"The Cup Song" and 300 Awesome Youth

This might be the best thing you see this week, from the entire school in Berens River First Nation - "Cup Song."

The Cup Song is a traditional song combined with a percussive game of playing with cups. What music teacher Ken Davidson did with students Tatyanna Munkman (singer) and Alex Semple (guitar) along with all the 300 school kids' participation in Berens River First Nation is marvellous, clever, charming, inspiring and moving. We love these kids (and their teacher!).

“When I’m gone, when I’m gone, you know you’re going to miss me when I’m gone" is sung over  images of a remote place - the Berens River First Nation is 275km north of Winnipeg - that includes a landscape of broken down cars and decay on the reserve as well as and beautiful waterfront and dense woods.

Check it:

Three Young Artists to Watch: Nathalie Restoule, Bee Pastion and Crystal J

This week not one, not two, but three videos from three remarkable young women artists came across the ol' RPM desk. Our young sisters are moving, inspiring and oh so talented! Check out Nathalie Restoule, Bee Pastion and Crystal J.

Here 16 year-old Nathalie Restoule,  from the Dokis First Nation in Ontario, is singing Joss Stone's Landlord with soul, spirit and style:

Amazing, right?

Bee Pastion, from Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation in Alberta, has a voice both strong, soft and stirring. Watch her cover Priscilla Ahn's Dream:

It gave me goosebumps.

And third, Crystal Schooner (Nuxalk Bella Coola), rocks an acapella version of Alica Keys' Fallin, giving a taste of what's to come on her upcoming album:

Woot!

This is just the beginning for these artists - we look forward to seeing what comes next!

Introducing: Dialogues Youth Vancouver

Dialogues Youth Vancouver aims to promote sustained dialogue among First Nations, Urban Aboriginal and immigrant/non-Aboriginal youth. Three ways in which Dialogues Youth hopes to do this are by challenging and demystifying stereotypes, celebrating cultural differences, and exploring shared interests.

As a result of the Vancouver Dialogues Project, an initiative delivered by the City of Vancouver in partnership with 27 diverse community organizations comprising the project's steering group, Dialogues Youth Vancouver has been developed as a community-led engagement initiative - driven by youth for youth. Using new technologies and various social media tools, the project hopes to engage a large audience of youth between the ages of 17 and 25.

The project's developers intend to facilitate dialogue both online and offline. The purpose of using a web-based engagement campaign in concert with an offline strategy is so that feedback generated online might inform the topics, themes, speakers and outcomes of the offline engagements. The project is designing a series of dialogue sessions and a conference in June 2012 to address and challenge issues being faced by many youth today.

From the Dialogues Youth website:

"We value community, accessibility, self-determination, representation, and equity. We also value dialogue for challenging discrimination, systemic oppression, and colonialism--as well as sharing strengths and celebrating our cultures. Through dialogue, we believe that youth can influence history.

We hope to build alliances between Vancouver’s First Nations, Urban Aboriginal and immigrant/non-Aboriginal  youth. We want to learn your goals. What is your vision for an inclusive Vancouver? How do you define inclusiveness and accessibility? What does self-determination look like to you? How would you like to be represented by your leaders? When will you feel equity in your city?

Through a series of Dialogues Youth Sessions and a conference in June 2012, we hope to answer these questions. However, we need your help. Follow us and join the conversation."

Dialogues Youth depends on community engagement to inform the dynamics of the sessions and conference. Through the use of Twitter #hashtags and by signing up to stay in touch, audience members can identify key themes, discussion topics, and relevant issues for youth around the subject of First Nations, Urban Aboriginal and immigrant/non-Aboriginal relationships in Vancouver. Vancouver youth can influence who the project interviews for it's blog posts and who will be speaking to them during Dialogues events.

Remember to connect on Facebook! Stay in touch - Dialogues Youth Vancouver #vandialogues on Twitter.

DJ DoezIt and Ali Baby: Native Rap in High School Hallways

Landon Walls, Onondaga and Hopi hip-hop artist  (DJ DoezIT) and mentor, is helping Indigenous youth find their musical path. He’s currently inspired by the work he’s doing with one young man in particular, Junior Harvey, who is set to make a name for himself as Ali Baby. They sat down to answer some questions about their their collaboration, Ali Baby’s upcoming debut album and the importance of listening.

