March 12, 2024 • 51 mins
We are joined by Yawdunéi Arias Hoyle, who performs as Air Jazz, to talk about his work as a Hip Hop artist that uses Lingít Yoo X̱ʼatángi (the Lingít language) in his work. We are honored to feature three of his songs: S’áxt’, Nakaaní/Shaax’wsaani, and Ch’áak Waak (ft. Radiophonic), and talk about learning and using Lingít, taking the language into new realms, and maintaining a loving and supportive environment for future generations of Indigenous creators and thinkers.
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
They try to colonizzs, try to genocide, yet we're still
here with the Tongue on broke and aya to cut
you on.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Ya.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
This is the Tongue Unbroken, Folks. I am so thankful
that we are here together, and I'm grateful for my
guest today who is a musician, a language learner, and
an advocate for cultural safety and safety of people. And
I am excited to listen to you Yaodna, and we're
gonna check out a couple of songs. So on the
(00:57):
Tongue and Broken, there's two songs that you come on
during this show, one right before the first break and
one right before the second break. And on this special edition,
you're going to get to hear this young man's vision
in his songs and the things that he brings. And
I wanted to bring him on the show because he
uses the thing it language in his music and I
think that's really important. And as a lifelong language learner
(01:20):
for as long as I've known him, which has maybe
been for half of his life, so it's really exciting.
And I think for starters, could you tell the folks
who you are?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I claim, ling ya, you cut to us up enough,
Arias aj you hut to us upd I affect clog
one tan Yes, thank you everybody. I am. My stage
(01:53):
name is Air Jazz. Some people know me by that.
Thank you. I always love incorporating Lingett language into my music,
and that's what I've been practicing for the past six years.
It's been a lot of fun, amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, so let's talk about let's talk about your music. Actually,
First of all, what got you into music? How'd you
get started? What's your music process?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, so I actually come from a pretty musical family.
For one, my dad is a singer songwriter who plays
the guitar and he writes original songs. On top of that,
I also have an older brother who first made hip
hop music before I even made my first song, so
he actually was experimenting with music and songwriting before I did.
(02:33):
On top of that, of course, I have all my
Schlingett family that perform at celebration and have been doing
all these songs with the dance groups and have been
speaking the language for a long time, so I got
to be familiarized with it growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So when you thought about bringing the Thinget language into
your music, how did that start and how what was
the process like, it was.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
A very interesting process. So for a while when I
was in high school, I was just making songs on
SoundCloud with my friends, some of which are you know,
African American as well as Caucasian, so we were kind
of appealing to like a general demographic, you know, not
so much fling Get culture. One day, when I was
in high school, some Flinkett and Haida representatives stopped by
(03:16):
our school Juno Douglas Leh. And when they stopped by there,
some of their youth were talking about these summer programs
they wanted to do to embrace the culture, which included canoeing,
berry picking, jarring, salmon, smoking salmon. And one of the kids,
since he knew of my music, he proposed to these
Flint and heid of representatives, how about we do a
(03:38):
music video. How about we show and display all of
this Alaska native culture into a song and video. And
luckily it got approved President Chashnish, President PETERSONI approved and
a lot of budgeting was put towards this video called
ian Kwan I Love you my People, And ever since
then it's just skyrocketed me into this Flinget culture music
(04:00):
and I've been doing it ever since it's been an honor.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Oh that's amazing. And how long have you been studying Lingen?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Most of my life? When I was probably six seven
years old, I remember Ken Kow Danik and King gey
Sty would be visiting my elementary school, Mendenhall River and
as well as I would go with my sister Kayley
to her uas classes back when I was just in
fifth grade. So for a lot of my life I've
been learning shlingen. You fed Dongee.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Oh that's awesome. And you grew up here in the
Juno area.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I pretty much have been raised
here in my whole life. Even though I was born
in Anchorage, I've been here since I was two weeks old.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
And as you think about ways to incorporate sling it
into music, so like hip hop, I think has a
lot of sometimes rhyme schemes that one sound bounces off
of the other. So how does it change when you're
writing something in English as opposed to writing something in Shingen.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
It's a very different process of songwriting. For one, since,
like you mentioned, hip hop is known for rhyme, scheme
and flow. I kind of have to find a way
to cleverly incorporate fling toungi into a flow in rhyme scheme,
because sometimes you'll read a phrase or you'll use something
in conversation and fling it and it doesn't quite enunciate
(05:20):
or flow the same way it would in English. So,
you know, because it takes a lot of strong pronunciation,
you often have to slow down the words a little bit.
You have to draw out a few words and make
a vocal melody so that you know, it all aligns
well and it flows as well as it would in English.
So it's a very interesting process.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And yeah, I mean the language itself has lots of sounds,
it has lots of other things, and just the rhythm
of the language is different. But every language, even with
its rhythm, can fit to music, and so we have
flingett music and then the words sometimes adjust to match
the melody of the song or the beat of the song.
So I think it's a really nice mix. I think
(06:00):
it's really fun because it takes our language and says
you could bring our language into anything, You can bring
our language into all kinds of things, and it makes
it exactly Yeah, it makes it sometimes relatable to folks
who maybe even never thought about learning, and they say, well,
I love hip hop so well, I want to learn
more about this. So as you've done this work and
you've gone, how's it been you perform in front of people? Right,
(06:21):
you stand up and you do your music? Has that been?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
That's been so much fun? Last year I got to
perform for the first time at the Alaska State Fair
in Palmer. I was so hyped because having that Alaska
Native family all surrounding me right there performing as well,
like from other tribes such as a Nuciac Yupu all
there on stage. It was an honor being there. And
every show I do it just gets more exciting.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Well, have you met other folks who are using indigenous
languages in hip hop music?
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Certainly I met Byron Nikolai, I met I know all
the Bumua people. I've known them for years. And I've
also gotten to meet this group called Clan nine O
seven that is in Seattle and they rep their Alaskaati
people as well. They're shling it.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
How does it work for content? Like sometimes you know,
hip hop content can get pretty fiery sometimes, and so
do you have to walk a line when you're using
clinget in there?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Oh? Yeah, yes, I've learned this. I guess you could
say the hard way that there is a line with
what your audience can accept and hear and what another
more urban audience would be willing to hear, because you
kind of have to know your limit and have a
filter or else you could, you know, sometimes step into
territory that you don't want to as an artist.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, because I think, well, in some ways, I think
it could be really fun because there's a lot of
humor in cling Itt. And one of the things they
think that it opens the door to is when we
speak the Clingett language, it's a different language. If we
know everybody really well, we could really let the teasing go.
And there's a lot of jokes that might be a
little embarrassing if people came in that we didn't know.
(07:56):
And so there's a conversation to be had when it
comes to hip hop, like how could we find those
boundaries and maybe nudge them a little bit without sort
of being offensive to what is thlinge it? And so
you are thing it and you are on a TDI
and so like those identities I hear as part of
your music, and the other thing that I hear is
these messages of unity and love and working together, which
(08:19):
is really exciting.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
That means so much because that's honestly what I like
to push on to the people is that I'm all
forhan like you are the piece and love through music
and art is what I'm there for. And even for
guys who aren't musicians, for people who just want to
dabble in other mediums like form line and you know,
designs and all that stuff. I think that's all great
(08:45):
ways of manifesting shlinget people.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
And do you mentor anyone do you bring anyone on
who's interested in this. If someone says I want to
be a hip hop cling at language artist, teach me
the ways air jazz?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yes, certainly. I've had a few people at the high schools,
such as Yakuska Dakta Hiddi approached me about some written
poems they have that they want to turn into songs,
and I'm all for that influence. Some of them are
just now doing their slingket introductions and they're practicing it
over drums. I got to go stop in on one
of those classes. So it's really exciting to see that
(09:21):
these kids are really wanting to make music.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Amazing is there an album out, is there an album coming?
Or how do you put your songs out there?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah? So I just dropped an album last year in
July twenty twenty three. I mostly do it through streaming
services Spotify, Apple and whatnot. And even more exciting is
that this year, rather than dropping a solo project, I
have a collective project with Kue coming out very soon.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Who Eke is a thing at word that means to
invite people, and it's also a word for one of
our most sacred ceremonies that happens in the fall, and
it's the name of an indigenous band that's located in
the Seattle area. Who are the other musicians that you
work with on?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Kuik ah Ki is full of a lot of talented people.
We have Gene Tagaman, who is one of our Juno originals.
We have Preston Singletary, the amazing glass formline artist who
also plays bass and speaks some of the language. We
have a Hia artist, Sondre Sagundo, and she is well
known for her emerging cultural leadership for heid to people
(10:26):
and she incorporates her language into the songs as well.
On top of some lower forty eight natives we work with,
such as Rob He's this very talented guitar player who's Blackfoot,
and so we're a pretty mixed group of indigenous funk artists.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
And your music there is live, so is going like
live with a band. Do you have a different approach
than when you, you know, maybe construct music on your own.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah. Absolutely, Since it's live with a more funk and
orchestral sound, I definitely go for a more live, jazzy
vocal that would fit the tone of their music more
as if I was doing my own song and it
was just over a backing track, I have more freedom
to just be kind of expressive and wild on stage
since it's just my own sound.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Y Okay, folks might not know, but Lingett peoples have
been taking like every instrument I think that came into
our lands. We're like, oh, yeah, I want to learn
how to play that. And so my grandpa and his
brothers and one of his sons had a band for
a long time and they'd play in Skagway that take
their instruments out on fishing boats and they jam out
after they're done with their sets before they go to
(11:33):
pick the fish. And so music in Thlingett culture has
been incorporated for a long time, maybe not in the
ways you see with Hawaiians and the ukulele and how
that sort of just became a Hawaiian thing, But there
was this kind of separation between what was music and
what was thlinget, and so the language wasn't always brought
(11:53):
into the songs. But then you started to see that
with folks like Archie Cavanon incorporating that into his jazz music.
