The first reading on Dr. Norman Stanfield’s UBC blog page “Canada’s First Nations Music and Dance” is a book by Michael Brown called Who Owns Native Culture? Brown has now created a website by the same name that includes current issues relating to the ownership of indigenous culture. This site has a page called “Protecting Native Art and Music” which includes many links to articles and websites related to the topic.
Simon Moya-Smith is a journalist currently working as a breaking news reporter for NBC and previously as a freelance writer and editor for Indian Country Today. I came upon him while researching indigenous “Wannabes” and found his blog titled “I Am Not a Mascot“. It is a personal blog in which he includes some writing that challenges many indigenous stereotypes, as well as poetry, and stories. His entry titled “Ask an Indian: How to Spot American Indian Wannabes and A Counterfeit Culture: Too Many Cherokees to Count” is an entertaining and sarcastic guide on the “wannabe” culture.
Dr. Norman Stanfield is a lecturer with the UBC School of Music where he teaches two courses. One is on the Introduction to the Study of Ethnomusicology and the other is called Introduction to the Study of Popular Music. He has a UBC blog that is used as a compliment to these courses. It includes the syllabi for his courses as well as pages on various aspects of each course. One page is titled “Canada’s First Nations Music and Dance” that includes a list of readings and links related to this field. Many of these have provided me with a great starting point to continue my research into indigenous music.
The website Native Drums is a site about First Nations culture and music in Canada. While it’s focus is on the drum and indigenous music, it also includes many stories and myths about First Nations culture. There is a wealth of information on the site from videos of drum making and performance to lesson plans on the physics of sound. This site is funded through the Canadian Content Online Program of the Government of Canada’s Canadian Heritage Department. It was put together by a team from Carlton University, lead by Dr. Elaine Keillor who says the site was developed to allow Aboriginal music and musicians to “not have the information filtered through the eyes of teachers and academic(s) of the dominant culture within Canada.” (Carlton University, 2006)
Carlton University. (2006). Canadian Geographic Sounds the Beat of Native Drums. Retrieved from http://www.carleton.ca/fass/2006/canadian-geographic-sounds-the-beat-of-native-drums/
I had a very interesting and personal day of research for my project. While looking for contemporary indigenous musicians, I stumbled upon the SoundCloud site of one of my childhood best friend’s younger brother. Dean Hunt (a.k.a DJ Deano) is a member of an “Indigenous Audio-Visual crew” called Skookum Sound System based in Sechelt, BC. After further research, I found that he is also doing First Nations carving as his father, J. Bradley Hunt, did while we were growing up. I was able to find that my childhood friend, Shawn Hunt, is also involved in many fine arts media including carving, painting, sculpture, and jewelry. It looks like he is doing very well, as he received the British Columbia Creative Achievement Award in 2011 and has exhibited his work at the Museum of Art and Design in New York, the McCord Museum in Montreal, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, and the Bill Reid Gallery and Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver.
Looks like it’s time to get reacquainted with them!
As a music teacher, I wanted to try and keep within my subject area for the final project. In my own classes I generally teach the Western Music curriculum based on European music theory with a few examples from various world cultures. There are a few Canadian indigenous pieces that I will use, but I am quite unfamiliar with the history and theories behind the various styles.
While researching current First Nations performers, I found a group called A Tribe Called Red that uses technology to combine electronic music with traditional pow wow vocals and drumming. The result is an intense and very interesting sound. I can see why they are gaining popularity, particularly among Canadian indigenous youth.
For my project, I plan to research how Western Music is groups like this are having an impact on indigenous culture, particularly as the Library and Archives Canada (2008) suggests that traditionalists believe that recording is a violation to the spiritual integrity of songs and ceremonies. Is this type of new music beneficial to the preservation of indigenous culture, or is it a type of “watering down” of sacred ceremonial culture?
Library and Archives Canada. (2008). The First Nations Traditional Music. Retrieved from http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/aboriginal-music-song/028012-2100-e.html
EcoLiterate Law is a website by Robert Hershey, a professor at the University of Arizona teaching in Law and American Indian Studies Faculties and Director of Clinical Education for the Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy Program. This website is created as a course based on an article he wrote titled Globalization and the Transformation of Cultures and Humanity: A Curriculum and Toolkit for the Efflorescence of Ecological Literacy in Legal and Business School Education. This paper includes a section called The Impact of Digital Technology on Indigenous Peoples which I thought would be very relevant to this course.
Library and Archives Canada website contains historical publications, images, sound and video recordings, and other electronic documents. I came across this site while researching traditional First Nations music. The page I found is an archived website titled “ARCHIVED-Aboriginal Sound Recordings: Music and Song“. It includes information on different types of Aboriginal music and links to listen to actual historical recordings of the music. On this page there are also links to music from various indigenous peoples, history, genres, educational resources, and others.
The Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards is an awards program broadcast on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. The winners are chosen by fans and stakeholders of the music. This website includes information on all of the musicians who were nominated for an award. I found it a great resource for discovering indigenous performers.
Turtle Island Native Network is a site with links to “First Nations, Aboriginal, Native/Indigenous Peoples News and Information”. I came across this site while searching for contemporary indigenous music, which is included on the “Culture” page. Also included are video clips of arts presentations such as basketry, totem pole raisings, storytelling, dancing and other cultural aspects of indigenous peoples. The music section includes links to youtube videos and websites by indigenous musicians from all over North America.