Just four months after releasing their first music video, Ix̱six̱án, Ax̱ Ḵwáan, seven Alaska Native youth from Southeast Alaska will debut their most recent music video, Zibit, at Tlingit & Haida’s Celebrating Our Ways of Life event tomorrow evening (November 16, 2018) at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in Juneau, Alaska.
The first music video released by the superstar youth became a point of pride and excitement for the Southeast Alaska Native community – it was also widely shared on social media and picked up by several local and statewide media outlets.
Zibit, which is short for exhibit, is an ode to the rich history and tradition of Southeast Alaska’s performing and visual arts, but also critiques the arts in Juneau. The music video merges Southeast Alaska Native culture and newer forms of art like drone videography and modern hip hop music. Throughout the music video, tribal youth were captured practicing the traditional art of formline, dance (Tlingit and Unangan), and weaving to deliver the message that indigenous arts are not preserved in a museum exhibit, but thrive in the air, land and sea, and live on through youth embracing their indigenous cultures. The song also references and challenges racial bias in society, in particular, the world of art.
The music video project was coordinated under Tlingit & Haida’s Native Connections program to promote health and well-being among tribal youth. The participating youth (Marcel Cohen, Bradley Dybdahl, Arias (AJ) Hoyle, Keegan Kagan, Geri Rodriguez, Kenndra Willard and Aidan Wilson) helped to direct and produce the music video with technical assistance provided by Second2NoneSound (Josh Laboca). Zibit features tribal citizen AJ Hoyle as lead rapper with supporting vocals by Chris Talley.
Zibit Music Video Trailer:www.facebook.com/ccthita/videos/947979292078921
Tlingit & Haida would like to acknowledge the following people and organizations for contributing to this music video project: Second2NoneSound (Josh Laboca), Alaska Governor Bill Walker, First Alaskans Institute, Sacred Grounds Café, Sealaska Heritage Institute, USDA Forest Service – Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center, Woosh.ji.een Dance Group, Juneau Public Library, Della Cheney, Chris Talley, Haliehana Stepetin, and Rico Worl. Gunalchéesh, Háw’aa for supporting our youth!
For more information on the Native Connections program, please contact Will Kronick at 907.463.7169 or wkronick@ccthita-nsn.gov.
The music video project was funded under Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Grant No. 6H79SM063465-02M001. The views, policies and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of SAMHSA or HHS.
