Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Photo retrieved from: <https://lightintheattic.net/releases/1332-native-north-america-vol-1-aboriginal-folk-rock-and-country-1966-1985>
ReconciliAction YEG will finish this semester’s content on a lighter note by highlighting noteworthy Indigenous art and culture. Today’s post is about Native North America (Volume 1): Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985, an anthology of songs by Indigenous musicians from Canada and Alaska.[1] The album, which was released in 2014 by Seattle-based record label Light in the Attic, was nominated for Best Historical Album at the 2016 Grammys.[2] Here is why the Grammys took note of the album, and why you should too.
It is no secret that the 60s and 70s were times of great social change. The counterculture of the time has been endlessly documented and analyzed. Musical heroes of the movement, such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, and The Velvet Underground, have been canonized into the fabric of the modern western world. Their sounds resonated out from the movement’s epicentres of New York, London, and San Francisco, and spread outwards to smaller communities too. Canadian artists who rose to prominence within the counterculture at that time like Joni Mitchell, The Band, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, and Buffy Sainte-Marie had similar effects.
It should be of little surprise that the sounds of the counterculture made their way to Indigenous communities. The Indigenous community members who heard this made their own music that combined the folk, rock, country, and pop sounds of the counterculture with their own language, cultures, and experiences. Some of the Indigenous songwriters who were influenced by the counterculture became good - even great - songwriters. Unfortunately, countercultural Indigenous music was subject to systemic barriers, and so countercultural Indigenous music and its innovations were not distributed widely. You should take note of Native North America (Vol. 1) because, decades later, it unearths precious Indigenous music of the 60s and 70s counterculture.
You should take note because of Willie Dunn, a Mi’kmaq/Scottish/Irish Canadian whose song “I Pity the Country” is the first to appear on the album. Pitchfork says of the song: “The impression is one of forced isolation, as though society has stripped away every refuge that might comfort the singer - except music, that is. It’s a startling opener to the comp, especially since Dunn’s steadfast voice conveys resignation more than anger. He’s not fighting the system, but pitying the sad men who perpetuate their own unhappiness.”[3] Dunn’s voice, like Johnny Cash’s, is deep and unwavering. His song is political, but it is primarily a personal epiphany of sorts. Dunn weaponizes pity against a society that has weaponized a great many things against him. Dunn is memorialized on Jasper Avenue and 105 Street in Edmonton as part of the Aboriginal Walk of Honour in Beaver Hills House Park.
You should take note because of John Angaiak, a Yup’ik singer-songwriter from Nightmute, Alaska, whose song “I’ll Rock You to the Rhythm of the Ocean” appears second on the album. To me, this song is the most striking of the album. Angaiak, who began his recording career at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks after serving a tour in Vietnam, recorded his only LP, I’m Lost in the City in 1971.[4] The first side of the album is written in Yup’ik and the other side is written in English. Writing for Billboard in 1972, Bob Glassenberg said of John Angaiak’s I’m Lost in the City that: "[t]his guy is a full blooded Eskimo and has recorded one side in his native tongue while the other side is in English. 'I'm Lost in the City,' is quite an interesting LP from the standpoint of an individual from another culture expressing his emotions through words and music of his native culture...I would add that the album will probably cost some money but it will be well worth it."[5] “I’ll Rock You to the Rhythm of the Ocean” is a stirring folk rock anthem, the hook of which beckons the listener into intimate harmony with the writer and with nature. It seems to be an echo of the Nêhiyawak (Plains Cree) concept of wahkohtowin.
You should take note because of Willy Mitchell, an Algonquin/Mohawk singer-songwriter from Kitigan Zibi, Quebec, who has several songs on the album. At 15, Mitchell bought his first guitar, a Fender Telecaster Thinline, with money from a settlement with a police officer who accidentally shot him in the head after mistakenly thinking Mitchell had stolen Christmas lights.[6] When asked about whether the oppression that he faced as an Indigenous man influenced his music, Mitchell said, “[w]ell, I never wrote about that! I always tried to stay away from that myself because I thought it wouldn’t help the situation by singing about it. And I kinda figured that the white people don’t wanna sit there and listen to that crap, either, about their people. I always wanted to sing about the animals and the land and our ceremonies. Spiritual things. The sun, the moon, the stars. The rainbow. Nice things, you know?”[7]
There are many nice things on the record. There are spiritual, political, and historical things too. If you are curious, click here to hear the record.
Until next time,
Team ReconciliAction YEG
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[1] Various Artists, Native North America (Volume 1): Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985, Light In The Attic (2014), online: <https://nativenorthamerica-variousartists.bandcamp.com/album/native-north-america-vol-1-aboriginal-folk-rock-and-country-1966-1985>
[2] “Grammy Nominations: See the Full List of Nominees”, Billboard (12 July 2017), online: <https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/grammys/6785974/grammy-nominations-2016-full-list>
[3] Stephen M Deusner, “Native North American (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985”, Pitchfork (25 November 2014), online: <https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19986-various-artists-native-north-america-vol-1-aboriginal-folk-rock-and-country-19661985/>
[4] “John Angaiak: I’m Lost In The City”, Light In The Attic (2016), online: <https://lightintheattic.net/releases/2253-i-m-lost-in-the-city>
[5] Bob Glassenberg, "What's Happening", Billboard (15 January 1972), at 24, online: <https://books.google.ca/books?id=uigEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=billboard+john+angaiak+i%27m+lost+in+the+city&source=bl&ots=609ETyx1Jq&sig=6fmvjJF7vYAEc_M-IwI2JgD5pN0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj1pJin4s3eAhWKKnwKHWQLCQ0Q6AEwCXoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=billboard%20john%20angaiak%20i'm%20lost%20in%20the%20city&f=false>
[6] Lance Scott Walker, “Getting Shot in the Head is the Least Interesting Thing Willy Mitchell Has Done”, Noisey (9 March 2015), online: <https://noisey.vice.com/en_ca/article/rkaenw/a-conversation-with-willy-mitchell>
[7] Ibid.
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