Indigenous preview

Indigenous
Martyrs’, Chicago
Saturday, August 23, 2008

Indigenous frontman/guitarist Mato Nanji’s past, upbringing, and musical journey are not only interesting stories, but unusual. Too bad the same can’t be said for his band’s music.

Nanji is a Nakota Sioux who grew up on the Yankton Indian Reservation in South Dakota with musician/father (and Native American rights spokesperson), Greg Zephier. Dad taught Nanji, his brother Pte, and sister Wantabi, music from an early age, and the trio, along with cousin, Horse, formed Indigenous. Their 1998 debut, Things We Do, produced the semi-hit “Now That You’re Gone” and allowed the family band to tour the country, making fans of Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt along the way.

The family (Pte, Wantabi, and Horse left Indigenous after the 2006 Vanguard-released Chasing The Sun) had two obvious things working against them: their home and race. Name a Native American rock ‘n’ roll group to “make it.” Off the top of our heads, we’ve got one: Redbone. Name a South Dakota rock ‘n’ roll group to “make it.” Off the top of our heads, we’ve got . . . nothing.

And yet Indigenous still go strong today, at least in the sense they tour and have label support from Vanguard. Certainly not in the sense the group are creating particularly strong music, though, because Broken Lands is plain ol’ vanilla blues rock hardly different than Kenny Wayne Shepherd or, even worse, Los Lonely Boys – disappointing given how intriguing its creator is.

“We don’t like to commercialize or record [traditional Indian] music,” Nanji said in a 1998 Rolling Stone interview. Fair enough. Nobody is saying Nanji (who does play guitar like nobody’s business) should work tribal chants into “It’s Alright With Me” and “Let It Rain” or take promotional pictures wearing a headdress, but if you’ve got a good story to tell, why not tell it?

Danny Burns Defectors open.

— Trevor Fisher

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly