Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (2017)
Documentary about the role of Native Americans in popular music history, a little-known story built around the incredible lives and careers of the some of the greatest music legends.
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I saw this film at the Sonoma film fest. There were probably 200 people in the audience and all sat in rapt attention. No one walked out and there was mad applause at the end. A beautiful music and Native American feel good story masterfully told.
Artists discuss the role that Native Americans have played in the development of American popular music. Very well done documentary. Deeper than expected. Undoubtedly there are those who already knew/know all this but I'll call it revisionist history because it certainly revised my history of American music. I only knew of Jim Pepper ('Witchitai-to') and Jesse Ed Davis (with Taj Mahal) before watching this. I knew of Buffy Sainte-Marie but I always felt badly because I couldn't stand her vibrato. If you have near-musicology level interest in the history of blues, jazz and rock, served with another healthy dose of delightful American cultural history, here you go.
'Rumble' - obviously named after the classic Link Wray track - supposedly tells the story of the American Natives in rock, and then shows some artists who never saw themselves as anything but musicians, and possibly Americans. And say what you will - but WHEN did Buffy Sainte-Marie ever rock?Also the movie left out the first, true rocking Native American Band; Granicus. Although with mainly Italian family names (so what - Hendrix/Hendricks is a Dutch name...), these Cleveland guys rocked when Grand Funk sucked, and their eponymous 1973 album has become a cult classic among heavy rock fans the world over. There were even talks of a reunion in 2016.
This movie blew me away. Not only do you see the evolution of rock and roll, you see it's influence on other genres and performances by some of the great musicians of all time. You also see the targeting of Native American cultures in our early history, which is a story that is still rarely told,and one of our greatest crimes. For many reasons, you MUST see and share, this movie.