And then you saw that as well with Sam Johnston
out of Teslaen who would translate country songs and really
jam out with him and thing it. So it's really
exciting to see you breaking new ground and taking the
language into this place. And it's been exciting to what
(12:15):
you perform and to watch the videos that come out.
So we're going to back it up a little bit.
So tell me about this first video that you made,
and like who was in it and where did you
shoot the video and how did it all what was
it like putting it all together.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, it was a blast making that first video. So
it's a kind of quon. We had a lot of
great tribal youth for Flingott and Heida that were there
a lot of good friends of mine and a lot
of their families got to join us in Haynes where
we went to the spot where the Haynes Fairs usually
held and we got some really good footage of that
(12:49):
scene they have in White Thing. We had that area
in Haynes that they shot at at and it was
a beautiful area. We got to do a lot of
good footage there. And then of course we were also
on a canoe out at or a Menen hallake actually,
and that was really cool. We got to all be
in this form line canoe and after we were done
with all of that, we did a couple of verry
(13:10):
picking scenes just in my backyard. So it was a
lot of various locations added up into this one cool idea.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Where can folks find it? How do they find the video?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah, it's on Flingett and Hide's YouTube page. You can
look up I Love You My People on YouTube and
it'll be right there at the top.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
We're going to take a break. But before we take
our break, we get to check out one of your songs.
So do you want to introduce this song to us?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yes, that I will. This first song is titled Ugh Ugh,
which of course is the Flingett word for Devil's Club
or Alaskan Jin saying awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
And yeah, it's act as a medicine. It's a sacred
powerful plant. So I'm excited to hear that. So we're
going to listen to this song by air Jazz Yao
di Nay and that'll take us to a break and
we'll be right back after that. Has teeth to cut
you on gout caw the hit Chi, I ad what's
(14:08):
a go to chi?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Look Hushoo Kata shook kayak good dort Dark.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Are you you in hunt card?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Nick Dark?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Cut you on.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
A car Yaco City cock cofew tonguy goosey I addy cut.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
Dad, I gin acting do for toot city kost that
can has to your.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yo, tack your gooks attack cy gos, sring it we sling.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Get clean away.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah do cut harsh Shu car t Sho ca Yaku
dot Kuana Nick can hear me played Wacoba conte Cha
wooden Wood on her character on her Sho Cosso Pan
(15:31):
Wacoba conte Cha wooden Wood on her characters on her
sho Cossophon clash crosson neck. We're gonnacting directly good nastiest
show ye nay ye kasha, the nakis clash question, we're
(15:55):
gonnafting let me.
Speaker 6 (16:25):
You you so yes, I do so.
Speaker 7 (16:34):
Bho My holy.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
M m.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
Christie.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
That's a phrase I learned from Herman Davis. He said,
our language is echoing back and our culture is echoing back.
And I think about this stuff a lot because a
lot of the work that I do has to do
with trying to get people to speak a language that
is in danger, but also trying to sort of take
the language to new places. And so one of the
(17:12):
things that we also try to do is I think
about this stuff a lot. Is the other day someone
was asking about who gets to learn our language, and
I said, well, I think everybody gets to learn our language.
And then one of the things that they brought up, well,
someone once brought up a complicated concept to me was
if someone's not thing it, can they say hush chagoon
and haushakah, which mean our ancestors and also everything we've
(17:37):
ever been and will become and will be. And my
answer is usually yes, because if they're speaking our language,
they're with us, and our language doesn't really divide people
as much as English tends to do, and so thinking
of that, I'd like to have a conversation about your background,
your heritage, and what it was like growing up here
as someone who has multiple ethnicities that are beautiful and wonderful,
(18:02):
but not everybody celebrates diversity in the same way.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, certainly. So, Yeah, I grew up Afro Indigenous. Of course,
I am about half African American. I am just under
a quarter Slingett. I have a little bit of Blackfoot
in me as well, and then of course the Caucasian
and whiteside. So yeah, growing up here, I was just
here in Juneo, and I've been adopted pretty much my
whole life, So I mostly just grew up around both
(18:28):
Indigenous and white family as well as friends, and luckily
it was a very welcoming place for me. So I
always felt accepted for having Afro Indigenous heritage. It was
never something I was insecure about or never something that
was really a hardship for me. I think the only
thing that was different growing up was that I never
really realized that our culture was in danger, that our
(18:50):
language was in danger. Growing up, I was just taught
it was second nature that we were on Flingettanni and
that these were our people who were thriving. It didn't
occur to me that we were actually making strides for
a way of life that was being slowly but surely
killed off and we wanted to make sure that we
revitalize it. So it was definitely a fascinating experience for
(19:10):
me to finally get here to making indigenous music for
the people.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, that's awesome. And then this also brings you know,
hip hop is everybody's thing, but hip hop has its
origins in the black community, and so it's so amazing
that these things get to be brought together for you
and this blend that doesn't have to say, oh, it's
this is one type of thing and this is another
type of thing. Because we have a lot of people
who have a mixed heritage. We have people with Filipino backgrounds,
(19:38):
we have people with African American backgrounds, we have people
with various Asian American backgrounds, and it's wonderful to see
that these things don't have to compete, and these things
don't have to buy into these ideas of discrimination or
what's better or worse. So, yeah, I'm really glad to
hear that it was a good experience growing up and
that this was a welcoming place because I think it's
(19:59):
a beautiful place for all kinds of.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
People to be.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Absolutely, it was just a place where you could thrive.
And luckily, I think I'm just part of a generation
where we're starting to shift the mindset that once was
where there was this division between different ethnic people. But luckily,
I think that is starting to change and we're starting
to understand that anyone can be accepted, especially the people
that are original to the lands, whether they're Afro Indigenous
(20:25):
or Euroindigenous. You know, we don't really judge off of
blood quantum or skin tone. We're just all fling it here.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Yeah, Because as we sort of move away from these
concepts of one group being better than the other, or
one group having certain rights that others don't have, and
then it's easy to sort of take that and say, Okay,
they hate us, so we hate them. But then to say, okay,
wait a minute, there's something that's more at the core
of human beings, which I think is acceptance and curiosity
(20:54):
and just saying, oh, well, we do things this way.
How do you guys do things? What kinds of foods
do you guys et? What kinds of meat music do
you guys make? And so it's fun to see that
things can be a spectrum of identities where things don't
have to compete for space, because I think that's where
we get into trouble if we start trying to limit
ourselves into what we are, Whereas, like I think human
(21:16):
beings can be pretty complex things that have a lot
of fascinating pieces.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I absolutely agree, And I wanted to also bring up
another topic that's interesting to me is when it comes
to cultural blends in music. I think that it's something
that I'm starting to see a lot more of, not
just in Alaska, but also even in Siberia, where there
are indigenous people over in Russia that are using some
of their native instruments and they're doing these like vocal
(21:44):
chants that have these nice deep tambers to them. The
throat singing as well. I always love that throat singing
put into the hip hop. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, I think I saw a throat singing group and
Anchorage had come over, and then there was a music festival,
a Native American music festival. This is probably twenty years ago.
In Anchorage. You had groups that were doing I guess
pop music, and some that are doing country music. You
had folks who were coming from all over in Native America,
and then there was there was a Siberian group and
(22:14):
they started out with two women facing each other and
just feeding off of each other with the throat singing.
Then all of a sudden, this beat just dropped and
it was just so fun, and it's so fun to
think of all of those things and just say like,
all these instruments are tools, and all these tools are
going to combine to make incredible music.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, all sonically manifesting the people all in one song.
I love it. That's right.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
And so what are some of the projects that are
next for you? What's coming up?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, So it's looking like I'm going to be part
of a big collaborative project with other Alaskan artists. That's
really exciting. It's going to be featuring a person who
has visited Juno many times before, kill a priest of
the Wu Tang membership. Yeah, he actually wants to work
with a lot of our artists here and incorporate some
natives from here in Juneo as well as an anchorage too.
(23:06):
It's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yeah, and so kill a Priest has been up here
a number of times, and I think one of the
last times he came up and his group came up.
They went up to Skagway to perform, and they went
around to different Southeast communities to perform, which is amazing
because just thinking like growing up in a small Alaskan town,
like there's a big artist who's coming to perform in
your town. And so it was so fun because I
(23:29):
was on the ferry and we were riding the ferry
back from Skagway to Juno and he was on there,
and so a lot of us were just staring, just staring, starstruck,
and so it's really that's amazing to hear and I
really look forward to what comes out of that as
you continue to blossom your own career in indigenous hip hop.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Goodness, chief playing, it's an honor. It's going to be
so much fun having sling get YOKITANGI on a Killer
Priest song, I'll be the Future.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Wow. So when you're making songs, it is it just
you as is there a collaboration? How does it usually go?
