GUNAKADEIT BECOMES NATULA
Dear friends and fans,
I’d like to take this opportunity to announce that I will no longer be using the moniker GUNAKADEIT as my artist name and these are my reasons...
The story behind Gunakadeit, a mythological sea-monster that saves a village from starving to death, has always been an inspiring and touching tale for me. In my mind it serves as a symbol of all that is good in the world, even among the wickedness and suffering. At the time it seemed like the perfect name to represent my feelings and music. But the story of Gunakadeit comes from the indigenous Tlingit people of Alaska, and it belongs to them, not me.
I realize how naive it was of me to assume I could use this name without fully understanding the context from which it came. The concept of “cultural appropriation” is a heated topic of debate at the moment and one that I personally find very hard and confusing to navigate in our modern world. As a third culture kid, I grew up in an environment where cultural identity is not so black and white. It’s blurry and adaptable and has left me feeling connected to more than one place and people as “home”. I look at culture as something that unites us more than divides us. But of course not everyone shares my view and that’s part of why this next step is important.
If we are going to thrive in this globalized world it will be impossible not to influence and inspire each other. But to do this without harm means that there must be an initial exchange of understanding and respect before anything else. Care must be taken to educate ourselves and each other on the cultural symbols, fashion, music, ideas that we adopt from one another. If this is done then I think there can be a more productive dialogue that breeds a spirit of respect and unity as opposed to exploitation and division.
In this regard I have to apologize to the Tlingit people for using the name Gunakadeit without fully educating myself about where this beautiful story came. A few weeks ago, in an attempt to gain some deeper knowledge I reached out to the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation in Juneau, Alaska. I received a very warm welcome and they were kind enough to lead me in the right direction for my research. I learned that Gunakadeit is the Intellectual clan property of the Gaanax.adi and Gaanaxteidi clans of the Southeast of Alaska. Outsiders and even clan members themselves are not allowed to use this name without permission from clan elders. And younger generations of these clans are the ones who are chosen and entitled to learn about the stories from their elders. I can dig on that and I respect their feelings.
It might not be easy to change a name that I’ve spent the last 2 years branding and building, but it is easy for me to humbly pay my respect to these people and do what I think is right. My gratitude goes out to them for taking their time to educate me on their customs and laws. The story of Gunakadeit will continue to inspire me and I look forward to visiting Juneau one day and learning more about the beautiful Tlingit people.
I also want to thank all of you for showing such great love and support for my music and I can’t wait to continue sharing more with you. All previous and future creations will be released under my new artist name NATULA. It’s a latin word meaning ‘little daughter’ reminding me that no matter how old I grow I shall continue to look at the world with new eyes. To remain young in spirit and full of undying hope. To stay humble and hungry for all this world has to offer. It reminds me to not take life so seriously and smile because even though NATULA sounds like the name of a star in the sky, it also sounds a little like Nutella and that’s awesome.
We never stop learning and I’m grateful for this opportunity to have learnt something new about myself and this crazy beautiful world we live in.
NATULA is coming to a city near you for my Golden 30 tour this year, so stay in touch and help me spread this good news!
With love always,
Natasha
