Image – Brian Tierney / BackStage360
Oregon-born Nahko was born from strife and intermingling identities; his origins are a mix of Apache, Puerto Rican and Filipino cultures. His grandmother forced his mother into prostitution at age 14 and his life began in an act of violence. In the song on the new album, Dark As Night, by his group Medicine for the People, he sings, “So thankful, I never thought I’d give thanks for rape/but that’s how I got here today.” That line, filled with a poignant sense of acceptance and forgiveness, equally exemplifies this musician’s power and grace.
At nine months of age, Nahko was adopted by a white American family who raised him as a conservative Christian and introduced him to the world of music. As a child Nahko was given classical piano lessons and learned to sing in church. He then went on to teach himself how to play guitar and became a piano teacher as a teenager. Questions always lingered about his cultural identity and his past, urging Nahko to set out on his own in hopes of discovery.
Image – Brian Tierney / BackStage360
Nahko’s journey took him first to Alaska, where he found a job playing piano in a dinner theater. His world view expanded as he left Oregon for the first time in his life and began to consider the alternatives to his Christian upbringing. There Nahko began developing his own music. He played with friends by the river and at open mic nights, hitting upon the folk style that characterizes his music now. “That brought me into storytelling,” Nahko says. “It helped paint my pictures for me. I appreciated the Kerouac mentality of being on the road and rebelling against the system. I hadn’t yet dialed in to where my angst was coming from, but finding folk music and indie rock helped start to channel it.”
The journey continued in Hawaii, where Nahko moved a few years later to work on an organic farm and where he continues to reside. As he moved around, meeting people who would impact his songwriting, Nahko’s curiosity about his origins grew. This urge drew him to search for his mother and through the internet he found her almost a year later. His identity crisis was only beginning to unwind as he got to know his siblings and was introduced to his father’s family via Facebook a few years later. Discovering the news of his biological father’s murder in 1994, Nahko was given an opportunity to forgive the man he had always carried so much hate for. He then went on to visit his father’s murderer in prison, an experience that compelled him to truly consider the idea of forgiveness. As the pieces of his past fell into place, creating an image of diversity and connecting identities, Nahko began to explore his disparate past in song. The musician used the music to reconcile his family’s trauma and find a sense of overarching oneness.
Image – Brian Tierney / BackStage360
His first album with Nahko and Medicine for the People, On The Verge, came out in 2010, reflecting this exploration. The group’s second album, Dark As Night, followed in the spring of 2013 and further expanded on Nahko’s evolving ideas about self-discovery and acceptance. There is also an underlying theme of social and political change woven throughout the songs.
Medicine for the People is backed by the tribal hand percussion and rhythms of Hope Medford. She is known for her sensual hypnotic world beats infused with maternal soul. Hope has played percussion for nearly 20 years, drawing inspiration from our natural world, the feminine spirit, and people of many cultures. Having studied traditional music in West Africa, Peru, and Brasil, she currently brings her African Djembe and Afro-Peruvian Bajo Cajon drums to the stage to co-create the urban roots sounds for which Medicine is known. Hope just completed her second solo album, Purify (2013). hopemedford.com Lead guitarist Chase Makai brings an edgy rock vibe to the Medicine sound, with his electrified 12-string acoustic guitar. Having learned guitar in Australia from age 12 where he lived for almost 20 years, Nahko met Makai in Hawaii where he led a band called Twisted Tree. They soon formed a solid friendship based around their mutual love of music, surfing and skating, and Makai jumped on board the Medicine for the People train in 2011. They have been touring together ever since.
“Through the years we’ve been fine tuning the purpose behind what we’re doing,” Nahko says. “The oral tradition of storytelling is so important for our generation to bring with us. Part of what we try to convey is accountability and empowerment. These songs direct us to look at ourselves, whether it’s about a social issue, environmental or a personal issue. They embrace Bob Marley’s idea of world-bridging, bringing people together to resolve differences. For us, music is a tool to create healing and activate people to change things.”
Image – Brian Tierney / BackStage360
Nahko and Medicine for the People expands this sensibility onstage. The band has toured with SOJA, and internationally with Xavier Rudd, and performed at festivals such as Electric Forest and Wakarusa (USA), the Bali Spirit Festival (Indonesia) and the Byron Spirit Festival (AUS), continually bringing a powerful catharsis to the audience. Dark As Night debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Top Alternative New Artist chart and No. 6 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, revealing how much Nahko’s personal journey is relatable to those outside of himself. The music is meant to be a connecter, drawing people and ideas and cultures together in surprising new ways.
“I think our music promotes the bridging of all tribes,” Nahko says. “The lyrics and the stories and our energy as a group break down people’s walls. You’ll find us in the most unique places on earth because it’s real, raw, and honest storytelling about what we’ve been through and what we believe in. And that’s why people connect with it. I think that’s the most important thing you can do with music.”