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah? So for my solo music, I usually just do
things alone. I just self produce on my computer and
I record with my own mic like DIY style. And
then when I'm working with my friends and my collaborators
like Who for example, I usually go to the studio
and I'm actually laying down vocals for some of their
instrumental passages.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Oh well, so they'll send you maybe like a multi
track thing, or they'll just send you the whole track,
and then you'll record something and send.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
It to them. Yeah, And I'll even go to the
studio with them at times and we'll all lay things
down together. It's always great.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
And when you're doing songs with them, does it sometimes
the music come first or does the idea sort of
come first? Or is it a mixture.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Sometimes we just have songwriting sessions where we just improv
and we end up coming up with a Banger's always
a good time, right on.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Well, I'm looking forward to hearing more of your music
as always. And what about videos or more videos coming?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah, I have one music video that's been on hold
for couple months now, but I think I will be
dropping it within the next week. Finally it'll be worth
the wait. Nice.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
That's awesome. So we're going to take our second break here, folks.
It's coming up, but we have another hot track coming
from air Jazz. Do you want to tell us what
this one is?
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Yes, this one is titled Nakani Shaqani.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Awesome, So do you want to translate that for us?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
That one stands for plan opposite young Woman and it
is a song on behalf of the MMIWG awareness Missing
Murdered Indigenous Women, girls and two spirits.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah, so this is really important. So before we listen
to this song, can you talk about your place in
the world as a man who steps forward? And if
we talk about protecting women, if we talk about protecting
people from LGPTQ plus communities, what do you see your
role as there.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
I definitely want to be someone who is a voice
for fellow men who do look out for our women
and want to keep them as safe and acknowledged as possible,
because I know that our matriarchs are the ones that
guide us through the culture a lot of the time.
And you know, who are we to allow such heinous
epidemic to happen to our women when they're the ones
(26:18):
who should be leading us and guiding us and making
things better for Slingatani. So I think that's very important
for them to be given a tribute.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And chess Catan, thank you for speaking on behalf of
that and on behalf of them. And so our role
as indigenous men is to listen, to protect, to maintain
safe spaces, and to advocate when it's necessary, but to
also make sure that their voices are elevated. And as
(26:48):
we sort of look at a world that is very
violent towards women in general, and even more violent towards
indigenous women, our job is to really make sure that
indigenous men are not contributing to that violence. And so
much love to everyone, much love to women, much love
to those who have a queer identity, and just know
(27:09):
that you are valued and important or cherished. And Nakani
Shakasani is dropping on the tongue unbroken and we'll be
right back after we listen to that. But if cheese plains.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
Ye go I have fun?
Speaker 8 (27:30):
Yes, fun enough gus away away, say Kani, I got
(28:01):
you sign King Dicky to her cut cabra a clock,
he shot k ja he knew her. Honey, are you
it cool? Hush got Maggie, good day?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Do gonko sugar enough kok gooki yani did ye st
says say lea still say.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Still say, I live to swollen sister storm and so
still living on silver golden telephones.
Speaker 9 (28:36):
Haven't went into the forest White Light ninety nine. I
looked Tony wake up in the Fantasia, Anastasia, then the glacier.
Seven Nature from the corn the anesthesia. Well but tell
you seven nature. Yeah it was seven nature, seven nature.
Seven nature made it to the last ten found.
Speaker 6 (28:55):
These are your Rootstoll being grounds where you're safe and
so to your.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Family standing all love round.
Speaker 6 (29:03):
This isn't a haunted mound, It's a haven. Tell your
made it to.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
The last ten found.
Speaker 6 (29:12):
These are your rostom being grounds where you're safe and sound,
your family standing all lave round. This isn't a haunted mound,
it's a haven.
Speaker 10 (29:24):
Tell your home, Sara, I read to sign awaking. Equity
can do your home to cut trava okla connie a.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Good Sanah.
Speaker 10 (29:48):
I read to sign away Russia. Equity can do to
cut trava oklacari Hi.
Speaker 6 (30:05):
M m.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
To wou jin.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
To cut you on.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I'm here with Arias oil Yadney air Jazz. We're talking
about music. We're listening to music. It's exciting. It's exciting
to see these things and So my question to you, now,
what's the future look like for you? When we talk
about indigenous music and we talk about indigenous hip hop
and we talk about just where are things going and
what are you hoping for?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
I think in the future, I'm looking forward to starting
a huge collaborative network with fellow Indigenous artists that are
putting their language and their lineage on the map. I
think that we can start finding new voices that can
really advocate for music in the arts to where we
can have music videos done all over Southeast even beyond Juno.
(31:26):
If we could have some talented musicians from the smaller
villages come over and do some music videos, I think
that would be a nice movement so that we keep
it as alive as possible.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, that's fabulous. I've talked in other conversations about an
Alaska Native Language media network, which could be a statewide
entity that serves a variety of needs. And so one
of the things could be creating language lesson videos, creating
cartoons in our languages, and then another could be opening
the door for individualized music production, because I think a
(32:00):
studio is not always an accessible thing, and figuring out
how to record and how to do multi track stuff
and how to edit and how to do all of
this stuff and access to microphones. And I think if
our communities had recording studios that were just ready to go,
and it doesn't have to be Paisley Park and what
Prints has, it could be. It could be smaller, but
(32:22):
maybe it's something bigger too, and just to see this
is something that you have access to, because I know
that there's wonderful people who run recording studios in our communities,
but sometimes an indigenous space is just something that's just
always just ready to go because you just feel a
little bit more like you're at home. And so as
we sort of open those doors, we don't know if
(32:43):
there's someone out there who would also love to do
this but just never thought it was possible. So I
love that idea of bringing it to people and maybe
creating some starter packs and just say here's a microphone,
here's an interface, here's some software. Get going and do
some you know, classes on writing beats and stuff, because
I know sometimes I might have a beat in my head,
(33:04):
but I'll sit down with a drum machine that has
sort of a time correcting thing, and I'll play it
out and then the next time it comes around, I'm like, oh,
that sounds awful because I got to work on my timing.
So with that, what do you do with instruments? What
kind of instruments do you play?
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Yeah, it's interesting. So the only real instrument I've actually
played myself was the piano. I still have ways to
go on practicing at ukulele, and most of the time
when it comes to my music production, I'm actually just
kind of doing both samples and keyboard synthesizer when I'm
on my MacBook. So a lot of the work I
do is just on a daw called Logic pro X,
(33:42):
and I just get to write my own melodies on
there and do my own drum loops. So that's always
a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Oh that's amazing. And so there was a music festival
here in okkan Ani sometimes on the maps known as
Juno Alaska, and it was the Rock Music FESTI Well,
I think it's gone on two years now, maybe three,
and I think it's the first indigenous music festival, or
(34:08):
at least it's one of the larger ones. And so
as that sort of goes forward, I think there's a
real opportunity there to just continue to collaborate, to inspire
new musicians, and to think about giving them a chance
to say, step up on stage and see what happens.
Because it's one thing to think about making music and
being creative, but it's a completely different thing to stand
(34:31):
up in front of people and just let it go.
So thinking of that, what's your source of courage when
you're just getting ready to go on the stage, Because
I know that can be like a real scary thing.
I like it, but I think it's also scary.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah, definitely, man. I understand that unless you're in celebration
with a giant dance group behind you, it might be
nerve wracking to be that one artist on stage performing
a song in front of others. I think one of
the things that always made it easier for me is
that what you have to offer is something that all
of that crowd has been waiting to hear. So just
(35:07):
keep in mind that, regardless of how you do as
a performer, you're doing the performance that no one else
in that room's capable of, and they were waiting to
see someone do it in the first place. So as
soon as you step up there, they're already excited just
to see you standing. So as soon as you just
grab that mic and start actually performing, Man, you don't
even have to be the best rapper. You don't have
(35:28):
to be the best singer, even as soon as you
start giving them a show to watch that's already inspiring
the people.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Yeah, because I think being the best is a colonial
construction anyway. So it's sort of like, can't we just
feed off of each other and just make amazing stuff
and like, yeah, you make something, I'm like, bro, I
love that, and then someone else can make something like well,
I love that too, and so get out of this
sort of realm where like there can only be one
type of thing, because I think those are really destructive
(35:55):
things that create toxic environments.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
They are.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
So if I'm a young person right now who's saying,
you know, I'd love to get into hip hop, how
do I get started?
Speaker 2 (36:05):
I'd say, for one, you would probably need to find
a good rhyme scheme, Like you have to get familiar
with how to rhyme and construct lines that you know,
make up bars, such as a poem. I think poetry
is a good place to start, where you just kind
of rhyme a few lines and jot them down until
you come up with a full song idea. And I'd
(36:27):
also say take source of inspiration. So if there's a
particular artist that you look up to that you like
to listen to in the hip hop realm, listen to
their songs and think, what is it about the music
they do that's inspiring me? And how about I try
to do that same practice myself so that you know
you have a default to work with. Since you've heard
(36:49):
these artists before, you can kind of just take ideas
from them as a start, and then once you're good
enough to actually rap and flow on your own, you
can start to evolve your own sound.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Nice and who were some artists who were highly influential
in your work?
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Yeah, it's very interesting. I have a wide variety of
inspirations in the hip hop realm. For one, of course,
we have Wu Tang, which is why meeting kill a
priest was such an honor for me, because I've always
been a Wu Tang fan. I'm a huge nas fan.
