Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce — a.k.a. Minnesota — to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.
Today we chat with Corey Medina, a blues-rock artist from Shiprock, NM, and member of the Áshįįhí clan of the Diné Nation. His band, Corey Medina & Brothers, has a reputation as an on-stage powerhouse, bringing its blues-tinged rock and roll to stages across Minnesota.
Corey shares his experience moving to northern Minnesota a decade ago and talks about decolonizing his writing process during the recording of the new album Soak. He also talks us through Soak’s album art, which features an animal skull submerged in a colorful body of water.
Corey Medina & Brothers’ latest album Soak is available on Spotify and other streaming services. Find out where the band is playing at https://www.facebook.com/coreybluesfolks – Their record release show is in Bemidji at the Rail River Folk School on September 23, 2022.
Chi Miigwech to Corey for sharing his gift with us today!
Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. Online at https://minnesotanativenews.org/
Subscribe to Native Lights wherever you get your podcasts
More from Native Lights
- Alex Kmett: Culture as Curriculum, Language as Medium
Today, we’re speaking with language revitalization leader and cultural educator Alex Kmett. Alex is a citizen of the Red Lake Nation and a descendant of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. He’s a 2026 Bush Fellow and a co-founder of a charter school in Red Lake Nation. - Ryan Dixon: Making Friends with the Dakota Language
Today, we’re speaking with Ryan Dixon. Ryan is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe from Pine Ridge in South Dakota and has spent over two decades immersed in the Lower Sioux community in southern Minnesota. He trained under First Language Dakota speakers, and he now teaches Dakota. An educator and Indigenous language activist, he co-founded a Dakota Immersion Head Start programming and works to keep the language alive for future generations. - Michael Kurtz: Tales of a Wildlife Photographer
Our guest today is a photographer who takes some stunning photos of wildlife. We’re very excited to speak with Michael Kurtz (Tasunka Opi). He’s Sicangu Lakota, enrolled in the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. He runs Lakota Photography, blending wildlife photography, tracking, and cultural education. He’s also a naturalist and has volunteered with groups like the National Park Service and Project Coyote. He has spent countless hours across the Dakotas, Minnesota, and beyond, capturing wildlife in its natural habitat. Currently, he’s supervisor of programming and interpretation with Hoċokata Ṫi Cultural Center at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community.
Updated COVID Booster Available in Minnesota