BeatRoute Magazine B.C. print e-edition - August 2016

A TRIBE CALLED RED
Assembling a Nation to move you
by Jennie Orton
photo: ???
A Tribe Called Red offers memberships to the Nation provided your open mind moves well to the beat.
As the thumping rumble of pow wow culture
has made its way to the unapologetic
dance party thrown by A Tribe Called Red,
so has the presence of Indigenous identity; a vibrant
beast just recently wrestled from the hands
of hundreds of years of oppression and silence.
Red member Bear Witness sees this “renaissance
of Indigenous art and culture” as a progressive
enlightening for future generations of the
Native population. “A major goal of Tribe Called
Red was to create something that everyone could
love but that represented indigenous culture, for
indigenous youth. All their other friends from
other cultures loving our music but knowing that
it reflects them. That’s something we didn’t really
have growing up.”
“We have come to time when we feel confident
in sharing again. I think for a long time there was a
fear of sharing culture and traditions when everything
else had been taken away from you.”
Within this long overdue hijacking back of
birthright, The Halluci Nation was born.
On September 16th, A Tribe Called Red will
release their latest album: We Are the Halluci
Nation. The concept, a Nation of open minds and
hearts that anyone with both of those things can
be a part of, was born of fruitful collaborations
during a time ripe for social justice; a banding
together of all those ready for love and change.
“It’s these times in history when it goes beyond
it being a choice to be political,” notes Witness.
“Especially now when information is so readily
available and easily spread, people are reacting and
finding ways to express themselves.”
“We are coming to a time where people want
more from their music, people are looking for
more than just party songs.”
And The Halluci party has quite the list of
illustrious guests: fearless hip hop activist Yasiin
Bey (the artist formerly known as Mos Def), Saul
Williams and his liquid hot social conscience, and
wildly talented traditional pow wow drum group
Black Bear are among the collaborators on the
new album and they all leave an undeniable sense
of weight and meaning to the still very danceable
tracks.
But it is the indelible word and influence of one
man this album owes its pulse to: the late John
Trudell.
Trudell, famous for among other things being
the mouthpiece for the 19 month All Tribes
occupation of Alcatraz in 1969 (look it up, it’s
pretty amazing), contributed poetry for the album
after a fruitful exchange with A Tribe Called Red
“We are coming to a time where people want more from their music,
people are looking for more than just party songs.”
backstage at a show they were all a part of, which
was followed by a get together at Trudell’s home
in Albequerque. According to Witness, Trudell had
become disillusioned with working within political
structure which led to his desire to reach people
through music; making the collaboration with
Red, a group he admitted to admiring, a natural
progression.
Witness had originally envisioned the album as
a concept album about a group of superheroes
fighting the good fight, bringing like minded
heroes into the fold. But Trudell’s words gave the
idea a greater vision; one that created the inclusive
sense of a Nation.
“We think of ourselves as warriors and activists,
but John said we need to be more than that,
we can’t be so narrow in our thinking,” recalls
Witness. “Through art and especially music we
are able to express a broader range of ideas to a
broader group of people.”
When Witness called Trudell to tell him the Nation
had been born, and had even yielded jacket
patches, his reaction was fittingly grand in vision:
“Thank you, the Halluci nation is real.”
Trudell died of cancer in December of 2015 but
his lasting effect on The Tribe Called Red remains.
“John and all these people are people who
have put themselves out on the frontlines of their
respective movements and what they find important
in the world,” says Witness. “This is something
that brought us all together. There’s something
to that, there is another wave of conscious music
happening.”
But let it not be said the music has become too
conscientious to move to; an element made even
more palatable by Black Bear’s contribution.
“Working with them was a dream come true,”
recalls Witness.
Working with a live drum group allowed for
multiple mics to be used during recording. The
resulting sampling options were endless and
allowed Red to dig deep into traditional sounds
while fleshing out their most multi-layered tracks
to date.
“When you work with a drum group, you are
working within an indigenous framework. None
of these guys went to music school, they grew up
performing with their community. It affected the
way we treated what they gave us, to watch it take
shape.”
So while the spirit of the Tribe Called Red dance
party remains, it does so with a nourishing helping
of cultural pride and open belonging; flavors that
are being devoured by a very mixed audience.
“For the most part we have only been talking
to ourselves and within our own communities
for so long and we’re coming to a time right now
where people outside the indigenous community
are actually willing to listen and be interested and
participate; not only to the things we have to contribute
culturally but the things that have been
happening politically for the past 500 years.”
“We’ve never had control of our own image
and as an indigenous artist, that is the thing that I
could interact with the most; I could show how I
see myself and how my friends see themselves to
the world.”
After years of representing their community
while hosting massive swells of sweaty bodies, A
Tribe Called Red has found the perfect concoction
of tradition, discussion, inclusion, and dat bass.
“Our first mission is to throw a great dance
party,” promises Witness. “But then we always
hope that people come away from our shows with
a better understanding not only of themselves but
of each other.”
“When we have indigenous and non-indigenous
people come to our shows and feel indigenous
music together, that’s starting to create that
common ground.”
Common ground is something so many groups
still fighting for equal rights today are striving to
achieve. Finding a way to celebrate what makes
your culture unique while finding the rhythm that
makes us the same is a tricky business, one that
creates as many riots as it does bass drops. But
A Tribe Called Red has always been about being
happy while being real.
“We, a Tribe Called Red, are not the Halluci Nation;
it’s everybody else,” acknowledges Witness.
“It’s all the people who are out there and are willing
to look at each other and see each other and
treat each other as human beings. Then you are
a part of the Halluci Nation, and we are inviting
everyone to come and take part.”
“If we can start to experience joyful things
like that, that’s when we can really get to a space
where we can start working out this big mess of
North America.”
Experience the joy for yourself
at the PNE August 31st.
August 2016 15