[drumming] [vocable singing]
- Zack Harley: When we sound the drum,
we're not beating it to just make a noise from an instrument.
We're sounding the drum for the dancers to dance to,
to sing with.
We're singing with the spirit of that drum
that's likened to the heartbeat of Mother Earth.
[drumming] [vocable singing]
- Nathaniel Ante: I grew up learning powwow music
in Milwaukee.
When I was in elementary school,
I attended the school called the Indian Community School,
and they had a lot of culture teachings,
singing and drumming.
My family weren't powwow people
and didn't know much about my culture.
I always felt a strong connection with the singing
and I wanted to sing all the time.
- Zack Harley: I came about learning powwow music
just 'cause that's what my family did.
My grandpa had a drum group.
My mom's mom, she was a dancer.
And, y'know, my parents found each other at powwows.
It's real important that First Nations people,
Native American people, that they understand
this is their music and it's of this place.
We don't own it, this is to be shared out.
The thing that wanted me to start a group
for the students in Ashland
was knowing that I could bring that to the students,
that experience to the students here.
[drumming] [vocable singing]
- Braydin Connors: So I started going to powwows
and listening to powwow music
when I was just a young, little kid,
probably two or three years old.
- Kendra Wolfe: I started singing when I was really young.
I would always watch my, like, older sisters
and my aunties and all them sing.
I just really wanted to do it, so I practiced on my own.
[singing]
- So the structures within a group,
it begins with the lead singer.
The lead singer will sing a lead,
and then as soon as the lead is done, that'll require a second.
The second is the rest of the group.
And they all come in at the same time,
while we're all drumming the same beat.
Usually, songs will have a lead, a second,
and then two parts of the body.
So that would be one push-up.
Normally, we sing four push-ups.
- Announcer: All right, miigwech, boys.
Hold your spots there, we're going around.
This is another sponsored...
- We have all different styles of songs
and different meanings for different things.
Each song has a particular reason why it was made.
- I once asked my drum teacher how many songs there are,
and he looked up at the nighttime, he says,
"You see them stars?
That's about how many songs there are."
He says, "Songs from the time we're born
"until the time we go home.
And every instance in between."
- Well, performing on the drum, I would say
I almost feel like I'm always just so locked in on
with the drum and with all my people I'm singing with
around the drum, and the Canary Singers,
they all just kinda are pretty much--
It sounds silly, but one with everyone and the drum.
- The powwow drum came from the Sioux people.
Many years ago, there was a village that was attacked
by soldiers.
There was a woman who escaped of that Sioux tribe
who hid in a nearby stream.
And she used a plant as, like, a straw
and submerged herself underwater for four days.
And amongst those four days,
she had a vision about that drum.
It was a peace offering between the Ojibwe and the Sioux tribes
because they had hardships many years ago.
So it's a gift from the women, from the Sioux women
to the Ojibwe people as a peace offering.
- After the Ojibwe received the drum from the Dakotas,
it was adopted by other tribes.
As part of that peace agreement that came with that drum,
we were told to take all the words out of our songs,
so we no longer sing those war songs,
those old-time war songs.
These are all peace songs,
and they're meant to be shared with all tribes.
We refer to them as intertribals.
[vocable singing]
By using vocables, we are definitely able
to share out with other tribes.
It becomes more of a universal language.
So vocables are essentially the feelings that are expressed
from the songmaker.
- Kinda like humming a tune, y'know, but singing it.
[vocable singing]
- For the most part,
the different styles in powwow singing
would be broke up probably regionally.
There's a Northern style of singing.
Northerns will be singing, like, higher octaves.
[drumming]
[high vocable singing]
The Southern-style singers will often be in a deeper tone.
[drumming]
[low vocable singing]
- And then, there's, like, the Woodland style,
which is kind of like...
It's singing hard,
but it kinda has a little bit of a Southern feel to it.
[drumming]
[mid-range vocable singing]
When all these different styles of drums
and all these different cultures come together,
we all share our own styles of music.
So it's a way that we all come together.
- Being able to feel the connection
to, like, a lot of people,
it's a chance to, like, express your culture.
- And it really feels like we're carrying it on,
and hopefully, one day I hope to carry that on
with more and more generations and not let that be a lost thing
like a lot of things are in our cultures today.
[vocable singing]
- Announcer: The Good Rose, stand by, the Good Rose singers.