Résumés
Abstract
“We are the tribe that they cannot see. We live on an industrial reservation. We are the Halluci Nation.” These words from Indigenous activist and poet John Trudell (1946–2015) inspired the latest album by Ottawa-based Indigenous DJ collective A Tribe Called Red (ATCR) and frame its pan-Indigenous, transcultural message. Inter-tribal relationships are both common and important to Indigenous communities, especially in urban centres. Powwows are also events that emphasize intertribal and intercultural relationships, even as they hosted by a specific nation. With Halluci Nation, ATCR seeks to foster far-reaching allegiances across culture, ethnicity, and place to “[understand] oppression and how to collectively dismantle oppression” (DJ NDN of ATCR).
This article argues that ATCR’s Halluci Nation sonifies a process of decolonization that establishes an embodied network of global allies. I trace the development of ATCR’s music from its original focus on the Ottawa Indigenous community and its non-Indigenous allies to a call for nation-to-nation relationships (see Juno Award–winning album Nation II Nation, 2013), and then now to a concept album that seeks to manifest a real “Halluci Nation” with members from around the world. Analysis of ATCR’s music, audience, and Halluci Nation album is contextualized by studies of community formation and identity politics in intertribal initiatives), such as powwows and friendship centres, and pan-Indigenous activism, such as Idle No More.
Résumé
« Nous sommes la tribu invisible. Nous vivons sur une réserve industrielle. Nous sommes la nation Halluci ». Ces paroles de l’activiste des droits autochtones et poète John Trudell (1946–2015) a inspiré le plus récent album du collectif autochtone de disc-jockeys A Tribe Called Red (ATCR), de même que sa cause pan-autochtone et transculturelle. Les relations intertribales sont à la fois fréquentes et importantes pour les communautés autochtones, particulièrement dans les centres urbains. Leurs relations intertribales sont d’ailleurs soulignées par des événements tels que des powwows, même lorsqu’ils sont organisés par une nation en particulier. Avec Halluci Nation, ATCR cherche à rassembler des allégeances communes à travers une variété de cultures, d’identités ethniques et de lieux afin de comprendre l’oppression et comment elle peut être démantelée collectivement (DJ NDN de ATCR). Cet article avance que Halluci Nation de ATCR traduit par le son une démarche de décolonisation donnant lieu à un réseau global d’alliances. Nous retraçons le développement de la musique de ATCR, à partir de son intérêt de départ pour la communauté autochtone de la région d’Ottawa et ses alliés non-autochtones, vers un appel à des relations nation-à-nation (voir le Prix Juno — album gagnant Nation II Nation, 2013), pour aboutir au récent album-concept qui cherche à rassembler ses membres à l’échelle mondiale en une réelle Nation Halluci. Les analyses de la musique de ATCR, de son public, et de l’album Halluci Nation sont effectuée dans le cadre d’une étude de la formation de communauté et de politiques identitaires dans l’action intertribale, telle que l’organisation de powwows, de centre d’amitié, et l’activisme pan-autochtone comme Idle No More.
Parties annexes
Bibliography
- Andersen, Chris. 2013. “Urban Aboriginality as a Distinctive Identity, in Twelve Parts.” In Peters and Andersen, Indigenous in the City, 46–68.
- Barnes, Tom. 2016. “A Tribe Called Red Aim to Unite Artists, Activists against Colonialism on ‘Halluci Nation.’” Mic, 12 July. https://mic.com/articles/148474/a-tribe-called-red-aim-to-unite-artists-activists-against-colonialism-on-halluci-nation#.kP00tdOfc.
- Browner, Tara, ed. 2009. Music of the First Nations: Tradition and Innovation in Native North America. Urbana, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- Corntassel, Jeff. 2012. “Re-envisioning Resurgence: Indigenous Pathways to Decolonization and Sustainable Self-Determination.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1 (1): 86–101.
- Francis, Daniel. 1992. The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp.
- Johnson, Jay T. 2013. “Dancing into Place: The Role of the Powwow within Urban Indigenous Communities.” In Indigenous in the City: Contemporary Identities and Cultural Innovations, eds. Evelyn Peters and Chris Andersen, 216–30. Vancouver: UBC Press.
- Josephy, Alvin M. 1999. Red Power: The American Indians’ Fight for Freedom. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
- King, Thomas. 2012. The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
- Kino-nda-niimi Collective, ed. 2014. The Winter We Danced: Voices from the Past, the Future, and the Idle No More Movement. Winnipeg: ARP, 2014.
- Leal, Melissa. 2012. “Chempa, Showinpa, Mefpa, Asumpa, Achepa (to Paint, to Scratch, to Dance, to Flow, to Unite): The Native American Experience in the Hip Hop World.” PhD diss., University of California, Davis.
- Lee, Erica Violet, and Hayden King. 2017. “The Wigwam Conspiracy: Why Are Canada 150’s Indigenous People Stuck in Time?” CBC: Opinion, 30 March. http://www.cbc.ca/2017/the-wigwam-conspiracy-why-are-canada-150-s-indigenous-people-stuck-in-time-1.4034974.
- Monture, Lindsay. 2016. “A Tribe Called Red’s DJ NDN Talks New Album, Collaboration, and Solidarity.” Revolutions Per Minute (RPM), 8 September. http://rpm.fm/interview/tribe-called-reds-dj-ndn-talks-new-album-collaboration-solidarity/.
- Perea, John-Carlos. 2013. Intertribal Native American Music in the United States: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Peters, Evelyn, and Chris Andersen, eds. 2013. Indigenous in the City: Contemporary Identities and Cultural Innovations. Vancouver: UBC Press.
- Recollet, Karyn. 2015. “For Sisters.” In Me Artsy, ed. Drew Hayden Taylor, 91–104. Madiera Park: Douglas & McIntyre.
- Scales, Christopher. 2012. Recording Culture: Powwow Music and the Aboriginal Recording Industry on the Northern Plains. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
- Simpson, Leanne. 2011. Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re-Creation, Resurgence, and a New Emergence. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing.
- Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Tang. 2012. “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1 (1): 1–40.
- Woloshyn, Alexa. 2015. “Hearing Urban Indigeneity in Canada: Self-Determination, Community Formation, and Kinaesthetic Listening.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 39 (2): 1–23.