Artist Call: Market Builder Residency for Aboriginal Artists and Industry

The deadline is this Thursday for the Aboriginal Music Program's new Market Builder Residency! It's an exciting opportunity for artist development, both creatively and professionally. 

The Market Builder Residency (a partnership between Manitoba Music and the Canada Council for the Arts) will provide export-ready artists and up to five mid-career industry with a week of networking and development opportunities in Toronto, Canada (you must hold a valid Canadian passport and be of First Nation, Métis, or Inuit ancestry to apply.)

The Aboriginal Music Program provides fantastic support for artists through AMP Camp, Native America North showcases, their new AMP Sessions video series, and more. This new residency is geared towards mid-career artists and industry, which can be a challenging territory to navigate.

The residency will run February 9-13, 2015 and each day will consist of round table discussions, self-directed mentor sessions, networking dinners, and meetings with established labels, music media, and managers.

See details below and apply at http://www.manitobamusic.com/mbuilder-artists.

Submission guidelines from aboriginalmusic.ca:

Important Dates November 20: Submission deadline November 24: Invitations sent to successful applicants December 2: Registration deadline (registration fee due in full) December 4: Participants announced

Roundtrip economy fights (if needed), accommodations, ground transportation, and some meals will be provided for participants.

It is free to apply. A registration fee of $150 ($75 for members of music industry associations) will be required from all artists and industry who are invited to participate.

Artists considered for this opportunity must:

• Have a history of at least eight paid performances each year that stretches back a minimum of three years (i.e. October 2011 to October 2014)
• Have a significant regional profile as demonstrated by album reviews and/or artist profiles in print and online media
• Have a professional website that features high resolution promotional photographs, quality video content, booking information, and links to social media page
• Have a minimum of 14 recorded songs available for purchase or free download online
• Be of First Nation, Métis, or Inuit ancestry
• Be a solo artist or the band member responsible for the majority of business operations and networking
• Have attended at least one music industry conference outside of their home city or community in the past three years (i.e. October 2011 to October 2014)
• Be registered with SOCAN
• Have a valid Canadian passport
• Be 18 years of age or older

Industry professionals considered for this opportunity must:

• Have a signed contract that identifies you as the manager, agent, publicist, publisher, or label for at least one music artist (self-managed artists and radio hosts do not qualify)
• Be dedicated to building a career in the music industry as demonstrated by conference attendance, music industry association membership, and business-related accomplishments
• Have a business registered
• Be of First Nation, Métis, or Inuit ancestry
• Have a valid Canadian passport
• Be 18 years of age or older

To submit, fill out the appropriate submission form online at the link below (artists must also update their websites for the jury):

• www.manitobamusic.com/mbuilder-artists
• www.manitobamusic.com/mbuilder-industry
• Artists must update their websites with the following:
  • Current music (an embedded player from SoundCloud is preferred)
  • A biography that focuses on your music
  • Current high resolution promotional photographs (300 dpi) that presenters and media can download

Artist submissions will be evaluated based on:

• Music
• Creative goals
• Business goals
• Profile ,as demonstrated by album reviews and/or media coverage and online media
• Website quality

Industry professional submission will be evaluated based on:

• Business goals
• Dedication to building a career in the music industry as demonstrated by conference attendance, music industry association membership, and experience
• The success of the applicant’s client(s) as demonstrated by regional profile, performance history, and music-related accomplishments

Submissions will be rejected if incomplete.

For more information, please contact:

Alan Greyeyes, Aboriginal Music Program Manager Manitoba Music P: 204.975.0284 E: alan@manitobamusic.com

Stream Thelma Plum's "Young in Love" (Yosi Horikawa Remix)

Chiba-based producer Yosi Horikawa adds nature sounds and a touch of magic to this deft remix of Thelma Plum's "Young in Love".

Thelma Plum's "Young in Love" was already a great, haunting slice of pop noir with a video to match, but Japanese sound artist Yosi Horikawa's remix elevates the tune in unexpected ways.

