Tent of Many Voices: 07100602

good afternoon ladies and gentlemen welcome back to the tent of many voices my name is Aon I'm one of the Rangers who gets to travel the country with this huge exhibit we've been traveling for three years took us three years to get here to Browning and U we're going to end our year this year and end the entire Bicentennial Comm ation in September at St Louis so join us there if you're interested so it's going to be a great ceremony there we've had a great time here in Browning had lots of presenters in the Ten of many voices this is going to be our last presentation of the day and of this venue if you want to continue on with us we're going to Crow agency next week and pomp pillar the following and then we have a whole series of other venues after that but at this hour we have mayard kicking woman who is going to present to you some more drums and music from the black feed Nation some other people here to to share with you their drumming and some singing as well so let's welcome them to the tent of many voices well first first of all I'd like to uh say you know that uh I'm great grateful and honored to be part of this uh exhibition that's going on here I was told about this about a week ago and um you know there are so many events that are taking place every weekend in Indian Country a lot of our groups such as my group such as his group are off running to another group to another uh celebration so this is kind of like a a bad time but I want to apologize that um um to you folks that we were unable to bring a big drum here to show you uh a few things above our drumming well I'm going to explain it the significance of this drum first of all my name is Mayor kicking woman I'm here black feet tribe I was born and raised here um back in 19 I'd say about 1973 I became involved in our traditional way of life I started paying attention about what was going on around here why are we singing why are we dancing why do we do these things a long time ago I remember back when I was just a little boy I came across a drum like this I always wondered what these drums were used for I was a total stranger to our our indan way of life here never never even down on me of what I would be doing something like this my grandfather used to tell us that all the elderly people we used to live in the community what's the Browning here down in the bottom there there was a a Coy that run miles down the road and each place there was a community a a family group that lived in one little community and um each little Community had their own little Park where we play and my grandfather used to sit out there well he was everybody's grandfather and his grandfather way back they used to sit out early in the mornings they wouldn't have a drum but they come up early in the morning and they would sing songs and they would pray ask blessings and ask the Creator for a new day giving thanks and you can hear them songs from far away I mean you can be sitting it was so quiet in that Valley you can hear this person well this person used to sing old man picture an old man in your mind little tiny eyes and skinny bra junifer old person John bis these are just some of the elders that we had that made songs and they belong to different societies now what I mean by Society it's an organization that was put together by a certain group of family and they carried on that way so when you wake up in the mornings and say all of a sudden maybe you guys ended up in someone's home and you might wake up you're going to hear somebody way back go these were Camp c songs these songs were used in a gathering such as this that just took place over here we used to have people walk around the camps early in the morning okay that father be he'd beh around and if you're not really familiar with that and you came across that you heard that you probably think that guy is crazy but actually it is our way that's just the way we were brought up we hear these Camp criers theyd be singing and then they had groups drum groups will come together young people they still do that today in some tribes they'll go to your camp and they're going to sit right in front of your camp and they're going to sing hey he heyy hey hey heyy hey hey heyy these are songs that they used to bring up your spirits this is why when they go to your camp they're going to keep on singing these songs like this until you come out and give them something a gift blanket tobacco food whatever it may be a lot of people will come out and the Kee and pull the door open and set a basket of goods out there and close it go back to sleep that was the only way they can get you to get out of their place so they can sleep Camp criers is very is very significant to the Indian people but for those of you that don't know what c chiring is this is what it's about way back when I started 1973 I started learning I started learning I started asking questions just like this young man here he learned that by listening and paying attention when are they sitting around that drum now when I was hitting the drum like this they have a drum 10 times this size sometimes 12 13 people sitting around that drum can you imagine that 13 people you can be dead to the world in your C and all of a sudden 13 people come by and hit that drum and start singing it'll scare the heck out of you what's going on and then you know that's a camp fire the only way you're going to shut that camp fire up is you got to gift him that is what it is gift giving when a young person comes and talk to an elderly person like myself they'll come and they'll ask you questions they're going to ask you can I sing this song There are some songs you can't sing but they're going to come and ask you for that and the best way you can do that is you bring them tobacco offering because from what I learned our Indian people made the Mother Earth all the herbs medicine all the plants was food and where I where I started learning I started picking that up okay I want to be like that guy I used to admire groups topn singing group I mean they were so popular they were in big demand it was pretty hard to have him come and do something like this and these young people such as this man here they're carrying on that tradition this is