Native American Music…Past and Present

For decades Mixashawn, a descendant of the Maheekanew people of the Connecticut River Valley, has intrigued audiences with his interactive presentations of the many varieties of Native American music, its roots, its offspring, and its meaning. Combining performance with lecture, song with audience participation, he has succeeded in simultaneously entertaining and enlightening everyone from preschoolers to adults.

Programs of any length, from one hour to multisession workshops, are tailored to the audience, depending on age level and, where applicable, curriculum requirements.

Highlights of a typical one-hour program include the following, much of which involves audience participation:

• Vocal and instrumental performance of Indigenous North and South American music.
• The “Circle of Sound,” which Mixashawn creates around the audience using the kana (a South American bamboo flute) while explaining the concept and significance of the circle in Indigenous American cultures.
• A capsule history of Connecticut’s Native People up to the present.
• An explanation of the often-overlooked distinction between Indigenous and Native American peoples and cultures.
• A demonstration and discussion of Native North and South American musical forms and their relationship to such genres as contemporary powwow music, cumbia, rhythm and blues (“R&B”), jazz, rock, and hiphop.
• A “time-travel” presentation of Omnipop. Using the berimbow, a primitive string instrument with origins in Africa and South America, Mixashawn leads the audience on a trip through 500 years of popular music—from Indigenous North American styles to rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, hiphop, and back again—without missing a beat. The unity of music is demonstrated by way of the oral tradition, ultimately the most powerful tool for understanding the great American legacy of music-culture-society.
• An optional question-and-answer period.

The program concludes with Mixashawn emphasizing that the Indigenous roots of modern American culture are very much alive today—and that it is something we all share.

Mixashawn is available for individual bookings as well as Diversity Workshops, Multicultural Workshops, Multidisiplinary Workshops, and counsultation on sonic and aquatic principles and practices. For further information, contact Mixashawn at Mixashawn@Mixashawn.com.