Known for his sonic deployment of everyday objects like table tennis balls, kalimbas, shakers, and insects in his electronic compositions, Horikawa leaves Plum's melody intact, but suffuses the track with the warm and welcoming acoustic atmospherics of nature sounds—thunderstorms, falling rain and bird song—mixed with synthesized bubbling beats and electronic currents.

Tasteful, delicate, beautiful, compelling listening.

Stream Thelma Plum's "Young in Love" (Yosi Horikawa Remix)

Native American Music Awards 2014 Winners

The 15th Annual Native American Music Awards were held November 14th at the Seneca Allegany Events Center. Here is the complete list of this year's winners.

The Native American Music Awards celebrate an incredible diversity of Indigenous artists in over 30 categories of music, spoken word and historical recordings.

This year's winners included Mato Nanji (of the group Indigenous) for Artist of the Year, A Tribe Called Red, who took home Best Music Video for the song "Sisters" featuring Northern Voice, The Ollivanders who won Best Rock Recording, Bear Fox for Songwriter of the Year, Sihasin for Debut Group of Year, Leah Shenandoah for Debut Artist of the Year, and many others. Check the complete list of winners below.

Native American Music Awards 2014 Winners 

Artist of the Year: Mato Nanji, Vanishing Americans

Best Blues Recording: Vanishing Americans, Indigenous

Best Compilation Recording: Don’t Let Me Forget, Kelly Montijo Fink

Best Country Recording: Woman Of Red, Tracy Bone

Debut Artist of the Year: Leah Shenandoah, Spektra

Debut Group of the Year: Sihasin, Never Surrender

Best Female Artist: Rita Coolidge, A Rita Coolidge Christmas

Best Folk Recording: Keeper of the Dreams, Red Feather Woman

Flutist of the Year: Rona Yellow Robe, The Gathering

Best Inspirational Recording: Grace & Grit: Chapter I, Dark Water Rising

Group of the Year: Plenty Wolf Singers, Medicine Wolf

Best Historical/Linguistic Recording: Heart of the Buffalo, Richard Stepp & Rick McKee

Best Instrumental Recording: The Long Journey Home, Ryan Little Eagle Molina

Best Male Artist: Jimmy Wolf, A Tribute To Little Johnny Taylor

Best Native American Church Recording: Apache Peyote Songs, Joe Tohonnie Jr

Best New Age Recording: Bridge, Rushingwind & Mucklow

Best Pop Recording: Day After Day, Jamie Coon

Best Pow Wow Recording: Stoic, Tha Tribe

Best Producer: Kevin Chief, Honoring The Mazinikijik Singers

Best Rap Hip Hop Recording: One Tribe One Nation, The Council

Record of the Year: Romanze Songs of Tosti, Lawrence Harris

Best Rock Recording: Two Sons, The Ollivanders

Song of the Year: Witchi Tai-To – Water Spirits, Shadowyze, Caren Knight Pepper and Jim Pepper

Songwriter of the Year: Theresa "Bear" Fox, Diamond

Best Spoken Word Recording: Grandfather Speaks, Ken Quiet Hawk

Best Traditional Recording: Spirit of Thunderheart, Rising

Best Music Video: Sisters ft Northern Voice, A Tribe Called Red

Best Waila Recording: In Loving Memory of Our Beloved Father & Uncle, Family Pride

Best World Music Recording: Nature Dance, Joanne Shenandoah

Native Heart: Lex Nichols, The Long Road

Lifetime Achievement: Jim Boyd

Rising Star: Gareth Laffely

For more information visit: nativeamericanmusicawards.com

BEST MUSIC VIDEO WINNER: A Tribe Called Red's "Sisters (ft. Northern Voice)"

DOWNLOAD: Inez Jasper's "Fallen Soldiers (feat. Fawn Wood & Marty Ballentyne)"

Hot off her incredible success with Rebel Music: Native America, Stó:lō artist Inez Jasper releases an acoustic version of "Fallen Soldiers". 