how we keep things going on and on and on we pass it off to our younger people and they pass it off to their younger people but getting back to this drum when I was learning how to sing inan I didn't sing very good we used to sing sing any way and people used to make fun of you and say you're not singing good you don't know how to sing and I said to myself in my mind there's going to be a day there is going to be a day I'm going to be called upon to talk about my tradition what I learned it took me all that time to just recently I have my own group called The Kicking Woman singers we cook up our names there's a lot of drum groups that have names and those names sometimes came from the family young greyhorse to medicon late squatted Eagle singers heartbe Society all these are groups even on the outside Badland singers Eagle whistlers coad Keon Ramblers Blackstone Northern age you hear just some of the songs that some of the groups actually going to hear you might go to a up here or some place along the way and you're going to come across the same thing they drumming and you're going to hear bunch of people hitting their drum and S that there's no words the blackbeat people did not use words the only time they used words is when they sang A Gabite song and that was when they put a baby to S and and then sing and they Rock their babies that's how they used to put their babies to sleep you notice that drumming is all different the first presentation that we had was round dancing ourl dancing social dancing where you came together what a big drum imagine from being about this side about 10 people I learned the hard way how to become a singer because I made some mistakes in my time as I was going along and the elderly people that used to tell me about these things they used to say be careful there's a lot of songs out there be careful who you sing what you sing what kind of song you sing so it was very frightening because I had my children they were just small and they used to sit at the drum and sing and the old people that's good that's good to see those little kids druming singing so as time went on I started earning different rights earning different things I say if you work for so many years you're going to earn a promotion that's the same way with singing and dancing and doing all kinds of things there's a lot of ceremonial things out there you can be part of but you have to earn that I've been singing for 35 years long time since 1973 I picked up a drum today I'm going to tell you something to us Indian people the drum is very important to us that's the heartbeat of us a dancer a singer can be a thousand miles away and they going to hear that beat and they're going to come and the event that took place right here over the weekend over 400 dancers can you imagine 400 dancers heard one drum beat and they all came but I learned why is this drum so important to us I'll tell you this raide is not just ordinary raide we were taught to respect a drum when we put the drum down to sing about 13 people 10 people around it around here and they're sitting there and they I always tell those drummers that come to my drum it's not a foot stool it's not a coffee table it's not a closet what I mean is you don't put stuff on that Dr you stand it up and you cover it with a blanket take care of it why because at one time this animal has walked the earth a four-legged animal sacrificed himself to better ours to provide good music for you people and when you provide good music there's a lots of song the song I just sing that I'll sing again to you that's the same song but it's it's a long it's a song That's supposed to pick you up hey hey now these songs if a dancer or even you was attending some power and you heard the same song but the same beat but it's going to be a different song that's going to make you want to get out there and dance this is how it makes you feel good that's why I always tell people no matter who you are no matter where you from no matter what color you are when you come to an event such as this one that took place over there and is your time to sit down and think about those people around you the people in your family all around you when we used to come out and dance I used to dance at one time and I used to just come out and dance just for the fun of it but then I found out later on in years dancing was very important you are dancing for people out there who are sick people out there who are involved in all these crazy stuff there's a lot of commitments you have to make when it becomes a singer there's a lot of commitments that you have to make you go to ceremonies and you pray you pray for your people the sweat lodges the suances all these things that we have that's just like what you have if you see a grass dancer we always like to in humorous way we always say you guys got Michael Jackson we have a grass dancer you guys got Elvis Presley we got kicking Woman singers so all these things kind of work together you notice the songs that you guys have you guys got words they talk but we don't we just sing that's just all verbal stuff you have to learn how to use your voice if you ever pick up a drum you if you pick up a drum and you started singing carry that beat I just came from a a um a deal that was for you students in Federal Way Washington I just come from there last week and I did a presentation just like this and I asked them they all made hand gums whatever school at they came from all the way up to Bellingham Lingham all the way on the nurse Co and they all showed up in Seattle for a workshop and who did they get they called me paid my way there and they put me up when I started talking to them about drumming they were all like and they were Indian people they've lost that they've lost that tradition lot of the younger people made drums and they look better than this they were making drums and you know who they were they were white kids and the Indian people over there made drums and they were just every H and I asked that one boy I said can you sing and he said yeah have you been singing he said well I try I said show me in front of 300 kids he got up with his drum and he got single the song didn't sound right but still he had an idea of what this drum was used