The Indigenous Music Takeover in Toronto This Weekend

Both Tanya Tagaq and A Tribe Called Red have sold out concerts in Toronto this week. Tagaq is set to perform for 350+ people at The Great Hall on November 6 and Tribe is taking over the Danforth Music Hall on November 7 (a 1,400 capacity room).

This coincidence is really exciting because it demonstrates that there is a significant market for uniquely Indigenous music in one of Canada's most competitive scenes.

Unfortunately it doesn't mean that every Indigenous artist will experience the same kind of success in the upcoming months or years. Tagaq and Tribe are exceptional and just like Jay-Z or Bill Gates they had exactly what the world was looking for at a time when it was ready to look.

The lessons that I think Indigenous artists should take away from the successes of Tagaq and Tribe include:

• Good music matters the most
• Good management matters the second most
• Media attention follows intelligent artists
• Performances at mainstream music festivals help artists build markets
• Aboriginal music festivals and music award shows are only stepping stones
• Being nice is super important

Tagaq's November 6 show kicks off a seven stop tour in November, which is set to pick up again with six dates at performing arts centres throughout the US after the holidays. Tribe's November 7 show is one of three that the boys have planned for November because they spent most of the summer months hitting the festival circuit pretty hard and need a little break from the airports and take out food of tour life.

Visit tanyatagaq.com for more information about Tagaq and sixshooterrecords.com for more information about her management.

Visit atribecalledred.com for more information about Tribe and craft-services.com for more information about their management.

-- Alan Greyeyes is a member of the Peguis First Nation in Manitoba and has been working full time in the music industry since 2005. In 2013, Greyeyes was honoured with the Future Leaders of Manitoba award for his contributions to the arts. Greyeyes graduated from Trent University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Economics and was featured on the cover of the Spring 2013 edition of the university's alumni magazine. Follow him on Twitter: @alangreyeyes

STREAM: Blue King Brown - "All Nations"

Indigenous Australian urban roots crew Blue King Brown is back in a big way with their massive tune, "All Nations".

Lead vocalist Natalli Rize and her reggae and dubwise BKB comrades are set to release their powerful third album, Born Free, on November 7th and their latest single and video are already catching fire.

"All Nations" is an uplifting anthemic call out to all people worldwide to reclaim our freedom and to make what BKB calls "music for this movement, for the battle and the fight for People over profits, Justice over Greed, Freedom over Slavery".

"'All Nations' at its core is about people power", says Rize, "Calling out to All People from All Nations to recognize their power and reclaim it, use it, assert it in these times of shifting consciousness, a time of discontent with the current world system and paradigm". To this end, the band dedicated and premiered the song in support of the self-determination movement to Free West Papua.

BKB have built a huge audience for their socially conscious and politically engaged music in support of Indigenous rights and global struggles for liberation. And they've stepped up every aspect of their production and songwriting this time around: Born Free was recorded at the legendary Tuff Gong studios in Kingston, Jamaica, Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne, and Blue King Brown's own studio in Melbourne, Australia.

Capturing the sound of the struggle and the essence of what art and activism can do to inspire change, "All Nations" will have you waving the flag of freedom and singing along with a raised fist.

Stream: Blue King Brown - "All Nations" 

And check the video for this epic tune below:

6 Arrows Media Launches #6AMSessions with Live-Streamed Concert from Six Nations

Indigenous media is on the rise in NDN Country and 6 Arrows Media is the latest out of the gate. Their new music series, the #6AMSessions, launched on November 1st with a live concert straight outta Six Nations.

UPDATE: If you missed the November 1st broadcast, watch the complete 6am Sessions show now on 6ArrowsMedia.com

6 Arrows Media is the new joint venture from acclaimed Indigenous musicians Derek Miller and Marty Ballentyne, who have joined forces with multimedia production house Thru the RedDoor to launch a "multimedia production hub" for NDN Country and beyond.

For Miller and Ballentyne, 6 Arrows is all about representing ourselves, supporting each other and building community:

“We’re eager to share what we’ve been working on. 6AM will be able to take those artists who live next door and give them every tool they need to be successful. We have the technology, we have the industry experience, and we have the vision. It is our hope that this company is there to give artists the boost that people like Marty and I didn’t have when we began. For us, this is a way of giving back."

Helped out by a few fun promo clips by the likes of their friends Adam Beach, Leonard Sumner, Missy Knott, and a Chllly Chase eating a worm (!), 6 Arrows launched their first online experiment on November 1st, the #6AMSessions, a free concert featuring incredible Indigenous artists performing at their Ohseweken studio on Six Nations—and livestreamed through 6arrowsmedia.com.

The concert was hosted by Derek Miller and featured a powerhouse lineup of (admittedly Haudenosaunee-centric) performers, including: Brendt Diabo, Logan Staats (of Ghost Town Orchestra), Ras Haile X, Chllly Chase, Cheri Maracle, Rebecca Miller, Behold the Shadows, Jeff Doreen, The Ollivanders, the 6AM Jazz Band and, of course, Derek Miller and his band The Lindas. Pretty damn impressive for the first show of the series.

