Indigenous is an American blues rock group that came to prominence in the late 1990s. The band originally consisted of two brothers, Mato Nanji (Maiari) ('mah-TOE non-GEE' vocals and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, born 1974), Pte ('peh-TAY'

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

), along with their sister, Wanbdi ('wan-ba-DEE' drums, vocals), and their cousin, Horse (

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

). Their music is influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana. Mato Nanji's style and skill has drawn comparisons to each of these guitarists. The band has also shared the stage with artists of varying musical genres such as B.B. King, Santana,

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

, the

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part o ...

, Jackson Browne, Dave Matthews Band, and

Los Lonely Boys Los Lonely Boys are an American musical group from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music they call "Texican Rock n' Roll," combining elements of rock and roll, Texas blues, brown-eyed soul, country, and Tejano. The band consists of ...

. The band has headlined its own tours several times. The

Nakota Nakota (or Nakoda or Nakona) is the endonym used by those ''Assiniboine'' Indigenous people in the US, and by the Stoney People, in Canada. The Assiniboine branched off from the Great Sioux Nation (aka the ''Oceti Sakowin'') long ago and moved ...

Nation members grew up on

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

Yankton Indian Reservation The Yankton Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Yankton Sioux Tribe of the Dakota tribe. The reservation occupies the easternmost 60 percent of Charles Mix County in southeastern South Dakota, United States and abuts the Missouri River al ...

, where their father,

Greg Zephier Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (more commonly spelled " Gregg") is also a surname. People with the name *Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people *Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Canadi ...

became a spokesperson for Native American rights. A musician in his own right during the 1960s and 1970s, Zephier provided his children with records from blues musicians such as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Freddie King, and taught them to play their respective instruments. The family started touring together, and soon the children were performing on their own.

Musical career

The group released their debut album, ''Things We Do'' on Pachyderm Records in 1998. In 1999, Indigenous won three

Native American Music Award The Native American Music Awards (also known as the NAMAs or "Nammys") are an awards program presented annually by Elbel Productions, Inc., The Native American Music Awards Inc., and The Native American Music Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profi ...

s for their debut record, including two top honors: Album of the Year and Group of the Year. The track "Now That You're Gone" peaked at #22 on ''Billboard'''s Mainstream Rock chart. Amazon.com named the band Blues Artist of the Year, and soon after they were featured on broadcast shows such as NPR's "

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

", " Late Night with Conan O'Brien," " CBS Saturday Morning," and " Austin City Limits". B.B. King became a self-proclaimed fan, and invited the band to join his Blues Festival Tour. Later that year, Indigenous released an EP, ''Blues This Morning'', and an album, ''Live at Pachyderm Studios'' in 1999, and continued the momentum. ''Live at Pachyderm'' won two Native American Music Awards for Best Blues Album and Group of the Year in 2000. Their next LP, ''

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is cons ...

'', settled into place in ''Billboard''s Top Blues Albums Chart after its release in 2000. Following this was the 2003 self-titled album, ''Indigenous'' ( Zomba), and then another EP, ''Long Way Home'' in 2005 (on their own record label). This seven-song EP contains five originals, as well as an acoustic version of a song from ''Things We Do'', "Rest Of My Days", and a live version of their first single, "Things We Do". After recording their 2006 album, ''Chasing the Sun'' (

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives f ...

) the band split. Mato carried on with the Indigenous name and toured with a new line-up that included bassist Chaney Bryant and drummer Ray Mehlbaum in support of the album. In 2008, Mato wrote and recorded the album ''Broken Lands'' which was released on August 12, 2008. More recently, the band released ''The Acoustic Sessions'' on June 8, 2010. ''Time is Coming'' (2014) was described in reviews as "closer to rock than blues." This follows the last CD entitled ''Vanishing Americans'' (2012) that paid homage to Mato father, Greg Zephier, Sr. It is dedicated to indigenous youth and all young people on indigenous reservations. His 10th commercial album, ''Vanishing Americans'', released on Blues Bureau International, a division of the Shrapnel Record Group, won the Native American Music Award's "Album of the Year" award in 2014. The CD honored Greg, who was a spiritual advisor and spokesperson for the International Indian Treaty Council. Nanji said about Greg, "he was my favorite musician...I just felt it was time to pay tribute to him and his band."

Discography and awards

References

External links

Official website

2015 Mato Nanji Interview on Guitar.com

2005 Mato Nanji Interview on Guitar.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indigenous Native American musical groups American blues rock musical groups Rock music groups from South Dakota Provogue Records artists Vanguard Records artists Shrapnel Records artists