Rebel Soul - Raye Zaragoza

What this video is

Released on Indigenous Peoples Day 2020, 'Rebel Soul' serves as a deliberate cultural reclamation act. Raye Zaragoza, whose father is of Indigenous (Akimel O'odham/Mexican) heritage and whose mother is first-generation Japanese-American, uses the video and single as a platform for asserting a mixed-race intersectional identity in an industry and culture that routinely demands singular ethnic legibility. The release…

Why it matters

The video represents a key document of the 2020 Indigenous activist folk wave, bridging the protest music tradition of artists like Buffy Sainte-Marie with contemporary indie-folk self-production. Zaragoza, described by NPR Music as 'one of the most fresh and compelling voices in folk music…