Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World (2017)

Original title

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World

Directed by

Catherine Bainbridge

Genre

documentary film

Country

Canada

Runtime

1h 43m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.6 of 10 from 13 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary shows how Indigenous musicians from Canada and the United States helped shape rock music. It profiles artists like Link Wray, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Jimi Hendrix, and explains their overlooked influence on the genre.

informativecelebratoryeye-openingpassionatesoulfulhistorically-richupliftingrhythmic

What happens

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World is a 2017 Canadian documentary film directed by Catherine Bainbridge and co-directed by Alfonso Maiorana. The film profiles the impact of Indigenous musicians in Canada and the US on the development of rock music. Musicians profiled include Jesse Ed Davis (Kiowa, Comanche, Seminole, Muscogee), Mildred Bailey (Coeur d'Alene), Charley Patton, Link Wray, Stevie Salas, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, Randy Castillo, Jimi Hendrix, Taboo and others. The title of the film is a reference to the pioneering instrumental "Rumble", released in 1958 by the American group Link Wray & His Ray Men. The instrumental piece was very influential on many artists. The idea for the film came from Stevie Salas (Apache heritage) and Tim Johnson (Grand River Mohawk), two of the film's executive producers. They created an exhibition for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian about the Indigenous influence on American music, titled “Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture”, borrowing a title from the Oscar-winning song, "Up Where We Belong" co-written by Buffy Sainte-Marie, an Italian-American who claimed to be Cree. The film features many influential musicians who discuss the musical contributions of artists who have identified as Indigenous, including commentaries from Quincy Jones, George Clinton, Taj Mahal, Martin Scorsese, John Trudell (Santee Dakota), Steven Tyler, Marky Ramone, Slash, Iggy Pop, Buddy Guy, Steven Van Zandt, Taylor Hawkins, Robert Trujillo, and others. The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The film was released on home entertainment (DVD) on December 19, 2018 via Kino Lorber. It had its broadcast premiere on PBS as part of Independent Lens on January 21, 2019. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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