Drawing on traditional ways to solve contemporary problems

Page 15

The 2002 Onion Lake powwow committee made history this year with an innovative approach to the problem of people crowding the drums during powwows.

In previous years, many spectators, including children and Elders, could neither see nor hear many of the drums and singers who were literally buried under a wall of avid fans loaded with tape recorders and video equipment.

Howard Walker, a thirty-year veteran in the announcer's stand from James Smith Cree Nation, explained how contemporary powwow has given a new twist to an old tradition; fixing the ongoing problem of pirated music with the introduction of paid recording passes.

"On the powwow circuit there are things that sometimes go unattended. One of them is when the powwow committee asks for a small donation to record songs. Old people have traditionally made up these songs and historically we were not allowed to sing these songs unless we have given a gift. When we ask for a recording pass at a powwow or celebration, we try to follow the custom that 'we pay for what we get in Indian country'," Walker explained.

"Anything that we acquire of traditional or ceremonial value, we always give tobacco or cloth. This is the reason we ask for a small gift for recording purposes. Some of these songs are sacred. Some have been passed down from society to society, from family to family, from Elders to young people. We have been told and instructed by our Elders to continue to practice that custom so that traditionally or ceremonially, we don't get something for nothing."

In ancient times, tribes, nations and warrior societies bought and traded the rights to practice certain songs, ceremonies and dances or wear sacred regalia such as the Dog Hat.

"In Indian country we call that 'Natchinehamasoin' (to go forth to seek, to earn for one's self). This means that when you want to learn a song, a dance or wear the colors of a dancer that inspires you, you give them cloth or tobacco," Walker said. "Symbolically that dancer was given the right to wear those colors in a sacred ceremony and in order to recognize what that dancer has given to our culture, customs and traditions, we offer a gift. In the same token, anyone who wants to record songs at powwow should respect this tradition."