Native Noise

Postcommodity, a contemporary Indigenous artist collective comprised of, Kade L. Twist (Cherokee), Steven J. Yazzie (Navajo/Laguna) and Nathan Young (Pawnee/Delaware/Kiowa), would like to thank the First Nations Composer Initiative, Georgia Wettlin-Larsen and the FNCI staff, the FNCI Advisors, the American Composer Forum and the Ford Foundation for supporting our work in experimental Indigenous forms of music and international, cross-cultural collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists.

Postcommodity (Kade L. Twist, Steven J. Yazzie, Nathan Young)

During a recent residency at the Center for the Future in Slavonice, Czech Republic, Postcommodity had the unique opportunity to collaborate and record with Ivan “Magor” Jirous, one of the most important Czech poets and intellectuals of his generation; a visionary of William Burroughs stature with the dirty realist lens of Charles Bukowski. Magor is, perhaps, best known as the artistic director of the avant-garde, psychedelic rock band the Plastic People of the Universe. Magor transformed the band into living symbols of the Czechoslovakian underground movement (e.g., anti-communist, anti-colonialist, cultural self-determination movement) and in the process united an entire generation against the communist regime, which paved the way for the Velvet Revolution.

Ivan "Magor" Jirous

The Postcommodity recording with Magor is an important document of American Indian and Czech cultural resistance, and transborder, transdisciplinary exploration of common ground.

There are profound similarities between Indian Country in the U.S. and the southern Czech border regions near Austria where Slavonice is located -- land, culture and political wills have been in conflict for hundreds of years. There is a shared postcolonial narrative of social, cultural, political and economic disenfranchisement, which enabled Postcommodity and Magor to establish a profound sense of connection. It is also important to note that Magor, the Plastic People and the Czech underground movement were considerably influenced by American Indian tribal culture, worldview, mythology, philosophies, histories, writings, visual art and music. Magor and the underground movement drew inspiration from the tribal narratives of self-determination, tribal sovereignty and resistance to colonial forces. For Magor, American Indian resistance was a benchmark for Czech resistance. Magor’s desire to collaborate with us, as well as the recording, is testament to this fact. In many ways this collaboration was an opportunity to draw a circle in the earth for Indigenous Americans and Czech people, to engage shared experiences and inspirations and develop new forms of expression in the process.

With the generous support of the FNCI Common Ground grant Postcommodity will produce, digitally remix and master these important recordings and press them on compact disks. The collective will also produce and design the CD packaging, which will include a book insert with Magor’s translated poems (the first time that his poetry will be translated into English and made available internationally), original linocut prints by Steven Yazzie and full liner notes for a limited edition release on Foxy Digitalis here in North America and Torst in Europe. Postcommodity would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Center for the Future, Torst and RADIOS.CZ for their support and logistical assistance with this project.


About Postcommodity

Postcommodity is a contemporary American Indian artist collective comprised of, Kade L. Twist (Cherokee), Steven J. Yazzie (Navajo/Laguna) and Nathan Young (Pawnee/Delaware/Kiowa). Postcommodity’s mission is to promote the creation, development, distribution and exhibition of American Indian art, music, film media, literature and performing arts. The collective composes and records its music (e.g., noise, drone and sound art) for sound installations and multimedia installations that are exhibited in art spaces and museums. The collective also performs noise and sound art live as a band. Postcommodity uses a variety of instrument configurations (tribal, western, found objects and homemade) to create multiple layers of sound, feedback, harmonic chord cycles and group improvisations. The collective’s music is a contemporary tribal form of analog and digitally mediated ritual and spiritual explorations. Postcommodity’s work, whether exhibited in museums or performed on stages, are sonic trickster ceremonies that attempt to rationalize the postmodern American Indian experience, and as such, comprise an important part of the American Indian music tradition.