I think he's one of the best rappers to have
ever graced the mic. I grew up of course listening
to I guess more mainstream hip hop artists such as
(37:27):
fifty cent Lowayne and Eminem, But the ones that really
stopped me in my tracks were the ones that were
more experimental and the ones that were more willing to
take risks with their sound, such as Kid Cutty. I'm
a huge fan of Kid Cutty because he broke the
norms of music and hip hop in general, and that
(37:47):
inspired me to do Flingett music because I thought, let
me break the norms of what hip hop sounds like
from Alaska, and that's how we can start some kind
of a cultural movement through music.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
And I think as well, like to sort of push
back on some of the things because you don't have
to take everything from every sort of cultural realm. And
hip hop is a cultural realm, and rap is a
cultural realm, and so like you know, there's diss tracks
and stuff like that, and like I think if you
released a dis track like some Uncles and Auntie's gonna
be shown up on your door to like just give
(38:21):
you the lecture of the century.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
And so that's believe it. I've been there. I have
definitely been there.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
You better be subtle with your distrack if that's what
you're gonna do. So this is really exciting to think
about too. And to think about. I hope five years
from now you could go up on stage and say
here's six hip hop artists who are going to do
some work and thing it because I'd be really excited
to see it grow and continue. And I think because
of what you've done, I think it's going to happen.
(38:51):
I think other people are going to say, oh, like
he did it, I can do it. And so I'm
just really thankful for the work that you do. I'm
inspired by by you and your presence and what you
bring Chese.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
I also wanted to bring up you inspired me as
well through songwriting because I remember that song that you
shared with all of Schlingt Dhani so that all of
the Anyak Klusani could sing it. I think that's an
amazing example of how we can bring the youth and
the elders together to sing these songs and for it
to be shared with everyone to the point where every
(39:26):
school around Zanti Kahini is learning your song and that's
what we need. It'll inspire him, I know it will.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
And it's cheese. And this comes back too to like
it's not a one thing or the other type of
conversation and so we can write new songs that go
into the realm of hip hop and country music and
pop music. And then we can also learn our sling
It songs and like make sure we know the words
and make sure we know how that song goes. And
then as we understand the structure of Flingett music, we
(39:55):
could say, oh, let's write a new ling It song
and so that song. For example, I was in ho
and I would watch them sing this chant that was
written by the brilliant and wonderful Larry Kimura, and they're
asking permission to learn the language and to use the
ancestral language. And so I saw this. It was so
beautiful because I saw kids, adults, I saw all over
(40:17):
the place. I thought, we need an anthem for our
language movement. And so I remember I was in Hawaiti
and the melody came and the sort of structure of
it came, this call and response type of song. And
then I came back from Hawaiti and we had a
language immersion in Sitka, and Ruth Demmert was there and
David Katzig and Laurence Shakeley was there, and I had
(40:39):
this recording from Cyril George and I sort of had
these four lines begin to emerge, and they helped me
sort of put it together. I had sort of an idea,
but then there were a couple of things that didn't
work so well, and then it was the elders who said,
oh yeah, say it this way, and it just fit.
And it was so fun to see, because whether you're
doing the hip hop, whether you're doing pop music, think
(40:59):
it like the idea of a musician just saying, hey,
I listen to this, and then someone says, oh, that's wonderful.
Maybe change this one thing. And to have a truly
constructive criticism is really important because I think some people
they just try to pull you down a little bit.
And I think it's really important if you're going to
get into art, you're going to get into music, if
(41:20):
you're going to be creative, that you're balanced and you
can hear people's ideas and sometimes like if they think
you could do something in a better way. But I
think if someone's just trying to bring you down, just
try to ignore it exactly.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
That is a very important lesson I want all uprising
artists to learn is that there is no wrong way
to make art. So whatever you have as an expression
to sonically manifest the people. I'm all ears for it
because as a fellow artist, I know that you start
to learn a little more as you go on how
(41:54):
to sonically manifest your people, and you just get better
with every song you released. So I'm not one and
knock other artists. I'm always excited to hear new ideas
that are creatively expressing indigeneity, and I hope that they
keep putting out new songs that sonically express us.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yes, and support others, and soak in the support of others,
because I think that's also reversing a trend which is
sometimes just being a little too mean to each other,
which I think we can we could do away with
that kind of stuff as indigenous peoples. And if you
are connected to in any way to the thing of peoples,
to the height of peoples, to the Simschan people's, I
(42:32):
highly recommend you come to Juno the first weekend in
June and check out Celebration, which Yaodnea has mentioned several times,
and it's a gathering every two years on ak qwan
Anni and Juno, Alaska where there's songs and dances and
performances and fashion shows and art shows and it's just
a wonderful time that's put on by the Sea Alaska
(42:54):
Heritage Institute. And it's fun because, as you said, when
you're dancing with a group something, it's about the power
of the group and being you know, these voices that
connect together in these songs that are mostly really ancient
songs that we're still singing today. But then it's also
as an artist, it's fun to have that experience and
to say, oh yeah, but I can also go pick
(43:15):
up a guitar and play a song in front of people,
or I could drop this beat and then do something
magical on top of it. And so it's it's really
fun to just sort of say I don't have to
live in two worlds because I just live in one
world and all those parts are in my world.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
That is it. Indeed like you get to hear Schlinget
from the past, the present, and the future, so our
music will stay alive no matter what time immemorial.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
Fantastic. So as we start to sort of wrap this
thing up, any messages you want to leave us on
with your artistry, with your wisdom, with your work.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
I just want to say, keep rocking on all of
our indigenous artists, whether you be a form line artist
who has a whole plane painted with the form line,
whether you be a Native Youth Olympian who makes an
American Ninja Warrior, whether you be an Indigenous artist who
makes hip hop music. I just hope to see all
of our people striving and making our mediums manifest our people,
(44:13):
and we'll be kept alive forever. We'll get to teach
everyone about us forever. And that's a really exciting thought. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Wow, So time immemorial is that's my kind of time.
When people like to say, how long have you been here?
I say, well, our people have been here since the
beginning of everything. We'll be here till the end of everything.
That's I think an indigenous existence is you don't have
to see time as these little fragments, and you also
don't have to see identity as these little fragments, and
you also don't have to see creativity as these little fragments.
(44:43):
So I'm so thankful for the time that you shared
with us, and that you make your music available for
us to check out. If you're out there listening, I
hope you check out more of Air Jazz and the
work that he's doing and the collaborations with incredible artists
from all over the place. And if you're an indigenous artist,
or you're anyone who's thinking about making some music, doing
(45:05):
something creative, drawing, painting, making movies, do the thing. Do
the thing and enjoy it and enjoy the company of
others who like to do those things and who will
enrich your experience by being positive, loving, supportive, and also
having conversations about how can we make things as well
as we possibly can without being mean to each other.
(45:28):
So coming back to love. It all comes back to love. KRISA. Khan, Yeah, gonees,
that's love.
Speaker 7 (46:00):
God want on.
Speaker 4 (46:03):
The country.
Speaker 11 (46:06):
You got your jay then okay, yeah to share the side.
But your neckar to no and the your negard knock,
that's the haunting. Your got to jack?
Speaker 3 (46:19):
Where do you know?
Speaker 7 (46:21):
Got you worn?
Speaker 4 (46:21):
Your card?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Gonna stuck?
Speaker 4 (46:24):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (46:25):
Just the Godley, Yes a day young, Okay, we handy.
Speaker 11 (46:31):
Jokey, you know you hurt them.
Speaker 7 (46:33):
Get cars to tell your.
Speaker 5 (46:35):
Shot in the canisk pick you're the nick with the
candy county.
Speaker 11 (46:41):
Put your jokey, you know you hurt them. Get cars
to tell your shot. Your co push your cash shore.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
Let's seem hunting card.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
God want you.
Speaker 12 (47:01):
Pressure coles sing wand couch car John, I got the
bok job to push the car to see.
Speaker 7 (47:20):
Cutting star yours you go, I have one of the
gun to see.
Speaker 11 (47:27):
That's cut scene.
Speaker 7 (47:29):
That's a cool t the dunny ut pool to say.
Speaker 12 (47:32):
You po cush your crush, cush your crush a car,
your car's your car.
Speaker 7 (47:37):
Push your car to a jacket arm up to you
cut the the Dutch car, not push the out how
to cut there? Pushed the duct a cookoo poch car,
push the art a jumper clock arm is cut your
back arm, pay your card. You had to suck on
my jump back arm. It's cut your back arm. Okay, yah, you.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Gotta give it up to the creatives, Indigenous people making
wonderful things, people from all over making wonderful things. At
gonna cheese shout in areas oil air Jazz's see in
a way at ye. Yeah, you took the tongue ya
(48:54):
to cut you on. You got to dlock wooch you
got to block wooch in. I'm so thankful to our guests,
yautinay areas, oil air jazz. Just wonderful to hear your music.
There's so much strength inside of it. There's so much
that we could take from it, and I'm so thankful
that you would share it with us. Go and check
(49:15):
him out. He shared one more song. I was putting
the episode together, I said, you got to give him
one more. There's room for one more, and I would
take several more if we want to keep going. I
also want to acknowledge the work and accomplishments of Lily Gladstone,
who has set a bar very high for us, and
a whole other realm that we haven't even looked at yet.
(49:36):
Indigenous actors and performers on stages, on screens, walk in
red carpets. Now, a lot of Indigenous people, we know
you should have won. If that was an Indigenous panel,
we would have said everybody else, just go home. This
was an amazing year, an amazing time for the wonderful
Lily Gladstone. So all you kids out there, look at
(49:57):
what's on the screen, Look what's in your ears, all
those little Indigenous babies out there.
Speaker 5 (50:02):
You could do it.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
You could be the next actor, writer, director, artist, rapper.
You want to be the pop star. There's room for
us on all these stages. You want to be a leader,
You want to be a helper. You want to heal
your people, do all of these things. The Tongue Unbroken
is a production of the Next Up Initiative and the iHeartMedia.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Network at.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
Joel Mia. We're doing this thing together. Sending lots of
love to annajos Nie who's an inspiration and open the
door for all of this. You go ayruan.
