Samantha Crain (2022-10-19) by The Kennedy CenterThe John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
First Nations Voices
Indigenous women across Turtle Island have long turned to music as a cultural practice, artistic form, and community tradition. Today, Indigenous women singer-songwriters continue to deploy their compositions as a form of self-expression and storytelling.
Contemporary Indigenous women singer-songwriters’ voices carry the traditions of their ancestors forward to the present moment, and project Indigenous voices into the future. Their melodies reflect the strength, beauty, and diversity of Indigenous communities.
Joanne Shenandoah
Joanne Shenandoah was a Native American singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist of the Oneida Indian Nation. Her music combined traditional melodies with modern instrumentation, and her lyrics conveyed her interests in nature, women's lives, and Haudenosaunee culture.
Joanne Shenandoah, Bill Miller, Mary Youngblood "Between Earth and Sky"
Samantha Crain
A two-time winner of the Native American Music Award, Samantha Crain is a Choctaw Nation songwriter, musician, producer, and singer from Shawnee, Oklahoma. Her music defies categorization, merging folk music with country rock and college indie.
Samantha Crain "Pick Apart"
"Writing in the Choctaw language has become something that’s really important to me. I have a really strong belief that the survival of Indigenous languages is the most important foothold in the continuation of Indigenous cultures and tribes." —Samantha Crain
Samantha Crain "When We Remain"
Tanaya Winder
Tanaya Winder is a poet, writer, artist, and educator who was raised on the Southern Ute reservation in Ignacio, CO. She writes and teaches about different expressions of love (self love, intimate love, social love, community love, and universal love).
"The arts matter because they tug at the heartstrings in ways that facts and politics and rhetoric could never access." —Tanaya Winder
Tanaya Winder "Tüütavayak—It's a Good day"
Mali Obomsawin
Mali Obomsawin is an award winning bassist, songwriter, and composer from Abenaki First Nation at Odanak. Fusing American roots, rock, and jazz, Obomsawin’s debut album Sweet Tooth has won critical acclaim, named in ‘best of the year’ lists from The Guardian, NPR, and JazzTimes.
Mali Obomsawin Sextet "Sweet Tooth, Movement 1"
“Telling Indigenous stories through the language of jazz is not a new phenomenon. My people have had to innovate endlessly to get our stories heard—learning to express ourselves in French, English, Abenaki… but sometimes words fail us, and we must use sound.”
Mali Obomsawin "Chenoo"
Lyla June
Lyla June is a musician, scholar, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne), and European lineages. Her multi-genre style has engaged audiences across the globe towards personal, collective, and ecological healing.
Lyla June "All Nations Rise"
"The reason very few people understand Indigenous stories is because the Western world is always telling our story for us. There's that adage of 'history is written by the victors' but the war isn't over, so therefore the story isn't over. We're still here as Indigenous people."
Lyla June "I Just Want to Thank You"
"Stanford is so many libraries and professors but they couldn't even teach me Navajo. They couldn't teach me my own language. The only person who can teach me that is my grandmothers. [I was] really questioning where is the knowledge in this world?" —Lyla June
Introduction by Dr. Elizabeth Rule (citizen, Chickasaw Nation). Dr. Rule is a writer, public scholar, and advocate for Indigenous communities. She holds a Social Practice Residency at the Kennedy Center and is an Assistant Professor of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies at American University.
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