Aboriginal and Tribal Nation News
Sousa On The Rez (The Movie) : Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum
Did you know that the Fort Mojave Band is thought to be the oldest among Native marching bands?
When you hear the phrase "Native American music" you may not think of tubas, trumpets and Sousa marches. Yet this rich musical tradition has been a part of Native American culture for over one hundred years.
Combining profiles of contemporary bands with fresh historical research, Sousa on the Rez: Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum offers viewers an unexpected and engaging picture of this little-known Native music scene. The documentary challenges viewers to expand their definition of Native American music and broadens their understanding of contemporary Indian life.
About this film
The phrase "Native American music" may not suggest tubas and trumpets, but march music by composers like John Philip Sousa has been a part of Native culture for over a century. SOUSA ON THE REZ: Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum is a half-hour documentary that looks at the vibrant but little known tradition of brass band music in Indian country.
The film profiles two contemporary Indian community bands: the Iroquois Indian Band from upstate New York and the Fort Mojave Tribal Band based in Needles, California. The documentary traces the origins of these groups to their founding over a one hundred years ago and uncovers a secret history of the 20th century when "all Indian bands" toured the US and abroad. http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2013/03/sousa-on-rez-movie-marching-to-beat-of.html
Buffy Sainte-Marie is an Academy Award-winning Canadian First Nations musician, composer, visual artist, educator and social activist.
"Qu'appelle Valley, Saskatchewan" (Buffy Sainte-Marie)From Album "Sweet America"
You can travel all alone
You can travel all alone
Or you can come along with me
Walk the old way
heyo ha heya
Wrap me in your blanket dance me around
Wrap me in your blanket dance me around
Take me back to where my heart belongs
Qu'Apelle Valley, ho Saskatchewan
Qu'Apelle Valley, ho Saskatchewan.
You can travel all alone
You can travel all alone
Or you can come along with me
Walk the old way
heyo ha heya.
http://buffy-sainte-marie.blogspot.fr/2012/01/quappelle-valley-saskatchewan-video.html
‘We are water’ – World Water Day 2014 (Video)
Canadian activist Ta'Kaiya Blaney calls for protection of water for World Water Day.
Water unifies us all says young Canadian activist, Ta’Kaiya Blaney. On March 22nd, join the world in the Synchronized Global Water Ceremony. At 3:00pm in your local time and 3:00pm pacific. Unifying with the world to restore our relationship with this sacred medium of life.
No Water, No Life. Know Water, Know Life.
UNIFY.org is a platform create to support the emergence of the Spiritual Renaissance happening on the planet.
Love Water is a year long campaign that will transform our specie’s relationship to water in every way possible.
http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2014/03/we-are-water-world-water-day-2014-video.html
Symbolic Meaning of the Raven in Native American Culture (Video)
Native American culture is embedded with extensive tales and legends. Every aspect of life, death, and existence has its own story to explain why things are the way they are. Often, different Native American tribes had very similar beliefs, but most tribes have their own unique variations in the details of these legends.
The raven also has a prominent role in the mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, including the Tsimishian, Haida, Heiltsuk, Tlingit, Kwakwaka'wakw, Coast Salish, Koyukons, and Inuit. The raven in these indigenous peoples' mythology is the Creator of the world, but it is also considered a trickster god.
For instance, in Tlingit culture, there are two different raven characters which can be identified, although they are not always clearly differentiated. One is the creator raven, responsible for bringing the world into being and who is sometimes considered to be the individual who brought light to the darkness. The other is the childish raven, always selfish, sly, conniving, and hungry.
When the Great Spirit created all things he kept them separate and stored in cedar boxes. The Great Spirit gifted these boxes to the animals who existed before humans. When the animals opened the boxes all the things that comprise the world came into being. The boxes held such things as mountains, fire, water, wind and seeds for all the plants. One such box, which was given to Seagull, contained all the light of the world.
Seagull coveted his box and refused to open it, clutching it under his wing. All the people asked Raven to persuade Seagull to open it and release the light. Despite begging, demanding, flattering and trying to trick him into opening the box, Seagull still refused. Finally Raven became angry and frustrated, and stuck a thorn in Seagull's foot. Raven pushed the thorn in deeper until the pain caused Seagull to drop the box. Then out of the box came the sun, moon and stars that brought light to the world and allowed the first day to begin. http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2013/06/symbolic-meaning-of-raven-in-native.html
What other language but Icelandic could capture the depths of what it's like to exist atop a volcano?
The haunting music accompanying this videoscape of ethereal sights at Yellowstone National Park could not be more fitting. Together the melody and the cinematography capture the sacred beauty of this most ancient of sites, and it's as if one is there.
