The One Flaming Arrow Festival of Indigenous art, music, and performance blazes on.
Kicking off last week in Portland, Oregon, the inaugural One Flaming Arrow Festival is bringing an incredible array of contemporary Indigenous art, music, readings, film screenings, panels, performances, and concerts to the Indigenous lands of the Chinook/Multnomah peoples.
The brainchild of Demian DinéYazhi, Kaila Farrell-Smith (both of R.I.S.E.), and Carlee Smith, One Flaming Arrow launched a successful crowdfunding campaign this winter to bring together radical Indigenous voices from across Native america for a 12-day celebration of contemporary Indigenous arts.
In between the low-rider bike workshops, storytelling sessions, art installations, poetry performances, and an Indigenous Futurisms film night curated by Grace Dillon, the festival is also showcasing some of the finest in Indigenous music culture.
On Tuesday, June 9th, Diné experimental/noise musician Raven Chacon (of Postcommodity), White Mountain Apache violinist Laura Ortman, and the Diné electro-queerpostpunk duo Discotays will throw down at the Holocene. Event info is below.
The One Flaming Arrow Festival continues through June 14th. Check the festival program for the full schedule of events.
One Flaming Arrow offers stark and powerful evidence of the Indigenous artists at the forefront of the contemporary creative arts. May this year be the first of many to come.
Listen to an OPB radio interview on the One Flaming Arrow Festival
JUNE 9th: Laura Ortman & Raven Chacon Performance and the Discotays at the Holocene!
9:30pm-11:30pm
Holocene: 1001 SE Morrison, Portland 97214
Join us on June 9th, 2015 at the Holocene in Portland, Oregon for Raven Chacon & Laura Ortman + Discotays. We have the honor of showcasing two award-winning multi-instrumentalists, Indigenous composers Raven Chacon & Laura Ortman along with the musical styling of Discotrays.
DISCOTAYS (Diné) are a music duo from Navajo Nation, comprised of artists Hansen Ashley & Brad Charles. Their music has been adored by the likes of Kathleen Hanna and can be described as post-punk electro & queerpostpunk / queerpostsurf / queernowave.
Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache) has performed with Stars Like Fleas, the Dust Dive & Silver Summit, & composes music for art installations & films in the form of the Dust Dive Flash. She plays violin, Apache violin, piano, electric guitar, musical saw & samplers. Ortman has created music for films by Martha Colburn & Indigenous filmmakers Blackhorse Lowe, Alan Michelson, & Raquel Chapa, among others.
Raven Chacon (Diné/Chicano) is a chamber music composer & experimental noise artist. Chacon is a member of the Indigenous art collective, Postcommodity, with whom he has developed multi-media installations that have been exhibited internationally. Both his solo work & his work with Postcommodity has been presented at the Sydney Bienale, Kennedy Center, Adelaide International, Vancouver Art Gallery, Musée d’ art Contemporain de Montréal, The San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, Chaco Canyon, & Performance Today.
Tickets are $8 in advance & $10 at the door. 21 and over.
Watch Raven Chacon, Live at End Tymes in New York City
Acclaimed violinist and composer Laura Ortman provides the haunting and beautiful soundtrack for Gringo Trails, a new documentary exploring the impact of global tourism.
Brooklyn-based, White Mountain Apache musician and composer Laura Ortman explores new sonic terrain in her latest project: composing the original soundtrack music for Gringo Trails, a new documentary by Pegi Vail.
Vail, an anthropologist and Associate Director of the Center for Media, Culture, and History at NYU, made the film to examine the powerful globalizing force of increasing tourism worldwide.
Spanning South America, Africa and Asia, the tourist pathway known as the “gringo trail” has facilitated both life-altering adventures and the despoiling of many once virgin environments. The film follows stories along the trail to reveal the complex relationships between colliding cultures: host countries hungry for financial security and the tourists who provide it in their quest for authentic experiences.
Ortman's soundtrack beautifully combines violin, electric guitar, piano, vocals and casio, with additional drums and percussion by Jim Pugliese and Christine Bard, creating a haunting and evocative score to accompany what looks to be a riveting documentary.
Stream: Laura Ortman's - "Waves Awake"
Stream and download the full soundtrack on Bandcamp.