I first heard from Landon Walls, also known as DJ DoezIT, via an email to RPM, in which he raved about a student of his at Ha:San Preparatory and Leadership School in Tucson, Arizona, Junior Harvey. Junior (Tohono O’odham) – who goes by Ali Baby – is an 18 year old senior at the school who has discovered a talent and passion within himself for music. Together, they’ve been working afterschool and weekends to record tracks, the result of which will be a full-length album, set to be released in February, 2012.

The more Landon and I communicated back and forth, the more inspired and intrigued I was by both his and Ali Baby’s work. I had so many questions! They were gracious to answer them all.

CC: Tell me about Ha:san prep?

LW: Ha:san Preparatory and Leadership School is a small charter school in Tucson, AZ. We serve Native students grade 9-12. We focus on Culture and Language of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Most of the students live on the reservations of the Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui Nations. The main town, Sells, on the reservation is 65 miles away. They travel a total of 130 miles a day for a total of 3 hrs on the bus. We have a 100% acceptance rate to college for our graduating seniors. What a great school! I am so honored to be a part of the students and community’s education.

CC: How long have you been teaching there?

LW: I have been at the school for four years now. I directed the after school programs and currently I serve as the Intervention Specialist. But I also serve as an advisor and counselor for the students.

CC: Tell me more about the after school program?

LW: The after school program was funded by a federal grant 21^st Century Community Learning Center. In the last year of the grant which was 2011, I decided to buy studio equipment for an after school music program. Since then I have recorded Tradtional O’odham songs and a digital comic book with the University of Arizona in 3 languages, English, Spanish and O’odham. But the most exciting thing was recording Ali Baby and other students rapping and singing.

CC: How did you two start making music together?

AB: Landon and I were talking one day about music and I mentioned to him that I enjoyed creating beats, he told me he was thinking about starting a music program at the school and that I should bring in some of my beats and do some recording sometime. We started out on Garageband and some non-condensor mics usually used for radio.

LW: We did a couple of songs and he blew me away! So I had to buy some better equipment. I bought Pro Tools 8, studio monitors, 2 microphones, an audio interface, etc. and once we did that, things took off.

AB: When I made my first song I was just trying to see what it would sound like or how it would turn out, I thought it turned out pretty good for a first song. I was never expecting all this to come so naturally. We put out a pre-release of the album at our school and it has received so much positive feedback. It makes me so happy to know that people are liking the pre-release, when the official drops it is going to sound much better.

LW: We both learned by doing and just did what our ears told us, haha. The things I like most about Ali Baby is his flow, charisma, and message. He raps with no errors, meaning he is clean and has a positive message.

CC: Ali Baby, when did you first starting writing?

AB: I started making beats in the summer of 2010 and wrote my first song in December of 2010. We got around to recording my first song on Garageband a year ago around this time.

CC: And tell me more about this album!

AB: The album is going to be called Mixed Breed: The Beginning. Mixed Breed is our group and it means the many Indigenous cultures within our group, the many genres we create music in, and the styles each one of us possesses. We are hoping to have the album released by Presidents Day 2012.

CC: That’s so exciting. What artists are you inspired by?

AB: My favorite artists of all time are Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. I love their style, I love their flow. I know we have what it takes to make the same success. I listen to a lot of old school and I listen to a lot of new era artists like Drake and Lil Wayne and I try to incorporate all those styles into mine.

CC: What’s the collaborative process with Landon like?

AB: He gives me advice and motivation when recording our songs and I couldn’t be more grateful for meeting him and letting us use the studio day in and day out.

CC: Landon, do you plan to continue to mentor students in recording and making music?

LW: This is the beginning. I have always wanted to do something like this for the youth. They have so much to say, so many things in their minds and hearts. After graduating college, I knew I was going to be in Indian education. While working here I see the need for a two way road of communication in the communities, meaning traditionally we are taught to listen to the elders and the adults, but I think for a healthy and strong community the elders and adults need to listen to the youth. Open communication is the key! Music is the best vehicle and I am glad I get to provide it, might be a beat up lincoln right now with low fuel, but the hope is we can get it to a G6 with an unlimited fuel level!

CC: How did you first get involved in music?

