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Flaming Arrows: Here Come the Indians Now |
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New Orleans
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Tuesday, 24 January 2006 02:05 |
Flaming Arrows
Here Come the Indians Now
Mardi Gras Records
By John Sinclair
The legendary Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans can be seen in all their splendor on Fat Tuesday, the one day of the year they're allowed to run wild in the streets from dawn to dark.
The people in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods where the Indians hold sway are well versed in the annual ritual and rush eagerly forward to join in the fun, swelling to form the energetic "second line" that envelops, supports and propels the Wild Indian gangs to ever greater exploits of visual art, public song and communal street dancing.
The Mardi Gras Indians revel in revealing their elaborate creations in beadwork, feathers and plumes inspired by the ceremonial and war suits and headdresses of the Plains Indians of the 19th century. On Mardi Gras Day they take to the middle of the street and dance off in search of rival Indian gangs, drawing their neighbors off their stoops and porches to wreathe them with smiles and shouts of recognition and joy.
It's the living manifestation of an age-old ritual preserved and practiced by the descendants of the African slaves in America, which goes back to the perambulating societies of West Africa and their call-and-response chants, and to the secret societies of masked warriors which are common to both African and native American cultures.
It's a ritual which continues to live in the mean streets of end-of-the-century New Orleans and in the hearts of the people of the most run-down, destitute, stripped-bare-and-left-for-dead underclass neighborhoods of the city, where the Wild Indians of Mardi Gras perenially represent the triumph of spirit, creativity, and beauty of song and dance over every obstacle placed in their way.
There's nothing like seeing the Wild Indians in their natural habitat, emerging in all their magnificent finery like eye-popping apparitions out of the doorways of dilapidated inner-city houses and project apartments to strut and swagger down the middle of the beat-up streets where they struggle just like everyone else to make a living and somehow survive the crime, violence, joblessness and grinding poverty of their neighborhoods throughout the rest of the year.
That's the real-life context of the Wild Indians of Mardi Gras, and year after year they manage to rise above the morass of their daily lives to make themselves over as creatures of immense beauty.
Every year, starting around Thanksgiving and continuing every Sunday evening until Mardi Gras, the members and followers of each Wild Indian gang meet up at their favorite neighborhood bar to conduct "Indian practice," a torrid ritual where the traditional chants are rehearsed and refreshed, new chants are introduced and prepared for the streets, the thrilling Indian dances and man-to-man confrontations are tried out and tested in action, old friendships are celebrated and warm new alliances may be formed.
The Indian practices are conducted or supervised by each tribe's Big Chief, who generally leads the singing and directs the course of action in this familiar setting. Other lead singers, either tribe members (Spy Boys, Flag Boys, Trail Chiefs, Wild Men) or second-line regulars and one-time Indians who know how it goes, spell the Big Chiefs throughout the evening, showing off their vocal prowess, firm grasp of the idiom, and power and strength of performance.
The finest singers below the rank of Big Chief are often moved to leave the gang they started with and strike out on their own to form new tribes, drawing followers from friends, family and the immediate neighborhood who will meet each Sunday at a different bar and practice under the personal, moral and musical leadership of the new Chief.
Thus the roster of Wild Indian tribes and the ranks of the singing Big Chiefs continue to grow in New Orleans, extending this unique African-American tradition into the 21st century and beyond. Old-time Indian songs are shared by all the gangs, while newly-devised chants are picked up and passed by word of mouth from one Indian practice to another until you can hear them all over town.
The Flaming Arrows, led by Big Chief Kevin Goodman, used to practice at the Treme Music Hall at Ursulines & North Robertson until it closed. Now they're coming out of the Who Dat bar on the 6th Ward side of Esplanade, led by Goodman's powerful voice, fluent delivery and personal treatment of the established Indian texts.
And they've met up with Milton Batiste, Ken "Afro" Williams and the tight bunch of fine musicians who function as part of Batiste's DuBat Records studio krewe to form a happy musical alliance that's resulted in the splendid recording under hand.
Kevin Goodman and his Flaming Arrows deliver fresh takes on old-time classics like "Shallow Water," "Shoo Fly" and "Sew Sew"; they treat "Corey Died on the Battle Field" to a whole new arrangement; and they offer impassioned versions of modern favorites like "Indians Here We Come," "Let's Go Get 'Em" and "Here Comes The Indians Now," backed by guitarists Harry Sterling and Mario Tio, bassists Harold Scott and Mike Venable, drummer Eneal Wimberly, Bobby Love on organ, and hornmen Joe Saulsbury (saxophones & flute) and Milton Batiste, who adds several delightful trumpet solos to the proceedings.
Producer Ken "Afro" Williams is present on multiple percussions and sings the soulful lead vocal on Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," a welcome addition to the musical program. And the fellows bring in a hip brass band arrangement to set off Goodman's great reading of the well-known "Li'l Liza Jane."
Kevin Goodman is at his very best on the two songs that appear here for the first time on record: the relentless marching anthem, "Hell Out the Way," and the fiercely insistent chant called "My Gang Don't Bow Down," which Goodman fashions into a brilliant testimonial to the legendary, much-loved downtown Indian known as Bird. Both songs are worthy additions to the Wild Indian canon and will doubtless be heard again and again as they pass into the common repertoire.
Kevin Goodman and his Flaming Arrows gang are in the house with something fresh and new, yet completely steeped in the musical and cultural matrix created by the Wild Indians of New Orleans. At Mardi Gras time or any time, their exciting music will now be as close as your turntable and as easy and exhilarating to listen to as anything you can imagine.
New Orleans
March 13, 1997
(c) 1997, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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