Rocking his trademark Reservoir Dogs attire, Miller kept the proceedings flowing by introducing each artist, chatting with them in between sets, and generally lending the show a casual, yet intimate feel. The sound quality was tight, the vibe was right, and the performances were killer.

A live studio audience enjoyed the show up close and personal but, for the rest of us, the livestream was a great way for viewers from around the world to catch the show, and the #6amsessions hashtag was a fun way to chat while the concert was beamed to our devices, phones and living rooms.

Livestreaming music is nothing new on the interwebs, but it doesn't happen nearly enough in Indian Country. Saturday's show was the perfect post-Halloween antidote to the saccharine aftertaste of total sugar overload from the night before. And a welcome addition to the growing Indigenous music and media landscape.

6 Arrows is clearly on to a good thing here. We're excited to see where it goes next. And Like Derek Miller said:

"We believe in our artists, we believe in our people" @derekmillerlive #6amsessions

— RevolutionsPerMinute (@RPMfm) November 2, 2014

Although all of the artists rocked it on Saturday, for us, Logan Staats was the highlight of the night. His raw and impassioned vocal delivery and prodigious songrwriting talent stole the show.

Check out his performance of "What You Love" from the 6 Arrows promo video below. This guy is going places.

For more info and to watch an archive of the broadcast, visit: 6arrowsmedia.com  

LightningCloud to Host 'Indigenous Angels 2' Benefit Concert for MMIW

Crystle Lightning and Red Cloud, known together as Lightning Cloud, will host Indigenous Angels 2—a benefit concert supporting, and in solidarity with, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

LightningCloud continue to support the Indigenous community through their music and their activism. In late November, they are throwing the second in a series of art, music and cultural events to benefit good causes.

The first Indigenous Angels show, held in late August directed proceeds to children fleeing violence in Central America, and all the proceeds from Indigenous Angels 2, which will include both a concert and art auction, will go to supporting Stolen Sisters.

Indigenous Angels 2 will feature a huge lineup of musicians, visual artists and DJs lending their talents to support the cause, including the legendary Rass Kass, Savage Family, Quese IMC, Kemo the Blaxican, MC Imprint, Neil, The Crux, First Nation Syndicate, and many more. For visual art, they've lined up contributions from Bunky Echo-Hawk, VOTAN of NSRGNTS, Steven Paul Judd, Melanie Cervantes and a long list of others.

As an added bonus this time around, though, Red Cloud will be flexing his lyrical prowess on a whole other level. During the show, he will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for Longest Freestyle Rap. What's the current record? Oh, you know, just a modest 17 HOURS.

17 hours of straight rapping! And RedCloud is confident he can best that, with no problems. He's been practicing. And he plans to "honour every single missing and murdered Indigenous woman by name" while he does it. Now that's how you break a rap world record. Check out the Kickstarter campaign for more info and to support the cause.

Indigenous Angels 2 will be held November 29, 2014 at The Airliner in Los Angeles. Check TeamLightningCloud for more info.

DOWNLOAD: Impossible Nothing's "Mechadoom"

Skookum Sound System's Impossible Nothing continues his prolific output with this maximalist rework of MF Doom classics.

Impossible Nothing has a penchant for pulverizing samples into distorted recursive loops and new kinetic phrases. Here, he takes the mask-clad raps of the Vaudeville Villain, Viktor Vaughn—aka the inimitable hip-hop icon MF Doom—and wraps his vocals inside a kaleidoscopic blend of stuttering beats, science show snippets and souled out, glitched up samples.

DOOM is the gift that keeps on giving. His effervescent flow seems endlessly appropriate to appropriation—and Impossible Nothing's recombinant maximalism works wonders on the high priest of abstract rap science.

"Golly, he's just a pest and your worst best friend Who mend and rip space time fabric like polyester blend" 

Stream: Impossible Nothing - "Mechadoom" 

(and get the full album as free download at: impossiblenothing.bandcamp.com)

STREAM: Native North America, Revolutionary Recordings by Indigenous Artists from 1966-1985

Light in the Attic Records is preparing to release the "most ambitious and historically significant project" in the label's history: Native North America—a 34-track compilation of music from the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island, recorded between 1966 and 1985.

Native North America is a project that has been more than a decade in the making.

DJ and record collector Kevin "Sipreano" Howes spent 12 years researching, compiling music, travelling, and interviewing Indigenous artists for inclusion on the album, and the results are righteous, revolutionary and historically unprecedented.

Native North America (Vol. 1) features music from the Indigenous peoples of Canada and the northern United States, recorded in the turbulent decades between 1966 to 1985. It represents the fusion of shifting global popular culture and a reawakening of Aboriginal spirituality and expression...You’ll hear Arctic garage rock from the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, melancholy Yup’ik folk from Alaska, and hushed country blues from the Wagmatcook First Nation reserve in Nova Scotia. You’ll hear echoes of Neil Young, Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Cash, and more among the songs, but injected with Native consciousness, storytelling, poetry, history, and ceremony.

Indigenous music, like Indigenous Peoples more generally, occupies both a historical and present blind spot in settler society's consciousness.

But far from being mythic, imaginary figures of some forgotten colonial past, Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966–1985 documents the deep currents of creativity that have been continuously at work throughout Turtle Island and the wide-ranging influences and styles of Indigenous musicians.

