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Indigenising urban indigeneity looks like settler colonialism: Eun-Ji Amy Kim, Eric W. Layman, ‘Unsettling the urban–rural dichotomy for Indigenous education and education for reconciliation’, Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 2021 »

An Indigenous cover: Ryan Shuvera, ‘Tanya Tagaq Covers Nirvana: “Rape Me” and a History of Settler Colonial Violence’, IASPM: Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, 11, 2, 2021, pp. 55-68

28Dec21

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 faced by Indigenous women living in settler colonial North America. She urges that the song be heard in a new way. Yet, as Tagaq’s cover discloses another voice and world, it constantly calls back to Nirvana’s version. The songs come together in conversation despite the geographical, cultural, and temporal differences between the performances. This paper examines Tagaq’s performance of “Rape Me” as a world opening and unsettling force. I also analyze the exchange created through Tagaq’s performance and what it might mean to enter the exchange as a listener and potential participant in the new worlds.


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