On February 21, 2001, history was made in the Native American world. NARAS, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences chose to incorporate a Native American Category into the Grammy Awards selection. This addition is the culmination of the efforts of Tom Bee, Michael and Sandra Horse, Val Kilmer, Robbie Robertson, and many, many other individuals. Tom Bee had told me back in 1990 that he had submitted a proposal to NARAS for this award. He told me at that time that it might take a long time, but he'd stick to it. In 1996, a large contingency of people joined Tom Bee, and eventually, the award was created and accepted by NARAS. Thank you Tom, for your persistence. Michael Greene, president of NARAS, told me that Tom's consistent hammering on the NARAS Committee was what made this happen and that I should be proud of Tom. I am.

     As many of you know, last night the first Native American Grammy was awarded to Tom Bee and myself. During the awards ceremony, I was seen pointing and talking to others in the audience. As the reporters began asking who I was pointing and talking to, I realized how important it must be to recognize the individual drum groups and others involved in the process of creating the CD that won the first Native American Grammy. (I was talking to and pointing to the drum groups in recognition of who they were at the Grammy's) It's important that everyone know that my co-winning the Grammy was related to my skills as a producer and editor, and not as a musician. My music is not found on the Gathering CD. I apologize to the drum groups for not naming each one of them, the Grammy people were flashing on their View Boards that we needed to wrap up the dialog long before I was allowed to say anything. It was my full intent to mention each drum group by name. Due to being on television, their schedule simply would not and could not permit it. We were allowed  30 seconds to speak, and we took just a bit longer than that as it was.

     The "Gathering of Nations" powwow is the biggest powwow in America. For the past 10 years Tom and I have had the contract to record this event. As a result of this event, we've produced 16 CD's over the years. This powwow is produced by the Mathews family, Derek, Lita, and Melonie. This event draws the country's best dancers and drum groups, and thousands of spectators. Special thanks to the Mathews for presenting the "Biggest Powwow in the World!"

     16 Drum groups and 19 songs in all are found on this Gathering of Nations powwow. They deserve special recognition as well. Drum groups appearing on the winning CD are:

Congratulations to each of these great drum groups!

 

     The CD was recorded by Herman Begay, Herwin Begay, John Frazier, Micah ? and myself, live at the Gathering. More than 170 songs were recorded from over 45 drum groups. We used John Hardy™  mic preamps, Audio Technica™  831 microphones, and Audio Technica™  UHF wireless systems to capture the audio, with Sonic Foundry Vegas™  and Tascam™  DA-45 DAT machine. A  Location Sound™  boom was also utilized.

     Herman and Herwin Begay assisted in the selection of songs, and the album was mastered at Native Restoration Studio in Stockton, Ut, by Douglas Spotted Eagle and Cole Davis using Sonic Foundry Sound Forge™ , Vegas™ , and CD Architect™  programs, with Waves™  and TC Electronics™  plugins. It was burned on a Hewlett Packard 6063™  burner.

     Many, many people were involved in the creation of this CD. The award represents the hard work of all of those peoples. I'm proud my name is part of the event, proud that I could be a part of the first ever Native American Grammy awarded. However, it's important that all of the people involved be recognized. The focus on the news, television, newspapers, and magazines has been predominantly on Tom Bee and myself. We produced the CD, but also recognize and thank those involved with it's creation. Thank you again to everyone for the songs, opportunity, work, support, and positive energy that went into the creation and production of this project.

 

Free, full MP3 songs!
• "The Gift" (dse)
• "Daddy's Arms" (dse/Robert Gass)

These songs are in MP3 Format, at 128k, so it is near CD quality. Please feel free to distribute them as you see fit.  

If you don't have an MP3 player, I'd like to recommend Sonic Foundry's SIREN.  It's free for the download.  Early next year, we'll release a new CD with Siren on it, and with free skins for it. (A skin lets you make the player look any way you want it to look)