Is there an art form untouched by frybread? No! This week we bring you The Frybread Queen, a new work by playwright Carolyn Dunn, of Muskogee Creek, Cherokee and Seminole descent.
The play debuted earlier this year at The Autry's Native Voices series and was written as an extension of Dunn's most recent novel.
“The novel ends with the death of one of these family members. I wondered what would happen after her death, so I thought the funeral would be the next logical place to go because there would still be a lot of tension in the family. So, I decided to write a play for four very strong Native actresses.”
A former actress, Dunn laments the dearth of quality female roles for Native American women and seeks to change that through The Frybread Queen. She began developing the play four years ago. “It came pretty quickly because I knew the characters so well and it’s a very character-driven story.”
The plot is complicated and the relationships deeply intertwined. But each woman has a moment within the play to “shine,” as it were, when she recites her personal recipe for Indian frybread, a monologue meant to also encapsulate her essence.
It's true - one's frybread recipe can be deeply tied to one's personal experience and identity.
New video from rising star Ali Fontaine for her song Say It To Me.
From the Sagkeeng First Nations out of Manitoba, Ali Fontaine has been hitting the scene in a big way in the last year. While still a teenager, she has earned herself a nomination in the Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards and also a number one spot on the Aboriginal Music Countdown. She enters the world of video with her song Say It To Me.
Written, directed and edited by Jesse Green with cinematography by Sean Parenteau, this video has that great Strongfront look and feel with a young and vibrant artist in the bright lights of the Big Apple.
Our brothers and sisters from down under, The Last Kinection, just released their ever-deadly new album Next of Kin.
The Last Kinection is a trio made up of brother and sister Joel (Weno) and Naomi (Nay) Wenitong from the Kabi Kabi mob of South East Queensland and friend Jacob Turier (DJ Jaytee). Their name speaks to the alarming rate that we are losing our elders to the cycle of life and the dire need to maintain that link to our ancestry. Already 5 times over Deadly Music Award winners, they represent the next generation of Australian Indigenous hip hop artists.
As well as producing their own music they have been touring, offering workshops on the music business, production, singing, MCing and DJ techniques, songwriting and performance. It is important to them to "encourage, guide and give confidence to upcoming artists; allowing them to express themselves in a positive way "and through this giving them pivotal opportunities for healing.
In 2008, The Last Kinection was invited to perform with The Herd on a sold-out national tour. After winning legions of new fans, the morning after their last show, they were victims of a life changing car accident. Nay was in such critical shape that she was declared dead at the scene until Weno noticed the blanket covering her move. Through a lengthy recovery they found the strength to just keep rising higher and higher.
Their opening track Find A Way is a call to flip the victim mentality on it's head. Later on Prove Them Wrong inspires us to be our greatest selves while bumpin away to grimy didgeridoo beats. The general theme throughout is hopeful and proud while still being real about the issues facing us living in colonial capitalism. The album opens with:
We fought so that we could open those doors for you fellas… so you could get inside and change the system, for us, for your people... Now we know that those doors are open and that the biggest employer of Aboriginal people in this country is the government. What we gotta do is get into those young people’s minds ... and say to them, "You’re not changing out the system to suite us. You’re in there and you’re making things comfortable for yourself. You’re failing us and you’re failing your ancestors." That’s something we can do. That’s something we must do.
Listening to their biting, honest lyrics it's clear that the issues facing Indigenous people are worldwide and universal.
Sure we're letting #PowwowWednesday take a break until the powwow trail gets busy again the new year, but we had to bring you this new video of Northern Creeknocking the moccasins off the crowd at the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians’ Powwow recently.
Coast Salish hip-hop artist, and RPM's own Ostwelvehas released a new video for Light Inside.
Ostwelve was in Paris this past summer with the hip-hop/digital art collective Beat Nation. In between their performances, Os fit in a visit to the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery - resting place to the likes of Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf, Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde and Gertrude Stein - and filmed his stroll among the sunlit graves, adding another solid video to his repertoire.
As always, to accompany our RPM Podcast we bring you a YouTube playlist of Indigenous Rock music videos.
This week were are very excited to bring you our first Indigenous rock music podcast, and as a sidekick to that, we have put together a playlist on our YouTube channel of Indigenous rock music videos from artists across Turtle Island.
Here at RPM we've honoured #FrybreadFriday though music, poetry and pictures. This week, the artistic expression of choice is interpretive dance.
Apparently, one can truly be moved by making frybread as the Aka-Mya Cultural Group have captured in this short video. Personally, I may bring these moves to the next dance party I attend. "What is she doing? Oh yes, The Frybread".
Anishinaabeg blues rocker Keith Secola now carries the title of "Hall of Famer" after receiving the honour at the 2011 Native American Music Awards. The NAMA YouTube channel recently posted the presentation video of Keith's Hall of Fame moment. The video consists of a history lesson narrated by Keith himself and a fantastic testimonial by Oneida comedy pioneer and legend Charlie Hill.
Congratulations to Keith Secola from RPM for your accomplishments and Miigwetch for all your hard work and contributions to Indigenous music culture!
Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Creek) who is well known for his feature film work also enjoys the poetry of making music videos.
RPM: Tell us about Holdenvillle, Oklahoma where you grew up.
Sterlin Harjo: It's a rural town. Farmers and oil fields... roughnecks. It’s on the border of the Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole Nations. I'm both. Most of the natives in the area are both. Oak forests. It's pretty laid back. It's a pretty magical place when I think back on it. A lot of that magic I think had to do with the Native folklore and hanging out at my Grandma’s house. She passed away last November so I feel like a lot of that stuff has been hiding lately.
The white people and black people in the community get along with the natives. There's not a really closed reservation so I think there is more of an understanding of native culture. The natives either go to church or belong to ceremonial grounds... or both.
