By Tami Watt, Editor
The Indigenous music feature, Gaënö’, has recently been selected to run as a nationally syndicated podcast from Native Voices One. Brett Maybee, disc jockey from the former Seneca Nation WGWE radio station has crossed over to a national radio program that streams as far as Texas and Alaska. He currently hosts his show from Seneca Media and Communications Center on the Allegany Territory as he continues to network with Indigenous artists across Turtle Island.
“Gaënö’ is a music feature of a professionally recorded album released by an Indigenous artist”, states Maybee. He chooses artists that are current in the music scene or have a base within the music industry on a professional level.
Gaënö’ was initially started by program manager at the time, Michael Smith, Maybee was actually interviewed as an artist for the show when he dropped his first original LP in 2015. Smith offered him a position for the station on the spot and Maybee eventually became a regular disc jockey at WGWE taking over the reins for Gaënö’ in 2016.
WGWE already had an established relationship with Native Voices One (NVl), a leader in bringing Native voices to Alaska, the nation, and the world, and was streaming National Native News for local listeners. NVl distributes work from Native and non-Native producers whose programming educates, advocates, and celebrates Indigenous life and values. Maybee attended a Native Broadcast summit and formed solid relationships with the NVl team that lead Gaënö’ into the national spotlight.
Maybee took the show from a half hour to a full hour and gave it a weekly spot on WGWE. Half of the show is an interview with the featured artist, the other half is the music showcasing the album. Finding Indigenous artists was a bit of a challenge initially as there is no specific database for this genre. According to Maybee, “there is still an underrepresentation of Indigenous music in the main stream.” He had to network and form partnerships from across the music and radio scene by hosting the Native American Music Awards, making music, and staying current with fellow artists.
This lead Maybee to build his own resources and compile lists of active Native American musicians in a database on WGWE’s website. He’s hoping to fill a gap for Indigenous artists that wasn’t there before.
Maybee has interviewed various artists over the years but a few left lasting effects that helped shape his career. Keith Secoala was encouraging in his early days and when he first started out which gave him the confidence to take his show to the next level. Buffy St. Marie offered Maybee insight to her longevity as an artist as they discussed her work with Neil Young to her stint on Sesame Street and the evolution of digital recording. His interview with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson was an depth outlook on immersing traditions with modern art. When questioned who would be his dream artist to interview, Maybee was quick to say “Robbie Robertson” without hesitation! According to Maybee, Robertson is a standalone force that blazed a trail that wasn’t there before.
Gaënö’ went national in March 2021 starting with five radio stations picking up the show but it has since doubled to ten stations in the short time it has been streaming. Maybee hopes to gain a national following. The show has the potential to be picked up by 200 stations across Turtle Island.
To listen to Gaënö’, tune into to www.NVl. org, www.gaenomusic.fm, Facebook: Gaënö’ with Brett Maybee, and lnstagram- Gaënö’.
