Nahko Bear's music as a representation of cultural intersectionality and brutality to minorities in the Pacific

    Recently I've discovered an up and coming artist whose group goes by Nahko and Medicine for the People, and when doing solo performances he goes by Nahko Bear. Nahko's music is positive, honest, and transmits intense cultural pride. He states in his biography on his website that he is "born a mix of Apache, Puerto Rican, and Filipino cultures, and adopted into an American family" in the state of Oregon. I feel he is a perfect example of the cultural intersectionalities associated with the Pacific region, and I wanted to share a couple of powerful and heavily cultural influenced songs he has and bring them into context with our recent discussions (as well as introduce you all to some beautiful music you may or may not have heard before).

The first is titled "My Country" off of the album Dark as Night
My Country Nahko audio

The song opens with a Native American chant, dubbed over with a quote from John Trudell stating "We feel that racism and sexism and class separation - that these are desecrations, and we feel the american flag does not represent integrity, honor, justice, or truth." It then goes on in the same style as the commonly known patriotic tune "My Country 'Tis of Thee" singing altered lyrics reminding the listener of the corruption present in the United States of America's history. Keeping in mind his Apache roots, its fair to interpret the lyrics of genocide, industry, climate suffering, and specifically the second to last stanza singing of "our people left to die / battlefield countryside / ... / suburban villages / make desolate villages / broken treaties / broken promises / conquer repeat, repeat, repeat" as references to personal or closely personal experiences. The song's lyrics are brutally honest, depicting saddening images of the results of America's greed.

The second song is titled "So Thankful" off of the album Dark As Night
So Thankful Nahko audio

This song has emotionally painful lyrics with a strangely uplifting beat and positive chorus. The lyrics depict an extremely difficult family history filled with anecdotes of negative experiences that seem related to destructive effects on the Native American and Filipino peoples that have been caused by the poor conditions they were living in as a result of decisions made by the American government. In class we've discussed the Moro massacre of Filipino people also known as the Battle of Bud Dajo that occurred in 1906, a massacre that occurred out of the American government's desire to make the Philippines "a stepping-stone to China." In this song, Nahko sings of his great grandfather who "got shot in the back / protecting Filipinos / from the corporate attack." Now obviously there is no way of knowing if it was this particular massacre that Nahko speaks of  but regardless it is a relevant idea of Filipino men who get killed trying to protect others from corporate greed and imperialism due to economic interest. However, Nahko turns these experiences around, claiming how grateful he is for these experiences because they helped create the man he is today, and help him to spread truth and awareness.

I hope you enjoyed these songs, and I recommend listening to his other songs if you'd like to hear more! My personal favorites are "Black as Night" and "Aloha Ke Akua" which are also off of his Dark As Night album.