The new generation of Native music

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Our people have been expressing themselves through traditional music since the beginning. It started with traditional powwow music which eventually grew to contemporary music in the early 1990s.

Powwow groups, such as Wild Horse from North Battleford and BlackStone from Sweetgrass, began setting the trend for contemporary music that featured English words in the lyrics to help hype up the sound of powwow music. Since then the music of Native people has gone from powwow to country to rock and eventually hip hop and pop.

The new generation of Native music is a group of artists spread across Canada who express themselves in all the different genres. Alberta is home to many great hip hop acts such as the War Party, and the Red Power Squad. British Columbia is home to nationally known Native diva, Fara who is originally from Saskatchewan. Manitoba, is where you?ll find brothers T.K.O (Taco) and GQ Smooth representing the Native hip hop scene in Winnipeg. Saskatchewan, is the province that boast the most talent with artists ranging from hip hop, to rock, to powwow, and pop.

Saskatchewan is where many nationally known artists got their start, such as Chester Knight and The Wind, Fara, Red Bull, Noon Express, Breach of Trust, and The 5th Generation. Leading the pack of new artists are the 5th Generation from Regina, who made their debut in First Nations schools across the province in the early 90s. This young pop group, consisting of four brothers and one sister, became nationally known when they performed at the 1999 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, which was later televised on CBC-TV.

Recently, Saskatchewan?s own Chester Knight and The Wind won the 2000 Juno Award for Best Native Contemporary Music. Following in their footsteps are a group from La Ronge called Breach of Trust, a rock and alternative band. Lead singer Marty Ballentyne is the head of Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation and founded the group in the mid-90s. The group recently released its first CD, entitled Songs for Dying Nations, a 10 song album that reflects the lives of Native people, and the many dying nations that are losing their culture and spirituality.

Another group out of Saskatchewan is Noon Express. They have been on the powwow scene for almost 10 years. John Noon Jr. started the group with his four brothers, A.J., Dwayne, Dallas, and Ryan. John Noon also started Noon Records, a powwow record label that has recorded such champion groups as BlackStone, High Noon, Big Bear, The Boyz, Sweetgrass, and WildHorse. The label?s latest discovery is Northern Buffalo from The Pas, Man., a group of young teens who has been able to stick to its culture, and stay away from the negative lifestyle. New albums from Northern Buffalo and Noon Express are expected to drop in late August and they are expected to be the biggest hits of the summer.

Alberta is the hip hop Native capital of Canada, just ask Rex Smallboy, the lead singer of the War Party.

?Hobbema hip hop is our style, because there?s so much drama in this reserve. Kids get paid big bucks when they turn 18, and most of them spend it foolishly. There?s also a lot of crime and drama, so that?s why The War Party was created, to stop the drama, to stop the crime, and make good music.?

The War Party is probably on top of its game with a new album The Reign that has Indian hip hop heads going ?crazy.? Such hits like ?49 with you? and ?Get Live? have become the themes for Indian hip hop. However, we can?t forget about the Red Power Squad, a group of break dancers, powwow dancers and rappers, that promote positive lifestyles in their performances.

Edmonton is the home of the Red Power Squad, where many of its members have grown up in hard lifestyles and have lived to tell other youth not to follow that same path and rather live a positive lifestyle.

Whether it be hip hop, powwow, country, pop or rock, Native people all share the same message and that is the lifestyles within te music.

The new generation should bring change.

Besides, don?t you think we could use something different besides country all the time?