Notably, many of these songs haven't been heard outside of local communities since they were first recorded. Howes explains:

“All 34 songs blow my mind in one way or another. They were often made for folks in their regional communities, but like musicians the world over, most were hoping that their songs would be able to reach as many people as possible. [But] much of this music wasn’t heard outside of the greater Aboriginal music community at the time of release…[although] this music was very much embraced on the reserves and in regional communities across the country, as well as gaining some traction in coffeehouses, dance halls, and the folk festival circuit.”

The album reflects a diverse musical and cultural geography: gathering music from Indigenous Peoples across Canada, north to Alaska, and covering everything from folk and psychedelia, to country soul and garage rock.

"When I first heard the original recordings featured on NNA V1", Howes explained to The Stranger, "I had to learn more about these records, how they were made and by who. These artists should take their righteous place in our collective cultural history."

Indigenous musicians, who are rarely recognized (let alone celebrated) for their artistry and collective contribution to the evolution of recorded music, deserve to take up this rightful place—and Native North America captures the continued currents of Indigenous "consciousness, storytelling, poetry, history, and ceremony" that have been encoded in song.

This music is as much about our collective past as it is our collective present: and, to paraphrase Vine Deloria, we need to hear where we have been before we see where we should go, we need to know how to get there, and we need to have a good soundtrack for our journey.

Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966–1985 — FULL TRACK LIST:

1. Willie Dunn – "I Pity the Country" 2. John Angaiak – "I'll Rock You to the Rhythm of the Ocean" 3. Sugluk – "Fall Away" 4. Sikumiut – "Sikumiut" 5. Willie Thrasher – "Spirit Child" 6. Willy Mitchell – "Call of the Moose" 7. Lloyd Cheechoo – "James Bay" 8. Alexis Utatnaq – "Maqaivvigivalauqtavut" 9. Brian Davey – "Dreams of Ways" 10. Morley Loon – "N'Doheeno" 11. Peter Frank – "Little Feather" 12. Ernest Monias – "Tormented Soul" 13. Eric Landry – "Out of the Blue" 14. David Campbell – "Sky-Man and the Moon" 15. Willie Dunn – "Son of the Sun" 16. Shingoose (poetry by Duke Redbird) – "Silver River" 17. Willy Mitchell and Desert River Band – "Kill'n Your Mind" 18. Philippe McKenzie – "Mistashipu" 19. Willie Thrasher – "Old Man Carver" 20. Lloyd Cheechoo – "Winds of Change" 21. The Chieftones (Canada’s All Indian Band) – "I Shouldn't Have Did What I Done" 22. Sugluk – "I Didn't Know" 23. Lawrence Martin – "I Got My Music" 24. Gordon Dick – "Siwash Rock" 25. Willy Mitchell and Desert River Band – "Birchbark Letter" 26. William Tagoona – "Anaanaga" 27. Leland Bell – "Messenger" 28. Saddle Lake Drifting Cowboys – "Modern Rock" 29. Willie Thrasher – "We Got to Take You Higher" 30. Sikumiut – "Utirumavunga" 31. Sugluk – "Ajuinnarasuarsunga" 32. John Angaiak – "Hey, Hey, Hey, Brother" 33. Groupe Folklorique Montagnais – "Tshekuan Mak Tshetutamak" 34. Willie Dunn (featuring Jerry Saddleback) – "Peruvian Dream (Part 2)"

STREAM: NATIVE NORTH AMERICA - VOL. 1

Native North America is currently available for pre-order and will be released November 25, 2014.

Native American Music Awards 2014: Full List of Nominees

The 15th annual Native American Music Awards are set for November 14, 2014 at the Seneca Allegany Events Center. Check out the full list of nominees and vote for your favourite Indigenous artists.

The Native American Music Awards are a staple of the Indigenous music awards circuit and every year they hand out nods to an astonishing diversity of Indigenous artists in over 30 categories of music, spoken word and historical recordings. This year is no exception. From country and hip-hop, to pow wow and gospel, and even, um, "new age", the NAMAs span the widest possible spectrum of Native American music. A Tribe Called Red, Samantha Crain, and Bear Fox are all up for multiple awards this year—but there are many, many more nominees to listen to and choose from.

Voting is currently underway in all categories and winners will be announced on Friday, November 14th at the NAMA gala at Seneca Allegany Events Center. The awards show will be streamed live on FNX.org and broadcast on FNX Television.

Cast your ballot and listen to a 116-track playlist of this year's NAMA nominees right here.

