Bringing the Medicine of Music During the Pandemic with Annie Humphrey & Hip-Hop Artist Tufawon

Host Leah Lemm (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) explores how Indian Country in MN is responding and adapting to the current pandemic health crisis.

On today’s show, how two different musicians find creative ways to make and share their music, even as the pandemic continues. 

Leah visits with Annie Humphrey, an Anishinaabekwe mother, grandmother, and an award-winning musician who’s been a presence on the music scene for decades. Annie tells Leah how she is enjoying her time outdoors, playing board games with family, and what inspires her songwriting. And she shares some unreleased lyrics that she’s working on, much to Leah’s delight.

We also hear from Rafael Gonzalez, also known as Tufawon, a hip-hop artist who is Dakota and Boricua, and grew up in South Minneapolis. Reporter Melissa Townsend talks with Tufawon about his music, his work for justice, and how changes brought on by the pandemic have pushed him to innovate and find new ways to bring his music to new listeners, something he says is definitely a silver lining.