A TRIBE CALLED RED at Yonge-Dundas Square, Sunday, September 18. Rating: NNNN
A Tribe Called Red pulled out all the stops for their headlining performance at Manifesto Festival’s grand finale block party, bringing out a parade of guest vocalists and dancers throughout their show. However, the most powerful moment was at the very end, when they invited anti-Dakota Access Pipeline protesters onstage and got the audience to chant “we are standing with Standing Rock” in solidarity with them.
The First Nations DJ collective have always mixed politics with party music, and that combination is still quite central to the material on their newest album We Are The Halluci Nation. On a musical level, their set focussed more on hip-hop, reggaeton, and dancehall rhythms than the EDM influences of their earlier work, although they still dropped many uptempo festival bangers throughout the show.
The video mixing of Bear Witness continues to provide much of the visual focus to their show, recontextualizing and deconstructing footage of pop culture depictions of Indigenous people. Their guest vocalists bumped up the energy significantly, starting with Lido Pimienta’s charismatic turn on the mic. Tanya Tagaq got a strong reaction from the crowd when they introduced her, and her uniquely modern take on traditional throat singing took on a whole new feel over dance beats.
Iraqi-Canadian MC Narcy came out for the new song R.E.D., amidst a large troupe of dancers.
Continuing the hip-hop theme, Shad’s appearance during the encore was appropriately passionate and earnest. But while there were rap references throughout their show, they’re still far more eclectic than the hip-hop and R&B that the 10-year-old Manifesto has traditionally been associated with. Nevertheless, the packed Yonge-Dundas square was clearly into the rapid-fire changes and jumps between tempos and vibes.
benjaminb@nowtoronto.com | @benjaminboles
