#injunuity

[elainaroberts]

Enjoying the band #injunuity at the Moundville Native American Festival, an excellent blending of native flutes and modern rock #boughtallthecds (at Moundville Archaeological Site) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3hxe5FBU4y/?igshid=1iqpwr5avxps4

[tulaliwha-blog]

When your tree don't make it till Christmas you improvise. Excellent job by the wife. #👍 #injunuity#christmas2016🎄🎅🎁❄⛄#christmas#notree#saveatree#nochristmastreethisyear#saveatree#upperleftusa#upperleftcorner#rezlife (at Lower Elwha, Washington)

[sponfawn]

Injunuity

Theres this indigenous/native american animation group that makes shorts about their cultures and experiences. They air their stuff sometimes on pbs or bbc. And it's really interesting and awesome, go check it out!

[indigitallearning-blog]

Here's another Injunuity video. I really enjoy the way that they are able to talk about these issues and topics without sounding like they have any agenda other than telling their story, from their side. It's also interesting to see how much influence the Indigenous peoples had on the colonists. 

Today, we tend to see so many articles and videos about a certain point of view, and the media tends to push a specific point. In the Injunuity videos it seems more educative and less pushy, which I really appreciate. 

[lolololori]

(via Homosexuality Is An Annoying Thing Someone Invented, So This Group Of Americans Is Un-Inventing It)

guess when i posted this

this makes me happy

[injunuity-discussion-blog]

episode: ANTHEM

View the episode →

A re-interpretation of our national anthem, featuring the voice of 18-year-old Braunwyn Walsh (Navajo/Diné).

[injunuity-discussion-blog]

Listen to Produer Manny Lieras on KPFA

Injunuity producer Manny is interviewed about the show...complete w/ tech difficulties.  http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/93275

[nativemaxdrumbeat]

NATIVE MAX INTERVIEWS AWARD WINNING DUO, INJUNUITY

Injunuity was formed in 2007. Within a year's time, they were traveling to perform in venues from Alabama to New Mexico. As a new and upcoming group, they quickly gained the attention of  the Native community and the music industry with the release of their EP, Unconquered. They were given airplay on Sirius XM's satellite radio and were nominated for three national music awards. In 2008, Injunuity earned their first NAMMY for 'Debut Group of the Year' and in 2010, they won their second NAMMY for 'Songwriters of the Year' for their album, Fight for Survival. In 2011, they were awarded the 'Flutist of the Year' award at the Indian Summer Music Awards. With the release of their fourth album, Spirits, this award winning duo shows no sign of slowing down. The rarity of their genre only helps them to break through the stereotypes that face modern native peoples and how our culture and music are perceived by the mainstream.

NM: What tribes are you from? Our tribes historically were said to have been one tribe, so the unification of our two histories is symbolic to that and pretty cool when you think about it. Jeff is from the Chickasaw Tribe and Brad is of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. The Chickasaw negotiated their removal from their ancient and original homelands and are located in Oklahoma. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw stayed and stood against removal and were able to reunify as a government still in their lands in present day Mississippi.

NM: Did you grow up on a reservation? What was it like for you? There was no set “reservation system” in Oklahoma that our two tribes are or were confined to. Brad grew up in a Native American housing section outside of the city limits of Ada Oklahoma. Because of the growing delinquencies with alcohol, drugs, crime he spend much of his time indoors where he learned to play and became self taught on the piano.

NM: How long have you loved making music? We’ve both grown with music, but it wasn’t until we came together performing Native Music as Injunuity that we truly understood our calling and our gifts. Jeff’s background was in audio engineering and mixing and he performed on the guitar having a rock influence as a background. Brad’s background was in piano and orchestral arrangements as well as a performer on the Native Flute. Music has always surrounded our lives in some fashion whether it be a parent that performed and played or friends that we grew up around.

NM: How did Injunuity come to be? Brad was performing at Riverwind Casino for an event in Norman, Oklahoma as a solo artist back in 2007. Jeff and Brad had become newly acquainted employees where they both worked as creative artist for Chickasaw Multimedia, a tribal multimedia department within the Chickasaw Nation. After a short time working together we decided to combine our backgrounds and see what it would sound like, a mixture of rock, orchestra, and the native flute and thus was born Injunuity. We picked up a few more artists and released our first EP “Unconquered”. Although it was a quick project and only an EP, we gained national spotlight as a NAMMY Award winning group as the Best Debut Duo/Group of the Year and immediately going to XM Satellite Radio as well as Native Radio stations across the US. After travelling and performing across the United States and getting our name out there as “Injunuity-Not Your Grandfathers Flute Music” we released our first album “Fight for Survival” which went on to win Jeff and Brad the NAMMY Award for Songwriters of the Year. Most recently we have released a Christmas Album titled “Nativity” and our newest release in September of 2012 “Spirits”. Injunuity came to be a play on words dealing with the derogatory term “Injun”. We have the opportunity to travel, speak to groups of all ages including educational systems and break stereotypes about Native Americans and share our new genre of music with the world while at the same time preserving the instrument of the Native American Flute.

