Search - Omaha Indian Music :: Omaha Indian Music - Entry, Finale and Flag Songs CD

From available records, an interesting background of Joseph La Flesche (1822-1888) emerges. He was born on the Omaha Reservation near Bellevue, Nebraska. His father was Chief ?Iron Eyes?, and his mother sent Joseph to live among the Sioux, where he naturally absorbed some of their traditions. In the course of an eventful life, he also learned French, married the daughter of an Iowa chief - and met the ethnographer Alice Fletcher. In conjunction with this woman, considered one of the foremost authorities on her chosen field of interest in her day, he also compiled the legendary book The Omaha Tribe. Although Joseph has embraced Christianity by then, he still ascribed enormous significance to the customs and practices of his native tribe. The music contained in the Omaha Indians Music CD series from A2ZCDS is the result of their groundbreaking combined efforts to revive the eroding traditional value attached to the music of his people. Joseph La Flesche believed that the cultural survival of his people depended on their ability to make a transition to the non-Indian world. The annual pow-wow held in Macy, Nebraska, had always been a sort of closed affair. However, the American government had decided to ceremoniously return the original wax cylinder recordings of the Omaha people?s music, made by Alice Fletcher and La Flesche, to the tribe at the time of the 1983 event. The songs included on the Omaha Indians Music - Entry, Finale and Flag Songs CD showcase some of the most ritual-based aspects of Omaha music - and therefore signify the fact that Joseph La Flesche earnest attempts to preserve the traditions of his tribe have not been in vain. In context, with such a background, listening to this music is a moving and thought-provoking experience.