https://medicinesingers.bandcamp.com/album/medicine-singers
The Medicine Singers, initially known as Eastern Medicine Singers, are a an inter-tribal collective of singers and drummers performing in the Native American pow wow style. Their repertoire features songs sung in an Eastern Algonquian dialect.
In 2017, they formed a creative alliance with Israeli guitarist and producer Yonatan Gat, formerly a member of Monotonix. This partnership blossomed during a chance encounter at the annual SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. Following several collaborative projects, they embarked on a musical journey aimed at exploring entirely new horizons. This musical exploration culminated in their eponymous debut album, which was released in 2022 by Joyful Noise Recordings in collaboration with a newly established sub-label named Stone Tapes.
Prior to 2017, the group, comprising individuals like Daryl "Black Eagle" Jamieson and Ray Two Hawks, functioned as a source of drumming and singing music at New England pow wows and various gatherings. Their songs predominantly featured Eastern Algonquian, a dialect that represents a surviving branch of one of the most widespread ancestral languages among Native American peoples on the continent. Jamieson, who also held the position of clan chief in the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation, learned this language under the tutelage of the late elder and chief, Clinton Wixon, who was an expert in the Wampanoag dialect.
The band's mission has consistently included preserving, revitalizing, and celebrating endangered Native American languages and dialects, while also upholding ceremonial traditions and fostering community bonds within these groups.
In a 2022 interview with The Fader, Jamieson emphasized the significance of their cultural heritage, stating, "[Our people] are the people of the first light—we see the light first—we are the guardians of the first gates." He went on to explain the importance of morning prayers to express gratitude to the Creator for life. These prayers are accompanied by a vital song that he has passed down to his tribe, the Pocasset Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation. Jamieson believes in sharing these songs and lyrics to raise awareness that these languages are still alive and spoken by some individuals, with the aim of passing them down through generations.
Citation link - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_Singers
Photo credit - https://thefestival.bc.ca/artists/medicine-singers/