Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World

So my best friend and I just watched, "Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World", which is a Canadian documentary film by Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana, released in 2017. 

I highly suggest you watch this documentary on native influence in music.  There was a time when Native American musicians had to be discreet about their heritage, it was back in my grandparents lifetime. Racism played a huge part in why some tribes have lost their culture, you basically had to hide who you were in music and in life, in general.  You just didn't talk about being Indian, you were either white or black. It was bad to be an Indian. The government would force you on a reservation, or take your land.  It's amazing that I was just so blinded or oblivious, but my grandparents did a good job at not discussing it, or bringing it up. I guess we were all just trying to survive in our own way of life. 

I was so excited to see many people from NC, Charly Lowery, Pura Fe, Link Wray just to name a few. Also, there was a young lady named Rhianna Giddens who is from Greensboro and identified as Occaneechi. I am very intrigued to find out more about her, and her connections to my people. I never knew her, and I didn't know she was Occaneechi. I'd like to learn about her family and see how she is connected to our family.  Maybe she could come out to the PowWow and meet more of her relatives she is claiming relations too. Also they talked about the Indians from New Orleans, where my best friend is from.  He is Choctaw-Apache, and they showed how the Indians mixed in and integrated with Africans, French, Italian, etc. It's amazing I didn't know that the Indians in New Orleans had any influence in the Mardi Gras, I thought that was just a French tradition that happened in New Orleans, but it is much more than that.  Some people believe that a connection between blacks and Native Americans was forged when New Orleans escaped slaves found asylum with Louisiana tribes.  The music is typically call-and-response chanting with tambourines and other handheld percussion,  and the members of a few tribes—the Wild Magnolias and the Wild Tchoupitoulas in particular—have released critically acclaimed recordings and many times perform professionally with a full band. 

Now my family passed down a few traditions such as baking, cooking, and growing food. We planted a garden every year, and we shucked corn and snapped peas. We blanched the turnip greens and froze them, we lived off that during the winter months. But I always had a touch for crafting, and building things. 200 years ago, my ancestors were river people. We were living in Virginia and ultimately ended up in NC.  My people were hunters and gatherers, we traveled between NC and VA, trading, and mostly escaping from other tribes trying to destroy us. To make a long story short, we joined other tribes in the area, escaping the same fate.  Anyway, my ancestors,  listened to nature, water, earth, air and fire. Those elements influenced Rock n Roll, Blues, and Jazz.  There was a lot I didn't know and this documentary is very phenomenal. So, as some of you know, my dedicated blog readers, that I have been tracing my family tree since 2000, and I blogged about it in (click the link to read about tracing my native history in 2012), and about my cousin (who I looked at as an uncle).  When I was little we would visit grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, I have mostly native american, but also Irish, Scottish and African American. To me, learning about your history, ancestry and family is really important. It tells you where you were, and it also connects you to where you are going. When I was stationed in Kansas, with my family, I connected with a few Indian tribes out there and, I got my first shawl made for me out there. That's when I got serious about my family tree.



A'ho



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