As if being featured on MTV World's Rebel Music this week weren't a big enough reason to check out her music, Inez Jasper has released a beautiful acoustic version of "Fallen Soldiers" as a preview of her upcoming acoustic album version of the 2013 release, Burn Me Down.

Where the original rocked Inez's R&B-inflected pop swagger with Indigenous ease, this acoustic arrangement—featuring Marty Ballentyne on guitar and the haunting vocals of Fawn Wood in the chorus—leaves plenty of room for Inez's voice to shine.

If you don't know about Indigenous music, now's the time.

Listen to Inez Jasper - "Fallen Soldiers (feat. Fawn Wood and Marty Ballentyne)"

"Fallen Soldiers" is available for free download at www.inezjasper.com

Watch Leonard Sumner Perform 'Best of Me' on AMP Sessions

Manitoba Music kicked off a fantastic new video series this week, AMP Sessions, with a spotlight on Anishinaabe artist Leonard Sumner. 

Leonard Sumner has been working hard the past few years, steadily spreading his rezpoetry and song to and more inspired ears and hearts. This year he won an Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Award for Best New Artist and the Winnipeg Arts Council's On the Rise Award, and recently opened for A Tribe Called Red at The Danforth Music Hall in Toronto.

Meanwhile, Manitoba Music's Aboriginal Music Program has launched a month long weekly feature of live performance videos by four acclaimed acts, the first being Mr. Sumner himself.

I've seen Leonard perform this song a number of times over the past few years - it is definitely one of my faves - and I think it's perfectly captured here by director Chris Gaudry at Winnipeg's Bedside Studios.

AMP Sessions will rollout on Wednesdays for three more weeks and "Best of Me" is from Sumner's 2013 album Rezpoetry. Get it on iTunes and watch it now.

Leonard Sumner - "Best of Me"

STREAM: Aspects - "What You Get Now (ft. Ghostface Killah & Cody Coyote)"

This international hip-hop collab between Aspects, Ghostface Killah and Indigenous up-and-comer, Cody Coyote, brings out some head-knockin' ice cold battle flows.

Ottawa-based Indigenous hip-hop artist Cody Coyote's been making a name for himself since dropping his "Warrior" single at the height of Idle No More. He's been making moves in the rap game, opening for established acts and collaborating with some hip-hop heavyweights.

Likely the most prominent and hype of these collabs is his recent contribution to the Snowgoons-produced Aspects track, which finds Coyote holding his own to next one of the illest MCs of all time, the Wu's very own Ghostface Killah.

Listen to them burn it down in classic boom bap formation.

STREAM: Aspects - "What You Get Now (feat. Ghostface Killah & Cody Coyote)"

Get more of Cody Coyote's music on YouTube and Facebook.

Watch the Anime-tastic Video for Princess Nokia's, "Nokia"

Princess Nokia drops an anime-laden video for her ethereal, cyber-R&B track, "Nokia".

Comic-Con, anime and cosplay obsessed Taino artist, Princess Nokia, is back with new visuals for her dreamy electronic track "Nokia"—and the video features a swirling cascade of her favourite neon images and sugary pop influences.

As the owwwls-produced, Nokia ringtone-sampling beat swirls around her, Princess Nokia kicks back with her homies amidst piles of iridescent pillows, floating metallic butterflies, sparkly hair clips, spinning candy-coloured iBooks, red-lit staircases, robotic dogs, and Genetix comics, while freeform cuts and samples from anime Michiko to Hatchin, Japanese video games, and the old Nickelodeon sitcom Taina spin out this "holographic fantasy".

Surefire in her late 90s/early-new millenial futuristic throwback stance, "Nokia" finds the "supernatural princess" right in her element.

Watch Princess Nokia, "Nokia"

DOWNLOAD: Princess Nokia's "Nokia"

Download Boogey the Beat's Live DJ Set for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

Winnipeg-based beatsmith and producer Boogey the Beat drops a new live DJ mix dedicated to helping raise awareness about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. RPM sat down with him to talk about the mix, music and addressing the issue head-on.