Native American Music Awards 2014 Full List of Nominees

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

• Jan Looking Wolf Reibach (Conf. Tribes of Grande Ronde – Kalapuya) - Tamanawas
• Joanne Shenandoah (Oneida) – Nature Dance
• Mato Nanji (Lakota/Dakota) – Vanishing Americans
• R. Carlos Nakai & Will Clipman (Navajo/Ute) – Awakening The Fire
• Ryan Little Eagle Molina (Lakota/Apache) – The Long Journey Home
• Wade Fernandez (Menominee) – Breathe & Flow

BEST BLUES RECORDING

• A Tribute To Little Johnny Taylor – Jimmy Wolf (Mohawk)
• Back To Clearlake Oaks – Twice As Good
• Blues Joose Vol 2 - Joel Johnson (Tuscarora)
• Lakota John and Kin - Lakota John and Kin (Lumbee/Oglala)
• Red Kroz Bluez Band - Red Kroz Bluez Band (Munsee)
• Vanishing Americans – Indigenous

BEST COMPILATION RECORDING

• CTR Country Mix – Various Artists
• Dawn's Early Light - Various Artists
• Don't Let Me Forget - Kelly Montijo Fink
• Earth Bound Angel – Various Artists
• Putumayo Presents Native America – Various Artists
• The Hopson Live Session - Various Artists

BEST COUNTRY RECORDING

• 3 of a Kind - John McLeod (Cree)
• Bring It On – Donny Parenteau (Metis)
• Senorita Dreams – Wayne Garner (Cherokee/Apache)
• Tribute - Victoria Blackie (Navajo)
• Tyra Preston – Tyra Preston (Navajo)
• Woman Of Red – Tracy Bone (Ojibway)

DEBUT ARTIST OF THE YEAR

• David Rose – Wind Dance Under The Moon
• Gabrielle Knife (Lakota Sioux) – Ohiya Ku WInyan
• Gareth – The Journey
• Leah Shenandoah (Oneida) - Spektra
• Nitanis “Kit” Largo (Various) – Serenity
• Robert Mullinax (Cherokee) – Dream of a Sacred Song

DEBUT GROUP OF YEAR

• A Tribe Called Red (Cayuga/Ojibway) – A Tribe Called Red
• Fabulous Ripcords (Oneida) - Voo Doo Girl
• Iskwew Singers (Metis/Cree/Saulteaux) – Kamawinan: Songs of Our People
• Lightning Creek (Nez Perce) – Long Time Coming
• Sihasin (Navajo) – Never Surrender
• Women of Heart (Various) - Winds of Change

BEST FEMALE ARTIST

• Donna Kay (Metis) – Uncover Me
• Jamie Coon (Creek/Seminole) – Day After Day
• Rhonda Head (Cree) - Nikumoon
• Rita Coolidge (Cherokee) – A Rita Coolidge Christmas
• Tracy Bone (Ojibway) - Woman Of Red
• Victoria Blackie (Navajo) - Tribute

BEST FOLK RECORDING

• Adageyudi – Clear Water Drum (Cherokee/Yaqui/Metis)
• Songs to Keep the Earth Alive - Good Shield Aguilar
• Heart of the Buffalo– Richard Stepp and Rick McKee (Keetoowah)
• Home Grown - Storm Seymour (Meskwaki)
• Keeper of the Dreams - Red Feather Woman (Assiniboine/Sioux)
• Kid Face - Samantha Crain (Choctaw)

FLUTIST OF THE YEAR

• Cal Silverfox Lopez (Apache) – To Touch The Sky
• Douglas Blue Feather – Dawn of a New Light
• Jan Looking Wolf Reibach (Conf. Tribes of Grande Ronde – Kalapuya) - Tamanawas
• Jonathon Maracle Ohwihsha (Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte) – The Clearing
• Rona Yellow Robe (Chippewa Cree) - The Gathering
• Tony Duncan (Apache/Ankara/Hidatsu/Mandan) – Native Son

BEST GOSPEL/INSPIRATIONAL RECORDING

• Don’t Let Me Forget – Kelly Montijo Fink
• Grace & Grit: Chapter I – Dark Water Rising (Lumbee)
• Love & Kindness - Golana (Cherokee) & Peter Kater
• Nikumoon - Rhonda Head (Cree)
• Season of Joy – Yolanda Martinez (Apache)
• Speak To The Sky – Storm Seymour (Meskwaki)
• 12. GROUP OF THE YEAR

GROUP OF THE YEAR

• Dark Water Rising (Lumbee) - Grace & Grit: Chapter I
• Indigie Femme (Navajo) – Te Hau Waiati
• Injunuity (Various) – Fight For Survival
• Plenty Wolf Singers(Oglala Lakota) – Medicine Wolf
• Rushingwind & Mucklow (Cahuilla) – Strong Horse
• Sweethearts of Navajoland (Navajo) – From The Heart of Dine Nation

HISTORICAL/LINGUISTIC RECORDING

• Chillin’ Rez-Style - Will and Jesse Lee (Lakota)
• Heart of the Buffalo – Richard Stepp and Rick McKee (Keetoowah)
• Intikana (Arawak/Taino) – Native Eyez
• 2 Worlds - Nataanii Means (Oglala Lakota, Omaha, Dine')
• Mescalero Apache Creation – Fred Kaydahzinne (Apache)
• Te Hau Waiati - Indigie Femme (Navajo)

BEST INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING

• Awakened By The Noon Day Sun - Mwalin (Mashpee Wampanoag)
• Fight For Survival - Injunuity (Choctaw)
• Journey To the Sun - Sun Shadows (Choctaw/Navajo)
• Strong Horse - Rushingwind & Mucklow
• The Long Journey Home - Ryan Little Eagle Molina (Lakota/Apache)
• The Clearing - Ohwihsha (Mohawk)

