Indigenous

Home is on a reservation, but he lives the life of a touring blues musician

Guitarist, singer Mato Nanji due at Club Fox on Thursday

By Paul Freeman | PUBLISHED: April 5, 2017 at 5:57 pm | UPDATED: April 6, 2017 at 3:51 am

Blues has long been a natural outlet for those facing struggle and oppression, whether  in a ghetto or on a American Indian reservation.

Mato Nanji, vocalist/guitarist for the rock-blues band Indigenous, was raised on South Dakota’s Yankton Sioux Reservation.

Nanji says, “B.B.…

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By Blues Blast Senior Writer Terry Mullins

He's not a politician, he’s not a lobbyist and he doesn’t hold a degree in environmental sciences.

Mato Nanji is the vocalist, guitarist, songwriter and front man for the band Indigenous.

In addition to the skills that have helped to make Indigenous a force on the blues scene ever since their first album – Things We Do (Pachyderm Records) – came out in 1998, Mato (Ma-TOE) is also blessed with a boatload of good old-fashioned common sense.

“If we don’t have water,…

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Guitar Radio Show Podcast Episode 85
September 2, 2015
By: Mark Daven

Description: Mato Nanji from Indigenous joins us to discuss his latest release Time is Coming" and much more!!!!

http://guitarradioshow.com/episode-86-mato-nanji-from-indigenous/

Mato Nanji Interview: Indigenous Rocks On
Adam St. James

B.B. King was a big fan of Mato Nanji’s guitar playing. The late blues legend heard Nanji’s band Indigenous early on and brought the band out on tour with him. Likewise another blues legend, Buddy Guy, has often played with Indigenous. And it was at a show featuring Guy and Indigenous that John McDermott, director of the Jimi Hendrix catalog and producer of the semi-annual Experience Hendrix tours, first discovered Nanji.

Impressed as he was, …Read more

Navajo Blues Trio The Plateros Forge Ahead -- as Indigenous

Two of the most recognizable names in the Native music world, Indigenous and The Plateros, are now one.  After two consecutive summers of touring together, the blues trio of cousins has become the next generation of Indigenous.  Frontman Mato Nanji, winner of the Artist of the Year at the 2014 Native American Music Awards, will still lead the band.  But Levi Platero, Bronson Begay and Douglas Platero will be his new cohorts as the band gets back…

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Mato Nanji of Indigenous Talks About Becoming A Mentor, Life on the Road, the Experience Hendrix Tour and the “New” Indigenous

I’ve known Mato Nanji since the late 1990s. Indigenous had released “Things We Do” and they were playing the Sioux Empire Fair with another young blues guitar slinger named Jonny Lang. I’ve followed Indigenous’ career ever since in part because they are South Dakota natives and part because I just love the music.

I got a chance to talk to Mato before their recent concert at the…

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Blues From The Great Plains
By Mario Milan
Axe Magazine (Italy)
September 2014



(For entire article, please visit Axe Magazine website)

 Blues inspire Nanji off reservation

June 13, 2014 2:30 am  •  JIM VOREL H&R Staff Writer

DECATUR – Growing up on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, Mato Nanji said classic American blues were not exactly the most popular form of music around. Most of the Native American residents listened to country if they listened to popular music at all, which made Nanji's deep appreciation for the blues all the more unusual.

It was thanks to his father, the pioneering leader of a 1960s blues band called…

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Blues Band Indigenous to play Janesville's Armory

 

Guitarist/singer Mato Nanji is the frontman for power blues trio Indigenous, which will perform May 1 at the Armory in Janesville.

By Bill Livick, Special to The Gazette

JANESVILLE—It's a long way from the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota to Washington, D.C., where guitarist/singer Mato Nanji performed at the American Indian Inaugural Ball in January 2013 to celebrate the re-election of President Barack Obama.

The contrast between a rural…

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Indigenous Interview: Mato Nanji

July 1st, 2013

Native American rocker Mato Nanji of the powerful blues group, Indigenous, began embracing the blues and utilizing his musical talent at a young age, as he was influenced heavily growing up by his blues musician father and his native culture. Now, with his 9th commercial record release, Vanishing Americans, Mato can be proven to practice what he preaches – hard work and sincerity certainly pay off in the music business, and yet, oftentimes, are the most…

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