Print
Email
PDF"General Generations": An Archival Collaboration with A Tribe Called Red
"General Generations" by A Tribe Called Red
The audio above is the result of a collaborative effort between A Tribe Called Red (ATCR) and Ethnomusicology Review (EMR) editor Nolan Warden. ATCR is a DJ collective from Ottawa, Ontario that creates much of their work using video and audio samples related to their Native American heritage.
This collaboration involved the use of archival wax cylinder recordings made by Cayuga chief Alexander J. General and anthropologist Frank G. Speck in the 1930s. The original cylinder collection is now housed in the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University.1 One of ATCR’s members, DJ Shub (a.k.a. Dan General), decided on these particular field recordings due to his Cayuga affiliation and his shared family name with Alexander J. General, hence the track title “General Generations.”
For a full explanation of the collaboration, more photos, and video, please visit the related blog post.
Figure 1: Alexander J. General, "Deskáheh" [Source: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press]
Figure 2: Frank G. Speck (c. 1940) [Source]
Figure 3: A Tribe Called Red (L-R, Bear Witness, DJ Shub, DJ NDN) [Source]
Figure 4: Nolan Warden [Photo by Hilda Torres Urista]
- 1. Thanks to IU archivist Marilyn B. Graf whose assistance made this collaboration possible.
A Tribe Called Red is a DJ collective from Ottawa, Ontario (Canada) that specializes in Native American-focused electronic dance music. It consists of DJ NDN (a.k.a. Ian Campeau), DJ Shub (a.k.a Dan General), and video artist Bear Witness.
Nolan Warden is a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at UCLA. His dissertation focuses on traditional and popular music of the indigenous Wixaritari (Huichol people) of western Mexico. His other research focuses on ritual drumming of the African diaspora, a topic that led to an MA at Tufts University with a thesis on Afro-Cuban drumming ceremonies for the dead ("cajón pa' muerto"). Nolan also performs as a percussionist in many genres and has toured internationally as a member of La Pasión Según San Marcos by Osvaldo Golijov.
