Concentration Camp Blues
Some call it reservation, some call it concentration
Concentrating the trauma of genocide up in a nation
This system murders us, call it premeditation.
Lakota rapper Frank Waln has a new album out, In the Key of Lakota. On Twitter I asked what he means by ‘Key of Lakota’, he told me to listen to find out.
So I did (I purchased it on Bandcamp) and what immediately distinguishes Waln’s rap music from everything else, is the flute he plays on almost all of the songs on the album. It’s in low key and quite melancholic, giving these songs a certain sadness, although the album contains a few up-tempo beats, like the song Hope, which is my favorite.
Which is a fitting sadness, because Waln raps about life on the reservation, like in the video above, about the ongoing discrimination of Indiginous Americans, about the struggle to save the Lakota language and culture that was forbidden for so long, but also about the love for family and friends, about dreams and hope, because Waln always keeps a positive attitude in spite of his subdued anger.
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