Acclaimed Inuk throat singer, Tanya Tagaq, is currently touring a performance that reclaims and re-imagines the deeply stereotypical 1922 silent film, Nanook of the North, with a new score and live musical accompaniment.
Begun as a commission for the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, Tagaq is currently performing a remixed version of the piece in festivals and concert halls across Turtle Island that channels her frustrations against stereotypes and takes that energy to transform it sonically in order to "reclaim the film".
As the PuSH Festival describes it: "In this concert for film she fuses her voice and musical talents to create a mesmerizing, original soundscape for Nanook of the North, perhaps the most famous (and perhaps most infamous) film ever made about indigenous people. Tagaq’s haunting throat singing combines with Jesse Zubot and Jean Martin’s improvisatory genius and Derek Charke’s original film score to frame film pioneer Robert Flaherty’s 1922 semi-documentary in a new, contemporary light.
Experimenting with and honing her personal style in Inuit throat singing since she was a teenager in Nunavut, innovative vocalist Tanya Tagaq can capture the most ethereal moments of desire, or find the deepest, huskiest, beating pulse, with her voice and breath. She creates soundscapes from inhalation and exhalation, summoning powerful emotion from the smallest movement of lips, throat and lungs."
You were commissioned to do this project for TIFF in 2012. Are you pushing it forward now with this iteration?
It’s the same thing but it’s also different every time because of improvising with my band. We have a beautiful backing track composed by Derek Charke, and he is a brilliant composer and I was really lucky to be able to work with him. And how we did that was, I watched the film four times, and responded vocally and composed my own melodies and stuff like that to the film. And then sent that all off to Derek and he took that and put field recordings over it from Nunavut. And he processed my voice and it’s just a really nice kind of bed that we get to, like a sonic bed we get to lay on while we’re improvising on top of it. It’s fun.
You said you thought the movie was perfect to work with. How so?
There are moments in the movie where … my ancestors, they’re so amazing. They lived on the land and I just still can’t believe that. Growing up in Nunavut and just the harshness of the environment itself, the ability for people to be able to survive with no vegetation, and just the harshest of environments, it’s just incredible to me. I’m very proud of my ancestors.
So that’s one facet of it, but I’m a natural presenter, like I went to arts school, so I watched it and I was just like, "They put a bunch of bullshit happy Eskimo stereotypes," you know what I mean?
So I can respond to that as well, with finding some hardcore punk, kind of that feel, kind of put that sound all over it to make it clear. It’s really nice because I can take my frustrations of stereotypes all over the world and take that energy and put it in sonically. I reclaim the film. Even though I have no doubt in my mind that Robert Flaherty had a definite love for Inuit and the land, it’s through 1922 goggles. It’s just nice to be a modern woman, well modern Inuk woman, taking it back.
You said you first saw the film when you were a kid, was that through school?
I think so, yeah.
Do you remember anything about how you felt when you saw it that first time?
I remember being really, really embarrassed and annoyed when he was biting on the record [there's a scene where Nanook laughs at a phonograph and bites on a record, as if he's never seen one before]. And there were a couple of scenes like that where I’m embarrassed and annoyed. Like I said, that’s why it’s great to sing over it.
I read that the record-biting scene was fake, too.
Yeah, like, “Look at these savage people that have no idea what this is, oh isn’t that funny, they don’t know.” And it’s like yeah, why don’t we take someone living in England and put them on the land and laugh at them for dying in the cold? “Oh, he’s being eaten by a bear.”
Here's a list of Tagaq's upcoming 2014 performances in Canada and the U.S through the winter and spring.
Tanya Tagaq 2014 Tour Dates
Tuesday, January 28, 2014Nanook Of The North - Calgary
Venue: Festival Hall
Thursday, January 30, 2014Nanook Of The North - Edmonton
Venue: Canoe Theatre Festival - Garneau Theatre
Friday, January 31, 2014 - Saturday, February 1, 2014Nanook Of The North - Vancouver [SOLD OUT]
Venue: PuSH Festival
Saturday, February 1, 2014Nanook Of The North - Vancouver [SOLD OUT]Venue: PuSH Festival
Free panel discussion presented with Tides Canada: February 1, 3:30pm at The York. A panel discussion on the representation of Inuit life and culture oon film. Moderated by Michell Raheja, associate professor at the Unversity of California, Riverside, with panelist Tany Tagaq and invited guests. Everyone welcome.
