The film Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World, a flick about indigneous music makers, took home the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Masterful Storytelling on Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival.
According to the film website, Rumble tells the story of a profound, essential, and, until now, missing chapter in the history of American music: the Indigenous influence. It features musical icons including Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Ed Davis, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, Randy Castillo, and others – Rumble shows how these talented Native musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives.
The film was inspired by the Smithsonian Institution exhibit “Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians In Popular Culture,” created by Tim Johnson and Stevie Salas for the National Museum of the American Indian.
Rumble has a long list of music artists, historians, family members, and experts participating in the film, including: Buddy Guy, Steven Van Zandt, Tony Bennett, Taj Mahal, Cyril Neville, Ivan Neville, Martin Scorsese, John Trudell, David Fricke (Rolling Stone Magazine), Steven Tyler, Derek Trucks, Corey Harris, Guy Davis, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Monk Boudreaux, George Clinton, Jackson Browne, Martha Redbone, James “Hutch” Hutchinson, Joy Harjo, Iggy Pop, Wayne Kramer (MC5), Marky Ramone (The Ramones), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Pura Fe Crescioni (Ulali), Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), Phil Soussan (Ozzy Osbourne), Matt Sorum (Guns ‘N’ Roses), Mike Inez (Alice in Chains), Robert Trujillo (Metallica), Taboo (Black Eyed Peas), Slash (Guns ‘N’ Roses), Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan), and more.
Sundance wrote about the film: “Using playful re-creations and little-known stories, alongside concert footage, audio archives, and interviews with living legends, this deeply insightful film cements how some of our most treasured artists and songs found their inspiration in ancient, native melodies and harmonies that were infused with a desire to resist. You’ll never listen to your favorite rock and roll classics the same way again.”
Photo: Rezolution Pictures/Rumble
