Tent of Many Voices: 08110406T

Louis and Clark it's a story of them the men that went with them on this Expedition the woman who accompanied them to the Pacific Ocean and back with her baby it's a story of all of the Native Americans that they met along the way and the ones they didn't get to meet who were out doing their buffalo hunt it's also a story about all the people who have come along since then and this tent of many voices is a place where all of those voices can be heard so that people from different perspectives and different walks of life and different stories to tell can come here and tell their story we are very fortunate to have with us today the Omaha Lodge singers so thank you very much and we'll turn it over to you now high high High oh high high good afternoon those of you most of you here know who we are we got a few here that don't um as you mentioned we are singers and that song that we just sing there is uh one of those songs we sing for the grass dance and all the stories probably been told here um the grass dance as it is dance today Rec had it start here at the Omaha tribe it was originally called U the Omaha Dance by a lot of the tribes and this is one of the song that we sing throughout the PA circuit all that we travel to we seen uh different styles for for the different styles of dances and at this time I want to uh introduce members of our group here um to my left here starting here will be my brother Heaven next in line will be my brother Dustin Griffin my brother Quinton C my nephew Paris C my brother ever Baer Jr my brother Tony cuddle my brother Daryl Blackford and my nephew Justin s and we're going to sing a few more songs here uh if you got any questions feel free to ask away on w High oh any questions any questions what kind of song was that that was the interner title song here D dancing AR it's made by my nephew Bradley today in our drum group here u a lot of the songs that we do sing are composed by uh the members of the group here we all have a little part and all the songs are made and whatnot um and um we also sing other uh drum group songs at five songs and stuff like that um our singers are Diversified in a way that some of the singers here they T Su dances they 10 Native American Church meetings um and we also have swe Lodge some of us participated in that and we sing songs in there too so it's not just out and with the big drum that we sing uh if there's no questions um gentlemen any questions um all right can I would you introduce every oh you did and I missed it sorry can I a comment sure that gentleman over there in the red shirt I think you really have a nice voice oh thank you well you all sound very good oh thank you uh if nothing else we'll continue to our next song Awesome it's all where he I oh can you explain the why the drum is different it's not sitting on the ground the difference of the drum you're holding on to the drum what kind of a drum is that I've seen drums that sit on the ground but never that people hold on to can you explain that um it's not really IG different you know any significance anything just the way that the drum was built it's like uh some of these drum makers they try different styles and this is more like one of the other drums that are used is like what you call a hand drum smaller handheld them and just kind of like a variation off that um as far as any kind of real significance it's just you know it's just not as thick as the regular drums it does have a different sound because with the bigger drums you know uh they have the bigger you know resonance inside and all of that so it willing come off with a different sound and uh one of the things that uh is important for the drums is that you keep the hides tight so that you can get the residance out of them so they can be heard out there and right now the living weather and things like that the Drum areen Real solid so but yeah answer your question is that it's it's just a different style that somebody May and it's up to the the drum groups I guess what type of sound they prefer uh this really isn't our regular drum reg Dr like the ones that you mention the big Dr down this is one we to bring out of the shair this uh this drum particular drum here happens to belong to Tony here uh this had come from his um uncle who has uh Gone on to the spirit world and uh he ended up distro Tony here so uh that's other thing that a lot of our uh members here you know they do have their own problems it's just a complete way of life really that uh We've adopted we've adapted to and uh it's it's just like almost a everyday part of our life somewhere somehow uh even within the group here we are always doing different things together you know we go to different places together we spend a lot of time even away from the Dr you know with each other so that kind of you know that Unity that that this drum builds it's very important it's very sacred and and it's you know giving us um support any one of our members you know we have one of them has a hard time and know the rest of us are there and try to back them up and uh just Goose them down enough you know so we we you know we love it we keep doing it you know we probably all keep doing this until we're ready to go you know so with that you know we're going to sing one more song we're going to sing a round band song and um those of you that we're get up in dance you're welcome to dance and that will conclude our program thank you h way way high way he oh thank all of you that attended that will conclude our program here I'd like to thank the Omaha Lodge singers for coming to our core of Discovery to in the tend to many voices and like to thank everyone for coming to the core of Discovery T the 10 to many voices this is our last program for the day that we do but we do open tomorrow at 10:00 many voices in the core of Discovery too it's been great being here uh in Macy in the Omaha Indian Reservation uh today in the Ten of manyi voices for this hour we are going to have standing Eagle native song and dance troop so let's welcome them and uh thank you for being here and sharing with us thank you we want to say uh welcome to the Louis and Clark core of Discovery group uh from St Louis Missouri walk to the OM tribe we're the standing Eagle singers of the OM tribe uh we got our start singing about around 1969 of my father older brothers older relatives and has transpired down to uh what you see today uh today we have like about 20 members within our group but due to uh school and uh work commitments you we couldn't all be here but those of us that are here are here and we try to share a little bit of our music with you um like I said our family comes from a a culturally oriented family of song and dance and also religious uh police through our Native American church but what we're doing today is with our big drum and our grandfather we have to thank him Mr Paris sa who uh made a way for us years and