CHAP12.docx | Essay Stewards

Where are we going?

In this chapter, we will visit several Native Nations and communities on Turtle Island (North America). These sovereign nations each have their own culture, so our visits will be as if we are traveling through international borders across the continent. As in all of our cultural visits, we can only visit a few areas in the United States and are unable to visit the Indigenous people of South and Central America. Since many people are unaware that the First Nations people of Turtle Island are living cultures, I will concentrate largely on Native contemporary music. The importance of keeping culture alive and bringing back culture means that both traditional and contemporary arts are practiced and we will look at what that means in several communities.

On the globe search link below, first seek the general area of the Powhatan Confederacy by putting “Chincoteague (Virginia)” in the search bar and zoom in to find the general area. On this part of the globe, can you find some of the many towns that have Native American names, as well as some English names given by the first colonial settlers in the Americas? Next, look up “Carnegie, Oklahoma” for the location of part of the Kiowa Nation. The Mohawk Nation lives on reserves across Canada, reclaimed land in New York and in off-reserve communities. To find them search in Canada for “Oshweken” where the Six Nations Reserve along the Grand River is located; search “St. Regis” to find Akwesasne, “Tyendinaga” Mohawk Territory, and “Kahnawake” (zoom out to see how close it is to Montreal). The places you looked for on the 3D map are where people from these culture groups live today. Most of them were displaced and forcefully relocated from other areas across Turtle Island. We will also visit several contemporary Indigenous artists from other Nations including Alaska Native Pamyua, Muscogee, Mohican, and Navajo.

Background Information

Today, there are approximately 574 federally recognized Indian Nations in the United States. As compared to 1492, when there were approximately 60 million Natives, there are now approximately 5 million. Indigenous groups and people in North America may be referred to as tribes, nations, Native Americans, North American Indians, Indians, First Nations, Bands, Pueblos, Alaska and Hawaiian Natives, communities and native villages. Indigenous peoples around the world share a history of decolonization and re-acculturation that may create a sense of unity, but each nation is individual in its language, dress, governing system, food, arts, worldview and all aspects of its culture. There are some commonalities, such as connection to the land, spirituality connected to all of creation, commitment to future generations and in many cases a system of clans that are determined by family lineage in which each clan has their own roles and responsibilities. As noted in our global and map search, there is an Indigenous “international” community that shares values of indigeneity in which most communities are fighting to retain and regain their cultures and lands. Many have been successful as they thrive with both tradition and innovation.

Leaving Baggage Behind

There are many misconceptions about Native American peoples. The first is that Indians are in the past and are no longer a living people. The second is what we mentioned early on in the text, that Indigenous people are still often viewed as lower than, or to use an original term by colonial settlers, “savages,” while others believe the opposite, seeing Indians as exotic and magically spiritual. These views do not portray the vast cultures and individuality of Native people across Turtle Island and around the world.

You may have heard about the controversies around sports mascots, especially the United States national football team. If you’re interested, look up the definition of what the national football team was called. The fight to change the name went on for many years and it is gratifying that it has finally been in the process of being changed in 2020. The following video contains some brief ideas by Indians who share about why sports mascots are offensive:

Native Americans are educators, lawyers, artists, doctors, athletes, military officers and award-winning leaders. They have always been innovators and inventors. Did you know that the Iroquois invented the lacrosse game and the first baby bottle? The Inuit invented the kayak. Each tribe created their own medicines, tools, hunting equipment and fashion. There have been 4 Native Americans in congress, including two women Deb Haaland of the Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico and Sharice Davids of the Ho-Chunk Nation.

Tour the Sites

Land Acknowledgement

Indigenous protocol and awareness calls for the acknowledgement of land from the place on which you are standing. In other words, I am now writing in what is currently Virginia, originally called Tsenacommacan, home of the Powhatan Confederacy and Piscataway Chiefdom. There are many nations who are part of the larger confederacy and chiefdom that lived and live in this DMV (Washington, D.C./ Maryland/ Virginia) area. As part of a movement to decolonize and acknowledge the original peoples upon whose land I am standing, I would be remiss if I did not start by honoring this ancestral land, recognizing and respecting the relationship that exists between these tribes and their stolen territories, and acknowledging the elders of whom genocide and forced removal took them and whose ancestral lands remain.

I will proceed with a land acknowledgment to the Powhatan Confederacy who lived in Tsenacommacan (Virginia) for over 12,000 years and was originally comprised of over 30 tribes. Most of the Powhatan tribes were pushed off their lands and assimilated. Today there are eight Powhatan Indian-descended tribes recognized by the State of Virginia from which there are about 3400 living tribal members. The Piscataway Chiefdom Nation inhabits traditional homelands in Washington, D.C. and Maryland which was home to about forty tribes. Its people still live throughout Maryland. Both Nations speak English today as their original language has largely been lost. However, many efforts are currently being made to reconstruct them and members are dedicated to the preservation of their cultures. Now for a little music!

