Scott Kalama, also known as hip hop artist Blue Flamez, is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. He works as a certified suicide prevention specialist with Warm Springs Prevention Services.
In 2016, Scott won Best Music Video honors at the Native American Music Awards for Rez Life and several nominations in various categories since then. In January 2024, he was awarded a two-year $ 150,000 Fields Artist Fellowship from Oregon Humanities and Oregon Community Foundation.
About Rez Life: “Scott Kalama AKA Blue Flamez, has been a mentor in training with the music empowerment program Beats Lyrics Leaders, and on this track youth from the program join Scott to tell the world about life on the Indian Reservation, strictly from their perspective. It’s a hard-core West Coast hip hop song reminiscent of Too Short, punctuated with flute, drumming and Native humor. The five-minute music video draws on footage from all over the Pacific Northwest, keeping with a cultural vibe that could only exist somewhere between contemporary West Coast hip hop and thousands of years of Indigenous wisdom and history.” (Source: Rez Life)
Performances
Rez Life
Scott Kalama – Blue Flamez – Duration: 5:45
Water is Life
Scott Kalama – Blue Flamez – Duration: 2:32
“Kalama says that finding music saved him, and he hopes it can help others too. ‘I found my sobriety through my music,’ said Kalama. ‘I try to always have a message, to be positive, because that’s what I want for my people. You can focus on the problems, poverty, alcoholism. I want to talk about healing, focus on the good, sobriety, spirituality.’” (Source: Warm Springs represents in Native American Music Awards – Madras Pioneer, Feb 2022)
My People Get Back to Your Roots
Scott Kalama – Blue Flamez – Duration: 2:56
King Without a Crown
Blue Flamez Ft. 4 hearts – Duration: 3:15
Oregon Public Broadcasting article on Scott Kalama, May 4, 2024
“Warm Springs hip-hop artist Blue Flamez works to bring positive message to a wider audience.”
Oregon Public Broadcasting article on Scott Kalama, May 4, 2024
Tribal Information
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs
Wasco, Warm Springs, Paiute tribes
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs website
Common Grounds
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs – Duration: 11:07
Oral History with Wilson Wewa
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs – Duration: 7:12
Oregon Encounters. Chapter 4 – High Desert Museum
9 Tribes of Oregon Film (EUDL)
Warm Springs Prevention Team/Community Counseling Center
Duration: 44:19
Homelands, Treaty and Culture
Natural History Pub – High Desert Museum
Duration: 48:14
Warm Springs Reservation (Wikipedia)
For further research check Scott Kalama (Blue Flamez)’s page
