lakes states, entertaining audiences with their unique style of original music along with a large variety of re-arranged cover tunes.

Bullet—born Robert St. Germaine in 1942 on Wisconsin’s Lac du Flambeau Reservation—is celebrating more than 50 years in the music business as a writer/performer. He continues to draw from a life and career filled with uncertainty, joy, love and difficult decisions to create memorable lyrics and heartfelt music. Bullett reaches across generational lines to gently assault the consciousness about critical issues. His journey is the journey of a generation of Indian men born into tumultuous times seeking identity, fading traditions and language, the way to live with one foot in each cultural world and the strength to forge a new way still grounded in an old world of resourcefulness and honor.

The concert is part of the Upper Peninsula Folklife Festival, a series of cultural events featuring folk artists from throughout the Upper Peninsula and reflecting the traditions of the region.  It is sponsored by the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at NMU, which is dedicated to celebrating the history and culture of the Upper Peninsula. The festival is funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

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Prepared by Kristi Evans.