Speaker 8 (50:39):
Scene.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
Be strong, have courage. Strength is inside you.
They try to colonizzs, try to genocide, yet we're still
here with the Tongue on broke and aya to cut
you on.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Ya.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
This is the Tongue Unbroken, Folks. I am so thankful
that we are here together, and I'm grateful for my
guest today who is a musician, a language learner, and
an advocate for cultural safety and safety of people. And
I am excited to listen to you Yaodna, and we're
gonna check out a couple of songs. So on the
(00:57):
Tongue and Broken, there's two songs that you come on
during this show, one right before the first break and
one right before the second break. And on this special edition,
you're going to get to hear this young man's vision
in his songs and the things that he brings. And
I wanted to bring him on the show because he
uses the thing it language in his music and I
think that's really important. And as a lifelong language learner
(01:20):
for as long as I've known him, which has maybe
been for half of his life, so it's really exciting.
And I think for starters, could you tell the folks
who you are?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I claim, ling ya, you cut to us up enough,
Arias aj you hut to us upd I affect clog
one tan Yes, thank you everybody. I am. My stage
(01:53):
name is Air Jazz. Some people know me by that.
Thank you. I always love incorporating Lingett language into my music,
and that's what I've been practicing for the past six years.
It's been a lot of fun, amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, so let's talk about let's talk about your music. Actually,
First of all, what got you into music? How'd you
get started? What's your music process?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, so I actually come from a pretty musical family.
For one, my dad is a singer songwriter who plays
the guitar and he writes original songs. On top of that,
I also have an older brother who first made hip
hop music before I even made my first song, so
he actually was experimenting with music and songwriting before I did.
(02:33):
On top of that, of course, I have all my
Schlingett family that perform at celebration and have been doing
all these songs with the dance groups and have been
speaking the language for a long time, so I got
to be familiarized with it growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So when you thought about bringing the Thinget language into
your music, how did that start and how what was
the process like, it was.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
A very interesting process. So for a while when I
was in high school, I was just making songs on
SoundCloud with my friends, some of which are you know,
African American as well as Caucasian, so we were kind
of appealing to like a general demographic, you know, not
so much fling Get culture. One day, when I was
in high school, some Flinkett and Haida representatives stopped by
(03:16):
our school Juno Douglas Leh. And when they stopped by there,
some of their youth were talking about these summer programs
they wanted to do to embrace the culture, which included canoeing,
berry picking, jarring, salmon, smoking salmon. And one of the kids,
since he knew of my music, he proposed to these
Flint and heid of representatives, how about we do a
(03:38):
music video. How about we show and display all of
this Alaska native culture into a song and video. And
luckily it got approved President Chashnish, President PETERSONI approved and
a lot of budgeting was put towards this video called
ian Kwan I Love you my People, And ever since
then it's just skyrocketed me into this Flinget culture music
(04:00):
and I've been doing it ever since it's been an honor.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Oh that's amazing. And how long have you been studying Lingen?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Most of my life? When I was probably six seven
years old, I remember Ken Kow Danik and King gey
Sty would be visiting my elementary school, Mendenhall River and
as well as I would go with my sister Kayley
to her uas classes back when I was just in
fifth grade. So for a lot of my life I've
been learning shlingen. You fed Dongee.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Oh that's awesome. And you grew up here in the
Juno area.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I pretty much have been raised
here in my whole life. Even though I was born
in Anchorage, I've been here since I was two weeks old.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
And as you think about ways to incorporate sling it
into music, so like hip hop, I think has a
lot of sometimes rhyme schemes that one sound bounces off
of the other. So how does it change when you're
writing something in English as opposed to writing something in Shingen.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
It's a very different process of songwriting. For one, since,
like you mentioned, hip hop is known for rhyme, scheme
and flow. I kind of have to find a way
to cleverly incorporate fling toungi into a flow in rhyme scheme,
because sometimes you'll read a phrase or you'll use something
in conversation and fling it and it doesn't quite enunciate
(05:20):
or flow the same way it would in English. So,
you know, because it takes a lot of strong pronunciation,
you often have to slow down the words a little bit.
You have to draw out a few words and make
a vocal melody so that you know, it all aligns
well and it flows as well as it would in English.
So it's a very interesting process.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And yeah, I mean the language itself has lots of sounds,
it has lots of other things, and just the rhythm
of the language is different. But every language, even with
its rhythm, can fit to music, and so we have
flingett music and then the words sometimes adjust to match
the melody of the song or the beat of the song.
So I think it's a really nice mix. I think
(06:00):
it's really fun because it takes our language and says
you could bring our language into anything, You can bring
our language into all kinds of things, and it makes
it exactly Yeah, it makes it sometimes relatable to folks
who maybe even never thought about learning, and they say, well,
I love hip hop so well, I want to learn
more about this. So as you've done this work and
you've gone, how's it been you perform in front of people? Right,
(06:21):
you stand up and you do your music? Has that been?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
That's been so much fun? Last year I got to
perform for the first time at the Alaska State Fair
in Palmer. I was so hyped because having that Alaska
Native family all surrounding me right there performing as well,
like from other tribes such as a Nuciac Yupu all
there on stage. It was an honor being there. And
every show I do it just gets more exciting.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Well, have you met other folks who are using indigenous
languages in hip hop music?
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Certainly I met Byron Nikolai, I met I know all
the Bumua people. I've known them for years. And I've
also gotten to meet this group called Clan nine O
seven that is in Seattle and they rep their Alaskaati
people as well. They're shling it.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
How does it work for content? Like sometimes you know,
hip hop content can get pretty fiery sometimes, and so
do you have to walk a line when you're using
clinget in there?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Oh? Yeah, yes, I've learned this. I guess you could
say the hard way that there is a line with
what your audience can accept and hear and what another
more urban audience would be willing to hear, because you
kind of have to know your limit and have a
filter or else you could, you know, sometimes step into
territory that you don't want to as an artist.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, because I think, well, in some ways, I think
it could be really fun because there's a lot of
humor in cling Itt. And one of the things they
think that it opens the door to is when we
speak the Clingett language, it's a different language. If we
know everybody really well, we could really let the teasing go.
And there's a lot of jokes that might be a
little embarrassing if people came in that we didn't know.
(07:56):
And so there's a conversation to be had when it
comes to hip hop, like how could we find those
boundaries and maybe nudge them a little bit without sort
of being offensive to what is thlinge it? And so
you are thing it and you are on a TDI
and so like those identities I hear as part of
your music, and the other thing that I hear is
these messages of unity and love and working together, which
(08:19):
is really exciting.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
That means so much because that's honestly what I like
to push on to the people is that I'm all
forhan like you are the piece and love through music
and art is what I'm there for. And even for
guys who aren't musicians, for people who just want to
dabble in other mediums like form line and you know,
designs and all that stuff. I think that's all great
(08:45):
ways of manifesting shlinget people.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
And do you mentor anyone do you bring anyone on
who's interested in this. If someone says I want to
be a hip hop cling at language artist, teach me
the ways air jazz?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yes, certainly. I've had a few people at the high schools,
such as Yakuska Dakta Hiddi approached me about some written
poems they have that they want to turn into songs,
and I'm all for that influence. Some of them are
just now doing their slingket introductions and they're practicing it
over drums. I got to go stop in on one
of those classes. So it's really exciting to see that
(09:21):
these kids are really wanting to make music.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Amazing is there an album out, is there an album coming?
Or how do you put your songs out there?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah? So I just dropped an album last year in
July twenty twenty three. I mostly do it through streaming
services Spotify, Apple and whatnot. And even more exciting is
that this year, rather than dropping a solo project, I
have a collective project with Kue coming out very soon.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Who Eke is a thing at word that means to
invite people, and it's also a word for one of
our most sacred ceremonies that happens in the fall, and
it's the name of an indigenous band that's located in
the Seattle area. Who are the other musicians that you
work with on?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Kuik ah Ki is full of a lot of talented people.
We have Gene Tagaman, who is one of our Juno originals.
We have Preston Singletary, the amazing glass formline artist who
also plays bass and speaks some of the language. We
have a Hia artist, Sondre Sagundo, and she is well
known for her emerging cultural leadership for heid to people
(10:26):
and she incorporates her language into the songs as well.
On top of some lower forty eight natives we work with,
such as Rob He's this very talented guitar player who's Blackfoot,
and so we're a pretty mixed group of indigenous funk artists.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
And your music there is live, so is going like
live with a band. Do you have a different approach
than when you, you know, maybe construct music on your own.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah. Absolutely, Since it's live with a more funk and
orchestral sound, I definitely go for a more live, jazzy
vocal that would fit the tone of their music more
as if I was doing my own song and it
was just over a backing track, I have more freedom
to just be kind of expressive and wild on stage
since it's just my own sound.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Y Okay, folks might not know, but Lingett peoples have
been taking like every instrument I think that came into
our lands. We're like, oh, yeah, I want to learn
how to play that. And so my grandpa and his
brothers and one of his sons had a band for
a long time and they'd play in Skagway that take
their instruments out on fishing boats and they jam out
after they're done with their sets before they go to
(11:33):
pick the fish. And so music in Thlingett culture has
been incorporated for a long time, maybe not in the
ways you see with Hawaiians and the ukulele and how
that sort of just became a Hawaiian thing, But there
was this kind of separation between what was music and
what was thlinget, and so the language wasn't always brought
(11:53):
into the songs. But then you started to see that
with folks like Archie Cavanon incorporating that into his jazz music.
