8 OCTOBER 15, 2003
Smoke Signals
First NW Indian Music Festival Marks National Indian Day
D Tribal member Jan Michael Reibach's Cederfeather Productions brings the music of flutes and drums to the Casino's big Bingo room.
By Ron Karten
If you were lucky on National In
dian Day, you arrived at the
Spirit Mountain Casino during
the five or so minutes when Jordan
Pengraph, nephew of Tribal mem
ber Dakota Whitecloud, sat down on
a bench outside of the main en
trance, carefully retrieved his flute
from its protective cloth sleeve and
played it with abandon in the open
air.
It was a beautiful day, inside the
casino and out, but the special ad
dition of this Amity ninth grader's
spirit, filling the air in the form of
flute notes, was something to be
hold. Pengraph would have it the other
way. "It's more the flute that plays
you than you that plays the flute,"
he said. . And it's been playing him
for six years, he said.
He had a special reason for being
excited on this day. He had finally
learned some of the history of this
flute that had been "a gift of a
friend named Redhawk" six years
ago. It was made, he learned from
Warm Springs Tribal member and
flute maker Charlie Littleleaf, at
Stellar Flutes by an artisan named
Tom Stewart. Stewart had used a
2,000-year-old Sequoia and yellow
cedar to give this instrument its
unique and beautiful sound.
"It calls to me when it wants to be
played," said Pengraph. "It's really
a spiritual thing. When I first
started playing, I was really de
pressed. It heals you. It's about
your heart. When you feel sad and
down, the flute really helps. I've
been carrying it around for four
years looking for someone who could
tell me something about it."
The Tribal Council may not have
had the Pengraph-Littleleaf connec
tion in mind earlier this year when
it asked the casino management for
more of a focus on Tribal heritage,
but it and many others took place
during the day.
"The energy of all of the different
Tribes represented here is very spe
cial," said Tribal member Jan
Michael Reibach, whose company,
CedarFeather Productions, pro
duced the day-long show.
CedarFeather Productions also has
produced CDs for many of the per-
K T
i.
V Ik. r"N
w
Celebrity Sighting Native American flutist Charles Littleleaf performs at the
Northwest Indian Festival, held at Spirit Mountain Casino on Friday, September 26.
Littleleaf, a Warm Springs Tribal member, is well known throughout Indian Country for
his music and the beautiful Native flutes he makes.
formers, including Buckley
McWilliams, a Modoc Native.
On stage, McWilliams presented
Reibach with a feather from his
drum "to show my appreciation," he
said.
To the audience, McWilliams
said, "I've been gifted with the gift
of song... Gifts from the creator are
not to be kept inside but to be
shared."
Bruce "Snoball" Butler, a Siletz
Tribal member, had mixed feelings
about putting his music on a CD.
"I should be using songs for heal
ing, not for sale," he said, but his
mix of traditional Indian music
"with a hint of bluegrass," as the
festival's promotional piece said,
seemed to accomplish both.
In the hallway just outside of the
Bingo Hall where the music event
took place, Tribal members Marie
Schmidt and Connie Graves were
busy weaving and selling their na
tive baskets.
Vendors were both top profes
sional craftspeople in their fields
and family crafters like Tribal mem
bers CeCe Kneeland and her 7-year-old
daughter, Nakoosa, who
showed and sold some very excit
ing bead and doll work.
The Native flutes of Charles
Littleleaf were one example of fine
Indian craftsmanship. The carv
ings of John Hawks, a Chiricahua
Apache whose work has been col
lected by the Smithsonian Institu
tion, and whose list of clients in
cludes John Wayne and Henry
Fonda, was another.
The Northwest Indian Veterans
Association (NIVA) strutted its stuff
Photos by Peta Tinda
in two ways. Vets performed Grand
Entry by leading musicians into
and through the room and at a
booth among the vendors, the group
held raffles to raise funds and in
terest in the organization.
The program also included an in
troduction by emcee Nick Sixkiller
to different Indian dances, and two
drum groups Eagle Beak Drum
mers from Grand Ronde and Ante
lope Spirit Drummers from Klamath
that accompanied traditional and
grass dancers dressed in regalia.
"This is something well-needed
around here," said Tribal Council
member Bob Haller.
Tribal member and Native Ameri
can Studies Ph.D. candidate Elaine
LaBonte presented a background
on Native American music late in
the afternoon. "There are many
different kinds of drums," she said,
"and different beliefs that go along
with the drums."
"The spirit," she said, "resides
within that resource."
And the same goes for people, ac
cording to Tribal Council Chair
woman Cheryle Kennedy. "When
people are singing and dancing, it's
from within," she said. "It's an ex
pression of the soul." And from the
audience side, she added, "We stop
being human when we stop listen
ing." In addition, the festival played a
strategic role for the casino. "It's
good exposure for the property,"
said Casino General Manager
Doug Pattison. He pointed to ar
ticles about the festival in
McMinnville and Salem newspa
pers. "You can't buy that kind of
advertising," he said.
And the performers also saw the
day as the beginning of a bright fu
ture. "We have six of these coming
in Oregon and Washington," said
Reibach.
"It's all healing to me," said Grand
Ronde Tribal member Mike Stand
ing Elk Reibach from the stage, be
fore he and Jan Michael Reibach
together played "Sacred Rain," a
contemporary song honoring the
people of Grand Ronde and the his
toric Trail of Tears that was the be
ginning of the Confederated Tribes
of Grand Ronde.
u , pn J tin II 1
J . . . i "Tffr r. -vl 4 r H ; III ;
l .iff l'A W -A , . I L i L
y .,imrf
gSgfiAH J y- f f
Basket Maker Tribal Elder Marie Schmidt was at the NW Indian Music Festival
with examples of her traditional Native baskets. Schmidt, shown here preparing
cedar bark, explained her techniques to the many curious casino-goers who stopped
by during the festival.
Artist To The Stars Native artist John Hawks, a Chiricahua Apache, shows
one of the finely carved pieces that he is known for. Hawks has artwork in the
Smithsonian Institution, and has commissioned pieces for such celebrities as John
Wayne and Henry Fonda.