“What do you hear in your mind’s ear when you hear the phrase ‘American Indian Music’?” writes Stephen Raskauskas on Friday (11/6) at Chicago classical radio station WFMT. “Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, a Chickasaw composer, said, ‘American Indians have been involved in the fine arts for a long time, in every genre from literature to dance to film. But for some reason, people are surprised to learn that American Indians compose ‘classical’ music.’ …Tate has been involved with a number of projects to combat stereotypes…. Recently, Tate collaborated with NBC for their reboot of [the musical] Peter Pan … [with its] egregiously offensive … song ‘Ugg-a-Wugg.’ … One of Tate’s other recent projects … is a new four-part radio series called Taloa [airing] throughout November to celebrate Native American Heritage Month.… ‘There are 350 federally recognized tribes in the lower 48 states,’ Tate said.… There is an incredible amount of diversity within the music of American Indian composers…. ‘American Indians use orchestras and classical instruments, and that doesn’t sound very “Indian” to most people. We use Western instruments to create abstracted version of our own experiences. But that’s what any fine arts practitioner does. We just abstract cultural symbols.’ ”
Posted November 12, 2015
