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Indigenous Hip Hop Artists & Activists Dioganhdih and Chhoti Maa at the Center, Friday Sept. 6, 4-6PM

Event Start: 
Fri, 09/06/2019 - 4:00pm
Location: 
701C Dodge Hall (The Center for Ethnomusioclogy)

The Center for Ethnomusicology at Columbia University is proud to present our first public event of the 2019-20 academic year!


A public conversation and informal performance with Indigenous Hip Hop artists, producers, and cultural activists:

Dioganhdih & Chhoti Maa

Friday, September 6, 2019
4:00PM to 6:00PM (reception to follow)
701C Dodge Hall, on the Columbia University Morningside Campus
(@ Broadway and 116th St.)
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC -- SPACE IS LIMITED, COME ON TIME

To reserve space or request special accommodations, or for more information, please write to aaf19@columbia.edu

Artist Biographies:
DIOGANHDIH
ARTIST STATEMENT 

Dioganhdih is a queer indigenous hip-hop artist and producer making waves in space where cis+heteronormative culture often remains unchallenged. Shouldering the strength and resilience of their Kanien'kehá:ka and Tsa’la’gi lineage, Dio’s vocal and hip-hop performance is a poetic and lyrical affront to colonialism. Dio’s vision is reflective of their Haudenosaunee ancestors inherent honoring of the Earth and commitment to intertribal relations, civic art and cultural engagement.

Dio Ganhdih (Akwesasne-Mohawk) was born on the Onondaga Nation territory in so-called upstate “New York.” Their introduction to music was through traditional Haudenosaunee ceremony and giving thanks. From early, Dio was surrounded by the celebration of Haudenosaunee culture, laying tempo and lending rhythm to the cultivation of their musical career. 

Dio took their attention for music and love for poetry in hip-hop and started rapping, freestyling, composing and producing music. Dio found mentors and producers in the hip-hop community who were rooted in the culture of radical Black, Afro-Indigenous resistance. 
Rap and lyricism have become a medium for Dio to create larger conversations within indigenous communities about sexuality, gender identity, re-indigenizing and exploring an urban native lifestyle while preserving traditional indigenous culture.

PRESENT
Dio has performed at Stanford, Duke, Yale, Brown University, Oceti Sakowin Standing Rock, SolCollective in Sacramento, Club Gretchen in Berlin, Asinabka Film & Media Festival in Ottawa, House of Vans in Brooklyn, the SoundCloud Summer Party in Berlin, The Chapel in San Francisco, The Art House in New Orleans, and countless dj booths, stoops, bodegas, rooftops and park benches

____________________________
CHHOTI MAA
Chhoti Maa is a multidisciplinary cultural producer & organizer with 12 years of experience.
Chhoti Maa was born in Guanajuato, Mexico. She is based in Oakland, California.
Chhoti Maa is a multidisciplinary cultural producer, working through art, music, writing, red medicine and danza.

Chhoti has self-released 6 projects (2 lps, 4 eps) in her eleven years as an MC / singer / producer. Her sound work is rooted in hip hop, migrantsoul, neufolk, Mexican oral tradition, specifically her Grandma's storytelling magic.

Chhoti Maa has performed, collaborated and taught children, teens and adults in festivals, conferences, house shows, community spaces, museums, theaters, galleries, schools, universities and in the streets of Puerto Rico, China, Cuba, Spain, Qatar, U.A.E., Ghana, Peru, Mexico, Sweden, Canada, the US and multiple Indigenous Nations.

Chhoti’s work deals with decolonial living, intersectional solidarity, contemporary Indigenous spirituality, queerness, migrant empowerment and the reconstruction of the womxn temple. 
 
Chhoti Maa has received the following awards and grants to support her work as a musician and as a music event curator.
 2019 - Atiza music video selected for 22nd Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, Austin, TX
 2018 - Selected Artist for Joyful Noise’s White Label Series, Bloomington, IN
 2018 - 4th Place in 14th Annual QWOC Film Festival, QWOCMAP, San Francisco, CA
 2017 - Women's Audio Mission Artist Residency, WAM, San Francisco, CA
• 2017 - Beloved Community Fund, Akonadi Foundation, Oakland, CA
• 2012 - MusixMatch Award, "Los Hijos del Sonido Volador", Music Hack Day, Sonar 19' Festival Internacional de Música Avanzada y New Media Art, Barcelona, España

Access to music on various platforms: https://song.link/chhotimaa
Social Media: Chhoti Maa on youtube, instagram, facebook, twitter, bandsintown, songkick & official website.


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