Tanya Tagaq Covers Nirvana: “Rape Me” and a History of Settler Colonial Violence

Authors

  • Ryan Shuvera Western University IASPM-Canada

Keywords:

Cover songs, Settler Colonialism, Sexual Violence, Settler Listening, Tanya Tagaq, Nirvana.

Abstract

In 2016 Tanya Tagaq—an Inuk artist from Cambridge Bay (Iqaluktuutiaq), Nunavut, known for her performances of a style of throat singing—released her fourth studio album, Retribution. Retribution’s final song is a cover of Nirvana’s “Rape Me.” Tagaq’s version speaks to certain realities and violence faced by Indigenous women living in settler colonial North America. She urges that the song be heard in a new way. There are moments of admiration and moments of confrontation in the cover. Yet, it also calls back to Nirvana’s version. Ultimately, this paper examines Tagaq’s performance of “Rape Me” as a way of naming the sexual violence of colonialism and confronting ideas of reconciliation held by the settler state.

Author Biography

Ryan Shuvera, Western University IASPM-Canada

PhD Candidate, Theory and Criticism Lecturer, Department of English, French, and Writing

References

Bibliography

Amnesty International. 2004. Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada.

Azzerad, M. 1992. Nirvana: Inside the Heart and Mind of Kurt Cobain. Rolling Stone,16 April. Accessed from: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/

nirvana-inside-the-heart-and-mind-of-kurt-cobain-19920416.

Beaulne-Stuebing, L. 2016. A Conversation with Tanya Tagaq. Ottawa Beat, 21 November. Accessed at: http://ottawabeat.com/interviews/conversation-tanya-tagaq/.

Conroy, S., and Cotter, A. 2017. "Self-reported sexual assault in Canada, 2014." Juristat: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

Coulthard, G. 2014. Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Dobkin, M. 2004. I Never Loved a Man the Way I loved You: Aretha Franklin, Respect, and the Making of a Soul Music Masterpiece. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin.

Galloway, G and Thahn Ha, T. 2017. Indigenous women’s group pulls support from missing and murdered inquiry as commissioner resigns. The Globe and Mail, 11 July. Accessed at: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/

mmiw-commissioner-marilyn-poitras-resigns-in-another-blow-to-inquiry/

article35653097/.

Garneau, D. 2016. Imagined Spaces of Conciliation and Reconciliation. In D. Robinson and K. Martin Eds. Arts of Engagement: Taking Aesthetic Action In and Beyond the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Kitchener, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press: 21-41.

Gaar, G. G. 2006. In Utero. New York: Continuum.

Hann, M. 2016. Why Nirvana’s In Bloom is Busting Out All Over. The Guardian, 5 April. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/

/apr/05/nirvana-in-bloom-nevermind-ezra-furman-sturgill-simpson.

Hearn, J. 2004. “From Hegemonic Masculinity to the Hegemony of Men” in Feminist Theory. Vol. 5. No. 1: 49-72.

Human Rights Watch. –

Those who Take Us Away: Abusive Policing and Failures in Protection of Indigenous Women and Girls in Northern British Columbia, Canada. Accessed at: https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/02/13/those-who-take-usaway/abusive-policing-and-failures-protection-indigenous-women.

Submission to the Government of Canada on Police Abuse of Indigenous Women in Saskatchewan and Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Violence. Accessed at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/06/19/submission-governmentcanada-police-abuse-indigenous-women-saskatchewan-and-failures.

Knight, L. 2013. Resistance in Indigenous Music: A Continuum of Sound. MA thesis. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.

Lowman, E.B. and Barker, A.J. 2015. Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada. Halifax, NS and Winnipeg, MB: Fernwood Publishing.

Martineau, J. 2015. Creative Combat: Indigenous Art, Resurgence, and Decolonization. PhD. University of Victoria, Victoria.

Moten, F. 2003. In the Break: The aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Munoz, J. 1999. Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. 2019. Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Accessed at: https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/.

