Canadian DJs A Tribe Called Red are bringing their indigenous-inspired electronic tunes to Australia for the first time.
The trio: DJ NDN, Bear Witness and 2oolman, are all from Canada's indigenous First Nations, and bring this cultural influence to their music. “It's traditional, indigenous to the Americas pow-wow music, the drumming and chanting, mashed up with contemporary club music,” DJ NDN says.
“Bear [Witness] and I started A Tribe Called Red in 2008 when we noticed there was all these culturally specific parties going on in the city and there wasn't anything necessarily representative of the indigenous culture.
“For a lot of people, it's their first time getting exposed to First Nation music from North America and a lot of people start researching into it. It's really exciting that we're opening the door into our traditional music, which has a contemporary culture to it too; it's a young culture and it's really exciting that it's getting global exposure.”
A Tribe Called Red's live shows combine this music with visual elements, including live dancers mixing b-boy style with traditional hoop dancing and video segments, which examine pop culture representations of native North Americans. “Bear Witness was an extremely well-known artist before this project and he just brought it into A Tribe Called Red.”
This issue of representation is one that the band is active in attempts to combat. “The problem with cultural appropriation is that a lot of it has to do with not taking the culture seriously. A lot of it has to do with literally making fun of a culture, you're taking something and just making it into this fun thing, you're not respecting human beings.
“It's time that once you start realising that, people will hopefully start changing their attitudes towards cultural appropriation. I think it's up to all artists that have a platform to engage in that sort of activism.”
Written by Brendan MacLean
A Tribe Called Red Tour Dates
Wed 25 Nov - Northcote Social Club (Melbourne)Fri 27 Nov - Memorial Hall (Bellingen)
Sat 28 Nov - Northern Rivers Performing Arts, Lismore City Hall (Lismore)
Wed 2 Dec - The Cambridge (Newcastle)
Thu 3 Dec - Factory Theatre (Marrickville)
Sat 5 Dec - Clancestry, QPAC (Brisbane)
Sun 6 Dec - Sol Bar (Maroochydore)