And then you saw that as well with Sam Johnston
out of Teslaen who would translate country songs and really
jam out with him and thing it. So it's really
exciting to see you breaking new ground and taking the
language into this place. And it's been exciting to what
(12:15):
you perform and to watch the videos that come out.
So we're going to back it up a little bit.
So tell me about this first video that you made,
and like who was in it and where did you
shoot the video and how did it all what was
it like putting it all together.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, it was a blast making that first video. So
it's a kind of quon. We had a lot of
great tribal youth for Flingott and Heida that were there
a lot of good friends of mine and a lot
of their families got to join us in Haynes where
we went to the spot where the Haynes Fairs usually
held and we got some really good footage of that
(12:49):
scene they have in White Thing. We had that area
in Haynes that they shot at at and it was
a beautiful area. We got to do a lot of
good footage there. And then of course we were also
on a canoe out at or a Menen hallake actually,
and that was really cool. We got to all be
in this form line canoe and after we were done
with all of that, we did a couple of verry
(13:10):
picking scenes just in my backyard. So it was a
lot of various locations added up into this one cool idea.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Where can folks find it? How do they find the video?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah, it's on Flingett and Hide's YouTube page. You can
look up I Love You My People on YouTube and
it'll be right there at the top.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
We're going to take a break. But before we take
our break, we get to check out one of your songs.
So do you want to introduce this song to us?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yes, that I will. This first song is titled Ugh Ugh,
which of course is the Flingett word for Devil's Club
or Alaskan Jin saying awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
And yeah, it's act as a medicine. It's a sacred
powerful plant. So I'm excited to hear that. So we're
going to listen to this song by air Jazz Yao
di Nay and that'll take us to a break and
we'll be right back after that. Has teeth to cut
you on gout caw the hit Chi, I ad what's
(14:08):
a go to chi?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Look Hushoo Kata shook kayak good dort Dark.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Are you you in hunt card?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Nick Dark?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Cut you on.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
A car Yaco City cock cofew tonguy goosey I addy cut.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
Dad, I gin acting do for toot city kost that
can has to your.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yo, tack your gooks attack cy gos, sring it we sling.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Get clean away.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah do cut harsh Shu car t Sho ca Yaku
dot Kuana Nick can hear me played Wacoba conte Cha
wooden Wood on her character on her Sho Cosso Pan
(15:31):
Wacoba conte Cha wooden Wood on her characters on her
sho Cossophon clash crosson neck. We're gonnacting directly good nastiest
show ye nay ye kasha, the nakis clash question, we're
(15:55):
gonnafting let me.
Speaker 6 (16:25):
You you so yes, I do so.
Speaker 7 (16:34):
Bho My holy.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
M m.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
Christie.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
That's a phrase I learned from Herman Davis. He said,
our language is echoing back and our culture is echoing back.
And I think about this stuff a lot because a
lot of the work that I do has to do
with trying to get people to speak a language that
is in danger, but also trying to sort of take
the language to new places. And so one of the
(17:12):
things that we also try to do is I think
about this stuff a lot. Is the other day someone
was asking about who gets to learn our language, and
I said, well, I think everybody gets to learn our language.
And then one of the things that they brought up, well,
someone once brought up a complicated concept to me was
if someone's not thing it, can they say hush chagoon
and haushakah, which mean our ancestors and also everything we've
(17:37):
ever been and will become and will be. And my
answer is usually yes, because if they're speaking our language,
they're with us, and our language doesn't really divide people
as much as English tends to do, and so thinking
of that, I'd like to have a conversation about your background,
your heritage, and what it was like growing up here
as someone who has multiple ethnicities that are beautiful and wonderful,
(18:02):
but not everybody celebrates diversity in the same way.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, certainly. So, Yeah, I grew up Afro Indigenous. Of course,
I am about half African American. I am just under
a quarter Slingett. I have a little bit of Blackfoot
in me as well, and then of course the Caucasian
and whiteside. So yeah, growing up here, I was just
here in Juneo, and I've been adopted pretty much my
whole life, So I mostly just grew up around both
(18:28):
Indigenous and white family as well as friends, and luckily
it was a very welcoming place for me. So I
always felt accepted for having Afro Indigenous heritage. It was
never something I was insecure about or never something that
was really a hardship for me. I think the only
thing that was different growing up was that I never
really realized that our culture was in danger, that our
(18:50):
language was in danger. Growing up, I was just taught
it was second nature that we were on Flingettanni and
that these were our people who were thriving. It didn't
occur to me that we were actually making strides for
a way of life that was being slowly but surely
killed off and we wanted to make sure that we
revitalize it. So it was definitely a fascinating experience for
(19:10):
me to finally get here to making indigenous music for
the people.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, that's awesome. And then this also brings you know,
hip hop is everybody's thing, but hip hop has its
origins in the black community, and so it's so amazing
that these things get to be brought together for you
and this blend that doesn't have to say, oh, it's
this is one type of thing and this is another
type of thing. Because we have a lot of people
who have a mixed heritage. We have people with Filipino backgrounds,
(19:38):
we have people with African American backgrounds, we have people
with various Asian American backgrounds, and it's wonderful to see
that these things don't have to compete, and these things
don't have to buy into these ideas of discrimination or
what's better or worse. So, yeah, I'm really glad to
hear that it was a good experience growing up and
that this was a welcoming place because I think it's
(19:59):
a beautiful place for all kinds of.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
People to be.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Absolutely, it was just a place where you could thrive.
And luckily, I think I'm just part of a generation
where we're starting to shift the mindset that once was
where there was this division between different ethnic people. But luckily,
I think that is starting to change and we're starting
to understand that anyone can be accepted, especially the people
that are original to the lands, whether they're Afro Indigenous
(20:25):
or Euroindigenous. You know, we don't really judge off of
blood quantum or skin tone. We're just all fling it here.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Yeah, Because as we sort of move away from these
concepts of one group being better than the other, or
one group having certain rights that others don't have, and
then it's easy to sort of take that and say, Okay,
they hate us, so we hate them. But then to say, okay,
wait a minute, there's something that's more at the core
of human beings, which I think is acceptance and curiosity
(20:54):
and just saying, oh, well, we do things this way.
How do you guys do things? What kinds of foods
do you guys et? What kinds of meat music do
you guys make? And so it's fun to see that
things can be a spectrum of identities where things don't
have to compete for space, because I think that's where
we get into trouble if we start trying to limit
ourselves into what we are, Whereas, like I think human
(21:16):
beings can be pretty complex things that have a lot
of fascinating pieces.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I absolutely agree, And I wanted to also bring up
another topic that's interesting to me is when it comes
to cultural blends in music. I think that it's something
that I'm starting to see a lot more of, not
just in Alaska, but also even in Siberia, where there
are indigenous people over in Russia that are using some
of their native instruments and they're doing these like vocal
(21:44):
chants that have these nice deep tambers to them. The
throat singing as well. I always love that throat singing
put into the hip hop. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, I think I saw a throat singing group and
Anchorage had come over, and then there was a music festival,
a Native American music festival. This is probably twenty years ago.
In Anchorage. You had groups that were doing I guess
pop music, and some that are doing country music. You
had folks who were coming from all over in Native America,
and then there was there was a Siberian group and
(22:14):
they started out with two women facing each other and
just feeding off of each other with the throat singing.
Then all of a sudden, this beat just dropped and
it was just so fun, and it's so fun to
think of all of those things and just say like,
all these instruments are tools, and all these tools are
going to combine to make incredible music.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, all sonically manifesting the people all in one song.
I love it. That's right.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
And so what are some of the projects that are
next for you? What's coming up?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, So it's looking like I'm going to be part
of a big collaborative project with other Alaskan artists. That's
really exciting. It's going to be featuring a person who
has visited Juno many times before, kill a priest of
the Wu Tang membership. Yeah, he actually wants to work
with a lot of our artists here and incorporate some
natives from here in Juneo as well as an anchorage too.
(23:06):
It's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yeah, and so kill a Priest has been up here
a number of times, and I think one of the
last times he came up and his group came up.
They went up to Skagway to perform, and they went
around to different Southeast communities to perform, which is amazing
because just thinking like growing up in a small Alaskan town,
like there's a big artist who's coming to perform in
your town. And so it was so fun because I
(23:29):
was on the ferry and we were riding the ferry
back from Skagway to Juno and he was on there,
and so a lot of us were just staring, just staring, starstruck,
and so it's really that's amazing to hear and I
really look forward to what comes out of that as
you continue to blossom your own career in indigenous hip hop.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Goodness, chief playing, it's an honor. It's going to be
so much fun having sling get YOKITANGI on a Killer
Priest song, I'll be the Future.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Wow. So when you're making songs, it is it just
you as is there a collaboration? How does it usually go?
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah? So for my solo music, I usually just do
things alone. I just self produce on my computer and
I record with my own mic like DIY style. And
then when I'm working with my friends and my collaborators
like Who for example, I usually go to the studio
and I'm actually laying down vocals for some of their
instrumental passages.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Oh well, so they'll send you maybe like a multi
track thing, or they'll just send you the whole track,
and then you'll record something and send.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
It to them. Yeah, And I'll even go to the
studio with them at times and we'll all lay things
down together. It's always great.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
And when you're doing songs with them, does it sometimes
the music come first or does the idea sort of
come first? Or is it a mixture.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Sometimes we just have songwriting sessions where we just improv
and we end up coming up with a Banger's always
a good time, right on.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Well, I'm looking forward to hearing more of your music
as always. And what about videos or more videos coming?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah, I have one music video that's been on hold
for couple months now, but I think I will be
dropping it within the next week. Finally it'll be worth
the wait. Nice.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
That's awesome. So we're going to take our second break here, folks.
