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Tribal Wisdom & Electronic Music Fusion: How Alok's "Future is Ancestral" Uplifts Indigenous Voices
Alok collaborates with Brazilian Indigenous artists on "The Future is Ancestral" using music, film, and advocacy to spotlight tribal solutions to climate change and celebrate native culture.
High above New York’s towering skyscrapers, Brazilian electronic music star Alok and members of the Yawanawa tribe delivered an electrifying performance that connected ancient forest chants with thumping dance beats. As the Indigenous singers, adorned in traditional body paint and headdresses, led call-and-response vocals over Alok’s synth rhythms, their message rang clear - the environmental wisdom of these communities holds hope for the planet’s future.
The rooftop show during September 2022's Climate Week marked a highlight of Alok’s multimedia initiative “The Future is Ancestral.” Through collaborative music, film, and advocacy projects, the undertaking aims to amplify Indigenous voices and solutions to address today's pressing environmental challenges.
At its core, the effort counters the grave threats Brazil's tribal communities face from deforestation, wildfires, mining, and other impacts of climate change. Research shows 23 Indigenous groups are on the brink of genocide due to habitat destruction and loss of natural resources. This jeopardizes ancestral knowledge built over millennia living in balance with the land.
Alok argues the key to creating a sustainable future lies in heeding Indigenous teachings on humanity’s place within nature’s cycles. By creatively engaging global audiences with native art and wisdom, “The Future is Ancestral” seeks to catalyze an urgent rethinking of our relationship with the Earth.
The Yawanawa tribe expressed excitement to share their ancestral music with the world, stating: "What we did with Alok was to record our music to pass it on from generation to generation. Because one day, this will be necessary to share with men who have no knowledge of what the forest is."
A central pillar of the project is producing a series of albums showcasing Indigenous music from across Brazil. Slated for release in 2023, the records will immerse listeners in traditional chants, instruments, and contemporary melodies from threatened native cultures.
Featured artists hail from tribes like the Guarani, Xakriabá, Kariri Xocó, and more joining the Yawanawa. Alok is collaborating on shaping the songs in a professional studio and distributing them globally. He says this exchange "allows me to use my voice to amplify those voices that need to be heard: the voices of the Indigenous leaders."
Beyond recordings, Alok and participating singers are staging rousing live events fusing electronic and tribal music. Their Climate Week performance exemplified this creative power to engage audiences. Stunning onscreen visuals depicting Amazonian vistas and destruction underscored the urgent need for action.
Through initiatives like “The Future is Ancestral” impact fund, Alok is also directing resources to community projects supporting Indigenous justice and sustainability. Early funded efforts range from agricultural schools to youth media training focused on native knowledge systems like seed saving and digital storytelling.
Alok emphasizes that modern technologies can be channeled to serve Indigenous rights and wellbeing without forsaking their heritage. The solutions incubated aim to synthesize ancestral principles with tools for a better future.
At a pivotal time of global awakening, Alok believes artists are uniquely positioned as change makers to imagine inspired alternatives. As he says, "through cultural action, we can positively influence the collective consciousness."
Initiatives like "The Future is Ancestral" exemplify this potential by spotlighting threatened native communities as stewards of hope and solutions. The project celebrates their vibrant cultures while highlighting why Indigenous knowledge must be honored in addressing humanity's existential challenges.
Despite growing threats, Brazil's tribal communities model resilience as well as wisdom. They persist as living embodiments of an ancient pact with the Earth that still promises an abundant future if humanity listens—and acts. Alok views his role as leveraging his global platform to share their message far and wide.
At its heart, the undertaking beams a light on these endangered cultures not as artifacts of the past, but as guides leading the way forward. The voices of Indigenous youth like the Yawanawa yearn to maintain their heritage while evolving alongside the modern world.
By bridging ancestral knowledge with contemporary sounds, stories, and collaborations, Alok aims to energize global exchanges of creativity and compassion. If humanity heeds and uplifts these voices rooted in the rhythms of nature, they inspire faith that we too can change, adapt, and flourish—in harmony with our shared planet. This is the future Indigenous peoples carry in their hearts, despite the darkness of the hour.
At the close of the rooftop performance, Alok and the Yawanawa join hands to take a bow. As cheers ring out, this vision takes flight into the dizzying urban expanse—seeding hope for the greater transformations still to come.