BEST MALE ARTIST

• Jimmy Wolf (Mohawk) - A Tribute To Little Johnny Taylor
• Lawrence Harris (Choctaw) – Romanze – Songs of Tosti
• Randy McGinnis (Cherokee) – Smoky Mountain Dreams
• TerryLee Whetstone (Cherokee) - One People
• Tony Duncan (Apache/Ankara/Hidatsu/Mandan) – Native Son
• Wayne Silas, Jr (Menominee) – Infinite Passion

BEST NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH RECORDING

• A Good Day, A Better Tomorrow - Cheevers Toppah (Kiowa)
• Apache Peyote Songs - Joe Tohonnie Jr (Apache/Navajo)
• As It Was In The Beginning - Primeaux & Mike (Sioux/Navajo)
• Charity - Kevin Yazzie (Navajo)
• NAC Songs - Aaron Adson (Pawnee/Comanche)

BEST NEW AGE RECORDING

• Awakening The Fire - R. Carlos Nakai & Will Clipman (Navajo/Ute)
• Bridge - Rushingwind & Mucklow
• Dawn of a New Light - Douglas Blue Feather (Cherokee)
• Kamama - SilverWolf/Adelaunegv Waya
• Love & Kindness - Golana (Cherokee)
• Smoky Mountain Dreams - Randy McGinnis (Cherokee)

BEST POP RECORDING

• Colors - Indian City (Ojibway)
• Day After Day - Jamie Coon (Creek/Seminole)
• Feathers Rosary - Joey Stylez (Cree)
• Grace & Grit: Chapter I – Dark Water Rising (Lumbee)
• Spektra - Leah Shenandoah (Oneida)
• Touch - Raphael (Mescalero Apache)

BEST POW WOW RECORDING

• Elder’s Vision: Pow Wow Songs Recorded Live @ Ky1 Yo - Blackfoot Confederacy (Various)
• In Harmony Again - Big River Cree
• Loyalty to the Drum - Northern Cree (Cree/Various)
• Right Now - Bear Creek (Various)
• Save Me A Lead - Young Spirit (Various)
• Stoic - Tha Tribe (Various)

BEST PRODUCER

• Donald Blackfox – Earth Bound Angel
• Eddie Webber – Apache Blessing & Crown Dance Songs
• Kevin Chief (Algonquin/Oneida) – Honoring The Mazinikijik Singers
• Lynn Coulter, John Mc Duffie, Randy Landas, John Thomas - A Rita Coolidge Christmas
• Peter Blackwell – Mescalero Apache Creation
• Robert Doyle – Awakening The Fire

BEST RAP/HIP HOP RECORDING

• Crunk Nativez - Lil Mike & Funny Bone (Chocktaw, Pawnee)
• Native Eyez - Intikana (Arawak/Taino)
• One Tribe One Nation – The Council (Sounthern Ute, Jemez Pueblo, Taos Pueblo)
• Quese Imc & Cempoalli 20 (Pawnee/Seminole) – Osahwuh
• Rainy Days – Tha Native featuring Stuxx
• Warriors Arise - Makardi (Navajo)

RECORD OF THE YEAR (Traditional & Contemporary)

• A Rita Coolidge Christmas - Rita Coolidge (Cherokee)
• A Tribe Called Red – A Tribe Called Red (Cayuga/Ojibway)
• Breathe & Flow - Wade Fernandez (Menominee)
• Native Son - Tony Duncan (Apache/Ankara/Hidatsu/Mandan)
• Romanze – Songs of Tosti - Lawrence Harris (Choctaw)
• The Gathering – Rona Yellowrobe (Chippewa Cree)

BEST ROCK RECORDING

• Fire and Brimstone: A Tribute To Link Wray - Band of Tribes (Shawnee)
• Never Going Home – The Gun Runners (Onondaga)
• Never Surrender - Sihasin (Navajo)
• Surrender - George Leach (Sta’ atl’ imx)
• The Journey – Gareth Laffely (Mi'kmaq/Cree)
• Two Sons - The Ollivanders (Mohawk, Oneida)

SONG/SINGLE OF THE YEAR (Contemporary / Traditional)

• “Diamond" - Bear Fox (Mohawk)
• “Love Of My Life” – Spencer Battiest (Seminole)
• “Runnin’ On Empty” –Shadowyze & Shyanne (Creek, Cherokee, Han Gwich in Athabascan)
• “Song of the Wolf” – Graywolf Blues Band (Yaqui)
• "Sublime Gracia" - Yolanda Martinez (Apache)
• “Witchi Tai-To – Water Spirits” – Shadowyze, Caren Knight Pepper and Jim Pepper

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR

• Brianna Lea Pruett (Cherokee/Choctaw) – Gypsy Bells
• Glen Bonham (Choctaw) - Glen Bonham
• Randy Granger (Choltan/Mayan) – Strong Medicine
• Robert Hollis aka Bobby Bullet (Lac du Flambeau) – Crooked Tear
• Samantha Crain (Choctaw)– Kid Face
• Theresa “Bear” Fox (St. Regis Mohawk) – Diamond

