John Watt
Member
I'm feeling a little Greek here, and by that I'm thinking Biblical. When the first disciples of Jesus went to Greece they saw a pantheon of Gods, with an empty place. After asking, they were told it was for the unknown God, a God with the necessary powers of creation and life and death, something they saw all the other gods lacking. What those disciples did and said convinced those Greeks they had found their Heavenly Father.
So it is with the blues in this forum. I've been posting for weeks, making new friends, but I haven't seen any input or recognition of First Nations blues, them calling it that, not the reds of bloodshed and the whites of their oppressors. Playing Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane inspired guitar professionally, I've been the only pale person with Mohawks, Dominicans and Inuit. Our heartbeats, the heartbeat rhythm, is ancient and as enduring as our will to live. Think back to your childhood. Were you riffing on Robert Johnson or acting out Indian drums and ululating? Maybe even yelling "Geronimo", a great prophet.
Out of respect for lives I've walked a few steps with, I'm just building the space, now waiting, for those true blues masters and those willing to listen and discuss. I'm thinking of my friend Doug Maracle, who won the Canadian Aboriginal Instrumental Album of the Year with his guitar recorded in his studio. Some of his bronzes are used by The Canadian Government as gifts and he owns much land, original Carolinian forest that I love to bike-hike through. I'll invite him personally. It might take a while to find him. He has residences throughout North America, being a citizen with privileges non-natives will never know.
American natives had a different reality than Canadians. After European settlement, many tribes, at the urging of friends, sent children to Scottish schools and universities. This helped them legally over here. The Great Chief Pontiac, who wintered in Michigan, is famous mostly as a car name. He led the only organized uprising against the British in North America, driving them to the ocean. This may seem irrelevant for Americans, but look at your Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Half of the signatories are of Scottish descent. James T. Buchanan, a distant ancestor of mine, was a Scottish Pastor. Lose your history, you lose yourself. Win the war, you lose the peace. Your history and the slaves you use has changed. But let's not forget our first blues, The Caribs, and see Columbus as rich for starting the first slave factory over here, lashing for that sugar cane, long before cotton came, and your non-citizen latino labour now.
As the Iroquois taught democratic institutions to George Washington, only mediated by their women, so should this discussion be considerate for all. Who am I?
As my Inuit Elder friend said, "It's the blowing whale that gets the harpoon".
So it is with the blues in this forum. I've been posting for weeks, making new friends, but I haven't seen any input or recognition of First Nations blues, them calling it that, not the reds of bloodshed and the whites of their oppressors. Playing Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane inspired guitar professionally, I've been the only pale person with Mohawks, Dominicans and Inuit. Our heartbeats, the heartbeat rhythm, is ancient and as enduring as our will to live. Think back to your childhood. Were you riffing on Robert Johnson or acting out Indian drums and ululating? Maybe even yelling "Geronimo", a great prophet.
Out of respect for lives I've walked a few steps with, I'm just building the space, now waiting, for those true blues masters and those willing to listen and discuss. I'm thinking of my friend Doug Maracle, who won the Canadian Aboriginal Instrumental Album of the Year with his guitar recorded in his studio. Some of his bronzes are used by The Canadian Government as gifts and he owns much land, original Carolinian forest that I love to bike-hike through. I'll invite him personally. It might take a while to find him. He has residences throughout North America, being a citizen with privileges non-natives will never know.
American natives had a different reality than Canadians. After European settlement, many tribes, at the urging of friends, sent children to Scottish schools and universities. This helped them legally over here. The Great Chief Pontiac, who wintered in Michigan, is famous mostly as a car name. He led the only organized uprising against the British in North America, driving them to the ocean. This may seem irrelevant for Americans, but look at your Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Half of the signatories are of Scottish descent. James T. Buchanan, a distant ancestor of mine, was a Scottish Pastor. Lose your history, you lose yourself. Win the war, you lose the peace. Your history and the slaves you use has changed. But let's not forget our first blues, The Caribs, and see Columbus as rich for starting the first slave factory over here, lashing for that sugar cane, long before cotton came, and your non-citizen latino labour now.
As the Iroquois taught democratic institutions to George Washington, only mediated by their women, so should this discussion be considerate for all. Who am I?
As my Inuit Elder friend said, "It's the blowing whale that gets the harpoon".
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