As Pura Fe was adjusting her slide guitar during sound-check, the Jefferson Community and Technical College student body and faculty gathered in the lobby of the Hartford building. Fe, an award-winning Native American musician, took the stage on April 16 before a large crowd for the annual JCTC Cultural Arts festival. The theme for the 2009 event was Native American culture, and offered a variety of performances, exhibits, and teaching lessons. But the event that caught the eye of many was Pura Fe’s performance. Students and teachers crowded the lobby of the Hartford building to listen to Fe’s Native American contemporary music, which has brought her to the forefront of mainstream music.
“This has been a great turnout and a spectacular event for me to perform in. The students and school have created a great Native American vibe in presenting the festival to the people,” Fe said.
Taking time out of her schedule, the students at JCTC got a rare glimpse at Fe and her musical act, as it is not too often that one witnesses an award winning musician in JCTC’s backyard. Fe, a winner of a French Grammy for her “Tuscarora Nation Blues” album in 2006, showcases some of her tracks from that album such as the popular “Rise of Tuscarora Nation,” and others such as “Great Grandpa’s Banjo,” “You Still Take,” and her newest song called “Red, Black, and Blues.”
Fe said, “I wanted to give the campus a little flavor of what Native American blues and folk music can be like, and how I transformed it into something more contemporary for them to follow.”
Many of the students in attendance enjoyed what Fe came to do, and that was listening to great Native American music while receiving a bit of education at the same time. Fe provided the student body and faculty with tracks that can identify her native roots and culture as still being alive and relevant in today’s society.
“The goal today is for me to bring world music and rhythm to Louisville and for the campus of Jefferson Community and Technical College’s Cultural Arts Festival. I also wanted the people to get a hint of where I come from, such as my Tuscarora roots in North Carolina,” Fe explained.
Fe explained that her music is more of a blues and shuffle-rhythm genre, with touches of gospel and its modulation of what Indian’s call “Stomp Dance.”
In Fe’s well-known and award-winning song, “Rise up Tuscarora Nation,” she mentioned to the crowd that she wrote the song for her nation and what happened to them in the past, such as being key escorts to the slaves in providing safe passage in the Underground Railroad. “Many people do not know that the Native American’s had influence and had been a great help to those in passage on the Underground Railroad,” Fe said.
Fe also portrayed some of her most intimate childhood roots and stories in the song, “Grandpa’s Banjo”, which she wrote for her great uncle. She said that the song is based on the many songs her grandma used to write and sing to her as a young girl. The vocal loops in the track gave a great contemporary vibe to the crowd, which they loved.
During the course of her next song, “You Still Take,” Fe takes more of a political approach in the meaning of her song and what she wanted it to represent.“This song is about the world and its natural resources, and how they have diminished so greatly before our eyes. The vocals are a bit more eco-political and preaching-like,” Fe said.
After performing “You Still Take” Fe decided to drop the newest of her songs that is yet to be released. The song called “Red, Black, and Blues,” is a song filtered with her vocals and the layering of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Deer Clan singers, exploring the contemporary and Gospel side of Fe’s talent. “This song is not only new to me, but obviously to my fans and the crowd today. I just wanted to have fun and cap the day off well,” Fe said.
It seemed as if the crowd at JCTC agreed fully with Fe on that. After her forty-five minute performance the crowd generously applauded.
“This has been a great turnout and a spectacular event for me to perform in. The students and school have created a great Native American vibe in presenting the festival to the people,” Fe said.
Taking time out of her schedule, the students at JCTC got a rare glimpse at Fe and her musical act, as it is not too often that one witnesses an award winning musician in JCTC’s backyard. Fe, a winner of a French Grammy for her “Tuscarora Nation Blues” album in 2006, showcases some of her tracks from that album such as the popular “Rise of Tuscarora Nation,” and others such as “Great Grandpa’s Banjo,” “You Still Take,” and her newest song called “Red, Black, and Blues.”
Fe said, “I wanted to give the campus a little flavor of what Native American blues and folk music can be like, and how I transformed it into something more contemporary for them to follow.”
Many of the students in attendance enjoyed what Fe came to do, and that was listening to great Native American music while receiving a bit of education at the same time. Fe provided the student body and faculty with tracks that can identify her native roots and culture as still being alive and relevant in today’s society.
“The goal today is for me to bring world music and rhythm to Louisville and for the campus of Jefferson Community and Technical College’s Cultural Arts Festival. I also wanted the people to get a hint of where I come from, such as my Tuscarora roots in North Carolina,” Fe explained.
Fe explained that her music is more of a blues and shuffle-rhythm genre, with touches of gospel and its modulation of what Indian’s call “Stomp Dance.”
In Fe’s well-known and award-winning song, “Rise up Tuscarora Nation,” she mentioned to the crowd that she wrote the song for her nation and what happened to them in the past, such as being key escorts to the slaves in providing safe passage in the Underground Railroad. “Many people do not know that the Native American’s had influence and had been a great help to those in passage on the Underground Railroad,” Fe said.
Fe also portrayed some of her most intimate childhood roots and stories in the song, “Grandpa’s Banjo”, which she wrote for her great uncle. She said that the song is based on the many songs her grandma used to write and sing to her as a young girl. The vocal loops in the track gave a great contemporary vibe to the crowd, which they loved.
During the course of her next song, “You Still Take,” Fe takes more of a political approach in the meaning of her song and what she wanted it to represent.“This song is about the world and its natural resources, and how they have diminished so greatly before our eyes. The vocals are a bit more eco-political and preaching-like,” Fe said.
After performing “You Still Take” Fe decided to drop the newest of her songs that is yet to be released. The song called “Red, Black, and Blues,” is a song filtered with her vocals and the layering of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Deer Clan singers, exploring the contemporary and Gospel side of Fe’s talent. “This song is not only new to me, but obviously to my fans and the crowd today. I just wanted to have fun and cap the day off well,” Fe said.
It seemed as if the crowd at JCTC agreed fully with Fe on that. After her forty-five minute performance the crowd generously applauded.
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