It's coming up, but we have another hot track coming
from air Jazz. Do you want to tell us what
this one is?
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Yes, this one is titled Nakani Shaqani.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Awesome, So do you want to translate that for us?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
That one stands for plan opposite young Woman and it
is a song on behalf of the MMIWG awareness Missing
Murdered Indigenous Women, girls and two spirits.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah, so this is really important. So before we listen
to this song, can you talk about your place in
the world as a man who steps forward? And if
we talk about protecting women, if we talk about protecting
people from LGPTQ plus communities, what do you see your
role as there.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
I definitely want to be someone who is a voice
for fellow men who do look out for our women
and want to keep them as safe and acknowledged as possible,
because I know that our matriarchs are the ones that
guide us through the culture a lot of the time.
And you know, who are we to allow such heinous
epidemic to happen to our women when they're the ones
(26:18):
who should be leading us and guiding us and making
things better for Slingatani. So I think that's very important
for them to be given a tribute.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And chess Catan, thank you for speaking on behalf of
that and on behalf of them. And so our role
as indigenous men is to listen, to protect, to maintain
safe spaces, and to advocate when it's necessary, but to
also make sure that their voices are elevated. And as
(26:48):
we sort of look at a world that is very
violent towards women in general, and even more violent towards
indigenous women, our job is to really make sure that
indigenous men are not contributing to that violence. And so
much love to everyone, much love to women, much love
to those who have a queer identity, and just know
(27:09):
that you are valued and important or cherished. And Nakani
Shakasani is dropping on the tongue unbroken and we'll be
right back after we listen to that. But if cheese plains.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
Ye go I have fun?
Speaker 8 (27:30):
Yes, fun enough gus away away, say Kani, I got
(28:01):
you sign King Dicky to her cut cabra a clock,
he shot k ja he knew her. Honey, are you
it cool? Hush got Maggie, good day?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Do gonko sugar enough kok gooki yani did ye st
says say lea still say.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Still say, I live to swollen sister storm and so
still living on silver golden telephones.
Speaker 9 (28:36):
Haven't went into the forest White Light ninety nine. I
looked Tony wake up in the Fantasia, Anastasia, then the glacier.
Seven Nature from the corn the anesthesia. Well but tell
you seven nature. Yeah it was seven nature, seven nature.
Seven nature made it to the last ten found.
Speaker 6 (28:55):
These are your Rootstoll being grounds where you're safe and
so to your.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Family standing all love round.
Speaker 6 (29:03):
This isn't a haunted mound, It's a haven. Tell your
made it to.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
The last ten found.
Speaker 6 (29:12):
These are your rostom being grounds where you're safe and sound,
your family standing all lave round. This isn't a haunted mound,
it's a haven.
Speaker 10 (29:24):
Tell your home, Sara, I read to sign awaking. Equity
can do your home to cut trava okla connie a.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Good Sanah.
Speaker 10 (29:48):
I read to sign away Russia. Equity can do to
cut trava oklacari Hi.
Speaker 6 (30:05):
M m.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
To wou jin.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
To cut you on.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I'm here with Arias oil Yadney air Jazz. We're talking
about music. We're listening to music. It's exciting. It's exciting
to see these things and So my question to you, now,
what's the future look like for you? When we talk
about indigenous music and we talk about indigenous hip hop
and we talk about just where are things going and
what are you hoping for?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
I think in the future, I'm looking forward to starting
a huge collaborative network with fellow Indigenous artists that are
putting their language and their lineage on the map. I
think that we can start finding new voices that can
really advocate for music in the arts to where we
can have music videos done all over Southeast even beyond Juno.
(31:26):
If we could have some talented musicians from the smaller
villages come over and do some music videos, I think
that would be a nice movement so that we keep
it as alive as possible.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, that's fabulous. I've talked in other conversations about an
Alaska Native Language media network, which could be a statewide
entity that serves a variety of needs. And so one
of the things could be creating language lesson videos, creating
cartoons in our languages, and then another could be opening
the door for individualized music production, because I think a
(32:00):
studio is not always an accessible thing, and figuring out
how to record and how to do multi track stuff
and how to edit and how to do all of
this stuff and access to microphones. And I think if
our communities had recording studios that were just ready to go,
and it doesn't have to be Paisley Park and what
Prints has, it could be. It could be smaller, but
(32:22):
maybe it's something bigger too, and just to see this
is something that you have access to, because I know
that there's wonderful people who run recording studios in our communities,
but sometimes an indigenous space is just something that's just
always just ready to go because you just feel a
little bit more like you're at home. And so as
we sort of open those doors, we don't know if
(32:43):
there's someone out there who would also love to do
this but just never thought it was possible. So I
love that idea of bringing it to people and maybe
creating some starter packs and just say here's a microphone,
here's an interface, here's some software. Get going and do
some you know, classes on writing beats and stuff, because
I know sometimes I might have a beat in my head,
(33:04):
but I'll sit down with a drum machine that has
sort of a time correcting thing, and I'll play it
out and then the next time it comes around, I'm like, oh,
that sounds awful because I got to work on my timing.
So with that, what do you do with instruments? What
kind of instruments do you play?
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Yeah, it's interesting. So the only real instrument I've actually
played myself was the piano. I still have ways to
go on practicing at ukulele, and most of the time
when it comes to my music production, I'm actually just
kind of doing both samples and keyboard synthesizer when I'm
on my MacBook. So a lot of the work I
do is just on a daw called Logic pro X,
(33:42):
and I just get to write my own melodies on
there and do my own drum loops. So that's always
a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Oh that's amazing. And so there was a music festival
here in okkan Ani sometimes on the maps known as
Juno Alaska, and it was the Rock Music FESTI Well,
I think it's gone on two years now, maybe three,
and I think it's the first indigenous music festival, or
(34:08):
at least it's one of the larger ones. And so
as that sort of goes forward, I think there's a
real opportunity there to just continue to collaborate, to inspire
new musicians, and to think about giving them a chance
to say, step up on stage and see what happens.
Because it's one thing to think about making music and
being creative, but it's a completely different thing to stand
(34:31):
up in front of people and just let it go.
So thinking of that, what's your source of courage when
you're just getting ready to go on the stage, Because
I know that can be like a real scary thing.
I like it, but I think it's also scary.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah, definitely, man. I understand that unless you're in celebration
with a giant dance group behind you, it might be
nerve wracking to be that one artist on stage performing
a song in front of others. I think one of
the things that always made it easier for me is
that what you have to offer is something that all
of that crowd has been waiting to hear. So just
(35:07):
keep in mind that, regardless of how you do as
a performer, you're doing the performance that no one else
in that room's capable of, and they were waiting to
see someone do it in the first place. So as
soon as you step up there, they're already excited just
to see you standing. So as soon as you just
grab that mic and start actually performing, Man, you don't
even have to be the best rapper. You don't have
(35:28):
to be the best singer, even as soon as you
start giving them a show to watch that's already inspiring
the people.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Yeah, because I think being the best is a colonial
construction anyway. So it's sort of like, can't we just
feed off of each other and just make amazing stuff
and like, yeah, you make something, I'm like, bro, I
love that, and then someone else can make something like well,
I love that too, and so get out of this
sort of realm where like there can only be one
type of thing, because I think those are really destructive
(35:55):
things that create toxic environments.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
They are.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
So if I'm a young person right now who's saying,
you know, I'd love to get into hip hop, how
do I get started?
Speaker 2 (36:05):
I'd say, for one, you would probably need to find
a good rhyme scheme, Like you have to get familiar
with how to rhyme and construct lines that you know,
make up bars, such as a poem. I think poetry
is a good place to start, where you just kind
of rhyme a few lines and jot them down until
you come up with a full song idea. And I'd
(36:27):
also say take source of inspiration. So if there's a
particular artist that you look up to that you like
to listen to in the hip hop realm, listen to
their songs and think, what is it about the music
they do that's inspiring me? And how about I try
to do that same practice myself so that you know
you have a default to work with. Since you've heard
(36:49):
these artists before, you can kind of just take ideas
from them as a start, and then once you're good
enough to actually rap and flow on your own, you
can start to evolve your own sound.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Nice and who were some artists who were highly influential
in your work?
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Yeah, it's very interesting. I have a wide variety of
inspirations in the hip hop realm. For one, of course,
we have Wu Tang, which is why meeting kill a
priest was such an honor for me, because I've always
been a Wu Tang fan. I'm a huge nas fan.
I think he's one of the best rappers to have
ever graced the mic. I grew up of course listening
to I guess more mainstream hip hop artists such as
(37:27):
fifty cent Lowayne and Eminem, But the ones that really
stopped me in my tracks were the ones that were
more experimental and the ones that were more willing to
take risks with their sound, such as Kid Cutty. I'm
a huge fan of Kid Cutty because he broke the
norms of music and hip hop in general, and that
(37:47):
inspired me to do Flingett music because I thought, let
me break the norms of what hip hop sounds like
from Alaska, and that's how we can start some kind
of a cultural movement through music.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
And I think as well, like to sort of push
back on some of the things because you don't have
to take everything from every sort of cultural realm. And
hip hop is a cultural realm, and rap is a
cultural realm, and so like you know, there's diss tracks
and stuff like that, and like I think if you
released a dis track like some Uncles and Auntie's gonna
be shown up on your door to like just give
(38:21):
you the lecture of the century.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
And so that's believe it. I've been there. I have
definitely been there.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
You better be subtle with your distrack if that's what
you're gonna do. So this is really exciting to think
about too. And to think about. I hope five years
from now you could go up on stage and say
here's six hip hop artists who are going to do
some work and thing it because I'd be really excited
to see it grow and continue. And I think because
of what you've done, I think it's going to happen.
