Martha Redbone: Gimmie Some Skin

Gimmie Some Skin!

BY Davina Morris

Martha Redbone embraces her two sides – African and Native American – in her latest soulful release

Throughout much of Martha Redbone’s childhood, her mixed heritage provoked racist jibes from her peers and left her feeling somewhat isolated. But as she got older and wiser the singer learnt that being a product of a Native American mother and black father was a heritage to embrace and celebrate.

Gearing up to release her aptly titled album Skintalk, the Brooklyn-born singer explains why she chose to give her independently released album that title.

“So often, people take other people at face value and in doing so, the first thing we tend to see is the colour of people’s skin. We just have to look at the aftermath of the war in Iraq to see how much racial profiling that sparked. My brother, like myself, is part-black and part-Native American. But he has quite Arabic features and as a result he is racially-profiled all the time. Skin colour tends to define so many things and giving my album that title just acknowledges that fact.”

CORRECTNESS

Still, in an age where political correctness seems to be at an all-time high and discussing race-related issues seems almost taboo, some may argue that making your race your selling point is somewhat inappropriate.

But Redbone doesn’t buy into that notion. She believes that people should be free to celebrate their heritage and in fact, she took on the name Redbone as a means of acknowledging her mixed ancestry.

“Redbone was a nickname given to me when I was a kid, but it’s actually a derogatory word used to describe people of mixed ancestry. As a kid, I really hated that name and I was really offended by it. But as I grew up, I began to ask myself why I was so offended by that term when I loved the two people who created me. So instead of being made to feel ashamed of being two different races, I decided that I should embrace where I’m from because that is who I am.”

She continued: “Years ago, many schools almost discouraged Native Americans to continue using their language and instead encouraged us to basically assimilate with white people. At one time, many Native Americans were taken off the reservations and put in boarding schools where they were given English names, which were supposed to be ‘more civilised.’

“They weren’t allowed to use their own language and if they did, they’d be beaten. As a result, many Native Americans lost their language because of society’s push to get people to almost forget their heritage and become ‘more American.’ But today’s generation of Native Americans, myself included, are keen to learn about and embrace their history and I think that’s important.”

HERITAGE

Learning about that side of her heritage was perhaps that much harder for Redbone growing up in Brooklyn, where Native American culture was far from prevalent. On the contrary, black culture was dominant and was therefore, unsurprisingly, where she drew her musical influences from.

“I just call my music soul music. That’s the music that I know and love— it’s the music that I connect to. I was raised in Brooklyn and growing up there, you really weren’t around too many people of Native American ancestry. For me growing up, that side of my heritage was only prevalent through my mother when I was in my home. But at other times, I was immersed in black culture. My father sang in church, I was rooted in soul music — I’m a simple black girl from Brooklyn who just happens to have an Indian mother.”

Sadly, Redbone’s father, who she describes as “my six foot three, chocolate-skinned dad,” died in 2001. But she remembers her father with nothing but love. “One of the fondest memories I have of him was him singing while my songwriting partner Alan Whitby was playing the piano. My dad was very ill at that time but he completely came to life when he was singing. That was a really beautiful moment. And though he’s gone, I feel like he’s with me everyday.”

Now, Redbone — who also lived in London on and off for about five years in the mid-90s — is excited about her album’s UK release and a set of shows she’ll perform at London’s Jazz Café in March.

“I’m glad that people here are digging my music. I enjoy making my music independently because that gives me the freedom and control to make the music of my choice. So knowing that people appreciate what I do is a great feeling. I can’t wait to get back to London to perform in March. Having lived here before, it pretty much feels like my second home.”

Skintalk is out on February 27 through Dome Records

2/2/06

Story from Voice-Online

http://www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=8431

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