At the same time, the primordial landscape of Yellowstone would not be visible in this way without modern technology. We fly above the Grand Tetons, watch full moons and Milky Ways speed by, and see clouds flit to and fro like wisps in the wind.
The video is mentioned in the one made by George Monbiot showing how wolves may influence the very geography of Yellowstone. http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2014/03/primordial-yellowstones-beauty-captured.html
Mixing Fancy Dance, hip-hop with Supaman
UPDATE: The Apsáalooke American Indian hails from the Crow Nation Reservation near Billings, Mont., and on March 21, the MTV Iggy blog named him Artist of the Week from among hundreds of competitors.
Multi-talented artist Christian Takes Gun Parrish, Crow, also known as Supaman, excels at the traditional and the modern -- he's an acclaimed fancy dancer who showed off his skills on a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as well as a NAMA-winning hip hop artist.
He's not the first or only musician to combine urban street music with traditional sounds, but he's one of the best we've seen.
The fusion of flute, regalia, fancy dance, scratching, beatboxing, rapping, and even the robot was something he came to accidentally. http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2014/02/montana-hip-hop-artist-supaman-performs.html
Native American flutes and music by Award-Winning recording artist and flute maker, Charles Littleleaf, enrolled tribal member of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation of Oregon, USA
Genuine. Real. Authentic. Qualities that are hard to come by both in people and in the representations of the world offered by people. A story which conveys all of the power of spirit surrounding events, but which fails to relate the events faithfully, lays upon the mind unevenly and tilts the balance of reason toward faulty judgment. A story which precisely relates events, yet is barren of spirit, conveys nothing of the truth.
Artists are people who offer us glimpses of the genuine, the real and the authentic. They create nothing, but serve only as spokesmen for the one source of singular and abiding truth. They speak to us in the language our souls knew well in that time and place before here, and when we listen, really listen, we recollect those essential things we have known from the beginning.
Charles Littleleaf is an artist. The stories he tells with his flute are older than the world. They are at once crushingly sad and wonderfully euphoric, faithfully relating both event and spirit.
Listening to the stories Littlefield offers through his flute, truths refracted in the ignoble atmosphere of this world come again into focus, if only for a time. A good and peaceful time. http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2013/09/charles-littleleaf-speaking-truth-with.html
Creeping Juniper
Juniper root for shiny locks. The berries from this evergreen scrub (also called creeping cedar) were made into a tea that was used as a wash for skin problems. Juniper root was also soaked in water to wash the horses, making their coats shiny. It’s now used in hair care products for shiny and healthy hair.
Fireweed
Winter skin protection. The inner stem of the root was dried and powdered and rubbed onto the hands and face in winter to protect the skin from the cold. (It was also used to waterproof rawhide.) http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2014/02/ancient-native-american-beauty-secrets.html
Decorah Eagles Are Back! Eagles once again give life to another set of eaglets.
Hey, remember the Decorah Eagle Cam? If you don’t, you probably never saw a baby eagle hatch on live streaming video. But now you have another chance! The mom eagle at the Decorah, Iowa fish hatchery is … pregnant? Do birds get “pregnant”? Anyway, let’s say she has a frittata in the oven. And she’s going to lay those eggs any day now, at which point you can begin obsessively monitoring them for signs of wee tiny eaglets.
There’s not much to see yet, but check back often — the first egg showed up on Feb. 23 last year. Here’s what that looked like, so you can recognize it when you see it:
The eggs should take a little over a month to hatch, and the eaglets start getting eagle training lessons (like how to fly) about three months later. Best part: baby eagles totally come out looking like Doc Brown. (Source)
Raptor Resource Project
Established in 1988, the non-profit Raptor Resource Project specializes in the preservation of falcons, eagles, ospreys, hawks, and owls. We create, improve, and directly maintain over 40 nests and nest sites, provide training in nest site creation and management, and develop innovations in nest site management and viewing that bring people closer to the natural world. Our mission is to preserve and strengthen raptor populations, expand participation in raptor preservation, and help foster the next generation of preservationists.
http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2012/02/stand-by-for-baby-eagles-on-webcam.html
Creeping Juniper
Juniper root for shiny locks. The berries from this evergreen scrub (also called creeping cedar) were made into a tea that was used as a wash for skin problems. Juniper root was also soaked in water to wash the horses, making their coats shiny. It’s now used in hair care products for shiny and healthy hair.
Fireweed
Winter skin protection. The inner stem of the root was dried and powdered and rubbed onto the hands and face in winter to protect the skin from the cold. (It was also used to waterproof rawhide.)
