I like mash-ups – they’re confusing but fun. (e.g. Dolly Party and P-Diddy together, unwillingly? Confusing.) This, in addition to being a former Winnipegger with a penchant for hip-hop, was why I expected to like Prairie Scene’s Electric Pow-Wow – featuring DJs A Tribe Called Red and Aboriginal hip hop artists Wab Kinew and Eekwol.
What made the May 7th show unique were the unusual ingredients added to the mash. A Tribe Called Red’s contribution was hip-hop/electronica flavoured with traditional aboriginal music (I liked this track in particular). Eekwol opened up the show with more of a pure rap style, accompanied at one point by only a square box drum. In contrast, Wab Kinew started his set by playing what appeared to be a traditional Cree drum, for a song that involved a mélange of chanting, angry street-rap, and corny love-drenched lyrics (“My baby girl / Sweet darling baby girl,” he crooned at one point).
Kinew’s subsequent songs resembled typical American hip-hop in terms of clever rhymes and catchy sampling – my favourite being Aloe Black’s “I Need a Dollar” – but the subjects stood out as uniquely Canadian. Having spent my childhood summers on Lake of the Woods – the area where Kinew grew up – I am aware of and uncomfortable with the challenges facing aboriginal communities in that region. Wab Kinew’s lyrics focused on many of these issues, while somehow maintaining a positive vibe. The only downsides of the show were the sparse audience for Eekwol’s set – which created some awkward moments of one-sided enthusiasm – and the fact that Kinew played for barely half an hour. -Andrea Grant