RPM: Were you a “both”-er?
SH: Yeah, I would say so. I got more involved in ceremony when I was older. At the same time my grandma and my mom would take us to ceremony. But church was a big part of it. The Indian church is very rural and took a lot of things from the ceremonial world. Church songs are sung in the Muscogee language. Most people know what church they belong to and also what ceremonial grounds they belong to.
RPM: Does the church have a strong general presence in Oklahoma?
SH: Oh yeah. We are the buckle on the bible belt.
RPM: Who fostered the artist in you?
SH: I would say my whole family fostered it. I have a huge family. Uncles and aunts were like parents. Cousins were like siblings. Great uncles and Aunts were like grandparents. My dad had a big part in it. He is a really good artist, but he never did anything with it. From a young age when he and my grandma knew that I could draw they would always tell me not to waste it.
I just remember always hearing older people tell stories. It’s what you do in rural communities… sitting around and telling stories. Not like story time, but real stories. Everyday life. And a lot of stories about superstitions and magic.
As a kid I was always the one that wanted to hang out for hours with the elder people in my family and listen to their stories. Sometimes it was the same story over and over but I loved how they retold it. I think I learned a lot about storytelling because of that. Two people can tell the same story with different delivery. One person will tell it and it will be uneventful but the other will make it exciting and funny.
RPM: When did you first pick up a camera?
SH: I used to use my parents VHS camera. It was as big as a TV. I used to make skits with my cousin. I had this one TV show that we did where I made him wear a coonskin cap. It was called Hero John. He would be held captive by bad guys. Enslaved. Working in mines. Then he would fight his way out and kill them all with a whip. I sang the theme song while filming "Hero john, hero john, saves the day any day, fights off the evil.... blah blah."
RPM: At what point did you decide to pursue film more seriously?
SH: I went to college for painting. At some point in college I started writing. I showed a script to a professor and he encouraged me to take an intro to film class. After that I fell in love with it.
RPM: What kept you going?
SH: Not sure, it just kept happening for me. I was naive enough that I thought I could make it happen. I kept plugging ahead. When I saw Smoke Signals I thought, "Wow, I could tell stories about where I'm from".
RPM: Did you ever doubt your path?
SH: No, not really. I think coming from a small town made the world small for me. In Holdenville I was always the kid that would draw things for people. If someone needed something drawn they would come to me. I kept that with me. I felt like the world was small. It felt like it would be no problem to make films. I look back on it and I'm surprised myself. I was very fortunate. A lot of people crossed my path at the right time. I took advantage of it.
RPM: How would you describe your purpose in this life?
SH: Um... The more I go I think that my purpose in filmmaking and life is to help people deal with loss. It's also to hold a mirror up to Indian people/Seminole and Creek people and show them that they are pretty amazing. They don't need to mystify themselves to be interesting. The way that they exist is beautiful. I like finding beauty and complexity in things that seem like they are not that complicated. And that last part goes towards all people, not just native people.
RPM: What does working with musicians give you that your other projects don't?
SH: I'm telling a story based on someone else’s work. I'm re-envisioning someone else’s vision. It also has a time limit... as in I only have so long to tell a story and it feels more like a poem than my feature films.
RPM: How do you choose the musicians you work with?
SH: I don't know. It's just a feeling I get from their music. It’s a selfish thing. I hear someone’s music or a song that I like and I don't want anyone else to make the video for it. That song becomes a part of me and my work. Music really inspires me and it makes me want to put images to it.
Right now Sterlin is making mini-docs for thislandpress.com based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is also working on a new music video with Samantha Crain. Catch it here first.
Check out a playlist of Sterlin's current music video collection.
Performance artist, musician and graphic artist Chandra Melting Tallow (Siksika) offers up her unique contribution to the Vancity Native youth media scene.
Chandra was taught by her mother at a very young age to use her creative practice as a vehicle to contribute to a process of decolonization, and true to form, her work expresses her special place in the world. Chandra's unique blend of experimental, layered video and audio activism is sure to make impressions on the west coast scene.
A year ago, Chandra was on the fast-track to performance art stardom in Montreal, where she attended Concordia University specializing in Studio Arts and Sociology. Just short of her degree she was forced to quit school and move back to her home town of Calgary due to the sudden development of a debilitating seizure disorder.
As it so often is with illness one must call on strong survivor skills by establishing strict self-care regimes. She now recognizes the fine art of listening to her body. Chandra shares:
"It was so hard to accept it at the time but now I realize I had to go through all that so that I could be where I am now,"
After abandoning her university education, she co-founded Desperate Living Records with some friends in Calgary and began feeding her energy into supporting fellow artists through poster design, graphics and throwing shows. Chandra took the opportunity to re-evaluate her direction by transforming her disorder into an opportunity for a fresh start.
During her time in Montreal, Chandra had been deeply affected by the work of the Missing Justice Collective and their efforts to raise awareness about the missing and murdered Native women in Canada. After hearing about the Walk 4 Justice, co-founded by East Van's own Bernie Williams and Gladys Radek, Chandra dreamed of returning to the west coast.
Now on the mend and with her health in check, Chandra Melting Tallow recently transplanted herself to East Vancouver and most recently landed a job as the Visual Design Coordinator for redwiremag.com.
This week's RPM YouTube playlist focuses on the APCMA 2011 nominees for Best Country CD.
The voting period is all done now for the 2011 Aboriginal People's Choice Awards, and the category for Best Country CD is packed with amazing artists from all over Turtle Island. This week we bring to you an RPM YouTube playlist of the nominees for this category of the APCMA 2011.
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.
RPM: Tell us about Holdenvillle, Oklahoma where you grew up.