for and I said I want you to come up here and sing and one of one of the students I asked it was from U bellw Washington I don't know if you guys are familiar with a north northwest coast but he was from B and he was an Indian he said he was partus and some tried from BC and I asked him you guys you should be pretty good you got all this Blood mixed you should really be good what did he come out there and he I asked him you want to show me how you can use this drum or come and sit at the drum over here he said I can't I said let me tell you something in Indian countries in our way there is no such word as I can't you're an Indian if you say I can the elderly people going to get mad at you say what means an ending is that I'm saying to this young man this young man is good for what he's doing and it's good that he's carrying it on I asked that young gentleman I said if you were in my country and you said I can't you're insulting the elders they don't do right and the elders always used to say if you can chew gum and walk at the same time you can sing and drum if you can't there's definitely something wrong with you that's what we always say well in Indian Country I'll tell you something humor goes a long ways it's good medicine you hear some of these MC people talking in the power they're talking and then they're they're throwing jokes at you they're not criticizing you or nothing but they're throwing jokes at you it's to get the people going even the drummers and a big drum when you got 10 people sitting around that drum that drum was made out of a full elk hide Buffalo hide spear hide whatever hide that you can use that's what that big drum is made out of and the hoop is made out of wood some of the Hoops the frames are handmade just like you see that boat sitting out there that was handmade but you know it's good to have these kind of things come here because because when I was little I didn't know who in the heck uh L and CLK was and every time I used to talk like this on the highway I've been driving down the road and I see somebody standing there with a hat on like that gentleman and pointing and further down the road I'd see the same gentleman went the other way I said um man this guy was really lost I'll tell you but you know that's just something that we need to laugh about we need to we don't make fun of it we don't criticize it but when I I'm just talking about how I looked at it before I even know who knew who he was i' be driving down the road and my kids would say look at that sign that guy's pointing over that way and we go down the road about another maybe 20 miles down the road and they say there's another sign and he's pointing in a different direction and I'd say to myself why this guy was lost he was really lost no wonder why they had you know uh Wars and and running into indans you okay didn't know which way they were G but the Indian people were very wise the Indian people used to say if I can walk a mile if I can save one person I've saved a million but I'm going to tell you something I take my work serious I don't fool around with it just before I came here just before I showed up here I smudge myself with sweet grass which we use and this young man knows that you smudge yourself whenever you're going to do something and you pray you ask the Creator Watch Over Me Protect Me Guide Me What I'm about to do that it will be okay I'm doing the best I can to tell you what the significance of the drum is that's just long time ago we used it to dance this social dance We Gather up in in a little Hall and we dance nothing else just that people used to come all over and visit put food on the floor sit down there the elderly ladies wearing bandanas like mine would sit down and make a plate for you here or sometimes you bring your own they have these dances they call giveaway dances I will not sing any of these ceremonial songs it's not right in places like this these songs belong in ceremonial grounds but I'll tell you just when they come together they feed you but as time went on in the year of 2000 the Indians started discovering microwave ens Satellite Dish remote controls and you notice that every indan on the reservation has a tummy FL all they do is just sit there they spoiled us we can't work no more we can't even get up and go and pour a cup of coffee we just hit a button and the coffee starts perking and it's getting so now you can get hot coffee you pour hot water and just throw a spoon in there and Scar it it who if the elderly people were still here that we lost years ago and seen it they said Ah that's so coffee which means it's not good because a long time ago if you wanted a cup of coffee you had to wait almost 2 to 3 hours first you got to go to the creek all the water bring it over get spank couple times quack around put it on a coffee stove put your coffee in there and wait for it to boil but I think this is the reason why all these things come together in one Circle we do everything here in circles we had the four directions even our homes are po but the drum I don't care where you're at I don't care where you can be I'm going to tell you something our traditional Indian ways is everywhere you can walk in the president's office you can walk into the Oval Office and you're going to see a picture of a hand drum setting up in the president's office this is how powerful the drum is it's everywhere everywhere it's in our Institute it's in our rehab it's in California it's even in Los Angeles in Hollywood even in Hollywood but you know I used to talk I used to say that guy there he's not singing in this guy here he's just he's just making up that song but they do have idea and as for myself I became a singer in 7 three to today I'm still doing it whatever chance I get my children grew up with it and now they are out my children has put on their Indian offense and they became Champions you're probably wondering well let's see he's talking tradition and he's talking Champion but let me tell you something when money was introduced in our ways there used to be an old guy whose name was John white grass he was very very very strict don't go to that ceremony they're not right don't go here and he used to always tell us these are the kind of songs you sing these