Native American influences on music topic of documentary
Link Wray was known as the father of the power chord. Less well-known about the guitarist: He was half Shawnee Indian.
The influence of Native Americans on American music is examined in “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World,” set to screen Wednesday as part of the 26-film "Documentary Week" at the Gateway Film Center. The movie is one of six in the lineup that is centered on music.
“For me, I think ‘Rumble’ fills in a gap that people who appreciate music may not be aware of — the really critical influence of Native American music into our pop culture, into the music we hear every day," said Chris Hamel, president of the Gateway. "lt’s a really, really powerful documentary.”
The 1958 Wray instrumental “Rumble” features a slow, ominous series of chords that explodes into a guitar solo. The song was banned from airplay in several cities for fear of inciting gang fights. In the movie, guitarist Steven Van Zandt laughingly calls "Rumble" "the theme song to juvenile delinquency."
Wray blazed a path for future guitarists.
"Rumble" executive producer Stevie Salas — an Apache and a guitarist who has performed or recorded with artists as diverse as Rod Stewart, George Clinton and Justin Timberlake — recalled how musicians would discuss their guitar heroes, including Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.
"Slash said, 'Who taught those guys?'" Salas said, "and the name that kept coming up was Link Wray. If I was learning guitar from Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, I was learning guitar from Link Wray."
The movie examines Wray and other musicians with a Native American heritage, including 1930s jazz singer Mildred Bailey; guitarists Jimi Hendrix, Robbie Robertson of the Band and session player Jesse Ed Davis; folk singer Buffy Saint-Marie; drummer Randy Castillo of Ozzy Osbourne's band; and the 1970s band Redbone, whose Native American members performed in full Indian regalia.
The movie became a passion project for Salas.
“It’s really important to me," he said. "I wanted to make a history film about these amazing heroes, not about victims and how these guys overcame. You don’t have to have a rich dad and get all the breaks somehow. These kinds of people found a way to do it, and it can be done.”
Also explored is the Native American influence on other genres, including how music from tribes in the southeastern United States melded with songs sung by African slaves to become the blues.
Robertson, whose mother was Mohawk and spent summers on the Six Nations Reserve in Canada, tells of the advice he was given when starting in music: “Be proud you’re an Indian, but be careful who you tell.”
That attitude, Salas said, stemmed from a long history of oppression.
“My grandparents and my great-grandparents — nobody wanted to be an Indian in New Mexico,” he said. “They were killing them in New Mexico. They were considered vermin. The last thing you wanted to be was an Indian. They’d ship you off to a reservation.
“Your parents would rather say you were from Spain or Mexico than claim to be an Indian.”
Now, Robertson can’t hide his pride.
“You wouldn’t let me talk about it before,” he says in the movie. “Well, now I’m going to talk real loud.”
Among the other musicrelated movies to be screened during Documentary Week:
“I Am the Blues” (2015), director Daniel Cross’ examination of aging blues performers in Louisiana and Mississippi (Showtimes: 1 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Tuesday)
“A Life in Waves” (2017), director Brett Whitcomb’s look at the life of electronicmusic pioneer Suzanne Ciani (12:30 p.m. Sunday, 3 p.m. Monday and 9 a.m. Tuesday)
“Score: A Film Music Documentary” (2016), which profiles movie-score composers to explore the link between what viewers see and hear (5:30 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday)
“Sidemen: Long Road to Glory” (2016), which
chronicles the lives of pianist Pinetop Perkins, drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith and guitarist Hubert Sumlin, all sidemen for Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, who in 2011 died within a few months of one another (7 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. Tuesday and 9 p.m. Sept. 7)
“Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk” (2017), a look at the punk rockers coming out of northern California — and, specifically the 924 Gilmour music collective — such as Green Day, the Dead Kennedys and Rancid (9 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Wednesday)