While choosing songs for this episode, I was reflecting that I haven’t told the full story on the air of how the show came about. My spouse Aimee descends from the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe. In the past few years, she has been working to reconnect with her indigenous heritage. Thru her journey, I’ve learned a lot about the authentic experience of the indigenous people of North America, which is very different than I learned in school.
At the same time, I was listening to Uncertain.FM, which as you may know, TJ started in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was new and everything felt Uncertain. TJ plays a song called Navigate by the artist Wayquay. It’s an astonishing song, synthesizing native chants with hip-hop beats, behind complex lyrics that speak of self-discovery. I thought there must more of contemporary music out there just like Navigate.
It turns out that Wayquay won awards for their music in 1999, and yet you won’t find it on Spotify or Apple music. I had to buy a CD on ebay and rip it. Much indigenous music remains difficult to uncover. Just like how the full truth of Thanksgiving is impossible to understand without hearing the Wampanoag side of the story, it is difficult for these artists to get full recognition from the system for their music and their backgrounds. Worse, some accomplished indigenous artists have been banned off the airwaves in the United States and Canada.
The year 2021 was the four-hundredth anniversary of the first Thanksgiving, when Pilgrim colonizers feasted with my spouses’ Wampanoag ancestors. There is much more to the story of the holiday that American indigenous nations call Day of Mourning. I wanted to push back against the dominant narrative, and do it by highlighting the music of modern indigenous artists. TJ greenlighted a guest DJ spot for me, and I got to put together and play two hours of Native North American rock and roll on turkey and mashed potatoes day. I put together another show on the same holiday in 2022. Assembling it was just as much engaging fun, and the more I looked, the more great music I found. In the summer of 2023, I started making shows monthly.
I feel so lucky to bring you this music.