AKA Grafitti Man
John Trudell
Rykodisc through Festival Records
Available on CD and cassette
Reviewed by Norm Dixon
Poetry spoken to a beat is a very powerful medium for social and political comment. In the '70s and '80s this style was widely popularised by Chicago's Gil Scott-Heron with his gritty urban brand of rebel verse. During the same period in Britain, dub-poet Linton Kwesi Johnson set his passionate polemics against racism and imperialism to a reggae groove. More recently, South Africa's "people's poet" Mzwakhe Mbuli has combined township jive with his biting criticism of apartheid.
John Trudell's first album, AKA Grafitti Man, is firmly in the tradition of these "warriors of the word". Trudell is a leading activist in movement for the rights of Native Americans. He recites his insistent calls for human rights and peace and his comments on the grim reality of class society to what he describes as a "tribal tempo" accompanied by Springsteenesque rock and blues riffs.
Born and raised on the Santee Sioux reservation in Nebraska, Trudell was politicised during the Vietnam War. Serving in the navy, he was appalled at the racism directed against his fellow non-WASP sailors and the Vietnamese "enemy". In the late '60s, he became active in the American Indian Movement AIM, earning a 17,000 page FBI file for his trouble. He led the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1970-71 and served as the national chairperson of the AIM between 1973 and 1979.
Trudell appeared regularly at environmental and Native American benefits. His charismatic oratory evolved into poetry and experiments with musical backing. "I started out with just indigenous drums", Trudell explained to Billboard magazine recently, "but once I met the Kiowa guitarist Jesse Ed Davis in 1985, his incredible leads gave me the compulsion to rock the words".
With Davis, Trudell formed the band Grafitti Man in 1985 and produced their own mail-order cassette also entitled AKA Grafitti Man. The tape so impressed Bob Dylan that he played it over his PA prior to his concerts. After Jesse Ed Davis' death, Grafitti Man continued with Mark Shark now the lead guitarist. The band toured the US with Midnight Oil in 1988.
Trudell's political activity continues as he campaigns for the release of US political prisoner Leonard Peltier, a leader of the Native American movement framed on murder charges and serving two life sentences.
AKA Grafitti Man, produced by Jackson Browne, adds recent material to that of Trudell and Jesse Ed Davis' collaborations to produce a powerful political statement. The title track slams the poverty and culture of capitalist America. "Bombs Over Baghdad" is a vitriolic denunciation of the Gulf War with John Lee Hooker-like vocals from Mark Shark. "Rich Man's War" links environmental degradation, oppression of workers and war to the rule of the rich. Perhaps the most interesting track is "Baby Boom Che", in which Elvis Presley is heralded as an unwitting cultural revolutionary.
This album is highly recommended for both its lyrical and its musical content. It is marred only by the frustrating omission of the words of the songs.