are the kind of songs you use this is what that drum is used for so this is how we all got our knowledge is from listening to elders and so when we put on our outfits money was introduced into our Indian Wass some of our tradition went out the door the younger generation today don't really want to believe that it's getting so now we have to compete money is kind of more or less in the way that way my grandfather would say it's ruining you it's spoiling you and we're becoming commercial now we got people like Hartford Connecticut Mass tribe California all these big casinos are getting involved in it now millions and dollars that's getting sold now this drum is bread and butter on the table for us that's a job because a lot of our Indian people don't work all they do is they hit the circuit it's just like a rodeo circuit now this next song I'm going to do it's a song that um you hear all all over the place it's a song that was way before my time if I can remember the song while I'm talking about it it's um I think that was made by John B an old man that used to live out star school you can hear him pounding on his house wall and he'd be singing and that old man raised everybody in scar School even me when I had no place to go when I was small went to that old man kids sleeping all over stoor and he enjoyed that and he used to sit in that house and he pound on that wall you kind of picture that dark house with a kerosene lamp little wood sto just one big room and this our closet was just a big pile of clothes over here whatever look good we put it on but that old man is hey now these songs are old but they're still here today people still sing them I don't care how old it's going to get when you start passing on your tradition and ending ways this is what's going to happen whatever you know you're going to tell your people about it when you're already gone to the spirit world they're going to carry on that tradition you have all those Traditions that you have your I don't care who it is you tell your kids about it they pass it on their kids pass it on this is how we keep things alive but like I said when I was small I didn't know anything about LS and cl when I first drove into town here to come back to our po I seen this big thing here and I said what's going on over there and I met one of the people that work here uh at the swimming pool he talked to me about it I said sure So I think that when you go to a a reservation always ask if there's a power going on it's free you can go over there take take Park have some traditional food fried bread all this Indian stuff when we come to the end of this program I'm going to close the song with some of the songs that we use some of the songs that we use that we sing such as the frag song is similar to your national anthem these are the songs that we use to start an event and to end it we always have people that come out andly people person that we will point out to come and close it this event over here there were drums thousands of drums hundreds of drums roaming around over there like kiss and they were all singing there's all kinds of beats a new kind of beat today has a has a beat my that this man knows that that's it's a new new generation coming everything that we do we can hear it in a different tribe we'll bring it back home oh that sounds good oh that's awesome and they start singing and then now we've got round song and I think um I came across this one guy he said um I want s this I want to sing this song to you I said sure and he had a big drum and he was that big drum was sitting on a floor like this and he was leaning on it and he was singing and that song went he he he he he and these songs like social that these songs are made to uh relax you just like if you put on an old Square dad or old Walt song or you heard a song um with that heartbreaking music you got a few sad the same way that Indian people so long as the Grass Grows the river flows things like that and then they this guy is pretty well known in Indian country but he's not a black creep they come from another reservation when he made out a CD and he sang solo most of his songs were about Bingo reservation cars snagging I don't know if you guys are familiar with that word snagging snagging in Indian country is when you um take your fishing hook out there and you're looking for some fish but anyway these songs when we come out we our dance we round dance we rabbit dance everything that we do is according to this animal it brings us right back to drum so whenever you hear a drum 2,000 miles away You're Going to Hear drum these songs is to bring you in bring you people we call it Grand entry so whenever you go to a power go over there and see what it is I was taught Indian way I know most of you people have your own way of being taught but I was taught that whenever you pick up a drum and you start singing whenever you're getting involved whatever it is we need to pay attention to what goes on around us lot of us know somebody can say something boom right in front of you half hour later you're going to forget about it what did that guy say what was he talking about the old people used to say the which means in your world at stage of who you'll be doing something and you say I was here but the elderly people long some time ago used to say the creator has just gave you that opportunity to stay forward for a little bit or back this is why we always wonder when you start singing when you start singing lot of the singers it's like a computer right here all the songs are right here what are we going to sing how would I do this oh they they they'll have their songs right here that's the same thing so whenever you come across something you say I've done this before I was here never Indian Country it's a spirit just kind of came to you real quick and gave you that opportunity to see forward or back just a little bit and when I was told long time ago I always told you put your stuff down and you pray about it for a little bit give thanks imagine if we can harness that ability we'd be dangerous I mean we'd be so powerful I mean I there are some people today elderly people that we still have with us today who can actually sit in a sweat L and pick up a hot rock you know I never