More than 30 Native American musicians and storytellers will be walking the good path to Saratoga Springs, to share their songs and their words at the third Saratoga Native American Festival at Saratoga Spa State Park, in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Featured musicians include Tomas Obomsawin (Abenaki), the Nettukkusq Singers (Nipmuc and Wampanoag), the Dawnland Singers (Abenaki) and Kontiwennenhawi (Akwesasne Mohawk), among others. Folk tales of all description will be shared by Mohawk storytellers Al Cleveland, Kay Ionataiewas Olan, and David Kanietakron Fadden, and Abenaki storytellers Jesse Bruchac, Jim Bruchac and Marge Bruchac. The host drum for powwow-style dancing is the Iron River Singers, and the Shenandoah Dancers will demonstrate traditional-
The two groups of Native women who will be singing at the Saratoga Festival – the Nettukkusq Singers and Kontiwennenhawi – share similar origin stories. Both groups came together at sorrowful times, and they determined to reclaim traditions that might otherwise be lost, and to share the transformative power of women’s voices with their communities.
The Nettukkusq Singers came together at the Nipmuc Memorial Social, held on Deer Island to commemorate the death of many Nipmuc and Wampanoag people who were interned there during King Philip’s War in 1676. In 1996, Four Native women – Dolores Quartey Hazard, Deborah Spears Moorehead (Talking Water), Pamela Anaqua Ellis, and Ojetta Silas – decided to start publicly singing Eastern Woodland traditional songs to keep the culture alive, to inspire the people, and to teach the children. The group also includes Jasmine Sunflower Moorehead and Jacqueline Pautauck Moorehead.
Nettukkusq has performed at a wide range of venues, including Brown University, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Schemitzen Powwow, the Nuweetoun School, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the Smithsonian Museum. Their music is on the soundtrack of the movie The Shadow of the Crow, and the PBS movie Exile. The women recently completed a songwriting grant collaboration with the Tomaquaug Memorial Indian Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian. They have two CDs, titled Mend the Hoop and Iootash.
The group Kontiwennenhawi, which translates to “Carriers of the Words,” originated as the Women's Singing Society in the Mohawk community at Ahkwesahsne (also spelled Akwesasne), which straddles the border between the US and Canada. In traditional Native communities, singing societies are responsible for giving assistance and support to those who have suffered a loss of some sort. Traditionally, men would have sung many of these songs at events called Six Nations Sing, held twice annually in the spring and fall.
The Akwesasne women felt a duty to help the language survive, by singing traditional songs, and writing songs in the Mohawk language. They tell us, “We believe that if our language dies, so will we as a Nation of people because without our language we will have no culture. The songs are shared and taught to children to honor our Mother the Earth, our Grandmother the Moon, Our Grandparents from every generation, the teachers in schools who teach the language, the Great Law of Peace for our life's foundation.”
The women serve two roles as singers: as the Women’s Singing Society, they offer traditional songs of condolence and care for Haudenosaunee people; as Kontiwennenhawi, they offer Mohawk music to other audiences to spread the good will around. The group includes Kenkiokoktha Theresa Bear Swamp-Fox, Angie Mitchell, Kahentíhson Elizabeth Swamp-Nanticoke, Jessica Lazore, Katsiítsión:
The third Saratoga Native American Festival is a collaborative effort of the Ndakinna Education Center and the NYS Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation. The event is open to the general public, with activities taking place under shelter, rain or shine. The Saratoga Native American Festival is taking place on October 3 and 4, from 10 am to 7 pm., at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, on the grounds of the Saratoga State Park, Saratoga Springs, New York. Admission fees are $10 for adults; $7 for seniors; $5 for children 5-12; children under 5 are free. For more information and a schedule, go to the on-line site at: http://www.saratoganativefestival.org/
The Ndakinna Education Center, an affiliate of the Greenfield Review Literary Center, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and charitable organization, based at the Marion F. Bowman Bruchac Memorial Nature Preserve in Greenfield Center, New York. For more information, go to: http://www.ndakinnacenter.org/
For further information, call: Joe Bruchac (518) 584-1728
Ndakinna Education Center (518) 583-9958