RPM: First off, thanks for the mix and for taking the time do this interview. For those that don't know your work, can you please introduce yourself and what nation you're from?

Boogey The Beat: I am an Anishinaabe DJ and music producer coming to you from Winnipeg, Canada. My family is originally from Berens River, Manitoba – Treaty 5 Territory!

What inspired you to make this mix specifically focusing on the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women? How have you been affected by the issue?

I was approached by a good friend of mine to put together some music for a fundraising event on the issue of MMIW in Canada. Since that gig I’ve been asked to do a couple of other events with the same set, so people are digging it, which is great. I come from a family of strong Indigenous women, so to see so many of our sisters go missing is an issue that needs to be addressed head-on. Anything I can do to help to create more awareness is a priority for me.

How did you choose the samples and tracks for the mix?

I went in to the studio with a pretty clear idea of which direction I wanted the mix to go in. I really wanted to incorporate traditional Indigenous music with some current Hip Hop and Trap music. It took me one night to create the whole piece, which is about 10 minutes long. It was definitely one of those things that took on a spirit of its own.

What can people expect to hear in the mix? Can you give us a breakdown of the tracks you included?

The introduction of the track starts with various samples taken from different news sources. The issue of MMIW in Canada has been all over the news lately, so it really gives people a sense of the situation before getting into the actual music portion. The next track burrows a sample from the track “Baby Girl” by SoloCree. I really wanted to keep the heart of that track so I didn’t add too much but some more drum samples into the mix.

Next I added a Mayer Hawthorne track featuring Kendrick Lamar called “Crime (Vice Remix)”, and thought it would be dope to give it an Indigenous flavor. At the time I was listening to this one track on YouTube called “The Best Powwow Song I Heard In A Long Time”, and the tempo was perfect to blend with the Kendrick track. It’s funny because the guy’s name is Daniel who sings that song, and I sat with him beside the drum a couple months before while he gave me a few singing pointers. The next track starts with a vocal sample from Tanya Tagaq explaining the basic concept of throat singing. I knew I wanted to incorporate more than just hand drum songs, and thought sampling some Inuit throat singing would be dope. The actual beat to follow uses a sample from throat singers Kathy Keknek and Janet Aglukkaq. The piece finishes off with my own take on the classic “Indian Car” by the legend Keith Secola. I wanted to give this track more of a party vibe, if that is at all possible.

Many Indigenous artists are using their work to bring attention to this issue, like Tanya Tagaq and isKwé through music, and the Walking With Our Sisters 'exhibition' of beaded moccasin vamps organized by Métis visual artist Christi Belcourt. What role do you think art and music can play in the struggle to end gender violence?

Art and music have the ability to bring people together, no matter what race or background you come from. I believe music is the language of the universe. As artists, I believe all of our talents are gifts from the Creator. It is our job to use these gifts for good, and to shed light on the many different issues we face not only as Indigenous people, but people all across the world.

Do you have any plans to perform it live? Can we expect an MMIW Benefit Concert any time soon?

Since the first time I performed this set, I’ve been fortunate enough to be asked to perform it at a couple of upcoming events. The first is a concert and art auction called “Standing In Unity” in support of MMIW. It takes place on November 23 at The Graffiti Gallery in Winnipeg and features a great line-up of performers and artists. Tickets for this event can be purchased at EventBrite.ca and all proceeds go directly to the Coalition for Families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women of Manitoba. The next gig I got booked is for the annual Graffiti Art Programming and Art City fundraiser. It takes place on November 29 at The Goodwill here in Winnipeg.

What other Indigenous artists and musicians are inspiring you right now?

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a lot of extremely talented Indigenous artists and musicians along my journey as a DJ and producer. As of right now, I’ve been listening to a lot of Burnt-Project 1, Digging Roots, and A Tribe Called Red. I got to give a shout out to the people who gave me chance to showcase my music since the beginning: Wab Kinew, Young Kidd, CTL Records, Heatbag Records, and Dave Boulanger.

