Full Transcript for Activists Around the World: Katherine Paul

00:00:05 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. Come welcome to stuff when I never told your production of I Heard Radio. 00:00:16 Speaker 2: And for today's activists around the world, we are talking about the works and art from Katherine Paul. So. Catherine Paul, also known as black Belt Eagle Scout in the music world and industry, is an Indigenous queer musician who has always been surrounded by music and now uses her talent as a way to celebrate her indigenous voice and culture. There was a part in one of our articles which I don't mention later, so I we've mentioned now where she talks about the fact that she's not afraid to be pigeonholed as a Native artist because that's who she is, and I'm like that. She said that there's not enough representation, not enough talking about it, especially those who are both Native and queer. So she is cool and happy to be a voice for that, and so are we. Because if you get a chance, you should definitely go to black Belt Eagle Scout dot com check out her music because it's incredible. So it kind of reminds me of some of that Portland slash West Coast sound that I grew up hearing. If you're a part of the alternative world. Very cool, cool sound as well as great message. It does feel like it speaks to you if you get a chance to listen. She's not gonna be a part of my rotation because I really do like her music. Her first song, soft SuDS, she calls it her qua anthem. Yeah, you gotta love it. 00:01:36 Speaker 1: I really enjoyed it too. 00:01:38 Speaker 2: I think you're gonna put this in your like writing list. I have a feeling. 00:01:42 Speaker 1: Do you have playlists? Yeah, yeah, I probably will because it kind of has that like you can chill while listening to it, but also it's very emotional. 00:01:52 Speaker 2: Yeah but calm, but it feels like you're connecting to like the environment around you too. I feel like it's gonna definitely be part of your playlist. But so yes, if you want to take some time to go and listen to that before jumping in about who she is, or you want to do it after, that's fine. But either way, listeners, you should be listening to this music, so back to it. She is a part of the Swinnamish Indian travel community from her father's side, as well as the part of the native of Katsabou in Alaska. As her mother was from the Annabach community, so she grew up in the Swinnamish reservation in the northern Washington area, and her family has always been involved in music as well. In fact, she was a jingle dress dancer with them when they would go to the regional ceremonies or powows. A bit more about that from Audio music dot Com. Music was embedded in her upbringing. Her family taught her coastal Salis music, drumming, in jingle dress dance, and when she goes back to the reservation, the tight knit community is very proud of her in a lot of ways. She's paying this forward her music. I love that that's been a part of her culture and something that she always has taken to heart. And obviously, again we've talked about Native Indigenous dancing and how important it is in their culture and how important it is to tell stories, so obviously it's something that's been in her life. And she continued her musical journey by playing flute and piano in her school band and then going on to learn the guitar and drums by watching old VHS tapes of Nirvana and Whole and just teaching herself which Anye we talked about. You did this with Green. 00:03:24 Speaker 1: Day, Yes, I did. 00:03:26 Speaker 2: I feel like this is the right of way, like the ride of passage for many young people who really get into music like that. This would eventually lead her to finding her artists and musician community like she would travel around. Eventually she moved to Portland, Oregon to go to school where she would get involved with rock and roll Camp for girls, which we have a version of that, the rock camp for young girls here who get a chance to play music, form bands together and really thrive in that type of culture. And of course she got involved in different bands around the area and through her growth and her continuing music career, always held fast to her indigenous heritage. She released her first EP album as Black Belt Eagle Scout in twenty fourteen, and then went on to release her debut album, Mother of My Children in twenty seventeen. Here's a bit from their site, black Belt Eaglescout dot com quote this land runs through Catherine Paul's blood, and it called to her in dreams that she saw the river, her ancestors, and her home. When the land calls, you listen, and KP found herself far from her ancestral lands during the time of collect the trauma, when the world was wounded and in need of healing. In twenty twenty, she made the journey from Portland back to the Scatchet River, back to the cedar trees that stand tall and shrouded in fog, back to the tide flats and the mountains, back to Swinnemish. It is a powerful thing to return to our ancestral lands, and oftentimes the journey is not easy. Like the salmon through the currents, like the tide as it crawls the shore. This is a story of return. It is the call and response. It is the outstretched arm of the people who came before welcomed her home. The land, the water, the sky. Is a celebration of lineage and strength, even in its deepest moments of loneliness and grief, of frustration over a world wrought with colonial violence and pain. The songs remind us that if we slow down, if we listen to the waves in the wind, through the trees, we will remember to breathe. There is a through line of story in every song, a remembrance of knowledge and teachings, a gratitude of wisdom passed down and carried. There is a reimagining of Sedna who was offered to the sea, and a beautiful rumination on sacrifice and humanity and what it means to hold the stories that work to teach us something. And even though this is more about her last album, this is obviously something that she holds tight even throughout her