Joe Rainey: Niineta
Thu, Jan 26, 7:30 pm
The Cedar Cultural Center
Copresented by The Great Northern and The Cedar Cultural Center
Produced by Liquid Music
Pow Wow singer Joe Rainey performs his debut collection of songs, backed by electronics and Owls quartet, arranged by collaborators Andrew Broder & William Brittelle. Visuals by Isaac Gale.
“You’ve never heard anything quite like Joe Rainey’s avant-garde Pow Wow music.” —Pitchfork
Niineta, Joe Rainey’s debut album on 37d03d is a landmark in modern indigenous music. These are bold, electrifying songs that recontextualize the ancient Pow Wow sound in strange, new in-between places. Each note conveys a clear message, no matter the inflection: We’re still here. We were here before you were, and we never left. The songs that make up Niineta (translated from Ojibwe, meaning ‘Just Me’) start with Andrew Broder’s churning avant-garde beats, configured and hand-made to support Joe’s original melodies, tunes written from a lifetime of competitive Pow Wow singing and drum group archiving. All of this is embraced by and interwoven with celestial strings, arranged by Broder and William Brittelle, performed by Owls, giving Joe’s melodies a cinematic and ecstatic lift. Visuals for the show will be provided by experimental filmmaker Isaac Gale, who has collaborated with Rainey, Broder, and Brittelle on multiple projects.