BEST SPOKEN WORD RECORDING

• Blessings - Fawn Wood & Dallas Waskahat
• Grandfather Speaks – Ken Quiet Hawk (Abenaki)
• Lost Angel – Cyrus Emerson (Cherokee)
• Man From The Sky - Soyota (Apache)
• Mescalero Apache Creation – Fred Kaydahzinne (Apache)
• The Little Rocks – Windfeather Navarez Bull (Navajo)

BEST TRADITIONAL RECORDING

• Apache Blessing & Crown Dance Songs - Joe Tohonnie Jr (Apache)
• Blessings - Fawn Wood & Dallas Waskahat
• From The Heart of Dine’ Nation - Sweethearts of Navajoland (Navajo)
• Honoring The Mazinikijik Singers - Mazinikijik Singers (Algonquin/Oneida)
• Moonlit Nights - Todi Neesh Zhee Singers (Navajo) - First Night
• Spirit of Thunderheart - Rising (Mohawk, Blackfoot, Cree, Cherokee)

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

• Love of My Life – Spencer Battiest (Seminole)
• Native Eyez - Intikana (Arawak/Taino)
• Prayer Loop Song – Supaman (Apsaalooke)
• Song of Survival – Red Eagle
• Women Across The River - Graywolf Blues Band (Yaqui)
• Sisters ft Northern Voice - A Tribe Called Red (Cayuga, Ojibway)

BEST WAILA RECORDING

• 2 Rivers Band– 2 Rivers Band (Tohono O’odham)
• Back To Basics - Cruz (Tohono O’odham)
• Embrace The Kaos – Dfaktion Nyne (Tohono O’odham)
• In Loving Memory of Our Beloved Father & Uncle - Family Pride (Tohono O’odham)
• Pisinemo & Company – Pisinemo & Company (Tohono O’odham)
• Tohono O’odham Waila Music, Volume 2 - Valenzuela & Company (Tohono O’odham)

BEST WORLD MUSIC RECORDING

• Dance of the Soul - Jessica Martinez Maxey
• Kurt Wyaco – Kurt Wyaco (Zuni Pueblo)
• Nagwetch - Wabanag
• Nature Dance - Joanne Shenandoah (Oneida)
• North Wind - Flying Down Thunder & Rise Ashen (Algonquin)
• To Touch The Sky - Cal Silverfox Lopez (Apache)

NATIVE HEART

• Big City Indians – May You Walk
• Cornell Kinderknecht and Martin McCall - Dreamtime
• Lex Nichols – The Long Road
• Peter Phippen – Sacred Spaces
• Emiliano Campobello & Kevin Donoho - Rockapelli
• Terry Frazier - By The Still Waters

PREMIERE: Stream Silver Jackson's New Album "Starry Skies Opened Eyes"

Silver Jackson's remarkable new album, Starry Skies Opened Eyes, bursts with life and an artful spirit of experimentation. Welcome to the future-now sounds of Indigenous expansion.

Silver Jackson is the musical alias of multi-talented Tlingit/Aleut artist Nicholas Galanin, whose recent adoption into the rising art and music collective known as the Black Constellation represents both a bold progression of the "expanding now" he is developing alongside his interstellar kin—Shabazz Palaces, Erik Blood, THEESatisfaction, OC Notes, Nep Sidhu, Khalil Joseph and Maikoyo Alley-Barnes—and an emergent model of creative collaboration and community.

Starry Skies Opened Eyes, Jackson's second album, is an effortless evolution of his style and aesthetic, where electronic-inflected, acoustic folk experiments abound with clever melodic turns and spiralling harmonies, fading and swimming through percussive clicks, crackles, and looping rhythms.

Recorded over a three year period that saw Jackson narrowly escape death in a hunting accident, the album traces his path to newfound perspectives "on life through love and gratitude...friends and family".

Starry Skies Opened Eyes is a record of resonance, transformation and re-emergence—of Jackson "losing [himself] in the blackness between light", drifting through dark horizons, reflecting the sky. This introspective illumination unfolds in a dream-like flow of cosmia, echoing out over the album's 11 tracks.

From the ambient swirl of the album's title track, "Starry Skies Opened Eyes", to the implicit critique of colonialism expressed in "Lanáalx" (the Tlingit word for "wealthy"), Starry Skies Opened Eyes is suffused with a restless spirit of interconnected being. Jackson traverses the shifting sonics of this polyvocal landscape with melodic dialogue textured by a host of collaborators, including Samantha Crain, OCnotes, Benjamin Verdoes, Jesse Hughey, Erik Blood, and Catherine Harris-White.

As the album's loping, final track "From Another World" arrives, with the hopeful prose of guest vocalist THEESatisfaction's "Cat" (Harris-White), it becomes clear that this is "rugged unexplored terrain / yet the rain still washes it anew".

Starry Skies Opened Eyes is a brilliant addition to the expanding universe of the Black Constellation and a bright spark in dark times. It is the sound of a future-now, where Indigenous presence is an act of creation, continually being renewed.

Stream Silver Jackson's "Starry Skies Opened Eyes"

Starry Skies Opened Eyes is available for pre-order now and will be officially released on November 14, 2014.

DOWNLOAD: Lil' Vicious - 'Glock' (A Tribe Called Red Remix)

Once again, A Tribe Called Red show you how it's done. Check their killer remix of the Lil' Vicious track "Glock".

