Powwow

My first Powwow experience!

This music really hypes you up; the adrenaline is practically visual. Drum circles sing and drum with so much intensity that I found myself blanking out, just consumed by all the sound.

So, what is a Powwow?

The Powwow is a social gathering of American Indian communities, where a bunch of tribes come together to share food, dance, and sing together. Generally there are dancing competitions and drum competitions between the tribes.

In Bozeman, Montana, they hold a Powwow once a year, where tribes from all over the nation come together. While not all Powwows are open to the public, this one was, and I was fortunate enough to witness the drums in all their intensity, and the dancing in all its grace.

How is the music created?

A ‘drum’ is made up of at least 4 drummers surrounding 1 drum. Everyone in the circle sings. I had a opportunity to speak with Colton Sierra, a member of the Oglala Lakota, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation drum, who helped me to understand the structure of the songs.

A song is split into four parts. “Each part starts with a lead, where one drummer calls out a melody that the rest of the crew repeats back”. This is followed by 2 verses, which are sometimes straight melodies and other times lyrics called out in that tribe’s native language (such as Cree or Lakota). “After verse one and verse two, you go back into the next lead, which is repeated two more times,” Colton said.

It was clear to me that the dancers fed off the energy of the drum. When a response was particularly loud and unanimous, the dancers would pick up the intensity and let their bodies be carried by the music.

At this Powwow, there were about 10 different drum circles, including one host drum. The above recording is of the host drum. The below recording is the drum of Colton Sierra.

Thank you for checking out my first post! I hope to keep this blog going as I travel, capturing the diversity of music that can be found all over the world!

“Art washes the dust away from everyday life” -Pablo Picasso