Movie soundtrack an electic mix

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Review

Dance Me Outside

Movie Soundtrack

Out of nowhere comes a movie about Indians, made by a white guy and based on a book about Indians written by another white guy. The movie Dance Me Outside received rave reviews from many from film festivals in Canada and the U.S. Prior to its theatrical release comes the soundtrack with the film score composed by Mychael Danna.

Among the dozen groups and musicians featured are Iroquoian experimental flute player Dan Cecil Hill. His independently released cassettes Winter Night Song and Waterlands of Turtle Island caused Jonathan Elias to include Hill on a Save the Children Fund project called Requiem For The Americas (Enigma/EMI 1989). This included Grace

Jones, Simon Le Bon, and recordings of the late Jim Morrison. The

explorative tendencies of Hill's free-wheeling wanderings are perfect

for film score material.

The Toronto-based Anishnabe Kew Singers are a collective of urban

survivors actively working to regain and maintain their cultural and

spiritual identity as best they can in a large metropolitan centre. On

this release the Anishnabe Kwe Singers include Rose Stella, Sharon King,

Rolanda Elijah and Jamaius Paquette. The Strong Women's Song is

traditionally known as an Owl Dance song and has evolved into something

else that reflects the current situation Indian women face in every

aspect of their lives. The song reflects the spirit of defiance and the

will to survive paternalistic foreign values that directly affect the

integrity of women in general.

This traditional song came to the group from the Native Sisterhood at

the Prison For Women and its transmutation reflects the reality of that

struggle. The song was originally sung by the sisters behind the walls

of P4W during one of its riots.

That in itself is very telling of the stories of strength, survival,

sacrifices and abuse endured by women the world over. How this

traditional song has been transformed reflects the reality of the

psychological and physical brutality inflicted upon women.

Most of the songs are bridged with snappy little out-takes from the

film which helps freshen up Redbone's classic Come and Get Your Love

from their album Wavoka, (Epic, 1973). Described as the inventors of

Cajun-rock, the group evolved from a self-contained collective to become

sophisticated producers known from their utilization of string and horn

arrangements. They released a total of 8 albums between 1969 and 1975

and continue to perform and tour to this day.