used to believe it but I've seen it done where I was brought up is what I have today my knowledge I'm always happy to share it I'm always happy to pass it on CU that's just way we were taught this young man you see sitting here has come from a welln prominent family his grandpa was designated chief of our reservation lot of you know who I'm talking about he's a well-known person he has held the higher up seat for years and years and he was our teacher when you heard that man behind a microphone going that mean he was feeling good about it he's telling you you try harder and that drum is really going and everybody's dancing even that he's up there dancing around with his microphone that's why I say when I ask someone to come and help me they never turn me down they never refuse me I don't care where it's at why it's because you people will know who these people are next time you come across arm and Edward clean across the country you're going to say hello I've seen you in Browning so with that I was just like to say that you know it's really been a great honor and I hope that you know whatever I talked about here you take it back with you you score it in your mind so what I'm going to do tonight this afternoon is that I had four days of exhaustion working over here because I was a public address system person so what I'm going to do now is I'm going to close this with a song that we use to close our ceremonies to close this session and so I was just like to say you I really thank you people this are kind of these are some of the things that you need to know these are some of the things that you need to have anytime we sing these songs you are you are supposed to be gifted but in this case I'm going to ask my my uh my cousin here who is going to um help me do this and George will uh uh tell you what what's going to happen here to Clos it and I thank you folks for taking the time I thank all of you people that has come and puted this up and did this show here really thank you for that and I'm honored to be part of this I'm honored to be part of this and so uh I want to thank George for uh inviting me to come here like I said we never refuse our younger people when they ask us to come here and I'm at the age now where uh I I'm I'm looked upon as an elder and I'm not afraid to share my way and uh one of my people was at the power U house last night said you're going to go do a presentation over there you need a suit and a tie I said no I'm Native American I'll go just the way I am I said yeah that's where I I feel comfortable about it and again once again I want to thank you and those of you that are watching this I hope you have learned something don't be afraid to contact anybody in Indian Country right now the significance of the ground and again in inan way they say a let's give Mr kicking woman and Mr Edwards a big round of applause thank you Mr kicking woman uh we're going to kind of do an impr promptu closing ceremonies here we've had this uh C two here uh at the beginning of July 4th and celebrating I guess America's birthday and we've been working with them the last few days and all the logistical work of getting it set up with Mr Dick bash and uh the Rangers making sure we had the presenters and you I think you found if you've been to some of these over the few days at the black feed are great orators it was uh many years ago on the down at Judith Gap when they were doing the treaty with uh In 1855 with uh with Stevenson and he was going to other tribes and making treaties and and in terms of the land and all that and there was a gentleman that was with him who has relatives on the black reservation and his name was Henry kenerly he was a clerk that that accompanied Stevenson and he was marveling at at at the oratory skills of of the of the people are there and he compared them with Roman Senators they would get up and they talk for for hours and sometimes we do talk for hours and you have to uh cut us off but uh but it's good that's our that's our history and we're known for our prowess to be able to do that we want to thank uh again uh the National Park Service the the national of the Lewis and Clark uh Historic Trail the all the national Bicentennial Council the circle of tribal advisor all the people and all these agencies that have put this this U exhibition together they're heading down to the to Crow country and put putting up that exhibit and then there'll be to the a national signature event and Billings and at Pomp's pillar called Clark on Yellowstone so on behalf of the blackbeat tribe as the coordinator and my assistant ton of white grass we again our are glad it's over we didn't have no hail storms and our famous winds didn't uh kick up past 35 understand once it's 35 and they actually have a wind gauge out here uh crossing their fingers I guess they close things down it kind of shows uh how the park service are they are are ruled by the uh uh policies of the government just as we had to experience with the National Guard it was kind of interesting where we're on our side are a little more laidback and things so again thank you for uh coming to this final event and if you get the chance as they move on down the river it's our job now to send them down the river so they're going to be out of here by tomorrow and and uh again thank you coming us Indian people Warriors and we're going to do a song that was composed uh for just got purpose Warrior song and then we're going to go into a flag song and uh like I said George said you know we we're always willing to do what we can to help you guys this Warrior song oh now the frag song The IND National Anem you are heyy thank you very much again let's thank mayor kicking woman and Aran Edwards for coming and sharing with us and thank you for having us as your guest George heavy runer we would like to thank you for uh putting this on and helping us to come here we really appreciate all your help thank you for having us as your guest onto your reservation we are going to be here for about another five minutes open to the public and then we're going to hope the wind doesn't come up too much and start to take these tents down and move on to our next destination so again thank you for joining us and have a pleasant afternoon