A Tribe Called Red will bring their electric pow wow to celebrate the closing of the North American Idigenous Games tomorrow in Regina, Saskatchewan.
The producer and DJ crew are described on their website as being “the face of an urban Native youth renaissance, championing their heritage and speaking out on aboriginal issues, while being on top of popular music, fashion and art.”
The trio go by the names, DJ NDN, Bear Witness, and 2oolman. They mix traditional pow-wow vocals and drumming with cutting edge electronic music, a combination that is taking clubs around the world by storm.
They have been articulate defenders of their native heritage by creating a growing awareness of cultural appropriation. In a tweet last summer they made a simple request: “Non-Natives that come to our shows, we need to talk: please stop wearing headdresses and war paint – it’s insulting.”
Meanwhile, the North American Indigenous Games have been taking place at the First Nations University in Regina, with a combination of competition in 14 sports with perfomances and workshops in several aboriginal cultural events.
Derek Fox, a semi-pro hockey player from the Bearskin Lake First Nation, is now an Anishinaabe lawyer, living in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He says “sports will help to build the next generation of aboriginal leadership”. An edited version of his thoughtful blog post can be read here in on CBC.
As things stand now, on Friday afternoon, British Columbia’s team is in the lead, with 49 gold medals, followed by Saskatchewan, then Ontaria in third place. The Quebec team who started out in the lead in the kayak and canoeing events, is now in fourth place with 18 gold medals.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.