Saturday, February 8, 2014Duo Performance (w/ Michael Red) - Guelph, ON
Venue: Hillside Inside
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Tanya Tagaq with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Performing: Thirteen Inuit Songs by Derek Charke
Venue: Carnegie Hall, New York City
Performance information and ticket info available at: tanyatagaq.com
Since its inception in 1998, Toronto’s imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival has grown to be the largest festival of Indigenous film and media arts in the world. The annual celebration was held October 17-21, 2012. Melody McKiver was the grateful recipient of a delegate pass for Indigenous musicians sponsored by Slaight Music. Here’s her exclusive festival recap for RPM.
DAY ONE: Wednesday October 17th
I last attended the festival when I lived in Toronto in 2009. Returning home to see that most imagineNATIVE screenings and workshops are now held in the TIFF Lightbox (Toronto International Film Festival) is a welcome development, and a testament to the major impact this festival has made on the international film, media, and Indigenous arts communities.
OPENING GALA: THE PEOPLE OF KATTAWAPISKAK RIVER
The sole film screening held off-site was Wednesday’s opening gala and world premiere of The People of the Kattawapiskak River. Acclaimed Indigenous filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, along with many community members from Attawapiskat First Nation including Chief Theresa Spence, were present, and received standing ovations following the film. Preceding the main feature was Christmas at Moose Factory, Alanis Obomsawin’s 1971 debut film. Despite the 41-year gap between the two films, both share a gentle portrayal of the realities of life in remote Northeastern Ontario and a focus on Omushkego (Swampy Cree) youth. Obomsawin was on the ground in Attawapiskat as news of the community’s state of emergency went viral in late-2011. As mainstream media coverage quickly devolved into factually inaccurate stereotypical reporting, Obomsawin masterfully took vitriolic commentary from Sun Media conservative ideologue Ezra Levant, and presented community members’ responses to his unfounded accusations.
The film began with the community at the peak of the housing crisis, then showed community members celebrating newly-built housing six months later, and concluded with the court case that absolved Attawapiskat First Nation of any financial misdoings—and illustrating the callousness of the federal government’s response to the crisis.
AFTER-PARTY ROCKIN’ WITH DJ BEAR WITNESS
Following the film, imagineNATIVE provided buses to an after-party that offered a happy reunion for many members of the Indigenous arts community. RPM and festival favourite, DJ Bear Witness (of A Tribe Called Red), spun a wide range of reggaeton, Latin, reggae, hip-hop, and his own powwowstep. At 80 years young, Alanis Obomsawin showed off her spirit and vitality by owning the dance floor late into the night.
Alanis Obomsawin on her reception @ #iNfest2012 : "you make me feel like I'm coming home"
The party was also an appropriate send-off for DJ Bear Witness, who was set to meet his ATCR brothers at the Toronto airport less than 12 hours later to fly out to perform at the WOMEX Festival in Thessalakoni, Greece.
DAY TWO: Thursday, October 18th
PANELS & WORKSHOPS
I began my day at the Music in Film & TV: A Guide for Filmmakers and Musicians industry panel, where a diverse and accomplished roster of panelists were invited: Brent Bain of FACTOR; Elizabeth Klinck of E Klinck Research; Paul Stillo of SOCAN; Jeremy von Hollen of Instinct Entertainment, and RPM favourite cellist/composer, Cris Derksen. The audience was filled with film, music, and dance professionals, culminating in a lively question period. For my own soundtrack work, the workshop was more than worthwhile, answering some long outstanding questions I’ve had regarding the nuances of licensing new recordings of existing songs.
UNSETTLING SEX
With a slight overlap between the end of the industry panel and the beginning of the Unsettling Sex screenings assembled by Chickasaw artist and curator John G. Hampton, I snuck into the movie theater. Although I missed the screening of Dance to Miss Chief by Cree Two-Spirited iconoclast Kent Monkman, I recently saw the piece in a gallery and can testify that his mash-up of disco and powwow music is well worth a listen for powwowstep fans.
