Raka David and Shan Green discuss the lyrics of a new song they are recording for a music production class on Monday, October 14, 2024 at the Denaina Center in Anchorage. (Matt Fabion/Alaska Public Media)
Raka David and Shan Greene were huddled around a laptop and microphone rehearsing a rap they had just written called “Heart in This.” This one-minute song is about joy and independence.
“I was just trying to be nice,” David raps over a hip-hop beat. “If that happens, your future may be bleak.”
He and Green were among about 50 Alaska Native youth from around the state learning about music production at the Elders and Youth Conference in downtown Anchorage on Monday. They collaborated with indigenous artists to write their own songs and craft lyrics about their cultural values, family and home. The artists hoped this hands-on workshop would encourage participants to think about pursuing music. They said expression in the music industry is liberating and needs to be more liberated.
“I love working with young people,” said artist Tyler Apaktak Young, known as 2essentialz. “I love seeing them engage and engage in creativity and creative expression. Ah, this is where it begins!”
On Monday, Young coached David and Greene’s newly formed musical group, Aqpik (Salmonberry’s Inupiaq equivalent).
He said that making music allowed him to empathize and connect with other indigenous and Tsimshian cultures.
“Perhaps reclaiming your Indigenous identity, healing from historical trauma, even just sitting at the table and feeling like that. Just being genuinely and unapologetically Native. “That’s what I love about music,” he said.
Students gather around Tyler Apaktak-Young (right) to listen back to a newly recorded song during his Music Production 101 class on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, at the Denaina Center in Anchorage. (Matt Fabion/Alaska Public Media)
Across the room, Tyler Simunoff and about 10 other kids were also rapping. Their rap was about survival. Simunov said she initially struggled to find inspiration for lyrics, but it got easier after she focused on the things she enjoyed while at home in Kodiak.
“I like hunting, fishing, gathering resources and living off the land,” Simunov said.
He had always loved listening to music, but had never made his own music, so he wanted to participate in this session.
“Of the first few choices, this was the best on the list,” he said. “I thought it was a great opportunity.”
Sitting in a few chairs, Manu David wrote a list of things he wanted to do while visiting his family in Ruby, a village of fewer than 200 people on the Yukon River.
Musician “Wasabi” brainstorms song topic ideas with students during a Music Production 101 class held at the Denaina Center in Anchorage on Monday, Oct. 16, 2024. (Matt Fabion/Alaska Public Media)
She said some of the lyrics were inspired by the large amount of blueberries she picks and eats every year.
“I like to go berry picking, I like weaving cedar baskets, and I like cleaning and filleting fish,” she said.
Anchorage native Kayden Turkington had the same idea. We focused on what we love about living in Alaska. He had already finished writing the poem.
“You get down, you walk up, you get ready to go hunting, you go in and out of camp,” he said.
Ultimately, Tarkington’s poem was woven together with other poems with the help of event staff. The group titles the song “Native Life” and shares their perspective on survival across Alaska.
Let’s listen:
Eva White reports on the economy and hosts the statewide morning news for Alaska Public Media. Contact us at awhite@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8445. Click here to learn more about Eva.
