Go fish

Siletz Bay Music Festival explores new waters with Fish Martinez

By Eliot Sekuler

Photo by Renee Lopez

For the TODAY

It’s going to be an unusual smorgasbord of American music, blending hip hop with jazz, cabaret and musical theater. 

Hip hop music might not be what comes immediately to mind for those familiar with the Siletz Bay Music Festival, but this year’s finale on Sunday, Sept. 11, will include selections by native American rapper Fish Martinez, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. The performance will mark the first appearance by a Native American musician in the festival’s decade-long history.

Martinez will be performing four pieces as part of a “Sounds of America” extravaganza featuring artists such as vocalists Ron Spivak and Karla Harris; Stephen Ross, “The crown prince of New York cabaret;” and festival favorite, clarinetist Ken Peplowski. The concert, also featuring the Siletz Bay Musical Festival Orchestra, will culminate with a tribute to the late musical theater giant Stephen Sondheim. 

Festival artistic director Yaacov “Yaki” Bergman said Martinez’ addition to the program is “a very big deal.” 

“Fish is not only a musician but comes with a very rich and deep understanding of history and his own background,” Bergman said. “He has a lot to say. I’ve always wanted to find a way to incorporate music and art that has to do with the Siletz people within our programming.” 

A Siletz resident, Martinez identifies as Shasta, Shasta Costa, Tutoni, Modoc, Yurok, Mescalero Apache, Azteca and German. He has worked in the field of education for the past 20 years and sees music as an extension of that vocation. When he’s not on stage, he’s employed by the Lincoln County School District as an Indian Education Specialist and TAPP (Tribal Attendance Promising Practices) Family Advocate. 

At his festival performance, Martinez will be featured on four compositions, including a traditional native American “honor song,” chanted using “vocables,” defined as pure sounds sung in syllables that have no specific meaning. Vocable singing is traditional among some Native American peoples. A second composition, “Witchitai-To” was written and originally recorded in 1969 by Native American saxophonist and composer Jim Pepper. The song, with lyrics in the language of the Kansa tribe, has been covered in many recordings by artists as diverse as Norwegian saxophone virtuoso Jan Garbarek and American pop duo Brewer and Shipley. 

Martinez considers the performance of Pepper’s piece — written for a jazz ensemble — with the festival’s orchestra as an added opportunity for creating energy and connection with the audience. 

He has previously performed “Witchitai-To” as part of a series of three concerts given by the Portland Chamber Orchestra (also led by Bergman) which featured a musical commemoration of the communities of Celilo Falls, an important native American fishing and cultural resource destroyed by the construction of the Dalles Dam in 1957. “Celilo Falls: We Were There” is a large-scale work for chamber orchestra composed by Oregon Symphony cellist Nancy Ives with text and storytelling by native American poet Ed Edmo.  

“Jim Pepper made a big difference in a lot of people’s lives, an impact that reached throughout the Northwest and beyond,” Martinez said. “The success of Pepper — a Native American musician—in the field of jazz was really important and a lot of people came up to me after I performed that piece to tell me about the energy they felt from the piece.”

Two additional pieces, “Rize” and “Water is Life” were composed by Martinez and he will be performing them with collaborator Kunu Bearchum, a multimedia producer and filmmaker whose tribal affiliation is Northern Cheyenne, Ho-chunk. Martinez described the two latter pieces as “music that comes from our experiences and also speaks to the native American experience from our perspectives.”

Bergman commissioned arrangements for the two hip hop pieces, which will also receive full orchestral accompaniment. Although prominent rap artists such as Jay Z, Nas and Sir Mix-a-Lot have performed or recorded with full orchestras, those collaborations are very rare.

“My first reason for doing music was for educational purposes,” Martinez said. “I was asked to perform for an elder-youth gathering, an event designed to bring elders and youth together and I realized that music was a way to connect with youth. Hip hop is the most popular form of music in the world today and it’s a great way to reach people.”

Martinez said that his understanding of the music style begins with the elements of the name.

“‘Hip’ is being aware of what is going on, `hop’ is about movement, and not just physical movement,” he said. “It’s what the artists, the storytellers are speaking about. In my case, and in the music I’m performing with Kunu Bearchum, I was writing because I wanted to deal with abuse and injustice, things that were difficult in my life and in the lives of other people…I try to express that through the rhythms and energy of hip hop while being true to myself and bringing my own cultural perspective to my performance.”

And whether their tastes run to musical theater, jazz, cabaret or hip hop, Martinez believes he will connect with everybody in the audience. 

“There are going to be a lot of emotions felt during this performance,” he said.

“Sounds of America,” the closing concert of this year’s Siletz Bay Music Festival, will be presented at 4 pm on Sunday, Sept. 11, at B’Nai Brith Camp, 3509 NE East Devils Lake Road. For Festival information and tickets, go to siletzbaymusic.org or call 541-264-5828.