Well, my minds been blown yet again by some of the incredible people that exist on planet Earth...
So yeah my membership/involvement with the Digital Nomads from its creation and inception (now consisting of four super talented musicians from the UK/USA.. plus me) , began by a chance meeting with the brilliant electronica artist and now good friend of mine, 'Zman8.'
To cut a long story short, the first collaboration we worked on together was the track 'Rebirth of Red Cloud' where we worked closely together to generate its artwork. 'Z' a native New Yorker who used to live down in Surrey in the 90's (check out the band 'Spanglehead') ,was based in New York at the time, myself based in sunny Derbados UK.
What happened during the time of working on the artwork, I cant quite put my finger on, but it felt strange, spiritual almost profound....almost as if being visited by some sort of presence?. Crystal clear dreams at night, a sober sense of something real and powerful in what we were doing,...I just cant really put it into words. Both Zman8 and myself have joked a good few times now, how we reckon we were both visited that week by the spirit of Red Cloud himself, but the more time that passes and the more strange and miraculous things that seem to be connecting us to his people (The Lakota), the more I'm starting to believe we actually did!
So who was Red Cloud? I will leave links so you can check out his fascinating and incredible history, but basically Red Cloud was the Native American Chief of the Oglala Lakota peoples in 1860's North America...
During a series of conflicts with the United States Army between 1866 and 1868 known as 'Red Clouds War' (of which he won and defeated the USA lol), Red Cloud did the wise thing to form a peace treaty with his enemies and by 1870 even visited the White House where the idea of the Native American 'Reservation System' was first presented, discussed and implemented. But like all petty, small-minded twerps/racists drunk on power, driven by greed and status as well as some silly point to prove, The USA powers that be soon unsurprisingly f*cked Red Cloud over as soon as gold was discovered within his territories. BUT his legacy and the way in which he conducted himself throughout the whole ordeal ,was nothing less of inspiring and clearly showcased who was the wiser of the two opponents! Theres much wisdom/ many lessons and parallels you can draw from the whole ordeal involving the Red Cloud saga, and the more I read into it, the more fascinating it becomes...
But why am I telling you all this?
Well only Red Clouds actual grandson 'Clangleska Charles Red Cloud' has only gawn and made contact with us! (Check out the screenshots) A mix of the track somehow got to him which he finds interesting "badass!" Hahaha YEAHHH MON thats what is all about. He's also commented on the artwork which he really likes, and also the music video made for the track! All I can say is its a complete honour and its little moments like this where everything syncs together nicely, that makes life so good! Only a couple of weeks ago, the legendary 'Earl Zero' (one of the originators of the 1970's roots reggae movement) made contact with the Digital Nomads over a recent track. He even started sharing it! I mean from creating artwork for tracks worked on by various legends for various projects such as John Sims (Ginger Baker Group), and having artwork appreciated and commented on by the likes of Bob Sawyer (Iron Maiden), Rob Holiday of the Prodigy and everyone else in between, the general vibe I get from all these 'great' people, is not only how brilliant and creative they all are, but how humble they are in reality, right from the way they create, down to the messages they reply to you with. None of these people are big headed like "ooww look at me, I'm getting a little bit of attention, look at me i'm such a scene queen i'm so important!" (yawwwnn!!!). Nah, these people are quite the opposite in my experience (where in actual fact they 'are' important ha). Raw, real and just as you'd expect em to be! Can't wait where this all leads as we've not even begun with the Digital Nomads and the rest of it in all honesty....
So yeah check out the Zman8 song 'Rebirth of Red Cloud' below, its haunting, beautiful, chilled, thought provoking, even channels...'something' and just ages like a fine wine. Boy its appeared on radio shows across the world (including the UK), a 'Shpongle' tribute album (Pete Callard of the group recently appreciating Digital Nomads music lol), played to tens of thousands on Chillspace and Mindspring Music channels, with the art appearing all over the world with editors as far as Mexico emailing me asking for permission to use the image in their articles and publications.
And lots of love and respect to the Lakota people and Red Clouds family and descendants of whom its for if you ask me.! If things go well who knows, it'd be amazing to travel out to America and meet you folk! Would love to discuss and learn some of the ancient knowledge/ oral traditions passed down through Native American history, North Americas megaliths i'm really fascinated about and have been recently studying...
Thanks Clangeska, you've blown my mind and made made my week and a shout out to my buddy and creative partner for life, Ari aka Zman8 and founder of the Digital Nomads! Respeck my G!
Also a shout out to the legendary and brilliant 'Jon Champignon' (former flute player of Ozric Tentacles), for playing the Zman8 track 'Trucking East' at your DJ set at 'The Birds Nest' in London this weekend! Glad you appreciate the song as much as I do ha!
Peace, and have a goodun,
James
