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John Trudell | Bonedays
A CD for listeners who want substance with their music.
CD, Ulftone/Bertus
Tekst: Tucker Petertil
Publicatiedatum: 11 april 2002
"Crazy Horse, we hear what you say." This is how John Trudell's tenth album begins: with a song that takes the view of the late Indian chief and extrapolates it to today's crises. What JT delivers here is a spellbinding disc, honouring the earth with songs that are more poetry than pop music and more like prayers than poetry. More personal than political and more spiritual than political.
Though he doesn't sing (The band has other singers.), he has a warm, amazing voice: It cuts through the material world with a snake-like rattle and creaks like the door to your heart opening.
John Trudell is a man shaped by many gifts and many circumstances. This Native American activist/musician/poet, whose 1986 album 'AKA Graffiti Man' was called the best album of that year by Bob Dylan, has just released his tenth record, 'Bonedays', which was produced by none other than 'Tomb Raider''s Angelina Jolie. Jolie, who is also the Goodwill Ambassador To The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said, "I offered to be executive producer because I believe in John Trudell's message, and I want people to hear it." Trudell, who was born of Santee Sioux blood in Nebraska, served in the Navy during the war in Vietnam and then became an American Indian activist, spending time at the Indian occupation of Alcatraz and the conflict at Wounded Knee. He served as the national chairman for AIM (American Indian Movement) from 1973 to 1979 and amassed an FBI file 17.000 pages thick.
In 1979, to protest the continued mistreatment of Indians by the government, he burned the US flag on the steps of the FBI Building in Washington, DC. Later that day, his wife, three children, and mother-in-law died at their reservation home in Nevada in a suspicious fire, which the FBI refused to investigate.
After this horrific event, Trudell resigned his AIM post in an effort to protect his friends, and to maintain his sanity he began writing poetry. He soon hooked up with the legendary Kiowa Indian guitarist Jesse Ed Davis and produced two albums filled with traditional music, poetry, and Davis's amazing guitar work. After Davis's death, Trudell put his own band Bad Dog together. He has also found time to act in the films 'Thunderheart', 'Smoke Signals', and 'Incident At Oglala' and written two books, 'Stickman' and 'Songs Called Poems'.
All of these experiences have tempered Trudell's spirit, and his work on 'Bonedays' shows the influence of each scar and each accomplishment. Just as impressive as Trudell's words is the passionate bluesy rock music produced by his collaborators in Bad Dog. The traditional Indian vocals that run through the songs like a river are the work of Quiltman. Lead guitarist Mark Shark, keyboardist Ricky Eckstein, guitarist Doug Legacy, percussionist Debra Dobkin, bassist Bobby Tsukamoto, and vocalists Carol Eckstein, Hayley Hutt, and Piper-Leigh Daniels all combine to create a CD full of depth, sorrow, and pleasure.
The CD begins with 'Crazy Horse', a prayer-like song that Trudell wrote in 1980, and features his response to the words and deeds of the famed chieftain. Other songs condemn governments, religions, and other forms of oppression. This is a CD for listeners who want substance with their music, poetry dripping with life, and words of wisdom from a man who has been places where none of us would willingly go. The fact that the songs are uplifting and full of heart is all the more amazing.
John Trudell, we hear what you say. Amen.
http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/john-trudell/bonedays/1453/
Meer John Trudell op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/john-trudell
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