Dear Diary and Target Girls by Cree/Ojibway/Roma/Jewish filmmaker and video artist Ariel Smith lacked dialogue, but paired score and sound design by Ottawa band Crush Buildings with vivid black and white imagery. ‘Unsettling’ was an apt description for Target Girls especially: the cinematography was reminiscent of German expressionism, while the soundtrack was reminiscent of 1950’s bubblegum American pop with decidedly un-bubblegum lyrics.
Also featured in Unsettling Sex was Mars-Womb-Man and I am the art scene starring Woman Polanski by Cree/Métis artist James Diamond and About Town by Métis filmmaker, writer, and artist Marnie Parrell. The screenings were shorter than usual in order to give curator John G. Hampton time to read his paper on the series. His written work draws heavily on recent developments in Queer Indigenous studies, while also emphasizing that the films screened should not be essentialized to any single descriptor of queer, Indigenous, sexuality, or feminism.
CONCEALED GEOGRAPHIES
When not at the TIFF Lightbox, many imagineNATIVE attendees could be found nearby at the 401 Richmond artist complex, which houses a number of small galleries, while others found their way to exhibitions and artist talks including: Concealed Geographies: New Media Exhibition featuring the works of KC Adams, Jason Baerg, Merritt Johnson, Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Justine McGrath and Nigit’stil Norbert, De Nort: New Media Exhibition by the ITWÉ Collective of Kevin Lee Burton, Caroline Monnet, and Sébastien Aubin, and Wbomsawinno: Les estampes de/ The Prints of Alanis Obomsawin.
RESONATE: YOUTH MULTIMEDIA EXHIBITION
I made my way to RESONATE - Indigenous Youth Showcase, where a variety of print media and video art was on display by youth artists Nishka Turner, Leslie McCue (Ojibway), Asivak Koostachin (Cree), Cecily Jacko (Ojibway), Kyle Burton, Jared Robilliard (Dene), Damien Bouchard, Cheyenne Scott (Coast Salish), Nigel Irwin-Brochmann, Emily Jones, Alice Thompson and Alana Mcleod. A reception complete with frybread followed that emphasized the tight-knit nature of the community and everyone from newborns to kookums were in attendance.
INDIGENOUS WRITERS’ GATHERING & MUSKRAT MAGAZINE
That evening, I made the difficult choice to break from imagineNATIVE to catch the wrap party of the 5th annual Indigenous Writers’ Gathering and launch of MUSKRAT Magazine, where I caught up with Cree cellist Cris Derksen, who wowed the crowd with recent material not heard on her album or 8th Fire soundtrack, along with some older favourites. An all-star lineup of Indigenous writers, including Lee Maracle, Richard Wagamese, and Marilyn Dumont read from their work. Daniel Heath Justice’s (Cherokee) new poem, which dealt with lies told about Indigenous people, was a personal stand-out, as its unflinching honesty and emotional intensity were reminiscent of Ryan Redcorn’s acclaimed poem Bad Indians. And, of course, event hosts Sid Bobb and Wab Kinew kept the crowd entertained throughout the night.
DAY THREE: Friday, October 19th
SPOTLIGHT ON THE MAPUCHE NATION
On Friday I caught two documentaries that were part of an International Spotlight on the Mapuche Nation I. Each year at imagineNATIVE an Indigenous nation from around the globe is featured, and this year’s invited guests were representatives of the Mapuche Nation from what is also known as Chile. Indigenous resistance to colonialism, capitalism, dispossession of land, and loss of language were recurring themes in the two documentaries screened, En El Nombre del Progresso (In the Name of Progress), and Wallmapu - but also a profound resilience and fierce pride in their culture and nation. I would revisit these themes later in the evening, when I performed as part of the afterparty for the Mapuche delegation.
SHORT FILMS: TURNING POINTS
Immediately after the International Spotlight screening I saw the Turning Points: Shorts Program I. Showcasing a wide variety of creative projects, shorts programs are my favourite parts of film festival programming, but they often force you to make difficult viewing choices. Plus, I knew I would have to run to soundcheck midway through the program. But the opening film, Throat Song, directed by Miranda de Pencier, was a standout. Set in Iqaluit, the 18-minute film follows a young Inuk woman as she seeks an escape from an abusive relationship. The acting and the technical production were superb and throat singing, as the title suggests, played a major part in the film’s soundtrack and sound design. This incredible form of singing propelled the action through dreamy sequences of running and hunting across the tundra that owed much to Zacharias Kunnuk’s groundbreaking work in Antanajuarat: The Fast Runner.