Nelles, D. 2015. “Howl” from The Walrus. Published January 15th, 2015, updated August 23rd, 2017. Accessed at: https://thewalrus.ca/howl/

Raynor, B. 2017. Tanya Tagaq addresses her art, and her critics, at Nunavut Music Week. Toronto Star, 29 September. Accessed at: https://www.thestar.com

/entertainment/music/2017/09/29/tanya-tagaq-addresses-her-art-and-her-critics-at-nunavut-music-week.html.

Robinson, D. –

Listening to the Politics of Aesthetics: Contemporary Encounters between First Nations/Inuit and Early Music Traditions. In A. Anna Hoefnagels and Beverley Diamond Eds. Aboriginal Music in Contemporary Canada: Echoes and Exchanges. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press: 222-248.

Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Simpson, L. —

Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re-creation, Resurgence and a New Emergence. Winnipeg, MB: Arbeiter Ring Press.

As We Have Always Done. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Sliwinski, S. 2018. Sexual Violence in the Field of Vision. In S. Ristovska and M. Price Eds., Visual Imagery and Human Rights Practice. London: Palgrave: 185-202. Accessed at: http://works.bepress.com/sharon_sliwinski/34/.

Steinke, D. 1993. Smashing Their Heads On That Punk Rock. Spin, October. Accessed at: https://www.spin.com/2013/09/nirvana-cover-story-1993-smashing-their-heads-on-the-punk-rock/.

Steinskog, E. 2010. “Queering Cohen: Cover Versions as Subversions of Identity” in Play It Again: Cover Songs in Popular Music. Ed. by George Plasketes. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2010. Pg. 139-154.

Stévance, S. –

“From throat singing to transcultural expression: Tanya Tagaq's Katajjaq musical signature” in The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music and Gender. Ed. S. Hawkins. Abingdon, England: Routledge: 48–62.

“Analysis of the Inuit katajjaq in popular culture the Canadian throat-singer superstar Tanya Tagaq” in Itamar, revista de investigación musical: Territorios para el arte, Vol. 3: 79–85.

Stuckenberger, A. N. 2009. “Anthropologists Engaging in Climate Change Education and Outreach: Curating. Thin Ice-Inuit Traditions within a Changing Environment” in Anthropology and Climate Change : From Encounters to Actions. Eds., Susan A. Crate and Mark Nuttall. Left Coast Press.

Tester, F.J. and Irniq, P. 2008. “Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit: Social History, Politics and the Practice of Resistance.” Arctic. Vol. 61: 48-61.

Woloshyn A. 2017. “Welcome to the Tundra”: Tanya Tagaq's creative and communicative agency as political strategy” in Journal of Popular Music Studies. Vol. 29. No. 4. doi: 10.1111/jpms.12254.

Web Sources

Tagaq, T. About. TanyaTagaq.com. Accessed at: http://tanyatagaq.com/about/.

Discography

A Tribe Called Red/The Halluci Nation—

A Tribe Called Red, self-released, Canada.

Nation II Nation, self-released, Canada.

Suplex, EP, self-Released, Canada.

We Are the Halluci Nation, Radicalized Records, 16 September Canada.

One More Saturday Night, self-released, 30 July, Canada.

Cobain, Kurt. 1992. Liner notes from Incesticide, Geffen Records, USA.

Nirvana —

Nevermind, Geffen Records, 24 September, United States of America.

Incesticide, Geffen Records, 15 December, United States of America.

In Utero, Geffen Records, 13 September, United States of America.

With The Lights Out. DGC, 23 November, United States of America.

Pixies —

Come On Pilgrim, 4AD, 28 September, United States of America.

Doolittle, 4AD, 18 April, United States of America.

Tagaq, Tanya —

Sinaa, Six Shooter Records, Canada.

Auk/Blood, Six Shooter Records, Canada.

anuraaqtuq, Les Disques Victo, Canada.

Animism, 27 May, Six Shooter Records, Canada.

Retribution, 21 October, Six Shooter Records, Canada.

Colonizer, single, Six Shooter Records, Canada.

Videography

Nirvana. 2019. Nirvana - Rape Me (Live At The Paramount, Seattle / 1991) [Online video]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=ly1lWkRwm6g. Accessed 30 October 2018.

Downloads

Published

23-12-2021