1. After watching the video of the Native American hip hop artist Supaman, one of the first questions that popped into my head was: are there any Native American recording artists that fall under the rock genre?
The short answer is yes. The long answer is me screaming for fifteen minutes about not knowing that “Come and Get Your Love” was written by a rock band called Redbone who were all Native Americans, and who got on stage dressed in Native American regalia, performed traditional dances (sometimes in fancy dance clothes), hollered vocables, shook shakers and tambourines, and then burst into a sick drum beat and a guitar riff that any classic rock fan could recognize in their sleep. When you watch their live performances (which I never did until now) you can clearly see the ties to their Native American culture. Seriously. I’m almost upset with myself that I didn’t know any of this.
Scratch that. I’m very upset with myself.
Here. Please bless your eyes and ears the way I did:
2. In the video American Roots Music, Episode 4, one thing that continuously popped up is the use and significance of drums. According to Floyd Westerman, the steady beat of the drum represents the heartbeat. In all of the pictures and videos shown in class, we saw primarily modern-day drums and instruments that they use, and it got me thinking: what instruments did they have in the past, and how did they make them? I have the slightest suspicion that they didn’t have the stereotypical modern-day five-piece drum set.
So I got to looking around, and found a few lists of what kinds of instruments they used pre-modern era and how they were made! Rattles were made from turtle shells (which we’ve briefly seen) but also from gourds and bones; flutes were made from wood or bones; drums were made from wood or hollowed-out logs and skinheads; and the Apache violin was made from a single string and stalks of a plant called the agave, just to name a few. Here’s a video I found of the process of making a Native American drum:
3. Another question that piqued my curiosity was Indiginous peoples’ reactions to the music in the Disney movie Pocahontas, and how accurate they thought it was. That google search sent me down a rabbit hole of reactions to the movie in general, as well as reactions to other Native American portrayals in movies, TV, and pop culture. After sifting through lots of tweets, YouTube clips, and opinion articles, I came to the (very unsurprising) conclusion that they were primarily thoroughly unimpressed. In what I saw and read, they didn’t touch much on music portrayals, but they did discuss clothing, slurs, and racist representation. I found a short video where a few Native Americans reacted to well-known movies and television shows that portray Indiginous people, because it’s always important to remember that, while the United States (and in general, the world) has greatly improved on its problem of racism from where we were sixty years ago, we still have a long way to go and a lot of places to improve.
Bibliography:
“Native American Instruments.” TeacherVision, 17 Oct. 2001, www.teachervision.com/native-americans/native-american-instruments.
That is absolutely insane! Do not feel bad or mad at yourself because I did not know this either. It is crazy how much we do not pay attention, especially when listening to music or looking at who is singing it. It makes you wonder what other artists and their cultures are looked over as well. I also enjoyed seeing the reactions to how Native American's are represented in the media, and how so many movies we watched growing up were teaching us the wrong ideas.
ReplyDeleteHoly crap I had no idea that song was a Native American band! I don't know what I thought the band behind "Come and Get Your Love" looked like, but it wasn't a bunch of guys in the cool traditional outfits! I love that you found that stuff, because I would've just lived my life never knowing :) Also your other two topics are really cool too! I hadn't thought to look at these aspects!
ReplyDeleteI did not know that the group Redbone was made entirely of Indigenous people, that is really cool! Especially the regalia they integrated into their performances. The video on representation was also very interesting because I think it is already apparent that representation of POC in media is bad, but actually hearing people talk about the representation they get makes you realize the extent of how bad it is.
ReplyDeleteI believe that movies such as Pocahontas do more harm than good for the world around us. These movies generalize issues and use the topics for profit, leaving no room for proper representation. Before this class I had no knowledge on Native culture and music, but now that I have been through the unit, I feel the same way you do about the unimpressive representation.
ReplyDeleteHey Claire, I really enjoyed the first clip you included with the song “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone. As rock is one of my favorite genres, I was happy to see a rock band that includes Native American aspects as well. Although I have heard this song before, I too did not know about the Native American influences that this song and the band had. Secondly, I find it interesting that the traditional Native American drums and other instruments were hand made using accessible materials. I found the video regarding how to make these drums to be interesting as it takes a lot of precise steps and time to create these drums. Lastly, I found your last clip to be very informative as I believe that movies that are meant to portray certain groups of people should include people who are apart of the certain group. Although I have not watched Pocahontas, I do not believe this movie appropriately incorporated Native American aspects, as proven by the negative reactions. Although I do agree that modern representation of different groups of people has improved in the media. I believe that more accurate representations are needed to appropriately share different cultures.
ReplyDeletefind it very fascinating how they make the flutes and all the different types of instruments they have.
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