Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Navajo Culture Club - pow-wow practice after school

I am sitting in on an after-school meeting of the Navajo Culture Club at the invitation of one of the high-school-age members who has been only outgoing and friendly towards me. In this classroom, with a window open and a cool winter breeze following the sunshe into the room...this is how to experience Navajo singing. Tuning to the AM radio stations could not possibly give you the sense of community that is formed by more than ten young men surrounding a pow-wow drum, uniting in a smother reverberation that echoes through my chest.

The sponsor of the Navajo Culture Club at Rock Point (also the teacher who I've been following most of the week), has brought in a college buddy who traveled across the country to experience pow-wow drumming in tribes across the country. He first introduced his experiences with the pow-wow drum and then continued speaking about song and drum in a very inspirational way. Song and drum gave him a new perspective on his life when he was in college. And he knew (whether from talking with the sponsor or just knowing some of the kids perviously) that the kids there needed an outlet. (As I mentioned before, many of the kids involved with the Navajo Culture Club felt left behind by the rest of the school culture that is so dominated by an attitude of success being linked to athletic prowess.) The guest explained the releases that song and drum grant him; he works out negative emotions and energy with the music. He spoke about the respect that tradition and tales demand for a drum. Finally, he encouraged everyone to take up a mentor if they want to be serious about life -- the drum cannot be the only outlet, and sometimes one needs another person to guide you back on track to being yourself.

This was not the first time that I had heard mentors stressed in the school. Many of the teachers act as mentors since the school only has a counselor for a couple days of the week. But I also get the sense that mentorship serves as more than just guidance in schooling and learning about music. While I can not really get any closer to any of these relatinoships, I still get the sense that mentoring is a valued cultural experience for people here, even more so than what I see in my own schooling and culture/lifestyle. I certainly look up to people and have role models, but I see more people here talking openly about their statuses as mentee to an influential person/mentor in their life. Certainly, there seems to be more pride and appreciation for this relationship than I have seen in the time I have spent building a career or a hobby.

The speaker finishes his introduction with the thought that once they gather for pow-wow, there is not longer any sense of 'I'. There is only the 'we' he says in Navajo first and then in English.

He sits down amidst the circle of young men, looks at them and then adds one more note about pow-wow. He says that as collective musicians using one drum, their voices are also not individual. Each voice has a place, no matter how high or low, resonant or soft. No matter what their relationship before walking into the room, they should be ready to sit next to the person who best compliments their own voice so that the compilation sounds as one.

The circle begins to drum. Then the song erupts. And they continue with either smiling their enthusiasm, with focus across their singing faces or with a look of being at a higher place in their minds, without any distractions from school or home.

As the 5 p.m. mark approaches, the sponsor teacher tells the guest that the kids have to catch buses home. The kids jokingly (but I suspect simultaneously seriously) suggest that they should practice in the guest's or the sponsor's garage this weekend.

I saved my favorite comment for last. In the midst of the playing, everyone took a break for a breather and the guest said very casually that the drum not only meant being and working together, but also that he expected to eat well at any occasion for pow-wow. Honestly, what could go better with good music?

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