RPM Podcast #011: "Music is the Medicine"

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In our 11th episode, we talk with one of the hardest working musicians on Turtle Island - Mohawk blues-rocker Derek Miller.

On previous episodes of the RPM podcast, we’ve heard from a wide variety of musicians from all kinds of different genres from hip-hop to country, from blues to electronica to new traditional. They’re all proud creators of what we at RPM like to call Indigenous Music Culture.

A huge part of what inspired RPM in the first place was Derek Miller - namely his story as told in the documentary film Music is the Medicine. So it's about time we get to know him a little better.

Our host Ostwelve talks with Derek about his musical journey, from listening to his mom's records on Six Nations reserve, to recently winning the APCMAs for Best Male Entertainer and Best Songwriter of the Year, to what Derek calls the metaphysical nature of music.

We'll also kick back and listen to some of that sweet medicine he makes with his guitar.

DOWNLOAD: RPM Podcast #011: "Music is the Medicine"

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Audio clip from the documentary film Music is the Medicine used with permission from MIM Productions Inc. For more information on the film, visit musicisthemedicine.ca.

The RPM podcast is produced & engineered by the amazing Paolo Pietropaolo.

Photo illustration created by the talented Joi Arcand.

CBC's 8th Fire Screening At WAFF

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The Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival is presenting a preview screening of CBC's new documentary mini-series 8th Fire.

With an original score composed by Cris Derksen, tracks by Winnipeg's Most, and hosted by Wab Kinew, the series focuses on the urgent need to reframe the 500 year old relationship with Indigenous inhabitants and the settler culture in Canada.

8th Fire is scheduled to air on CBC in January 2012, but those in Winnipeg can catch the debut episode this Thursday, November 17th, as a part of the Indigenous In The City program of the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival.

From facebook.com/8thfire, the show is described as:

...a provocative, high-energy journey through Aboriginal country showing you why we urgently need to fix Canada’s 500 year-old relationship with Indigenous peoples, now mired in colonialism, conflict and denial. Our title grows out of the Anishinaabe Seven Fires prophecy that now is the time for Aboriginal peoples and the settler community to come together and build the 8TH FIRE of peace, justice and harmony.

For more details on the screening and the rest of the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, check out waff.ca/indigenous-in-the-city.

Also check out our post about the meeting of Indigenous hip-hop minds in Winnipeg to form a coalition against negative stereotyping, Winnipeg Indigenous Hip-Hop Coalition: 8th Fire.

Songs Of The Land: Murray Porter, Gabriel Ayala & Leanne Goose

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Songs of the Land is a fundraiser benefit for Full Circle First Nations Performance in Vancouver on November 16th featuring Murray Porter, Gabriel Ayala and Leanne Goose.

Full Circle First Nations Performance is a Vancouver organization that has helped artists develop their skills and talents through workshops and residencies as well as the founding force behind the Talking Stick Festival held annually in Vancouver, British Columbia. To raise funds for the organization, Full Circle is hosting an event entitled Songs of the Land, which will feature Murray Porter, NAMMY artist of the year Gabriel Ayala and country sensation Leanne Goose.

The event will be held at the VIFF Vancity Theatre on November 16th, 2011.

Tickets are available online at: http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/vifcguide/filmguide/eventnote.php?EventNumber=2116

For more information, check out the Songs of the Land Facebook Page.

Northern Cree's New Album "Drum Boy - Mistikwaskihk Napesis"

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Famed pow-wow singers Northern Cree are set to release their new album, Drum Boy - Mistikwaskihk Napesis, and it's now available for exclusive pre-sale through Canyon Records.

From Saddle Lake, Alberta, Northern Cree have become the superstars of the pow-wow circuit, having performed together for over 30 years and received great acclaim in the music industry, taking home multiple pow-wow prizes and winning awards across Turtle Island.

Their latest release, Drum Boy - Mistikwaskihk Napesis, was recorded live in Saddle Lake and is guaranteed to keep your toes tapping and jingles jingling. From the first sounds of the album opener, Wanbli—"a virtual super-hit on the 2011 Pow-Wow Trail"—it's clear that the group is in top form and ready to deliver another instant classic collection of pow-wow hits.

Listen to tracks and pre-order the album now at Canyon Records.

Drum Boy — Album Tracklisting:

1. Wanbli (2:05) 2. Humble (5:10) 3. Fass and Grancy (2:04) 4. Kainai Krusher (4:55) 5. Hops-A Lot (3:47) 6. Slickzter (whistled, 9:52) 7. Pride (3:49) 8. Siouxdance (3:50) 9. Styles (3:19) 10. Tea Pot (4:31) 11. The Explosion (3:18) 12. Redman (4:00)

Silver Jackson's New Album: It's Glimmering Now

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It’s Glimmering Now, the new album by multi-instrumentalist Silver Jackson (aka visual artist Nicholas Galanin), was recorded in the artist's living room in Alaska. Created during a ‘dark’ period of divorce and loss of loved ones, the project gleams light.

