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My name is Wa'kohsioy�.
That means Peacock
in Oneida language.
My English name
is Jennifer M. Stevens.
I consider myself multi-racial
because I'm more than three
nationalities.
[laughs]
But I'm primarily Native
American and Caucasian American.
I can't imagine my life
without music and art.
I discovered through
experimenting and stuff that
I am a composer in my own way.
Sometimes, I just sit
at the piano and I play.
I play chords.
I play melodies.
?
? Amazing Grace...
I feel very passionate about
singing.
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When I sing opera, I feel like,
I always feel like my voice
is singing into the rafters.
It's unusual in a sense, because
there's very few Native American
opera singers today,
and even in history.
It's different.
But it's kind of cool, because
I think, you know what, there's
more singers out there, and I
hope that they get the courage
to follow their dream.
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If a person is following a dream
such as opera, I believe that
it must be a strong calling.
So, I'm trying!
This is an example
of one of my Oneida pots.
I'm a traditional Oneida potter.
I learned the technique
of hand building.
It's when you roll out coils,
and you stack them.
You smooth them so good
that you can't see the ridges
or anything in it.
So I have to say
this is one of my earliest pots.
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[singing in Oneida]
I have to say, I didn't know
that I was going to end up
singing in Oneida.
It's a beautiful language
to sing.
You have these beautiful open
vowels and soft consonants, and
those are a singer's dreams.
The Common Ground Concert
took place at the Meyer Theater
in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
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We received $5,000 from the
Oneida Nation Arts Program.
But we also received $5,000,
a matching grant, from the First
Nation Composer Initiative.
I requested not to charge so
that people of all walks of life
could attend the concert.
[applause]
I was blown away
to see so many people.
I thought, oh, you know, we'll
be lucky to have 300 people,
and that theater was packed.
It was magical.
And it ended up becoming grander
than I ever dreamed.
[laughs]
It was quite wonderful.
I'm very grateful for everyone
that helped make that possible.
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It's exciting to see myself
develop and grow.
I have so many multi interests
in the arts, so I think the day
that I can just be an artist,
to me, is a day that I feel
that I've succeeded.
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