Indigenous Music As Resistance

While the assignment asked us to investigate colonialism and resistance with respect to a specific indigenous group, I have instead decided upon studying a specific method of resistance used by many indigenous groups throughout the world. I have attempted to collect evidence of musical resistance and resilience among aboriginal groups in every region, paying special attention to the musical movement in North America. What all of these musics have in common is their ability to speak to and against the colonial systems that have oppressed them. Music is a powerful resistor in these stories, and continues to play an important role in the maintenance and recollection of indigenous histories and cultural practices.

Music, as a cultural force, has many tools to offer resistance. It has the capacity to preserve the stories and values of the past, through habitualized songs and dances passed from generation to generation. It can protect those who cannot speak in plain terms about their beliefs, due to an extremely oppressive climate. It can also hybridize and evolve to make space for its message in a global society, and it can be transmitted to a broad audience through various media.

The processes of colonialism were destructive and violent, with the capacity to erase whole cultures and histories. However damaging these processes were, indigenous resistance has been equally resilient. The stories of indigenous groups throughout the world were, and are, able to preserve themselves through music, often experiencing renaissance in the post-colonial era. While indigenous groups used diverse tools to maintain their heritage despite their oppression, one of the most recurrent and powerful of these tools was, and is, music.

While my paper (segments quoted above) focused on the historical and global aspects of resistance through music, the unique opportunities presented by radio and internet have encouraged me to focus on more contemporary examples of such resistance.

FOR EXAMPLE:

MYSPACE.com - one of many popular social networking sites, Myspace Music specifically offers its members a way to search and locate like-minded musicians. In my research, many examples were found of the power gained through networks like this. A certain unity is created as bands decide what it is they stand for, who they align themselves with, and what their music means. Record labels have been founded through this sort of unity, which means groups getting together and finding the resources to produce outside the mainstream, giving a voice to those who would not otherwise be heard.

Much of these artists are practicing what Victoria Lindsay Levine would call "renegotiative musical revitalization." This means that, while elements of their traditional music may be used, these artists are using mainstream styles of music to communicate their message. Predominantly, the genres of rap and hip-hop are employed for renegotiative musical revitalization, and songs speak about life on the rez, racism, and their colonialized heritage. Many call back to previous musical revitalization, especially the song titles of Buffy St. Marie. For example, Antithesis have a song called "Bury My Heart At Wounded ME", a reference to Buffy St. Marie's "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee," a song used in protests everywhere, and even referenced in OCAP's protest song lyrics bank.

Myspace also acts as a place to lay claims to identity and to history. Antithesis uses this space to create a manifesto of their existence:

