Aldo Nova (born Aldo Caporuscio November 13, 1956 Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist and producer, Nova gained fame with his self-titled debut album Aldo Nova in 1981, and its accompanying single "Fantasy", which climbed to #23 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[2]

Career[link]

Signing with Portrait Records, Nova released a self-produced album, Aldo Nova, in 1981. It had two singles: "Fantasy" and "Foolin' Yourself". "Fantasy" made him what some would call a one hit wonder.^[3] His next album, Subject...Aldo Nova had a minor hit with "Monkey on Your Back," but his solo career flagged and he became a player and songwriter for other bands. He worked with Jon Bon Jovi in both the early and late 1980s and produced some early Céline Dion albums. Nova co-wrote the hit song "A New Day Has Come" for Dion and has been featured playing guitar, synthesizer, and percussion on her records. He also wrote her Your Light and I Can't Fight The Feelin'. He helped write and produce parts of Chantal Condor's 1989 album, Chantal. In 1991, Nova sought the help of Bon Jovi to revive his solo career on his release Blood on the Bricks, but it still only managed to chart at number 124.

As a songwriter, Nova's recent hits include Clay Aiken's "This Is the Night" (co-written with Chris Braide and Gary Burr), which in the US was a number one hit and the best selling single of 2003.^[4]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Aldo Nova (1981) #8 US 2x Platinum^[5]
• Subject...Aldo Nova (1983) #56 US Gold
• Twitch (1985)
• Blood on the Bricks (1991) #124 US
• Nova's Dream (1997)

Compilations[link]

• Portrait of Aldo Nova (1991)
• The Best of Aldo Nova (2006)
• Under the Gun...A Portrait of Aldo Nova (2007)

Singles[link]

Songwriter/Producer[link]

See also[link]

	Music portal
	Rock music portal
	Canada portal

• Canadian rock
• List of Canadian musicians
• List of bands from Canada

References[link]

External links[link]

• Interview with Aldo Nova
• Second Interview with Aldo Nova
• Everything2 writeup

Yup'ik shaman exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy. Nushagak, Alaska, 1890s.^[1]

"Medicine man" or "medicine woman" are English terms used to describe traditional healers and spiritual leaders among Native American and other indigenous or aboriginal peoples. Anthropologists tend to prefer the term "shaman," a specific term for a spiritual mediator from the Tungusic peoples of Siberia.^[2]

The medicine man and woman in North America[link]

Role in native society[link]

The primary function of these "medicine elders" (who are not always male) is to secure the help of the spirit world, including the Great Spirit (Wakan Tanka in the language of the Lakota Sioux), for the benefit of the entire community.

Sometimes the help sought may be for the sake of healing disease, sometimes it may be for the sake of healing the psyche, sometimes the goal is to promote harmony between human groups or between humans & nature. So the term "medicine man/woman" is not entirely inappropriate, but it greatly oversimplifies and also skews the depiction of the people whose role in society complements that of the chief. These people are not the Native American equivalent of the Chinese "barefoot doctors", herbalists, nor of the emergency medical technicians who ride rescue vehicles.

To be recognized as the one who performs this function of bridging between the natural world and the spiritual world for the benefit of the community, an individual must be validated in his role by that community. Medicine men and women study through a medicine society or from a single teacher.

Cultural context[link]

An Ojibwa medicine man preparing an herbal remedy.

The term "medicine people" is commonly used in Native American communities, for example, when Arwen Nuttall (Cherokee) of the National Museum of the American Indian writes, "The knowledge possessed by medicine people is privileged, and it often remains in particular families."^[3]

Native Americans tend to be quite reluctant to discuss issues about medicine or medicine people with non-Indians. In some cultures, the people will not even discuss these matters with Indians from other tribes. In most tribes medicine elders are not expected to advertise or introduce themselves as such. As Nuttall writes, "An inquiry to a Native person about religious beliefs or ceremonies is often viewed with suspicion.^[3] One example of this was the Apache medicine cord or Izze-kloth, whose purpose and use by Apache medicine elders was a mystery to nineteenth century ethnologists because "the Apache look upon these cords as so sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle them or talk about them."^[4]

The 1954 version of Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, reflects the poorly grounded perceptions of the people whose use of the term effectively defined it for the people of that time: "a man supposed to have supernatural powers of curing disease and controlling spirits." In effect, such definitions were not explanations of what these "medicine people" were to their own communities, but instead reported on the consensus of socially and psychologically remote observers when they tried to categorize these individuals.^{[citation needed]} The term "medicine man/woman," like the term "shaman", has been criticized by Native Americans, as well as other specialists in the fields of religion and anthropology.

The term "medicine man/woman" was also frequently used by Europeans to refer to African traditional healers, also known as "witch doctors" or "fetish men/women".

See also[link]

References[link]

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