Land acknowledgment:

I acknowledge that the DMV was an historic center of trade and cultural exchange between several tribal nations. For generations, the Piscataway and Powhatan Peoples have resided in this region and served as stewards of the local land and waterways. Those who remain continue to thrive in the region and still honor and celebrate their culture and relationship with the land.

Learn a little more about the Powhatan and scroll through for live music!

Different from an acknowledgement, listen to how the Piscataway deliver a welcome and music to visitors on their original homelands at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

BACKSTAGE WITH BRENT MICHAEL DAVIDS

Brent, you have had such an important influence on me as well as composers from around the world. We are delighted that you had a little bit of time to talk to us during the concert intermission. I just have a few questions.

Can you share how you got into music?

I credit my mother for getting me interested. She was musical, from her parents and grandparents, and she wanted to inspire me to try it out. She got me into piano lessons at age 8, and I did that a few years but gave it up for trombone in grade school. Although I didn’t keep interest in piano, that experience did teach me “the notes,” and my literacy in written music is a major centerpiece of my career now. I started composing in my junior year of high school and have been composing ever since. Music literacy is a gift my mother gave me and one I treasure!

What makes your music traditional and contemporary?

That’s a tricky question to answer simply. There’s no word for “music” in most Native languages because the concept within indigenous life is more expansive than a western definition. Music-ing is how Native American regard the philosophy, form, function, history and practice of bringing life in that way: song-ing. It’s always a verb. If I create something akin to the indigenous process, I’d consider that process ‘traditional,’ rather than simply applying bits of known melodies to a contemporary work, or by harmonizing a familiar indigenous song in a new way. The process is more important to me than the outcome, in order words. Using indigenous cultural relevance as an ‘artistic standard’ is far better than any western music theory for determining genuine value of the process. Music is a static leftover. Song-ing is bringing life.

What messages are important for you to express through your music?

I believe we must champion a respectful cultural process as an artistic standard, and in doing so achieve crucial cross-cultural understandings and intercultural relations with each other. With an artistic standard of cultural respect comes a deeper historical context for approaching the quality of music. We must engage in genuine relationships that do not diminish or erase cultural realities in favor of some aesthetic of cultural neutrality. Where are the relationships in our process? What communities are involved? What lives beyond the Western musical hegemony? I am determined to answer these and other questions in my artistic process. As a matter of cultural principle, whenever possible, my works include cooperation between indigenous and non-indigenous performers. I strongly believe that when we collaborate and experiment in song, we are discovering life benefits, not simply musical ones. Our interactions as composers, performers, audiences, students and teachers—Indian and non-Indian alike—constitute important relational skills. If we can excite creativity and cooperation in each other, we have accomplished a magnificent thing!

Why is music important to you?

Music-ing, song-ing, is encouraging and creating life and vital to me. If I could not do music for some reason, I would choose to do something very much like it, an artist of some type, perhaps in the visual arts, who knows. All the arts share something in common, giving voice. Music is my best voice, but if I lost that I’d find another. We enact life, nurture it, create it and it creates and nurtures us too. It’s a mutual process of give and take, barter and exchange and it requires participation.

Any new projects coming up or final words for us?

Yes, I’m working on a long-term project “”. A 90-minute interactive, interdisciplinary performance work, “Requiem for America” places indigenous voices front and center, embodied by the creative team, the on-stage performers and the mission of outreach and community-building that is central to each performance. I am hopeful “Requiem” will create a powerful concert experience blending Native American music, opera soloists, choral and orchestral music, choreography and video production. What makes the project unique is the recruitment of Native American singers, from local tribes and individuals, to perform center stage. Indigenous singers embody the interaction between native and non-native musicians and communities that is at the heart of this project.

Subtitled “Singing for the Invisible People,” the subject matter of Requiem for America is nothing less than the genocidal founding of the United States. As demonstrated by persistent, dehumanizing stereotypes and continuing arguments over cultural appropriation, America’s assault on Native American cultures continues to this day. Requiem aims to shine a light on historic injustices and, at the same time, to model and create solutions in the present by building collaborative relationships with indigenous artists in all 50 states.

Well, thank you so much Brent. Good luck with your project. It’s just beautiful.

This piece is introduced by Brent Michael Davids himself!

Written for Western orchestra, Pow Wow sounds, dancers and storytellers!