I am thankful for Apple Music’s compilation of Indigenous music to help me pause and reflect on the deeply moving music and the lived experience of Indigenous musicians. So many styles, genres, such moving and deep truth. Peace Be.
Truth and Reconciliation Day.
Find these and other fabulous music on: Indigenous Now channel, Apple Music.
Tania Tagaq, “Tongues”
“I don’t want your shame; it doesn’t belong to me”
Snotty Nose Rex Kids, “No Jesus Piece,” from the album Life After
“I need some shades; it gets super ugly”
“I don’t believe in no one more than I believe in me”
Jayli Wolf, “Lead me”
“I won’t let you lead me”
Digging Roots, “Cut My Hair”
“When they cut my hair, I feel they tryin’ to cut down my roots”
Carson Gray, “Each Moment“
“All of us are children beneath the shining sun“
“Imagine a world where every one is free“
Crown Lands, “Inner Light,” from the album White Buffalo
Instrumental [thankful for the gift of deep listening]
Adrian Sutherland, “Magic Hits,” from the album, When the Magic Hits
“Must be more to life than this
standing on the sidelines
waiting for the highlights, yeah
Must be more to life than this
praying for the weekend,
waiting ’til the magic hits”
Don Amero, “My Poor Mama,” from the album, Nothing is Meaningless
“if savin’ my can was worth a million dollars
then nobody be richer than my poor mama”
N’we Jinan Artists, “Come Home,” from the album, Come Home
“Love is enough“
“I’ll bring you up when you’re down”
Arlette, “Midnight Mass Graves”
“I wept when I heard who they found”
“midnight mass graves, brutal execution,
not Afganistan, Kosovo, the Nazi solution
Oh Canada, thy church’s door,
where they remain buried for a century or more”
Shawnee Kish, “Burnin’ Love,” (featuring Jamie Fine”)
“you got some nerve
you think you deserve me”
iskwe & Tom Wilson, “Starless Nights”
“I always like my company,
in loneliness I felt truly free
of other peoples gazes in the mirror”
Ansley Simpson, “Witness”
“the white pines witness what we both know is at stake“
Cassidy Mann, “Election Night”
“it changed everything“
Raymond Sewell, “Over You” (featuring Eadsé)
“keep your eyes on the road,
your hands on the wheel,
and your memory a thousand miles away“
Noelle, “Seasons Change”
“the snow melts away, but I’m here to stay”
Rhonda Head, “500 Years”
“mother shared a story,
why were they so mean”
Riley Riot, “Tchutchu,” from the album, Almst
Instrumental [electronic dance trance]
Ziibiwan, “Two-Spirited”
Instrumental [atmospheric dance]
KeAloha, “Mahina”
“You’re in my element“
Jerry Sereda, “Classic Country Couple”
“you and me go together like a fiddle and steel guitar“
“he’s the only thing about you that I’d ever change“
Celeigh Cardinal, “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”
“tomorrow’s just a dream away“
Brenton David, “This House”
“we need the firemen, before its too late,
you’re smokin’“
Kyle McKearney, “Sweet Summer Rain”
“If God had mercy on my heart
He’d stop sending the sweet summer rain”
The Bloodshots, “Bad Moon Rising” (cover)
“There’s a bad moon on the rise..”
Ruby Waters, “Good Recipe”
“you electrify my body in a way that nothing else does”
Boslen and Dro Kenji, “NIGHTFALL,” from the album, DUSK to DAWN
“you been livin’ oh so far,
I can see your open scars”
T-Rhyme, “Revitalize”
“…We call Him The Creator, Grandfather…“
“the saddest thing in life is wasted talent”
“we need to teach and prevent”
“revitalize”
Nimkish, “Make Me a Drink,” from the album, Damage Control
“and it ain’t what it look like,
no love but it feel right“
Electric Religious, “Paralyzed”
“paralyzed by your own damn luck“
Kinnie Star, “Runnin’ Right Beside You”
“waitin’ on leadership that plays charades”
Morgan Toney, Emma Stevens, and The Shift, “Wela’lin” (Thank you)
thankful for the teachings
William Prince, “Run”
“Saw the need and let it take the lead in me”
Run
“though the road it narrows,
you won’t find me anywhere else til its done”
Run
“It could mean tomorrow for someone”
sunsetto, “downtown”
“you should come out cause I’m downtown“
Tyler Ogimaa, “Feeling Amazing”
“my path is sacred“
“every moment I go all in“
“got my eyes on my goals“
“Feel Amazing“
The Halluci Nation, “R.E.D.,” from the album, We Are the Halluci Nation
“R.E.D”
“A tribe called“
“I’m in“
Drezus and Dakota Bear, “Circles”
“We more than just arrows and bows“
“Someone go teach ’em respect“
“I love my community more“
*Jon Lootz, “Old Problems”
“like old watches, I don’t got the time“
“I just found my sound“
“I be on my own shadow problems”
“I do not compete”
*love it
Noah Crawford, “Oh Well”
[my head on his shoulder]
Ahsley Ghostkeeper, “Try Me One More Time”
“Who’s at my door
said the shame from yesterday“
“You keep tryin’ to break me
but you cannot take me tonight”
Handsome Tiger, “Burn Babylon,” from the album, Yardman
Electronic Atmospheric Experiential
DJ Shub and GDubz, “Smoke Dance Four”
Traditional Chant Remix [awesome with goosebumps]
Tracy Bone and Shawn Hogan, “Like We Never Had to Say Good-bye”
“I’m lovin’ the feelin
make belivin,
like we never had to say good-bye”
“A moment lasts forever when it feels like this“
Joey Nowyuk, “Sikungilunga” (When I Close My Eyes”), from the Album, Tumitit
Sung in the Inuit language, from Nunavut
Nadine Gagné and the Star Nation, “All Nations”
“Calling all nations this world is one”
Indian City, “Smile”
“I thought love would never take me alive“
Indigo, “Lost in You”
“What a life you live,
run away and come back again.
I feel ruined
every time I tell you I’m lost in you”
Kyle McKearney, “Tough or Die”
“Daddy said, son, you better get tough or die“
The Rez Boys, “Tennessee Whiskey”
“you’re a smooth Tennessee Whiskey,
a sweet strawberry wine,
as warm as a glass of brandy
and I stay stoned on your love all the time.”
C-Weed Band, “Love of the Game”
“I know its not the losing or the winning”
“we’re fighting the good fight”
PIQSIQ and VILD´A, “Ovddos/Hivumuuniq“
Time travel
Joshua Haulli, “Uummatinni,” from the Album, Tukimut
Inuit language from Nunavut
As I sign off, I listen to Aasiva (Colleen Nakashuk) singing in Inuit, and I wonder if I shall ever be so lucky to see a day when Indigenous musicians have full representation in music schools in Canada. At all levels, from leadership, to instruction, to students. We have so much to gain from embracing musicality in of its styles and genres, with all of the richness of culture.
I am writing and reflecting in Kitsilano, B.C., the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish People including the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish people, and the Urban Indigenous people who call this place home today.