Wanbdi, who you may know as the drummer for the Nakota group, Indigenous, shows us that she has real vocal talent with this video for her song On The Upside. Shot on an iPhone, she lets us know that great music and visuals can be achieved despite your budget.
We’re more than pleased to hear some beautiful female rock music here at RPM! This is a great introduction to Wanbdi’s solo material. Now based in the United Kingdom, be on the lookout for more coming from this multi-talented drummer and vocalist.
Sagkeeng First Nations rap artist Young Kidd shares real family love in the new video for his song Care For You.
In this Boogey the Beat produced track, Young Kidd of Winnipeg raps about his dedication to his role as a father – his real-life daughter is also featured in the video.
Directed by Reign Wapioke of CN5 Films and Records.
Do you have a video you would like to see featured on our site?
Drop us a line: info@rpm.fm
From Crown P of the Flying Dust First Nation, for his song Criminal Mind off his upcoming album Table Of Contents, here's a brand new video that takes an intimate look into his life and environment.
Another year has passed and here we are at the second round of voting for the Aboriginal People's Choice Awards. In honour of the organizers, all the artists and the many loyal voters, we bring to you a playlist of and introduction to the artists involved in the second round of voting.
First, the category of Best New Artist.
Ali Fontaine - Ali is a 17 year old Country artist from Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, Canada. Managed by Errol Ranville, a prominent veteran musician out of Manitoba and front for the legendary C-Weed Band, she is set to make some waves in the music scene this year. This is Ali's first time as a nominee in the APCMA's but we're quite sure we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the future.
CerAmony - Coming from the James Bay Cree, CerAmony have done their people proud as ambassadors by winning a 2011 Juno for Best Aboriginal Artist. Using their musical talent to bring light to social and political issues in their community, they have become hometown heroes and a driving force behind Canadian Indigenous music.
Cris Derksen - Hailing from the North Tall Cree Reserve in Alberta, Cris Derksen is a classically trained cellist earning herself a Bachelor Of Music in Cello Performance at the University of British Columbia. Alongside her academic achievements, she has toured the world with her unique style of cello artistry and has shared the stage with many great artists such as Tanya Tagaq, played at the 2010 Winter Olympics and maintains a steady touring schedule around Turtle Island and beyond.
Diyet- A member of the Kluane First Nation in the Yukon of Canada, Diyet is an accomplished songwriter from the community of Burwash Landing. Her songs have been heard all over the world and she has worked hard to earn a degree in music from the University of Victoria. Sticking close to her roots, Diyet brings us a blend of rock and traditional music that is a pure commentary on the future of contemporary Indigenous music.
Ghostkeeper- Based out of Calgary, Ghostkeeper unites the genres of Blues and Pop, creating an original sound that has impacted the music scene in a huge way in the last couple of years. Focusing on strong storytelling and song writing, they have polished their sound to where they want it and are pushing ahead in the music world.
Congrats from RPM.fm to all the artists for making it to the second round!
Stay tuned for more info and playlists from the 2011 Aboriginal People's Choice Awards nominees in the coming weeks.
Who do you think will win the 2011 APCMA Best New Artist Award? Leave a comment below.
Alabama born Cherokee rapper Yelawolf releases a new video to the world entitled No Hands.
Yelawolf has blazed onto the scene signing with Eminem's Shady Records label and stepping in to swing with the major label heavy-hitters. Yelawolf teams with videogame giant Ubisoft for this video based on their game Driver San Francisco.
The video has the amazing look of a video game with the lyrical stylings of Yelawolf. The song is due to be released on his upcoming album Radioactive in October.
D Thought of CN5 Records and the Iskatewizaagegan #39 First Nation, comes at us with a deep, heart-felt song and video called Land Of Broken Dreams produced by Anno Domini Beats.
This song and video gives us real perspective of Rez-life which is enhanced by wise words from Shoal Lake rap artist D Thought. Cleanly filmed and edited, this video provides media-medicine for your mind as the summer wraps up and we prepare to head back to school.
Alongside our newest RPM podcast Indian Country, we bring to you a playlist of astounding Indigenous country music videos from our RPM.fm YouTube Channel.
Digging Roots have been touring across Turtle Island all summer, including a stop in Dunster, BC, for the Robson Valley Music Festival this past weekend. In this video by Hannah C Productions, it seems their travels haven't gone without a hitch... but trust Hannah to make music out of mud slides.
The meteoric innovators of electronic-powwow music A Tribe Called Red let loose another video dedicated to "NDNs From All Directions".
The trio consisting of DJ Shub, DJ Bear Witness and DJ NDN have made huge strides in the music world gaining recognition from websites, magazines and even MTV with their technological, futuristic style of what they call "Electric Powwow" music. They were recently featured on a CBC documentary about Ottawa's Indigenous music scene - a scene in which they play a huge part in upholding. Now they unleash their latest music video NDNs From All Directions.
The second single off the new Starmakerz Family album brings us a street savvy video and another notch on the belt for this music trio.
The Starmakerz consists of Manik, DJ Sichuan and Magic Touch - the latter known for his production of hit tracks off of the Inez album project. As a team they are now working on a full-length album project as well as prolific video releases. Just in time for the end of summer, That's Nice will be sure to hit your playlists up in that classic Starmakerz way.
The year marks the 25thIndian Summer Festival which includes a powwow, tribal farmers market, arts and crafts market, golf, and the Indian Summer Music Awards. The 2011 ISMA nominees have been announced and include many RPM favourites.
Shawnee singer-songwriter Samantha Crain received a nod in the Folk category, Yaqui guitar virtuoso Gabriel Ayala is nominated for Contemporary Instrumental and Traditional Instrumental, and Northern Cree are up for an award in Traditional Drum. The nominees also include Vince Fontaine, Shy-Anne Hovorka, Wayne Lavallee and a lot of other outstanding Indigenous artists.
The festival takes place September 9-11 in Milwaukee. Get more info at indiansummer.org.
Nominated for Best Pop Song, here's "Can't Change the World" by Shy-Anne Hovorka:
Nominated for Best Traditional Native Americal Vocal song, "Love" by Kevin Yazzie:
Nominated for Best Hip-hop song, "Always on My Mind" by Naka Nula Wuan:
RPM Records
Revolutions Per Minute is a global new music platform, record label, and boutique agency for Indigenous music culture. RPM’s mission is to build a visionary community of Indigenous artists and to introduce Indigenous music to new audiences across Turtle Island and around the world. Our main site, RPM.fm, has featured the work of more than 500 Indigenous artists and shared their music across our social networks of more than 275,000 followers.
RPM Records is the first of its kind: a label for contemporary, cross-genre Indigenous music, run by Indigenous people. Selected by The FADER as one of “5 New Canadian Record Labels The Entire World Should Know”, RPM Records artists include Ziibiwan, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Exquisite Ghost, and Mob Bounce.
