STREAM: Skeena Reece - "John Carver"

In case you missed hearing it in our interview with Skeena Reece, here is the song John Carver from Skeena's debut album Sweetgrass and Honey. John Carver is an ode to all Native carvers acknowledged or unappreciated.Skeena (Tsimshian, Gitksan, Cree, Metis) in a Vancouver, BC, based multi-disciplinary artist and also the daughter of a carver. In talking about the song, Skeena shared with RPM's Marika Swan:

I wanted to share how I felt about my dad, the long hours that he put in and the experience of having to see him sell these precious things to non-native people for their entertainment. To put on their walls and not really knowing the passion that goes into it and not really understanding the cultural significance. I wanted to personalize that so that he knew that I knew that he was really special and that what he shared with the world is more than what they could know.

 STREAM: Skeena Reece - "John Carver"

New 'Potlatch Music' Blog Shares Cultural Videos

The Potlatch Music blog has brought together a great compilation of west coast potlatch videos from a large group of nations within the 'Potlatch Coast'.

Just across our desk here today at RPM.fm, the Potlatch Music blog is a new blog site that compiles a large number of amazing potlatch videos from nations like the Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Nisga'a, Kwakwaka'wakw and Coast Salish peoples.

The potlatch is a ceremonial gift-giving festival that has been practiced since time immemorial on the northwest coast of Canada and the United States. In 1884, the potlatch ceremony was banned in Canada and became a criminal act until the 1950's when it started to make a resurgence in the northwest coast Indigenous cultures.

Now thriving within this resurgence, videos and other media have been circulating on the internet and the culture grows as the population of Indigenous nations grow as well. Like the powwow videos that hit YouTube on the Sunday night of the powwow, potlatch videos are showing the strong energy of co-creation through music and culture in these ceremonies.

A lot has changed in societ'y since the early to mid 1900's when Indigenous cultures were illegal and Indigenous people couldn't gather in more than a group of three without intervention of the authorities. Now Indigenous people can enjoy their gatherings as well as invite their loved ones remotely through the comfort of the internet.

The Potlatch Music blog features videos old and new, some from archival footage and more from the newer potlatches of today.

Here's a video from the 2010 Hobiyee Nisga'a New Year celebration's Chiefs entrance:

Hychga to Manik for letting us know about this blog site.

Do you have an Indigenous music blog or website you'd like to share?

Drop us a line at info@rpm.fm or leave us a comment below.