years ago uh unfortunately none of us had the opportunity to uh be here when uh my father was still our grandfather was still here he had passed on before uh we were brought into this world world but yet he' already made a way for us within this big drum as well as our small drum with the da American church and today like I said we're the stand eago singers were uh a family group come from Mostly from the bird Clan although we have others that are in the Thunder Clan and other uh Buffalo Clan but yet we still from in one family um today we have my daughter here Holly holana Sheridan uh my nephew here Fred my brother Sean my nephew Aon nephew Mike and my grandson conceiver um and today we're going to try to share a little bit of our music and try to uh let you know what the song means what the meaning is and why it was why it was uh composed and and hopefully maybe when it was composed but um like I said we're very happy to be here and be a part of uh history here maybe some years down the line when we're we've already gone on to uh that place that God prepared for all of us that you know our Our Generations to come will be able to look look at these things and maybe use some of what we're leaving behind here so today we want to say thank you to uh the Loa par core Discovery committee and ask us to be here and being a part of the program and we're as om people and as a family we're more than thankful to be a part of this as as a history of the Omaha people thank you y go the song you just saying was was uh is known as the Oma Nation flag song was composed by my grandfather Parish sasy after um the first world war and the song talks about my brother you gone across the big Waters to fight for this flag that we have flowing uh monstar tribe today so that's a little bit about how that song was was composed um and now we're going to move on to a couple of older songs that are not really say when the song was composed or uh how long ago but uh we'll try to elaborate on that a little bit finish that song hey heyy happy day heav the song just saying is known about all people as the half GRE song um my mother told me years ago that uh members of the Lamson family and there's a couple others that came to my grandfather uh Parish s's Camp during the PA when when one uh one morning and asked for uh something special to signify the the half re members of the tribe and I think I don't know if it was that day or the next day that my grandfather sang that song was composed by Paris it talks about uh being a mean half white you know that's the way it is but it's good today and be strong because of who you are so uh we have a lot of half reads amongst our people and that song was composed by my grandfather for them to use whenever uh they felt that uh they were being honored or sometimes it sung and all the half will get up and dance to that song so uh it's a little bit about where that song comes from and composure another song that um my mother tells that my grandfather had a hand and composing along the way and it talks about uh a little soldier in this the song and that's uh the exact date of when it was composed or like that is uh I'm not known to myself and I doubt any others do but it's one of our older songs that we do have amongst our people um unfortunately you know our people were dancing some 200 or more years ago um but yet uh I don't know whether we have songs from those times or not maybe the tunes are still here they put with different words put to them but these are some couple songs that we sing are a couple of the older songs that we do have you know from Years Gone by early last century so um now we're going to kind of move on to a little more update you know uh my father started singing uh back with our group back in 1969 like just started with my older brothers and older relatives and what you see today has been a product of that our mother and father was really instrumental and raising us in the city in Lincoln uh my father retired after 38 years from the uh VA Hospital there as an employee and they always taught us that we need to know you know where we come from who we are and always be be proud of who you are because you came into this world with Maha and you're going to leave the same way um and along the way you know being raised in Lincoln we had to we had to live in two different worlds and um when you came into our yard it was we had to do things in our Maha way with our M bels yet we went out of the yard to uh play with our other friends of other nationalities we to live in a in a whole new new different world as well as going to school and trying to compete and and academics as well as Athletics and um so it was it was a little tough during those times but after I got older I understand that there's a lot more to uh being Omaha or native or Indian however you want to you want to call it whatever word you want to use and at a young age you kind of get get away from those things not thinking about them as you get older you become you start to get to feel that belief of being proud of who you are and that goes for any nationality but today you know we're uh a product of uh Clyde Sheridan and William S Sheridan our drum group and they also paved away with singing and dancing as well as just big drum in the small Dr the Native American church and uh we're trying to follow along those ways and it's been U some 30 30 almost 35 years that we've had a drum group within our family maybe not the same name but the name have changed over the years but uh uh we're still a group and we still sing as a family we try to encourage all of our younger ones um one time we counted all the singers in our our family alone on both sides of our family and there was over 50 singers that we have amongst our family so we're kind of proud of that fact I don't think too many families and many other tribes can can uh make that statement and also with my grandson and uh my nephews and my brother here and my daughter other relatives we also as known as the Rough Riders when we first started as the younger group and we were the first group back in 1992 we were the first group drum group Native drum group that sang with the symphony orchestra on stage when we did the uh that the lead Center at the University of uh Nebraska at Lincoln when we did the West meet West and we did a composition with the Omaha Symphony on stage as well as doing that with the Oma Symphony in Omaha so we have the distinction of being the the only and F first and only that I know of a drum group Native drum group to sing with the symphony on stage so uh we're very very proud of that fact and uh so today we're still continuing with our music and uh we try to stay together as a family stay strong so from now we're going to go on to more of a modern style of singing where the beat up Temple and the songs are a little different than uh most of the songs that are composed I composed by myself for our group