SPOTLIGHT ON THE MAPUCHE NATION
As I ran out early to set up my drums for soundcheck at The Central, I was honoured to participate in the celebration of the Mapuche Nation and perform under their flag. The evening began with a selection of hip-hop and heavy metal music videos curated by director Danko Mariman, whose En El Nombre del Progress (In the Name of Progress) screened earlier in the day. The feature of the screenings was the 2008 film Cortometraje “Che Üñum, Genta Pájaro”, a 22 minute short by Mapuche video artist Francisco Huichaqueo (huichaqueo.cl). The dreamy film opened with a quote which, in English translation, read “When somebody has to move, he has to start all over again and open his eyes and look another way”. Movement was an ongoing theme, with a number of the performers, wearing helmets that suggest the mandibles of ants, engaging in near-impossible displays of parkour throughout the urban landscape of Santiago, Chile. The third movement was particularly mesmerizing, with the introduction of the song Anarky Plastic by Mario Z propelling the action forward and building the sound design from the first two movements to incorporate traditional Mapuche horns. The shift to electronic music in the final movement suggests that this contemporary mix of electronic and Indigenous sonic aesthetics is truly an emerging global sound (as we explored in RPM’s Electric Pow Wow podcast - which included artists Cris Derksen and Bear Witness, who also performed during this year’s imagineNATIVE).
AMAZONICA SOUND FORCE & RED SLAM COLLECTIVE
Following the film screenings, live music took the stage. Toronto-based Mapuche MC La Bomba opened things up with her reggae-influenced band, Amazonica Sound Force. All of the band’s members are veterans of the hip-hop en espanol and reggae communities, and performed a tightly polished set. ASF were a tough act to follow, but my band Red Slam Collective took the stage. Red Slam represents a diverse number of Indigenous nations from across Northeastern Turtle Island and our brand of live hip-hop draws from a diverse set of influences including reggae, hand drum songs, spoken word, and funk. It was a true pleasure to play in front of such an inspiring Indigenous audience.
DAY FOUR: Saturday, October 20th
SPOTLIGHT ON MAPUCHE NATION - PT II
On Saturday the International Spotlight on the Mapuche Nation continued with more documentaries. First up was the North American premiere of Francisco Huichaqueo’s 2012 film Kalül (Reuniôn de Cuerpo / Reunion of the Body) which brought his dreamy cinematographic style, as seen in the previous night’s Cortometraje “Che Üñum, Genta Pájaro”, to document a Mapuche performance art intervention in a shopping mall in Santiago. This was followed by the international premiere of Diez Veces Venceremos (We Shall Overcome Ten Times) by director Cristian Jure. Diez follows the political exile Pascual Pichún, as he attempts to return from his journalism studies in Argentina to his Mapuche homelands in occupied Chile. The title of the film is drawn from a protest song often sung by Pascual and his supporters. Protest songs are an integral part of the narrative of the film, sung by Pascual in exile in Argentina, and by his supporters in his home community.
THE BEAT
The Beat is a hotly anticipated part of imagineNATIVE that shifts the festival’s focus from film to music for a Saturday night celebration. Demonstrating the strong connection between film and music, each year The Beat opens with a collection of the past year’s best Indigenous music videos.
This year’s line-up represented Indigenous nations from around the globe, including: This Is My Time Everyday directed by Michelle Latimer, Leivänmuruseni (Breadcrumbs) directed by Oskari Sipola, Ghost House directed by Zoe Hopkins, Mr. Milkman directed by Laura Milliken, DirtyGames directed by James Kinistino, My Blood My People directed by Martin Leroy Adams, and Waardeur directed by Eugene Hendriks. I was proud to contribute drum tracks to this year’s Best Music Video, Sides directed by Mosha Folger, an Ottawa-based Inuk writer, performer, playwright, and member of the Counterfeit Nobles.
