Scott Kalama had an incredible month. First, he made the trip to North Dakota to support the Standing Rock Sioux. “Something was telling me I had to go,” Scott was saying the other day.
He drove 18 hours to North Dakota, joined by Miss Warm Springs Keeyana Yellowman and CharlieAnn Herkshan. This was an adventure, he says, seeing the many tribal nations together in force.
By chance while there, Scott met some of the people from the Native American Music Awards—not knowing at the time that he would be seeing them again soon.
Scott was back in Warm Springs no more than a few days when he heard he was in the running for a NAMA award in the Best Music Video category. This was for his work on Rez Life, featuring Scott as Blue Flamez, and the Beats Lyrics Leaders.
Rez Life, seen on Youtube, features his song by that title, and video mostly on the Warm Springs Reservation.
So later in September, Scott made the trip to the NAMA ceremony at Seneca Allegany Casino in New York. There he met other Native artists and actors, including some of the people he had seen at the North Dakota protest. And when he came home he was Warm Springs’ first Native American Music Award winner.