LW: I got my first turntables my senior year of high school, with just a handful of records. I was on those things all night, my brother wasn’t too happy, the fader was clipping all night! Haha. Both of us actually came up with my DJ name, HopiDoezIT, later though it became DJ DoezIT. I was the first one to go to college in my family; I moved from home to Mesa, AZ. Soon I got some 1200’s and was at the record store every weekend. I was doing house parties and DJ competitions. I DJ school dances and proms and students just started to come up to me and wanted to learn more. I knew I had to get something started. I wanted to make our own music so we could spin that and started making my own beats, nothing is more fun than creating music from scratch.

CC: You also started a label, right?

LW: The label I have created is called Just Listen Music. Like I said, a healthy community needs open communication, so I want people, in particular adults and elders, to just listen. That’s why I create positive music because Grandma deserves to bob her head too! This is the start and it looks promising, I got things lined up and hope to continue to be the vehicle for native youth!

CC: Last, Ali Baby, what do you plan to do after high school?

AB: I plan to go to college to study Music Production. I want to do college performances and also do opening performances for bigger names. I just hope one day I can be the one the local artists open up for. Nothing’s impossible. I want to show everyone that just because rap nowadays is vulgar and offensive, it isn’t dead. I’m on a mission to make it right. I know I have what it takes and I don’t plan on slowing down any time soon.

Check out this sneak peak of Ali Baby's track For the Native Youth, and keep an eye on RPM for more on the forthecoming album, Mixed Breed: The Beginning.

STREAM: Ali Baby ft. DJ DoezIT & Dead Jester - "For the Native Youth"

VIDEO: Tar Sands Rap by Fort Chipewyan Youth

A rap written and performed by Nathaniel and Morgan of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, with beats produced and mixed by Eljay II.

This short lil' rap was written as part of the short documentary Keepers of the Water, that tells the story of the kids who live in Fort Chipwyan, Alberta, which is directly downstream from the Tar Sands - the most environmentally polluting industrial project in the world. The members of their community are dying of rare forms of cancer, the fish and moose meat have tested positive for highly toxic levels of arsenic, the water is no longer drinkable, and there is no end in sight. On their own initiative, these kids came together to protest this environmental crime.

Check out the full documentary at their website keepersofthewater.com.

VIDEO: Shy-Anne Hovorka - "What About Me?"

Here's a new music video from Shy-Anne Hovorka featuring some of her vocal students and dedicated to the children and youth of the world.

Shy-Anne Hovorka, originally from the Matachewan First Nation, took inspiration from her elder, Dave Courchene, in carrying on the teaching that change will come from youth by relating the needs of the world through music.

Working with some talented young musicians from northwestern Ontario and a group of her vocal students from Coran's Music Store, Shy-Anne has put together this inspirational project called What About Me?.

Armed with a small budget and a strong vision, Shy-Anne wrote and co-produced the track with Rob Benvegnu. The song was recorded at Dining Room Studios and the video was produced by Spun Photography.

The singers in order of appearance are:

Cassidy Reznik, Starr A, Kaitlyn Hienz, Madison Elliott, Brooke Rajala, Shy-Anne Hovorka, Taylor Facca, Chrstine Arnold, Morningstar Desrosier, Larissa Desrosier, Jada Bailey, Lauren Kaus, Jasmine Klassen, Jessica Elliott, Katie Maki, Genelyn Garcia, Olivia Boake, Allison Shortreed, Faith Russel, Jesse, Nathan Ogden and Allyssa Ireno.

Australian Rap: BBC Radio Doc Explores Indigenous Australian Hip-Hop

In Australia, Indigenous youth are using politically charged music as a forum to discuss cultural pride, racicism and self-empowerment.

The BBC Radio Documentary Australian Rap, investigates the Indigenous youth hip-hop scene in interviews with Rhianna Patrick, producer of ABC's program for Aboriginal and Torres Straight communities Speaking Out, hip-hop aritst Moreganics, who provides youth workshops across Australia, Tony Mithchell from the Univeristy of Technology Sidney, who has studied the development of rap music in Australia, and others.

Rhianna shares:

...music has played a really big part in not only getting the younger generation to really think about their culture and to reconnect with culture in some instances, but I think it's also given them a voice. There are parts of our Aborriginal young people in Australia who feel disengaged. They're disadvantaged, they feel isoltated, and I think music has given them an avenue to really talk about the issues happening in their communites that you may or may not hear about.