What are you working on next?

I’m currently finishing up my Education degree at the University of Manitoba, just recently became a new father, and launched my official website at BoogeyTheBeat.com, so I’ve been keeping busy. I’ve also been collaborating with Burnt-Project 1 to get a new project in the works. My main goal is to get as much music as I can out there, whether it be through beat production, DJ’ing, or just collaborating with different artists.

DOWNLOAD: Boogey the Beat's Live DJ Set for MMIW 

Watch the Live DJ Set:

For more of Boogey's music visit BoogeyTheBeat.com and follow him on Twitter and SoundCloud.

PREMIERE: Blue King Brown's "Born Free" - Album Stream

In an already incredible week for Indigenous music, Blue King Brown drops Born Free, a strong contender for album of the year. RPM is very excited to bring you an exclusive first listen.

Calling on all nations to 'rize up' and be counted, Blue King Brown's new album Born Free is an uplifting and powerful soundtrack to global struggles for freedom and unity.

Riding the wave of their massive lead singles, "Rize Up" and "All Nations", the anticipation for their new album has been building for almost a year. And by all counts, it's been worth the wait. Born Free is easily BKB's most accomplished album to date.

Production on the new album is handled by Styalz Fuego, Notis, Mista Savona, James ‘Bonzai’ Caruso, and Chris Macro, and was recorded at the legendary Tuff Gong studios in Kingston, Jamaica and studios in Melbourne, Australia. As lead singer Natalie Pa'apa'a (newly dubbed Natalli Rize) says: "After spending most of the year in studio mode and off the road, we are proud to be bringing our new album...to the world, and returning to the stage with the full force live show".

BKB already has a reputation as one of Australia's premiere live acts, and the songs on Born Free demand to be heard on a huge sound system—performed live to a massive mob of freedom fighting warriors.

From chanting down the evils of Babylon on "Rize Up" and "Renegade", to calling for love, unity and change in the deep grooves of "Fyah", "Like A Lion", and "Babylon A Fall", Born Free sounds out hope and possibility at every turn.

Righteous without being preachy, optimistic without being naïve, Blue King Brown's unique mix of urban roots, dancehall, reggae and rock flows effortlessly through an album with no missing pieces and no weak links.

Powered by the clarion call of Natalli Rize's voice, Born Free is a wake up call to sleeping masses lost in a world of manipulation and continuous distraction. Like Rize says, on the album's closing track: "If you have a conscience / you should know just how to use it".

Blue King Brown is leading by example. Born Free is fire.

Stream Blue King Brown's "Born Free" 

Check out the video for their latest single "All Nations", filmed in the jungle and streets of Vanuatu and Melbourne, in solidarity and support for the West Papuan struggle for self-determination and freedom.

Download "Born Free" from bluekingbrown.com and follow them on Twitter, Instagram, and SoundCloud.

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

Rebel Music: Listen to the Revolutionary Sounds of Native America

Rebel Music premieres with Native America, a high profile showcase of Indigenous musicians and artists making waves in the music scene and change in their communities.

To celebrate and showcase the artists featured in the "Native America" episode, which premiered November 13th on Rebel Music's Facebook and MTV World, we've put together a playlist that includes all of the artists featured in the episode—Frank Waln, Inez Jasper, Naát'áaníí Means, and Mike Cliff (aka WITKO), plus a few additional highlights from our roster of amazing Indigenous artists.

The Indigenous music renaissance is here. The revolution is just getting started.

Listen to #RebelMusic: The Revolutionary Sounds of Native America

Here's the full track listing for #RebelMusic: The Revolutionary Sounds of Native America.

