Lakota tribe wants to educate people though

its music project

By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 09.12.19
Word Count 625
Level 850L

The orchestra at the 2010 Native American Day. Photo by: South Dakota Symphony Orchestra

In South Dakota, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is as big as Delaware and Rhode Island combined.
It has some of the highest poverty rates in the United States. For three years, it has also hosted
shows with music written for an orchestra by high school students.

"It's really a great thing to see these kids, and the pride that the reservation has in having these
kids be stars," said David Gier. He is the music leader of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

The yearly music academy is one part of the Lakota Music Project. It's a program developed with
the orchestra and musicians of the Lakota Native American tribe. The goal is to create cultural
cooperation, teaching people about the Lakota and the orchestra.

"Through music, we are able to show a side of us that nobody gets to see," said Emmanuel Black
Bear, a singer. He has been part of the Lakota Music Project since 2009. The native people have "a
rich culture," he said. "I wanted to be a part of something where we could show the positive side of
our people through music."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Black Bear is bringing the Lakota Music Project to Washington, D.C. Native flute player Bryan
Akipa and nine members of the South Dakota Symphony are also going. In October, Black Bear
will perform at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian and at Washington
National Cathedral. It is for a festival hosted by the PostClassical Ensemble. The goal is to show
Native American influences on American music.

Matching Two Different Types Of Music Together

The Lakota Music Project "deserves to be more widely known," said Joseph Horowitz. He is the
PostClassical Ensemble's leader.

The project began in 2005. It was soon after Gier started with the orchestra. He wanted to develop
community programs, and he learned about tensions in his new community between Native and
non-Native Americans.

Gier approached local leaders and experts. One was Ronnie Theisz, a writer of books on Lakota
culture. The two men talked about creating a project.

An idea came one snowy evening at Pine Ridge. Some of the orchestra's musicians met with the
Porcupine Singers, a drumming circle on the reservation. They played music for each other.

Gier said the keeper of the drum talked about singing old songs and passing on tradition to
younger people. It was the main thing both groups shared.

There are plenty of differences, too. The timing of the two types of music is different, said Black
Bear. "In the beginning, it was kind of difficult to match them together."

Hearing The Music Instead Of Trying To Change It

The first Lakota Music Project tour, in 2009, set themes for the concerts. Theisz became a leader
on the project. He suggested grouping the concert around love and death, joy and sadness, with
music from each culture. The second half had new works on Lakota themes.

The Lakota Music Project is coming to Washington because of Horowitz's support of the Indianist
movement. It was in the early 1900s. American composers wrote music based on Native American
themes. Horowitz calls it "a major American cultural event that's been totally forgotten."

From the Lakota point of view, however, the "Indianist" movement inappropriately uses Native
American customs. It's based on a misunderstanding of Native traditions, they believe.

"Even when they loved to take source music from different Indian tribes," Theisz said of the
Indianist composers, "they didn't appreciate it." They wanted to try to improve it, he said.

"We're trying to counter that," he said. "Hearing the real music is part of the project."

The Lakota Music Project's focus remains on building bridges through music.

"It's just human connection," Gier said, "and feeling like we can make a difference."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.