Nick Sherman (Ojibway) opened up the evening’s live music component with a commanding solo set. The Sioux Lookout-based singer-songwriter performed seated on his suitcase, which doubled as a bass drum. For the final portion of Nick’s set, he invited up the visual artist and musician Arthur Renwick (Haisla). The two men had only recently began playing together at the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals a few weeks ago, but impart a familiarity that I hope will lead to many future collaborations.
George Leach (Sta’atl’imx) was the evening’s headliner, performing a mix of old favourites and new tracks from his eagerly anticipated new release, Surrender. Audiences at The Beat got a chance to purchase copies of the new album prior to the official release, and I can confirm that it sounds as great as his live set. George Leach and his band pumped up the mood in the room, switching gears from the quiet reverence of Nick Sherman’s set to a full-on Saturday night rock’n’roll party.
They played a high-energy set, proving that nobody in Indian Country rocks a double-necked Gibson SG quite like George Leach.
DAY FIVE: Sunday, October 21st
CLOSING GALA: THE LESSER BLESSED
On Sunday, I made my way to the closing night gala screening of The Lesser Blessed directed by Anita Doron and based on the Richard Van Camp (Dogrib) novel of the same name. Shot in Sudbury but based in the Northwest Territories, the film was gorgeously rendered and scored. The film’s protagonist Larry Sole, a Tlicho youth played by Joel Evans in a stellar acting debut, comes to terms with his traumatic past as he deals with high school bullies. The film premiered earlier this year at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is well worth seeing as it screens more widely.
The 13th annual imagineNATIVE Indigenous Film & Media Arts Festival wrapped up with an awards gala at The Mod Club hosted by actor Billy Merasty, who donned this year’s circus theme and put on his top hat as the ringmaster. The crowd was tired but happy after a week jam-packed with festival events and networking that always ran well into the night.
To take part in the festival as a musician truly demonstrated to me how interconnected Indigenous arts practices are: what’s a film without a soundtrack, or a musician’s single without a music video?
At the end of the festival, my only regret is that I can’t go back and catch everything I missed the first time around. Aho!
Melody McKiver is an Anishinaabe musician, media artist and researcher who splits her time between Ottawa and Toronto. She is currently completing an MA in Ethnomusicology at Memorial University where her research interests include Indigenous electronic music, artistic processes of decolonization, urban Indigeneity, and Two-Spirited studies. For more on Melody's work, follow her on Twitter @m_melody or visit melodymckiver.com
A new film, The Young Ancestors, explores the journey of young people learning their language from their elders.
Here is the trailer for an incredible film The Young Ancestors. It talks about the important issue of Indigenous language revitalization and the need for us to put our young people in the centre of our language work. It follows the story of a group of Native American teens who are trying to re-learn their traditional tongue. Look out for the upcoming RPM podcast featuring Language Revitalization out November 30th, right here!
Hot off the pan, this brand new trailer gives us a taste of what to expect in the upcoming mockumentary film More Than Frybread.
This trailer reveals the imagined competitive tension at the Arizona State Frybread Championships. The cast includes Arapaho twin r&b artists Dey & Nite!
Last week, RPM was in attendance at the 2011 imagineNATIVE festival in Toronto, Ontario. It was five days filled with inspiring, moving, and important films, and equally inspiring and exciting connections with community.
For a festival celebrating Indigenous film and new media there was plenty of Indigenous music, and musicians, on site, screen and stage.
The opening night party brought A Tribe Called Redto get everyone on the dance floor; the experimental short film program included Make Your Escape - an audiovisual mash-up directed by Bear Witnessof ATCR, and Jesus Coyote TeeVee by multi-disceplenary artist Chris Bose; and Friday night the festival presented a panel discussion with Buffy Sainte-Mariehosted by Wab Kinew.
Sunday was the premiere screening of Music is the Medicine, something we've been looking forward to and talking about here at RPM for some time. Derek Miller was in attendance, along with producers Jody Hill and Rod Ruel, and it was thrilling to see the documentary on the big screen. A number of Derek Miller fans were there, cheering throughout the film and grabbing signatures and photos from Derek afterwards. Here's Derek, Jody and Rod stopping for the cameras on the way into the theatre:
It was a celebratory vibe in the theatre and we were glad to be there to say a few words before the film - the last few of which were congratulations to the filmmakers, and to Derek, and we're so glad to be connected to the project.