(38:51):
I think other people are going to say, oh, like
he did it, I can do it. And so I'm
just really thankful for the work that you do. I'm
inspired by by you and your presence and what you
bring Chese.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
I also wanted to bring up you inspired me as
well through songwriting because I remember that song that you
shared with all of Schlingt Dhani so that all of
the Anyak Klusani could sing it. I think that's an
amazing example of how we can bring the youth and
the elders together to sing these songs and for it
to be shared with everyone to the point where every
(39:26):
school around Zanti Kahini is learning your song and that's
what we need. It'll inspire him, I know it will.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
And it's cheese. And this comes back too to like
it's not a one thing or the other type of
conversation and so we can write new songs that go
into the realm of hip hop and country music and
pop music. And then we can also learn our sling
It songs and like make sure we know the words
and make sure we know how that song goes. And
then as we understand the structure of Flingett music, we
(39:55):
could say, oh, let's write a new ling It song
and so that song. For example, I was in ho
and I would watch them sing this chant that was
written by the brilliant and wonderful Larry Kimura, and they're
asking permission to learn the language and to use the
ancestral language. And so I saw this. It was so
beautiful because I saw kids, adults, I saw all over
(40:17):
the place. I thought, we need an anthem for our
language movement. And so I remember I was in Hawaiti
and the melody came and the sort of structure of
it came, this call and response type of song. And
then I came back from Hawaiti and we had a
language immersion in Sitka, and Ruth Demmert was there and
David Katzig and Laurence Shakeley was there, and I had
(40:39):
this recording from Cyril George and I sort of had
these four lines begin to emerge, and they helped me
sort of put it together. I had sort of an idea,
but then there were a couple of things that didn't
work so well, and then it was the elders who said,
oh yeah, say it this way, and it just fit.
And it was so fun to see, because whether you're
doing the hip hop, whether you're doing pop music, think
(40:59):
it like the idea of a musician just saying, hey,
I listen to this, and then someone says, oh, that's wonderful.
Maybe change this one thing. And to have a truly
constructive criticism is really important because I think some people
they just try to pull you down a little bit.
And I think it's really important if you're going to
get into art, you're going to get into music, if
(41:20):
you're going to be creative, that you're balanced and you
can hear people's ideas and sometimes like if they think
you could do something in a better way. But I
think if someone's just trying to bring you down, just
try to ignore it exactly.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
That is a very important lesson I want all uprising
artists to learn is that there is no wrong way
to make art. So whatever you have as an expression
to sonically manifest the people. I'm all ears for it
because as a fellow artist, I know that you start
to learn a little more as you go on how
(41:54):
to sonically manifest your people, and you just get better
with every song you released. So I'm not one and
knock other artists. I'm always excited to hear new ideas
that are creatively expressing indigeneity, and I hope that they
keep putting out new songs that sonically express us.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yes, and support others, and soak in the support of others,
because I think that's also reversing a trend which is
sometimes just being a little too mean to each other,
which I think we can we could do away with
that kind of stuff as indigenous peoples. And if you
are connected to in any way to the thing of peoples,
to the height of peoples, to the Simschan people's, I
(42:32):
highly recommend you come to Juno the first weekend in
June and check out Celebration, which Yaodnea has mentioned several times,
and it's a gathering every two years on ak qwan
Anni and Juno, Alaska where there's songs and dances and
performances and fashion shows and art shows and it's just
a wonderful time that's put on by the Sea Alaska
(42:54):
Heritage Institute. And it's fun because, as you said, when
you're dancing with a group something, it's about the power
of the group and being you know, these voices that
connect together in these songs that are mostly really ancient
songs that we're still singing today. But then it's also
as an artist, it's fun to have that experience and
to say, oh yeah, but I can also go pick
(43:15):
up a guitar and play a song in front of people,
or I could drop this beat and then do something
magical on top of it. And so it's it's really
fun to just sort of say I don't have to
live in two worlds because I just live in one
world and all those parts are in my world.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
That is it. Indeed like you get to hear Schlinget
from the past, the present, and the future, so our
music will stay alive no matter what time immemorial.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
Fantastic. So as we start to sort of wrap this
thing up, any messages you want to leave us on
with your artistry, with your wisdom, with your work.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
I just want to say, keep rocking on all of
our indigenous artists, whether you be a form line artist
who has a whole plane painted with the form line,
whether you be a Native Youth Olympian who makes an
American Ninja Warrior, whether you be an Indigenous artist who
makes hip hop music. I just hope to see all
of our people striving and making our mediums manifest our people,
(44:13):
and we'll be kept alive forever. We'll get to teach
everyone about us forever. And that's a really exciting thought. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Wow, So time immemorial is that's my kind of time.
When people like to say, how long have you been here?
I say, well, our people have been here since the
beginning of everything. We'll be here till the end of everything.
That's I think an indigenous existence is you don't have
to see time as these little fragments, and you also
don't have to see identity as these little fragments, and
you also don't have to see creativity as these little fragments.
(44:43):
So I'm so thankful for the time that you shared
with us, and that you make your music available for
us to check out. If you're out there listening, I
hope you check out more of Air Jazz and the
work that he's doing and the collaborations with incredible artists
from all over the place. And if you're an indigenous artist,
or you're anyone who's thinking about making some music, doing
(45:05):
something creative, drawing, painting, making movies, do the thing. Do
the thing and enjoy it and enjoy the company of
others who like to do those things and who will
enrich your experience by being positive, loving, supportive, and also
having conversations about how can we make things as well
as we possibly can without being mean to each other.
(45:28):
So coming back to love. It all comes back to love. KRISA. Khan, Yeah, gonees,
that's love.
Speaker 7 (46:00):
God want on.
Speaker 4 (46:03):
The country.
Speaker 11 (46:06):
You got your jay then okay, yeah to share the side.
But your neckar to no and the your negard knock,
that's the haunting. Your got to jack?
Speaker 3 (46:19):
Where do you know?
Speaker 7 (46:21):
Got you worn?
Speaker 4 (46:21):
Your card?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Gonna stuck?
Speaker 4 (46:24):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (46:25):
Just the Godley, Yes a day young, Okay, we handy.
Speaker 11 (46:31):
Jokey, you know you hurt them.
Speaker 7 (46:33):
Get cars to tell your.
Speaker 5 (46:35):
Shot in the canisk pick you're the nick with the
candy county.
Speaker 11 (46:41):
Put your jokey, you know you hurt them. Get cars
to tell your shot. Your co push your cash shore.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
Let's seem hunting card.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
God want you.
Speaker 12 (47:01):
Pressure coles sing wand couch car John, I got the
bok job to push the car to see.
Speaker 7 (47:20):
Cutting star yours you go, I have one of the
gun to see.
Speaker 11 (47:27):
That's cut scene.
Speaker 7 (47:29):
That's a cool t the dunny ut pool to say.
Speaker 12 (47:32):
You po cush your crush, cush your crush a car,
your car's your car.
Speaker 7 (47:37):
Push your car to a jacket arm up to you
cut the the Dutch car, not push the out how
to cut there? Pushed the duct a cookoo poch car,
push the art a jumper clock arm is cut your
back arm, pay your card. You had to suck on
my jump back arm. It's cut your back arm. Okay, yah, you.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Gotta give it up to the creatives, Indigenous people making
wonderful things, people from all over making wonderful things. At
gonna cheese shout in areas oil air Jazz's see in
a way at ye. Yeah, you took the tongue ya
(48:54):
to cut you on. You got to dlock wooch you
got to block wooch in. I'm so thankful to our guests,
yautinay areas, oil air jazz. Just wonderful to hear your music.
There's so much strength inside of it. There's so much
that we could take from it, and I'm so thankful
that you would share it with us. Go and check
(49:15):
him out. He shared one more song. I was putting
the episode together, I said, you got to give him
one more. There's room for one more, and I would
take several more if we want to keep going. I
also want to acknowledge the work and accomplishments of Lily Gladstone,
who has set a bar very high for us, and
a whole other realm that we haven't even looked at yet.
(49:36):
Indigenous actors and performers on stages, on screens, walk in
red carpets. Now, a lot of Indigenous people, we know
you should have won. If that was an Indigenous panel,
we would have said everybody else, just go home. This
was an amazing year, an amazing time for the wonderful
Lily Gladstone. So all you kids out there, look at
(49:57):
what's on the screen, Look what's in your ears, all
those little Indigenous babies out there.
Speaker 5 (50:02):
You could do it.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
You could be the next actor, writer, director, artist, rapper.
You want to be the pop star. There's room for
us on all these stages. You want to be a leader,
You want to be a helper. You want to heal
your people, do all of these things. The Tongue Unbroken
is a production of the Next Up Initiative and the iHeartMedia.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Network at.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
Joel Mia. We're doing this thing together. Sending lots of
love to annajos Nie who's an inspiration and open the
door for all of this. You go ayruan.
Speaker 8 (50:39):
Scene.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
Be strong, have courage. Strength is inside you.
Host
X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell
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