Historic Recording of Native American Music

Sunday, May 29 2005 @ 09:26 AM EDT

Phoenix, Arizona, USA - The Blackfoot Confederacy has recorded an historic album, Setting the Record Straight - Recorded Live in Browning (Canyon Records). Together the Blackfeet, the Kainai, the Piikani and Siksika form the Blackfoot Confederacy, one of the proudest and strongest alliances in the history of Native America. From the great Nations that comprise the Confederacy, some of the respected singers on the pow-wow trail gather to sing together at one drum for this historic recording. For the first time, these songs, belonging to the Confederacy, are sung by members from each of the four great Nations.

The Blackfoot, known as the Soyi-tapi ("Prairie People") in their own language, have occupied their homelands in southern Alberta, Canada, parts of Saskatchewan, Canada, and central Montana for thousands of years. The Blackfoot people belong to a loose confederacy of three semi-independent tribes. Although there were some differences among these tribes, all spoke the same language of Algonquian stock, shared a common culture and generally viewed the entire Blackfoot territory as their own.

The story of this recording, of how some of the most noted singers from the Blackfoot Confederacy came to sing together, begins with a dream. Jay Dustybull (Blackfeet) was told in this dream to search out specific singers. The singers were to sit at one drum and sing the songs that have belonged to the four Nations for many years. All of the singers are lead singers in their own right and have sung and traveled with some of the most celebrated drums in the history of pow-wow.

Although the songs presented here have been performed by many groups throughout pow-wow country over the years, the songs originated with the Nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy and are sung here in the traditional Blackfoot singing style.

Many of the songs on this recording are for the Chicken Dance, a dance that originated with the Blackfoot Confederacy. The singers hope to reaffirm that the Chicken Dance (and its songs) is sacred dance of the Blackfoot people and is not merely a dance style. It is a dance that must be learned and taught in the appropriate way, with a dancer being initiated into the Chicken Dance Society. This album includes extensive liner notes on the history of the Blackfoot Confederacy and songs.

World Music Central
http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20050529072614372