The sense of community throughout the festival was ever present and there wasn't a bad film in the bunch. Thank you, and congratulations also, to imagineNATIVE for pulling off such a remarkable event - we'll be back next year!
The upcoming documentary film Music is the Medicineis not only the story of Six Nations blues artist Derek Miller, it is in fact the origin of RPM.
Music the Medicine is about to have its world premiere at the imagineNATIVE festival in Toronto in two weeks. In celebration and support of the film, RPM will be bringing you a series of exclusive content on Derek, the film and the filmmakers, from now, through the festival premiere and up until the film airs on APTN next month.
It’s not just because we enjoy and support Derek, and it’s not just because we think it’s a great film. RPM itself was inspired by Music is the Medicine. Here’s how:
In the film, Derek talks about his experience of hitting the glass ceiling in the music industry – that being labeled as an Aboriginal artist has limited the audience his music can reach. He’s won numerous Juno awards in the Aboriginal category (and countless other music awards from Native organizations), but is snubbed by the blues and rock nods. Radio stations have not programmed his fantastic music - songs that are backed by mainstream hard hitters Double Trouble, and even a duet with Willie Nelson – citing that they don’t have an “Aboriginal hour” in their programming. Derek has endless love, support and accolades from within the community, but why is the line drawn there?
Derek isn’t the only artist facing this kind of discrimination. Other artists find themselves locked in the same pigeonhole.
Meanwhile, a contemporary platform for Indigenous artists didn’t exist online. You couldn’t Google Indigenous music without coming to a static site flaunting a dreamcatcher or eagle feather in their logo – images not representative of all Indigenous cultures, first of all, and not representative in any way of the diverse, rich, music being made by Indigenous artists the world over.
When there isn’t a decent resource to even find Indigenous music, where does one begin to change the stereotypes held of Native music and musicians? How can we shatter those preconceived notions? How can we connect and support Indigenous artists and provide a relevant and engaging platform for listeners, artists and fans alike to get great music? Those questions were the seeds of RPM.
Initially, the producers of Music is the Medicine, Make Believe Media, launched MBM Digital to create a new media project to support the film. But as these questions and the obvious need to fill this gap in Turtle Island’s digital territory arose, MBM Digital’s brainstorming brought them to what is now RPM.fm – Revolutions Per Minute.
Thank goodness it did. Since RPM’s soft launch in June the response has been fantastic. We’re so glad. And we’ll be coming at you this month with the official, big splash, launch of RPM with new features and our own launch celebrations and we chose this time to coincide with Music is the Medicine’s own splash into the world, in honour our of connection and beginnings.
Watch this space for more on Music is the Medicine, Derek and RPM’s launch party!
This week, the RPM podcast will feature artists from Six Nations - a remarkably musically rich corner of Turtle Island. Also coming out of Six Nations is Mohawk radio station K103.7 fm.
From a shack on the edge of the St. Lawrence Seaway in Kahnawake, Quebec, just 20 minutes from downtown Montreal, the station sends a mix of bingo, native rights, hip-hop and wrestling across the airwaves - heard across the res and through the city and suburbs.
Recently, the NFB produced a documentary film about K103.7, Waves Across the Seaway, which describes the station as "straddling the wide cultural gap between Mohawks and their neighbors."
We're starting Monday morning off right with this classic from the Dance Me Outside soundtrack by Ojibway musician Keith Secola.
Hoka!
Also check out the remix by Feenix featuring Joey Stylez:
RPM Records
Revolutions Per Minute is a global new music platform, record label, and boutique agency for Indigenous music culture. RPM’s mission is to build a visionary community of Indigenous artists and to introduce Indigenous music to new audiences across Turtle Island and around the world. Our main site, RPM.fm, has featured the work of more than 500 Indigenous artists and shared their music across our social networks of more than 275,000 followers.
RPM Records is the first of its kind: a label for contemporary, cross-genre Indigenous music, run by Indigenous people. Selected by The FADER as one of “5 New Canadian Record Labels The Entire World Should Know”, RPM Records artists include Ziibiwan, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Exquisite Ghost, and Mob Bounce.