NM: When you travel to perform, how does that impact your personal lives or day to day lives? We’ve been fortunate to have creative jobs and a creative atmosphere and employer that embrace our music and our desire to perform. Several of our creations in music go on to play a part in our daily jobs as we both work in the media field of producing commercials, documentaries, PSA’s, etc. for the great Unconquered and Unconquerable Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. We have supportive families that travel with us whether to help set up a booth for CD’s and merchandise, or to help set up sound gear on the road, or even to help film and tape performances. We not only benefit from interacting with other tribes and cultures across the United States but our families do to and we’ve been able to create many new relationships miles from home that we are able to revisit each year. It has created a new sense of pride and a new place of belonging among our fellow brothers and sisters of other tribes as we always see when we travel through the celebration of what it is to be an Indian.

NM: What were some of the musicians you draw inspiration from? Brad: I draw inspiration from several classical composers and film score composers. John Williams, Beethoven, Mozart, Howard Shore, and native performers such as Carlos Nakai, pianist such as Jim Brickman. All music has its place for inspiration but my background has been inspired by those above.

Jeff: I’m always looking for new artists to draw inspiration from. It’s exciting for me to find an artist that might build a song structure in a slightly abnormal way, or use an instrument that might not be out of the ordinary in their genre of music. That being said, my biggest influence as a guitarist is Tommy Emmanuel. Other influences include Ryan Adams, Jason Mraz, Muse, Led Zeppelin just to name a few.

NM: Did music help mold your life? How? It certainly did. We most likely would not have ever met if music had not been such a major part of our lives. Brad began working for the Chickasaw Nation as a music composer for various video productions, while Jeff came on with the nation as an Audio Engineer. Today we have the privilege of writing, recording, traveling, and playing our music for those that choose to listen. It is truly a blessing that we have been able to accomplish this. Without music I would say our lives would look very much different than they do today.

NM: What type of genre of music do you make? Why? There really can’t be a genre specific fit to Injunuity’s sound. We can have a quartet, piano, native flute piece then jump to a funk style with horns, then to jazz, to rock, to country and folk, we hit on everything almost. That’s why we say, there is something on each album that someone will relate to or feel a vibe from because its not genre specific. The only thing that remains constant through our music is the lead voice is that of the Native Flute.

NM: What instruments can you play? Brad: Piano, Native Flute, Clarinet, Trombone Jeff: Acoustic/Electric Guitar, Saxophone

NM: Any new releases coming out? We are currently working on a hymnal album (Pre-Production) for our next project, but we’ve talked about forming new sounds such as a movie score.

NM: Where do you get inspiration to create a new song/album? Inspiration comes from many different sources. A lot of times we’ll draw inspiration from our surroundings. Our new album “Spirits” has a track entitled “Chickasaw County”. The inspiration for this track came from the vast amounts of travelling we do within the boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation. There are some rich landscapes within this region of Oklahoma, and I certainly felt inspired to write a song about it. We also find inspiration from visiting our tribe’s homelands in Alabama/Mississippi/Tennessee. Getting to perform our craft in areas that our ancestors once walked draws many inspirations. Tracks like “Removal” and “Into the Sun” are direct results of this.

NM: What do you want people to feel when they listen to your music? We want people to be moved in their own personal way with our music. We always tell our listeners to envision the flute as the lead vocal to a song. The flute itself is telling a story, their may not be lyrics, but it’s up to the listener to decipher the message in the song. What we envision on a song may be entirely different than how a specific listener deciphers it.

NM: What is your advice to a young Native who wants to create music? Where there is a passion to drive an individual and a desire to perform and learn anyone, especially native youth, can build an opportunity to perform. It is because of our native roots and heritage that makes our music and performances stand out. You have millions of people playing the same genre of music and all competing for either a record deal, distribution deal, or just a deal to perform somewhere, but as a Native American artist and performer you automatically have a leading edge over many performers in our opinion. As a Native American, you have the opportunity to be promoted by your respective tribe and other tribes, especially if you’re bringing a positive message with your music. If you need gear, see if there is some type of grant your tribe provides or any type of program that focuses on music. If not, ask your respective tribes if they would assist in helping produce, record, and even help write a grant or help with funds on pursuing your music.

NM: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? GRAMMY awards. Not just a specific “ethnic” or “native” category, but in a mainstream rock or folk category. This has always been our ultimate goal, and will continue to strive for this type of achievement. Another goal of ours is to reach out to our fans in other countries. We have many fans around the globe and hope to reach out in the near future!

NM: How do you give back to your community? We enjoy performing benefit concerts for charitable organizations. Some of them include Salvation Army, Relay for Life, and American Heart Association to name a few. The native flute is traditionally a healing instrument, and we hope that we can provide some sort of solace for families in situations that could use a little lift up.

NM: Why do you think NATIVE MAX is such a great forum for Native talent? Because Native Max is a multi-artistic platform for Native talent, it brings together various parts of our heritage knocking down barriers that once stood in the way. As a digital publication and having an online presence, the possibilities of multi-genre medium collaborations, information on events, venues, etc. and the spotlight on artist you may not know are awesome!

CD's and Albums are available through CDBABY and Itunes. For more information regarding performances, visit www.injunuity.net