Who knew that ATCR could flip an unassuming joint from "former child reggae rapper" (and Doug E. Fresh protégé) Lil' Vicious' 1994 debut album Destination Brooklyn, into a 2014 dancefloor-destroying exercise in booty-shakin' bass music?

The track appeared yesterday as part in conjunction with "Bouncin’ Bush Stew 4 Mixtape"—a new collab between ATCR, Blondtron and Prince Zimboo:

Bouncin’ Bush Stews are inedible bowls of sound from from America’s Top Iron Deficient Chef, Samantha Blondtron and Africa’s most famous lover, Prince Zimboo. They are a celebration of pan-global butt music, friendship and silliness, brought together by the brilliant art of Vincent Parker. This fourth installment features Canada’s most huggable deejays (as voted by Raver Weekly, a Canadian EDM magazine that does not exist.) A Tribe Called Red!

Quoth the crew:

A Tribe Called Red!

Where maple syrup drips they are bred now bob your head or to lions you shall be fed. Grab a bowl of stew with your clique practice your twerk technique Just relax your bumcheek HEH!

Blessings to you and the crew! from Blondtron, A Tribe Called Red and Prince Zimboo!

Enjoy.

DOWNLOAD: Lil Vicious - "Glock" (ATCR Remix)

And for kicks, here's the "Bouncin' Bush Stew 4" Mixtape for your rump-shaking pleasure:

Pat Boy: Mayan Rap is Bringing the Culture Back

All over the globe, Indigenous MCs and hip-hop artists are using the furious force of rhymes to express, represent and revitalize their original languages and cultures. And Mayan MCs, like 22-year-old Pat Boy, are no exception.

For Pat Boy and other artists building the burgeoning Mayan hip-hop scene in the Yucatán Peninsula, rap is a way to bring Indigenous language and culture to a wider audience and for Mayan artists to recover a deeper sense of their own indigeneity. "Through rapping in Maya," Pat Boy says,  "I better understand my culture".

The Indigenous music renaissance is making it not only acceptable, but cool for native artists to represent themselves and their culture — and the resurgent wave is spreading beyond Turtle Island. By Pat Boy's count, at least 40 rappers are following in his footsteps—and people of all ages are coming to his shows. As he stated in a recent interview, "Old people like it for the language. Young people like it for the genre."

Rap keeps bringing it back. "Interviews tell us that 'the Maya collapsed'", he says, "which is a lie because the Mayans are here, just evolved and doing new things".

To get a better sense of where he's coming from and why is music is resonating so deeply with his audience and fellow Natives, we did a quick google translate of a Spanish-language interview Pat Boy recently did with VICE Mexico (so excuse the crude algorithmic translation) where he talks about his introduction to hip-hop and how the community has responded to his music:

INTERVIEWER: Hi, Pat Boy, you come from a community where the Mayan language is spoken, what was your first introduction to hip-hop? Pat Boy:  Yes, the Mayan language is the first thing you learn as a child, I am native of my native José María Pino Suárez. My first approach to hip-hop was thanks to my brother, as he traveled to complete his studies in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, and every time he returned to my village he had CDs and videos of singers like Kinto Sol, Akwid, Control Machete, Vico C and rappers from abroad like 50 Cent, Lil Jon, Cam'ron, Lil Wayne, etc.. From there we started rapping and writing our own songs, then bought a computer from the old ladies in which you could only record 60 seconds and so we started making our own rolas rapping in Spanish.

And where does the name Pat Boy come from? From the Pat out of my last name, which in Mayan means to shape something or create something new.

What did people in your community think when you told them you wanted to be a rapper? Many people laughed at me and made ​​fun of what I was doing, said I had nothing to do, that I would not get anywhere, but at that time they had not heard what I sang. Now when I took my first album, titled In Ya'ax xin baal, my people began to identify with the phrases of a song called "U kuxtáal mayaoob" (Maya lives), which speaks of the current life of the campesinos.

Read the rest of the interview (original in Spanish)

With a legion of fans, and inspiring his fellow Natives to reclaim their culture, Pat Boy seems an appropriate ambassador for hip-hop as a revitalizing force:

my songs tell a little of everything, of me and what I see happening every day, how life changes in Mayan villages technology, pollution and acculturation. I talk about peasant life, how we have to get up early to go to work in the fields, go out and find other ways to live because the land no longer gives crops. I also sing about the holidays, customs of each people, always encouraging young people to do something positive. Tell them all we can achieve what ever we want and when we work and maintain humility, respect and peace. Anywhere you go you should not forget where you come from, your people and blood in your veins.

At 22, Pat Boy is already three albums deep, has multiple videos posted on his YouTube channel, and his SoundCloud is constantly being updated with new joints. We've highlighted the video for a feel-good crew track "DECIRTE TODO", which features El Maya & El Poeta & Victor Santo Barrio, and a recent Clipse-style minimalist rap track "PLASMANDO MIS RIMAS" that's available as a free download.

Hip-hop is the force, Indigenous experience is the spirit. And through both we keep revitalizing ourselves, one beat at a time.

