Research Guides: 2021/2022 Fine Arts Speaker Series: Music

Music

Spirit Child / Willie Thrasher

"Spirit Child is the debut LP from Inuk singer-songwriter Willie Thrasher. Thrasher was born in Aklavik, a hamlet located in the Inuvik region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, in 1948. At five years of age, Thrasher was taken from his family and sent to a residential school where he was forbidden to practice his Inuvialuit culture, a shameful initiative by the Canadian government to assimilate Indigenous people into mainstream society. Music was a way for Thrasher to escape the pain and longing." Light in the Attic Records

Listen to samples on re-issue by Light in the Attic Records

https://lightintheattic.net/releases/2004-spirit-child

Willie Thrasher Live

Interview with Willie Thrasher / Vice Magazine

Mr. Thrasher talks about his life and the long journey to reissuing his debut album 'Spirit Child.'

Willie Trasher on CBC's Q

Willie Thrasher joins guest host Rachel Giese to discuss the music that shaped him throughout his life — from his childhood growing up among 21 siblings through to his nomadic adulthood.

Essential Redbone (2003) / Red Bone

"Redbone is an American funk rock band founded in 1969 by brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas. All band members during their commercial peak were of Mexican American and Native American heritage, which was reflected in their songs, stage costumes, and album art." Wikipedia

Redbone: Official Website

Has links to interviews and videos

Indigenous Pop by Jeff Berglund (Editor); Jan Johnson (Editor); Kimberli Lee (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
Publication Date: 2016
See especially page 99 - 101 on Redbone.

Popular music compels, it entertains, and it has the power to attract and move audiences. With that in mind, the editors of Indigenous Pop showcase the contributions of American Indian musicians to popular forms of music, including jazz, blues, country-western, rock and roll, reggae, punk, and hip hop. From Joe Shunatona and the United States Indian Reservation Orchestra to Jim Pepper, from Buffy Saint-Marie to Robbie Robertson, from Joy Harjo to Lila Downs, Indigenous Pop vividly addresses the importance of Native musicians and popular musical genres, establishing their origins and discussing what they represent. Arranged both chronologically and according to popular generic forms, the book gives Indigenous pop a broad new meaning. In addition to examining the transitive influences of popular music on Indigenous expressive forms, the contributors also show ways that various genres have been shaped by what some have called the "Red Roots" of American-originated musical styles. This recognition of mutual influence extends into the ways of understanding how music provides methodologies for living and survival. Each in-depth essay in the volume zeros in on a single genre and in so doing exposes the extraordinary whole of Native music. This book showcases the range of musical genres to which Native musicians have contributed and the unique ways in which their engagement advances the struggle for justice and continues age-old traditions of creative expression.