Film Special: "Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World" with Live Guests
This revelatory documentary celebrates the role of Native Americans in popular music history. Discussion follows with director Catherine Bainbridge.
Discussion follows with director Catherine Bainbridge
Many artists and musical forms played a role in the creation of rock, but arguably no single piece of music was more influential than the 1958 instrumental “Rumble” by American Indian rock guitarist and singer/songwriter Link Wray. When recalling Link Wray’s shivering guitar classic, Martin Scorsese marvels, “It is the sound of that guitar … that aggression.” The first song to use distortion and feedback, “Rumble” introduced the rock power chord—and was one of the very few instrumental singles to be banned from the radio for fear it would incite violence.
Father of the Delta Blues Charley Patton, influential jazz singer Mildred Bailey, metaphysical guitar wizard Jimi Hendrix, and folk heroine Buffy Sainte-Marie are among the many music greats who have Native American heritage and have made their distinctive mark on music history. For the most part, their Native heritage was unknown.
Rumble uses playful re-creations and little-known stories alongside concert footage, archives and interviews. The stories of these iconic Native musicians are told by some of America’s greatest music legends who knew them, played music with them, and were inspired by them: everyone from Buddy Guy, Quincy Jones and Tony Bennett to Iggy Pop, Steven Tyler and Stevie Van Zandt. Rumble shows how Indigenous music was part of the very fabric of American popular music from the beginning, but that the Native American contribution was left out of the story—until now.
D: Catherine Bainbridge & Alfonso Maiorana, CAN, 2017, 1hr43m
