Hypnotic melodies mixed with a little rhyme and reason of intoxicating Native verse brought students to their feet—some dancing, some jumping up and down—during a recent visit to the IAIA campus by high energy rock band, Blackfire.

Based out of Flagstaff, Ariz., with deep roots in the Dine’ culture and language, Blackfire consists of brothers, Klee and Clayson Benally, along with sister, Jeneda. The name Blackfire comes from the Dine’ word, K’o Lizhin. Their father, Jones Benally, a Dine’ hataalii, has been a big influence on their work and performances. This was immediately evident from the get go with the song the siblings chose to begin. The impact was a swell of burning emotions, which included pride, as they broke out in a traditional Dine’ healing song, accompanied by the rhythmic beatings of a hand drum. It was well received by the mostly Native audience.

The band also performed songs from their NAMMY award winning album, “One Nation Under,” as well as some of their newest work. They sang “Corn Song,” which is about looking for an honest man in big government, and “Mean Things Happening in This World,” which deals with the injustices of war.
These songs have yet to be released to the public and were previously unpublished and unrecorded. Well-known Oklahoma folk poet, Woody Guthrie, wrote the songs. Guthrie’s title and version of “Corn Song,” included the word, Indian, but Blackfire opted to scratch out that part for obvious sentiment.

The rest of the show was just as passionate, a blend of high-spirited enthusiasm and emotional movement, which only ensued to bring the already jazzed onlookers to join in the revelry. IAIA student, Ruben Chinana, said, “The show was awesome. They did a good job of rallying us out of our seats.” A little head banging was involved, with one IAIA student even receiving a lacerating wound to his left eye, but this did not slow the pace of the band or the audience. At the end of the night, it was hard to actually end the performance with the audience yelling, “One more song, one more song!”

IAIA student, Mehsheekah Mazatlzin, remembers something Blackfire said before one of their songs, “Every white star on the American flag represents a stolen land – tierra, which means land in Spanish.”
Mehsheekah is a member of Mehsheekah people from Mexico City/Oaxaca “Tenochtitlan,” Mexico.

Music With A Message

Besides being a performance band, Blackfire also has a message. They are speaking out for the ones who have no voice, who need someone to say, it’s okay to be different in a time of post-colonialism disarray. They are active supporters of the Save the Peaks Coalition, a group trying to stop ski resorts from being built on the sacred San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona. This is also the basis for a new documentary made by brother, Klee, called “The Snowball Effect.”

“For centuries, war has been waged against our people. The United States government has committed crime upon crime against humanity. Our lives are evidence, our teachings hold the testimony, we are not a page forgotten in a history book. But we are written between the lines, swept under this imperialistic carpet,” states the Blackfire Manifesto published on their website. Blackfire sings music with a message worth listening to. They are worth checking out.

For more information on Blackfire, visit their website at www.blackfire.net or for more information on the Save the Peaks Coalition, go to www.savethepeaks.org.

 

Copyright © IAIA CHRONICLE 2005