We are merely a group of Brothers and Sisters connected by a common bond that is comprised of a need to bridge the gap that exists between the older members of our Tribal Nations and the Youth of our People. There is a dire need for focus in this effort as our Cultures stand on the edge of Complete Assimilation into this Empire that occupies OUR HOMELANDS. Some of us are Mothers and Fathers or Uncles and Aunties or just plain 'ole concerned Tribal members who are determined to turn the focus of our Tribe's attention onto the Younger members of our Nations. There seems to be a consistent dismissive attitude towards the children of our Tribes. There are those of us who remember our people's teachings that the most Sacred members of our tribes were and are the children and elders. Together they represent the future and the past of our people. We also recognize that the Women of our people must be protected, being that they are bearers of children and the first teachers a child knows in this life. Not falling into any of these categories means that we must be the conductors of effort and the energy that provides the Tribe with what it needs to not only subsist but to prosper on the Mental, Physical and Spiritual planes of existence. Some of the older Tribal Council members are content to speak in a negative fashion as to how the Youth of our Nations are behaving or what they're not doing right instead of trying to find out what problems plague them and how to circumvent what is sometimes self-destructive behavior. With a minimal effort into empowering the children to become self-determined adults, we now stand at a crossroads as a people. If you were to randomly choose a major developmental dysfunction (for example adolescent suicide, alcoholism, methamphetamine addiction, teenage pregnancy, single parent households, gang activity, drop out rates etc., etc.) our Native children would the lead the pack in percentage per capita yet we only make up 2% of the population of people on the Northern Continent within the confines of the United Snakes & Canada. Sounds like a recipe for disaster right? Couple that with also being the most likely to marry out of the race second only to Japanese Americans and you might start to get the idea that we as Indigenous people and our Cultures are well on their way to becoming extinct. It is with this understanding that some of us had banded together in an effort to retain what little we can as a people and direct energies, efforts, resources and focus back onto the youth of our Indigenous People and bridge the apathetic gap (that now exists) to encourage interaction with Tribal Elders (not to be confused with plain 'ole old people) and our Tribal Spiritual Ceremonies for healing and providing empowerment to our youth. All of Antithesis' members adhere to a code based on the Tribal & Spiritual Principals of: 1. Sobriety (this includes weed, no excuses) 2. Community Involvement & Service 3. Promotion & Implementation Of Respect & Equality For The Women, Children & Elders of Our Tribes 4. Protection of Tribal Sovereignty & Sacred Sites 5. Preservation & Retention Of Our Cultural Practices & Behaviors With An Emphasis On Decolonization 6. Protection Of Our Basic Human Rights To Not Be Physically Harmed By ANYONE! 7. Promotion & Implementation Of Empowerment For The Youth By Encouraging Creative Expression 8. Working In Solidarity With People Outside Of Our Cultures Who Are Also Struggling With Injustice & Oppression 9. To Disband The Accepted Illusion of Borders & The Separation Of Indigenous Peoples From Alaska To Tierra del Fuego & The Outlying Islands Of Our Occupied Homelands 10. Working Towards Creating True Freedom (Not The Illusionary One Provided To Us) By Any Means Necessary! On the Hip Hop end of The Antithesis Movement is our musical backbone 3 Mc's: Freetruth, Prophecy & C-Los. Our music is a reflection of our Culture's Teachings and our Family's Upbringing. It is an effort to reach the Ears, Hearts and Spirits of our Native Youth and extend the comfort and strength that comes with the knowledge that there are Warriors who not only empathize with their daily circumstances but are also fighting to end the many dysfunctions that plague our communities. Believing that everyday is an opportunity to create positive change by peeling back the many disguises that negativity & denial hides behind we are working to complete our first Album titled "The Power Of Purpose".With the belief that once a person gains an understanding as to what their life's purpose is that person shall blossom into the powerful being they were always meant to be. They in turn can empower others who may feel helpless in the face of the tremendous amount of adversity that racism, imposed poverty, classism and assimilative efforts can and do produce, preventing our people from being self-determined and unable to begin to move beyond the grief caused by the Genocide that was committed against our People. It is in this spirit that we present to you our Music and Mindstate that is in direct contrast to or the direct opposite of what our Oppressors had intended for us as a people, in other words we have become the definition of Antithesis.

This means a great deal for any youth who might come across their site while wandering through the internet. It also provides space for unity of movement. Many of the artists have "friends" on myspace with the same ethos, and several posted their support for The Longest Walk (see below).

YOUTUBE:

Youtube was also an interesting source of revolutionary and resistant interchange. Another open site of expression, there was a mixed display of both resistant and oppressive voices, allowing for a great deal of important communication. The following may not seem empowering, but the ability of others to respond, and the fact that colereber was not the last to speak is empowering itself, allowing for an open-endedness that does not exist normally. Further, that UpcomingJedi critiques the identity of these performers brings into question ideas about the fluidity of identity, and the nature of "genres" within music.These responses refer to the below video, one that exemplifies "renegotiative" resistance at its finest. Youth whose experience of racism in the north led them to voice their oppression musically are using this site to express themselves, and to network. And while they could be doing the same thing with poetry or words or images alone, music has the power to attract a broad audience. This song is also pretty catchy, I must say.

Youtube is also the source of education for revivalistic and perpetuative forms of musical resistance. Below is a filmed dance performance on stage. What follows is a set of responses that inform the viewer of the sequence and meanings of the dances. This performance, depending on its purpose, could embody either revivalistic (reviving certain traditions, selected on the basis of their usefulness to the performer - therefore, inwardly motivated, and occasionally education) resistance or perpetuative (perpetuating certain traditions in an attempt to claim and perform a distinct identity, often in order to distinguish oneself from others, and with the motive being outwards - focus on the perception of others) resistance. Either way, this performance has the ability to educate and to subvert dominant perspectives.
As the above responses indicate, the dances in the video above are about community building, and therefore, they are revivalistic in nature. The purpose is not to perform for others, but to create community amongst each other.

Resistance is not possible without unity. Music has consistently offered the possibility of this unity, and specifically, it has acted as a voice for numerous oppressed groups throughout history. These are just a few modern examples.

I hope you enjoyed this presentation. What will follow is a selection of songs belonging to indigenous groups throughout the world. I'll probably interrupt every so often with some info. Thanks for listening.