What is Native music?

These survival songs
put us back together

Qwo-Li Driskill

What exactly is native music?


"Since the early 1960s, Native American music has been bringing a unique fusion of
the written word and oral traditions while also syncretically blending
traditional instrumentation with modern electronic technologies.
While the forms and styles of contemporary Native American music
are always changing, the medium of song still serves, as it has for
millennia, to transmit and process information important to Native
communities: histories, philosophies, political concerns, social values,
and stories. Likewise, they may be sung as expressions of joy,
sadness, victory, defeat, love, or anger—any emotional or spiritual
feeling can be addressed in song." (Kimberli Lee from "Heartspeak from the Spirit")

Dr. Kim Lee makes an critical point: Native music does something. It serves a purpose. Music helps us to survive: it's a survival tactic. It encourages us to move forward and makes us remember our past. It tells stories and draws pictures in our minds. Music nourishes our spirits and helps us to live.

Native music is not all flutes and wind. Native music is found within all genres--it's not a specific genre.