Perhaps it's the number of guest producers, vocalists and musicians that Silver Jackson had contribute to the album, or perhaps it's part of his already varied artistic practice, but the sound is hard to pin down. Which is not to say it's lacking cohesion - the songs on the album keep each other good sonic company in their eclectic mix of electronic and acoustic sounds, samples, sung vocals and spoken pieces.

Download the album now from silverjackson.com. You'll be glad you did.

Tracklisting:

  1. On A Boat w/Denise Denherder, Thanny Bean, Nick Polley
  2. Elliott w/Denise Denherder, Thanny Bean
  3. For Wade w/ Niki Bell, Denise Denherder, Thanny Bean, Nick Polley
  4. I Wrote A Red Rose w/Denise Denherder
  5. La Lionne w/ Zak D. Wass
  6. It's Always Good w/ Micah Middaugh & Trevor Hobbs (of Breathe Owl Breathe), Little Wings, Aeriel East
  7. Glad I Found You w/ Nat Baldwin, Little Wings
  8. Stones Throw w/Micah Middaugh & Trevor Hobbs (of Breathe Owl Breathe), Little Wings, Denise Denherder
  9. Our Love w/ Oc Notes
  10. The Life I Live w/ Psmoov, J. Bradley
  11. It's Glimmering Now w/ Oc Notes, Reva Devito
  12. Grown w/ Oc Notes, Denise Denherder
  13. Love Is... w/ Budo, Andrea Moreno-Beals (of Breathe Owl Breathe), Astronomar, friends and family
  14. What A Day w/ Denise Denherder, Sonny Smith

DOWNLOAD: The Wake Singers - "Crazy Eyes"

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The lo-fi, rock/folk sound is an aesthetic that comes to The Wake Singers out of necessity. "We don't have a lot of resources at our disposal [so] we make do with what we got" says the trio of cousins, Doug, Mike and Marty Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota), originally from Red Shirt Table, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. They formed the band while attending art school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and they sent us a few tracks to check out. They make not be working with much, but we think what they've got is a good thing.  DOWNLOAD: The Wake Singers - "Crazy Eyes"

Makana Occupies with Aloha

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Makana opts to "Occupy with Aloha" after being invited to perform at the Asia-Pacific's Economic Cooperation World Leaders dinner. 

After being booked to play instrumental music at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's (APEC) World Leaders dinner in Hawaii, Makana chose to use his voice instead. He opened his jacket to reveal an "Occupy with Aloha" t-shirt and started to softy sing his his new song inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, We are the Many.

You can check out the video recapping his occupation of the APEC stage with an article posted on democracynow.org

Here is the music video for his powerful song We Are the Many, feel free to imagine what it was like with Obama and Chinese Premier Hu Jintao sitting out front politely eating their dinner.

VIDEO: Quese IMC - "I Resist"

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New video I Resist from Quese IMC (Pawnee and Seminole) features Casper and the beautiful brown faces of Indigenous youth from communities across Turtle Island.

I Resist is a song off Quese IMC's latest album Handdrums for Whiskey Bottles. The video follows Quese on a two and a half week trip through many communities working with youth, reservations and schools. Check out the video for I Resist here, and hey why not sing along:

HOOK: we're young warriors, path we roamed, this ain't hollywood yo, this is our home, were light, were different, we fight and resistant, walk the red road thats why we stay gifted, young warriors happy and alive, we made it this far cause our grandmas survived, indigenous pride as we ball up our fists, 500 years cause we say "i resist"

verse 1: easy hell naw, its been a long road but its quite alright cause we been foretold that were modern day warriors in modern day time where people have aligned and were seeing all the signs see it in the sun and we see it in the skies here it in the people and we see it in their eyes the people are fed up cause they haven't been fed and were hungry for the knowledge cause we've been misled misled by the media, misled by the news update, update they want you to stay tuned propaganda on the screens but the mental breakthroughs will curb the mind control that keeps you satisfied and glued to your couch and the screen that keeps you fat and amused my people wake up, wake up we can't lose we've paid mad dues so now we must gather young warriors and what we do matters.... HOOK

verse 2: yo the world is changing and the stars are bending shifting, and the mayan calendar is ending not the end of time but the end of a cycle so the cleansing of mother earth can take her rightful place and position, and positions that we play and listen to creation, to mobilize a nation overthrow the system, organize and take them to a place where they can believe and envision we are the movement, ones and focus even though sometimes it feels hopeless we will stand with our drums at the protest and watch the whole world take notice even though there are people who would sling dirt and not see the heart of how we work we will do our best even if we hurt and wear the revolution like a t-shirt, come on.... HOOK