Windspeaker Talks with Brendt Thomas Diabo

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Brendt Thomas Diabo is a country/rock/folk artist from the Mohawk Nation in Kahnawake, Quebec. Diabo talked with Windspeaker recently about battling stage fright, recording his new EP, and what next to expect from the talented young artist.

From Windspeaker's article Mohawk musician making it on his own by Lauren McComber:

Right from the start, Brendt Thomas Diabo doubted his pursuit of a solo music career. It was April 2011, and he had just started recording songs for his solo music project called Thomas Doubting.

It wasn’t that he lacked the musical talent – he has plenty – or that he suffers from stage fright. It’s just that, as Diabo puts it, it is simply in his nature to doubt. Hence the name, Thomas Doubting.

“It was sort of an experiment for me. I was mainly just testing the waters to see if I could do this,” confessed Diabo, a 21- year-old musician from the Mohawk Nation of Kahnawake.

With his tentative first steps into the Indie music scene of Montreal, Diabo promised himself that if he didn’t reach a certain goal by the age of 22 (to tour outside of Montreal), he would just “stop the whole pursuit and grow up.”

Personally, I would say that 22 is far too young to give up on a professional and creative pursuit, not to mention to "grow up", but setting goals is surely a great way to move forward and happily it's working well for Diabo:

With his 22nd birthday just two months away, Diabo doesn’t see himself giving up anytime soon. He is recording his second EP - which has already yielded a bluesy number called Ride – and has some potential gigs in the works opening up for a well known Aboriginal musician.

“Where I wanted to be last year is now where I’m at this year,” said Diabo. “It’s taken a lot of time, money, and dedication to get the ball rolling, but with my new EP being recorded I have a lot more confidence in myself and my music. I’d like to see how far I could take this one.”

So would we! Keep it up Thomas Doubting, we look forward to more!

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Read the whole interview for more with Diabo, about watching Elvis movies, listening to Led Zepplin and following his own advice, here: ammsa.com/publications/windspeaker/mohawk-musician-making-it-his-own.

Watch his cover of Midnight at the Movies below to get you started, then be sure to download his free  EP Haunted for free at mediafire.com/?jhp7sjl83vi2763.

DJ Budda Blaze Cuts It Up For 20 Years & Beyond

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Kahnawake’s DJ Budda Blaze shares some insight with RPM about being a radio and Hiphop DJ for the past two decades with K103.7FM out of Kahnawake in the Mohawk territory as well as letting us know about his musical past, present and future.

We got a chance to sit down with DJ Budda Blaze a.k.a. Akwirenhtha (Falling Tree) to talk about his 20-year journey through music and radio as a DJ for the K103.7 FM radio station based out of Kahnewake in Quebec, Canada. In addition to his radio and DJ endeavours, he has honed himself as a hiphop producer for his group FBI and Canadian rap legend D-Shade. We spoke to DJ Budda Blaze via Skype just before his next gig in Ottawa where he will fill in for A Tribe Called Red at the Electric Powwow event this weekend.

Be sure to check out DJ Budda Blaze's Night School Radio Podcast at his website Buddablaze.com

Do you have an artist you would like to hear or see in our interview series? Drop us a line to: info@rpm.fm 

Kahnawake Powwow 2011: Photos and Video

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It's #PowwowWednesday! And to quote kahsennanoron, "holy people & technology are fast". The day after the 2011 Kahnawake Powwow took place in Kahnawake, Quebec, hundreds of photos and, so far, over twenty videos have popped up online.

For those of us who can't make it out to the powwows, the abundant documenting of these gatherings gives us a sense of being there - at least the senses of sight and sound are sated. If anyone can get the smells online, let me know. The immediacy connects us too - knowing these photos were just taken, the drum seems to still reverberate in the background.

Some of the best photos can be found on southshorecommunity's flickr set.

Here's the grand entry:

Thank you to everyone who captures these moments!

Hoka! Mohawk Nation represent...