Indigenous won Best Blues Album and Mato Nanji, the group's guitarist and vocalist who is seen holding an award, won Artist of the Year at the Native American Music Awards on November 14. Photo from Facebook
The fifteenth Native American Music Awards (the NAMMYS) once again honored the best in Native music while showcasing the wide diversity and depth of talent among the nation's indigenous performing artists. And once again this historic event was bypassed by the mainstream media to the loss of the North American public who would have been entertained and enlightened as to the many dimensions of Native music whose artists are the equal to any other professional musician who picks up a microphone strums a guitar or works in a studio. From the extraordinary rock ballads of Jim Boyd to the powerful tenor Lawrence Harris the comedy of puppeteer Buddy Big Mountain and the emotional vocals of Jamie Coon; the artists featured on NAMMY creator Ellen Bello's list were without exception in command of the stage as the audience at the Seneca Allegany Casino was shown just how good Native artists can be. MC Janice M. Johnson from the pop group A Taste of Honey began the three hour show with a rousing introduction and brought it to an end showing her exceptional base guitar skills. She was followed by the presentations of awards ranging from Lifetime Achievement to Jim Boyd of the Colville Nation to the four Iroquois artists who demonstrated that once again the Native people of the northeast have show they are among the best. Jimmy Wolf-Mohawk-was given the "Best Male Artist" award with Akwesasne's Theresa Bear Fox taking home the coveted "Songwriter of the Year" trophy. And the Oneida Nation was honored when Joanne Shenandoah scored her unparalleled 14th NAMMY with her "Best World" album "Nature Dance". Ms. Shenandoah was joined by another Oneida winner when her daughter Leah was presented with her first NAMMY as "Best Debut Artist" for "Spectra" from which she performed the main ballad on stage. The group Indigenous showed why it won a NAMMY for best blues album by blasting a set which had the audience dancing in the aisles. For the artists the awards represent a unique opportunity to perform on a national stage. It has proven a challenge for any Native artist to command a national following. One logical venue would be the 200 plus Native casinos across the US yet a casual review of the largest gambling-entertainment centers fail to show any Native act in the past month. From Connecticut to Washington State California to Florida and Minnesota to central New York State their entertainment calendars are missing Native talent. When asked why Natives are excluded from their stages the entertainment directors always say the Natives don’t have drawing power which simply means those booking agents fail to see Native talent and refuse to promote aboriginal performers which in turn means the acts are bypassed for others and are therefore obscured. One simple solution proposed by many fans of Native music is to have a national touring group featuring key NAMMY winners supplemented by regional acts. Target music centers in large cities such as Nashville Los Angeles New York to attract major record labels and the media then watch as artists just how great they can be. Doug George-Kanentiio, Akwesasne Mohawk, is the former editor of the journal Akwesasne Notes. A founding member of the Native American Journalists Association he served on the Board of Trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian. He is the author of many books and articles about aboriginal people including "Iroquois on Fire". He may be reached via e-mail: Kanentiio@aol or by calling 315-415-7288.
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