1. Nataani Means - "0 to 100 (Remix)"
2. Frank Waln - "AbOriginal"
3. Tall Paul and $kywalker - "Dual Self"
4. Wahwahtay Benais - "Caught in the Struggle"
5. Supaman - "Prayer Loop Song"
6. A Tribe Called Red - "Electric Pow Wow Drum"
7. Inez Jasper - "Dancin On the Run (Boogey the Beat Remix)"
8. Scatter Their Own - "Earth and Sky"
9. Lord Witko - "Robbery"
10. Wake Self & DJ Young Native - "Brand New"
11. Frank Waln - "Born on the Rez"
12. Redskin - "So You A"
13. Stryk 9 - "Rize (My People) ft. Mista Chief & 28 tha Native"
14. Inez Jasper - "The Takeover (ft Jon-C)"
15. A Tribe Called Red - "The Road"
16. Shub - "No Delayin"
17. Inez Jasper - "Make You Mine (A Tribe Called Red Remix)"

Season 2 of Rebel Music premieres with “Native America” via Facebook on Thursday, November 13 At 4:00 PM ET/ 1:00 PM PT followed by additional airings across Viacom Networks mtvU, MTV2, and Centric. Following the episode, additional digital and educational content will be available online at rebelmusic.com.

MTV World's Rebel Music Rocks 'Native America'

MTV World's music documentary series Rebel Music kicks off its second season with the voices of Turtle Island's original peoples—the revolutionary sounds of "Native America". 

What does it mean to be Indigenous in the 21st century? More importantly, what does it sound like?

These are questions we've been asking since RPM started and every day we see the evidence all around us. Native artists are everywhere—making incredible music, building community, raising each other up, raising awareness, and kicking ass.

That's what the Indigenous Music Renaissance is all about.

And we're not the only ones who can see that Indigenous artists are the ones innovating, experimenting and leading the way forward. Like A Tribe Called Red's Bear Witness reminds us, "Our culture has always grown, our culture has always adapted. We're trying to get everybody else to catch up with where our culture is today."

Enter MTV World's Rebel Music—a Shepard Fairey-exec produced experiment in soundtracking the rebellious spirit and creative innovation of artists around the world who are driving political change by raising their voices in song:

The anthems of protest rise up in underground punk-rock shows in Yangon. Revolutionary hip-hop in the barrios of Caracas. Drumbeats in Istanbul street protests. The pulse of electronic dance music across Native American communities in North America. The soundtrack is global. And the noise is amplifying as youth connect with each other, onstage and online, and find their collective strength to ignite change for the future on a surge of sound and ideas.

After a globe-spinning circuit in its first season (now available on Netflix), Rebel Music returns with a whole new set of adventures in sonic revolution. But before looking out to resistances elsewhere, the show turned its focus to the lands on which America was founded, and the Indigenous nations and peoples of Turtle Island who continue their struggles to be seen and heard.

In the season premiere, "Native America", Rebel Music follows Frank Waln, Inez Jasper, Naát'áaníí Means, and Mike Cliff (aka "Witko")—leading voices and rising stars of a new generation of Indigenous artists that are actively contesting stereotypes, challenging power, and claiming the right to tell their own stories, on their own terms. Meet the artists from the episode.

But, as we know, the conversation doesn't and shouldn't end there. The "Native America" episode comes fully loaded with additional digital content from across the NDN spectrum, including: interviews with A Tribe Called Red, clips of Supaman's now legendary "Prayer Loop Song", features on the 'Native Warhol' Steven Paul Judd, comedy crew the 1491s, photographer Matika Wilbur, and Lakota rock duo Scatter Their Own.

Which is as it should be.

For Indigenous Peoples, art, culture, activism, and resistance are inextricably linked. And our presence and music are here to stay.

Everybody else, time to catch up.

Listen to Rebel Music: The Revolutionary Sounds of Native America

UPDATE: Watch the Full Extended Episode of Rebel Music | Native America: 7th Generation Rises  

Season 2 of Rebel Music premiered with "Native America" via Facebook and YouTube. Additional digital and educational content is also available at rebelmusic.com.