DJ Shub performing in Montreal with the Présence autochtone festival

“It’s crazy how fast time flies,” remarks Dan General, aka DJ Shub, early in the interview. His latest album, War Clubwas released in 2020, already, and its adaptation live is now a well-oiled machine. “Since we’ve been touring with this show for a year and a half now, we’ve been able to refine it since then and it’s at the top,” he warns, eager to set foot in the metropolis again. Accompanied by his entire team, he will present there for the first time War Club LiveFriday at MTelus, as part of First Peoples Day. “I don’t often play concerts in Montreal, so when it happens, it’s pretty incredible,” promises the winner of the 2022 Juno Award for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year.

War Club Live is a show that promises to be grandiose, celebrating the rhythms and sounds of Indigenous peoples through performances by traditional dancers in costume. “I’m telling a very visual story, so to speak, and I’m inviting two MCs who participated in my album, Jewlz, my wife, and Boogat, who is well-known in the communities in Quebec, to help me present it,” confides Dan General. Of course, the Mohawk artist also has a few surprises in store for his Montreal audience. “I can’t talk about it right now, but it’s definitely going to be fun, and it’s also going to be an opportunity to see things you haven’t seen or heard before,” he assures us. Intriguing. Given the clue, you have to attend the show to find out more…

One thing is certain, DJ Shub does not want to simply entertain his audience, but to raise awareness about causes that are close to his heart, as his track with which Snotty Nose Rez Kids collaborates does, War Club. The song can be interpreted in many ways, but its music video is unequivocal in its focus on issues of the day, such as the ongoing controversy affecting New Brunswick lobster fishermen. It also details the Six Nations perspective on the conflict between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals in Caledonia, which arose when real estate developers wanted to build housing on land claimed by the Mohawks. “Basically, we stopped the work, we blocked the construction site. Even though the RCMP [Gendarmerie royale du Canada] came and tried to take back control, we held on as Mohawk people, as Six Nations people, and they couldn’t build anything,” he reports proudly, noting with a hint of irony that, for once, the media is interested in this kind of news.

“These conflicts that impact our communities, people generally don’t really see them, hence the idea of ​​highlighting them as much as possible through the concert platform,” adds Dan General. For him, the main thing with War Club Liveis to convey the message. “The opportunity is huge for me, as a performer, as an artist, because this chance doesn’t come along very often,” he says. And to clarify: “The war club [une massue] is originally a weapon used by the Aboriginals, but I use it to make voices heard and to make visible what is hidden. » Formidable.

Music as a weapon of mass information is one of the reasons Dan General is DJ Shub. “I want people to have fun, you know, but if I can use it to get my message across, then that’s a real bonus for me,” he says. He credits powwow music, with its drums that evoke Mother Nature’s heartbeat. “It gets you moving, it gets you feeling something from the inside, and I think my music is so well received because it comes from the Earth.”

The fact that War Club Live is part of the First Peoples Festival programming is also all the more symbolic for him. “I think that the integration of Indigenous music into places as emblematic as the Place des Festivals is an important thing for people in this country, because it really opens up music from different cultures,” says Dan General, who believes that festivals across Canada should take note of what is happening here. “Montreal is setting the bar high and we will soon see changes happening in festivals everywhere. I am really grateful to First Peoples Festival for that,” he continues.

Dan General finally gives some advice to all those who will be taking part in War Club Live. “If you know my music, expect to see things you haven’t seen in a while and some new stuff, but if you’re a new listener, I encourage you to listen with an open ear and pay attention to what’s going on around you.” Regardless, the important thing, he says, is to enjoy the moment. “The show is a learning experience with a little bit of revsportall the same, depending on your dancing stamina,” the DJ jokes.

An earlier version of this text, which announced the show War Club Live on the Place des Festivals on Friday evening, has been modified. The festival organization has changed the location of the concert due to the weather forecast.

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