Ed Edmo (Portland) is a storyteller from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. As a boy growing up in Celilo Falls, an ancient Native American site along the Columbia River, he heard stories from his parents and grandparents. Edmo brings his rich repertoire alive for audiences near and far.
Bio
Edmo was born in Nevada; when he was a baby, his family moved to his father’s ancestral home of Celilo Village along the Columbia River. Edmo is enrolled in the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and also has Yakima and Nez Pierce ancestry. His grandparents taught him many tribal customs and traditions. At Celilo, he had the freedom to roam the countryside, discovering the amazing landscape. “The river was a welcomed playmate,” he recalls. In the evenings, his grandparents and parent told stories to keep the young ones entertained. Edmo has vivid memories of the sounds of crackling wood in the woodstove and of the howling wind that raged along the Gorge. At 16, he moved to Portland to attend high school. Later, as he remembered the stories he grew up with, he made the decision to make a career or carrying on the tradition of storytelling. Edmo is a master storyteller with Wisdom of the Elders. He preserves the storytelling tradition by sharing Native tales with children and adults alike. Most of his stories are of Coyote, the trickster who often outsmarts all other living beings; he also shares creation stories of the great Columbia River—how it was formed and why it sparkles. Edmo has also been a traditional sites tour guide, a consultant for the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, a poet, a short story writer, a recording artist, and a playwright. He received first place at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center for his acclaimed one-act play, “Grandma Choke Cherry.”