Hip-hop traditionally has always been about accessibility and it's also been about not needing to know how to play an instrument - you can make your own music.  But these days it's obviously coming into the computer age, where people can build their own beats on a computer program, put it together, write their own rhymes, record it all and they've got their own instant recording studio. Which is accesability in a different age. But that was always the beauty of hip-hop - that it was accessible to you no matter how much money you had or didn't have. If you couldn't play an insturment you could beat box.

Moreganics travels across Australia teaching youth how to share their stories, beatbox and record their tracks.

It's not unusual for a school teacher or community worker to come up to [me] and say "wow, I didn't know that kid could write, he's never written before."

One song, Down River, unexpectedly hit high rotation after Moreganics helped five 8-12 year old boys - later know as the Wilcannia Mob - record it during one of his workshops:

That hip-hop comes from marginalized communities is seen world over.  Interestingly, the connections being made in North America between traditional Indigenous cultures and contemporary Indigenous hip-hop, are also prevalent Down Under:

A lot of the stuff that was actually being done was from really young kids who were using hiphop as a vehicle to rap about their own life stories and about their dailiy lives. Gradually this started to become accepted by Aboriginal elders who were initially very sceptical about hip-hop becuase they saw it very much as an American form. Once they saw some of the kids performing, they said "hey this is not too far away from Aboroginal storytelling, maybe this is ok."

Listen to the full half-hour documentary on BBC: Australian Rap.

#PowwowWednesday: Young Faces of the 2011 White Eagle Powwow

The children and youth at powwows are always a delight to watch. Their learning, their celebrating, their carrying of our traditions. 

Flickr user InspiredinDesMoines captured these images of some of the young faces at the 13th Annual White Eagle Powwow in Waukee, IA. The powwow is held in honour of the memory of Ralph Moisa (aka White Eagle) - a young man from the area who died in 1995.

Check out the complete photoset on flickr.com.

CBC Television Documentary on Ottawa's Urban Aboriginal Scene Airs Saturday

Capital NDNS, hosted and produced by Waubgeshig Rice, explores the experiences of urban Indigenous youth in Canada's capital city, compared to other Canadian cities.

Julie "Winnipeg Jules" Lafreniere recently reflected that, as a new resident of Ottawa, she hadn't yet found the pulse of the Indigenous scene there - especially coming from Winnipeg where the culture is so visibile and vital.

In an interview on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning - Examining Ottawa's Urban Aboriginal Scene - Waub Rice describes an urban community that is starting to build and "create a lot of noise", thanks, in part, to A Tribe Called Red and their monthly Electric Powwow. It's exciting to know the community is beginning to flourish, culturally, gather and create.

The one-hour follows four individuals to paint a picture of their shared experiences and common struggles.

Capital NDNS airs this Saturday at 7 pm on CBC Television.

Indigenous Youth Break Silence on Suicide

A heartbreaking statistic in the US is that Native Americans are 70 percent more likely to die by suicide than the general population. Almost 1 in 4 youth in our communities have attempted suicide. Called a "silent epidemic", a group of tribal youth recently created video, comic books and music to begin to give voice to this issue.

In an anti-suicide/healthy living workshop presented by the Portland Area Indian Health Board, 60 students from different tribes throughout the Northwest spent a week in Portland and had access to a video camera, drawing paper, notebooks and music producer.

From npr.org, Tribal Youth Use Digital Media To Dent 'Silent Epidemic' Of Suicide:

"I know from personal experience living in a Native American community and being around people, depression is really common because for a lot of people it's hard to find your way to your culture or find your way to a certain passion when you don't who you are and you're confused," Sarah Hull [from Siletz Tribe] says.

Sarah's mother says there've been times she, the mother, could feel "danger in the air." The family has found an antidote in music.

Hull says she lay awake at night trying to find the right words for a song on the unusual theme of suicide prevention.

...

Suicide prevention coordinator Colbie Caughlan says the staff wanted help crafting health promotion messages that resonate with young people.

"Youth learn from youth," Caughlan says. "That's what has happened forever."

It's true - youth are the mostly likely to make a difference in their communities and what a remarkable program to provide tools and assistance for them to express themselves, share their experiences and break the barriers of secrecy.

Reportedly this project will feed into a media campaign called WeAreNative.org, coming later this year.

Listen to the song Sarah wrote, as well as work by other youth at the workshop, in the inspiring radio documentary on npr.org.

Sarah's voice is incredible. Here she is singing "The Art of Flying":