DOWNLOAD: PAT BOY - "PLASMANDO MIS RIMAS"

WATCH: PAT BOY - "DECIRTE TODO"

WATCH PAT BOY INTERVIEW + FREESTYLE IN MAYAN:

Listen to The Outer Reaches Mixtape: Inside the Sounds of Tanya Tagaq

How much do you know about Tanya Tagaq's music? To celebrate #MixtapeMonday, we take you inside the epic and artful career of the acclaimed Inuk artist with The Outer Reaches—an exclusive compilation that explores her ever-evolving auditory experiments and creative collaborations.  

If it wasn't already eminently clear, Tanya Tagaq is at the visceral vanguard of the Indigenous music renaissance.

Reactions to Tagaq’s win of the 2014 Polaris Prize have been overwhelmingly positive and celebratory. Over at Maclean’s, where Michael Barclay celebrates the “wonderfully weird” nature of the Polaris Prize, he argues that Tagaq is heavier than most metal bands:

Tagaq is not for the faint of heart. Tagaq creates great beauty and great destruction all at once, one woman embodying our relationship with the natural world. Of course, this all sounds ridiculous on paper (or pixels). Until you actually experience what it is she does.

We decided to celebrate Tagaq’s groundbreaking win with a retrospective mixtape exploring her work with many artistic collaborators, so that our readers can experience the outer reaches and incredible breadth of Tagaq’s musical universe.

The mixtape begins with a track from the first recording in her discography, the 2003 Iluani release Erren, which features Ugarte Anaiak and Ganesh Anandan on percussion, and the late, great Canadian fiddler Oliver Schroer. Collaborating with string players is an ongoing theme in Tagaq’s catalogue and, in this mix, we also hear from her current bandmate and producer, violinist Jesse Zubot, and her past bandmate (and RPM regular), cellist Cris Derksen.

Longtime Tagaq collaborator, Vancouver-based DJ and producer Michael Red, who often cross-pollinates electronic productions with Indigenous artists, drops a dub remix of Digging Roots’  Rebel, from their 2006 debut release Seeds, which Red re-released in support of Idle No More.

Joining Tagaq on stage at the Polaris Prize gala were bandmate, drummer, and producer Jean Martin, and The Element Choir directed by Christine Duncan. We hear an early release from the Jean Martin Trio’s 1999 recording Get Together Weather, and an excerpt from The Element Choir’s debut 2009 release At Rosedale United.

As evidenced in her incredible live performances, vocal experimentation is a central theme running through all of Tagaq’s work and in her work with artistic peers. She joined legendary and iconoclastic rock singer Mike Patton on “Fire ~ Ikuma” from her 2008 sophomore release AUK/BLOOD.

No Tagaq mixtape would be complete without hearing from the incomparable Björk, who helped launch Tagaq’s career on the world stage. Tagaq’s unique brand of throat singing can be heard throughout the opening track of Björk’s 2004 release Medúlla, “Pleasure is all Mine".

We conclude the mixtape with the closing track of Animism, “Fracking.” Social advocacy is a strong current throughout Tagaq’s work, which she openly addressed on stage at the Polaris gala, by projecting the names of missing and murdered Indigenous women, defending the traditional and sustainable Inuit seal hunt, and in this haunting track, embodying the environmental devastation caused by fracking. There is no separation in her music between aesthetics, politics, cultural practice, and raw experimentation.

As she has said, "what we're making right now is going to be the new tradition".

So open your senses, release your spirit, listen close, and dive deep into this expansive acoustic world.

The Outer Reaches: Tanya Tagaq Mixtape - 

Tracklist

1. Iluani - "Half Way Up the Mountain" (Erren, 2003) 2. Jesse Zubot - "Sundowning Part 2" (Dementia, 2006) 3. Björk - "Pleasure is all Mine" (Medulla, 2004) 4. Digging Roots - Rebel - Mred remix version (Michael Red, 2008) 5. Tagaq - Surge (Sinaa, 2005) 6. Cris Derksen - Dark Dance (The Collapse, 2013) 7. Tagaq - Fire ~ Ikuma (feat. Mike Patton, AUK/BLOOD, 2008) 8. Jean Martin Trio - Get Together Weather (Get Together Weather, 1999) 9. The Element Choir - Cloud Hands (excerpt, fr. The Element Choir at Rosedale United, 2009) 10. Tagaq - Fracking (Animism, 2014)

Listen to City Natives' new album Red City

Rising east coast hip-hop crew City Natives are back with Red City, a new album of aggressive and confident hip-hop.

Following the swagger and sway of their potent 2013 debut, 4 Kingz, the quartet of MC/producers Beaatz, IllFundz, Gearl and BnE return with a continuation of their established artistic vision: to bring back the boom bap of 90s-era hip-hop classics and spin it effortlessly forward into 21st century stories of struggle and survival.

Red City storms through your speakers over ten tracks of rap bravado.

As the seamless pass-and-trade verses of the four MCs lock into position against a sonic backdrop of triumphant loops and memorable hooks, City Natives call out haters, celebrate their ascendance, and claim dominance over all rivals and competition.

With production duties on the record expertly handled by Beaatz, Juliano, and Grant Keddy, Red City paints a vibrant portrait of the living spirit of Indigenous hip-hop claiming its rightful place in the present.

STREAM: City Natives - "Red City"