California Indian Songs and Stories

chelley Tom will honor us with a blessing as we begin hmm yay pipe anomaly in each increment keratin papaya derives Kadokawa madara yet mjpk event my supa jack in the hoodie ki-jung no pity upon two thieves on a cold up not el cobra-cabra father Yamabuki irish what maybe if you just wanna your develop a cutter fault for whatever human Pacquiao shall be able to apply power to pity a big but Commissioner ah ha ha ha yeah Thank You charlie that was the beautiful crook language from the Klamath River the it's lovely to see so many people it's lovely to do something that people want to come to and turn out for and I'm very proud of this event my name is Malcolm Margolin I'm publisher of heyday books and we've been public we do about 25 books a year many of them on California Indian culture and history and we also do a magazine news from native California that's been covering California Indian culture and history for 20 years now we did this is part of a whole series of events that we've been doing on call on California Indian cultural revival and we've been planning this event with the Phoebe Apperson Hearst museum for the last year or so and they've been just lovely to work with the reason that it was free the reason that it's in such a posh hotel the reason that we've been able to fly in some of the best of the singers and the dances and the storytellers of California has been because of the money that the Hearst raised because of the efforts I want to thank my friend Kent Lightfoot who's just stepped down as director of the Hearst and Sandra Harris who's deputy director and Kim Preciado who's program director and I want to thank as long as I'm thanking people I thank the fly Chaka foundation and the various departments of the university that kicked in money for this it was very lovely the arm and it's lovely to look out and see so many friends including I'm a good friend Greg Castro do you want to wave Greg just just embarrass you embarrass yourself slightly yeah ya know what a friend Zafar if you don't embarrass each other the Greg is Selena from his people come from the Salinas Valley the Santa Senate own the San Antonio Valley and Greg will remember about 12 years ago I was down there doing some writing and some research and on Indians in the Hunter Liggett Military Reservation and while I was there I stopped in at the King City newspaper to see what the years of newspaper coverage of the Indians had been and I went through years and years of newspapers and I discovered that in 1870 there was a wonderful article about how the last Selene and Indian had died and it was a very mournful very lovely article and in 1880 there was a marvelous article about how the last Selene and Indian had died and in 1890 there was an article about how the last Selene and Indian had died in 2000 there was an article about the last of his tribe and it was the last Selene and Indian well the last Selene and Indian kept dying for a century and and this amazed me because after I read this I mean I would go off and I would meet Greg and his members of the Tribal Council and they didn't look very good they were the most contentious a lot of people I could ever imagine I mean they were vibrant they were lively they were doing cultural research they were doing language restoration but I think it sums up two things and one of the things that sums up is the attitude of the dominant culture that the last real Indian has gone is the last real Indian is forever going and it's the unwillingness of the Indian community to go along with this that to that the despite the best efforts of the media California Indians have been marvelously culturally vibrant and they have revived there and they've continued its pressive aired as an editor and a publisher it's been just one of the great thrills of my life to be a witness to a major cultural revival that has gone on for the last thirty years now where people are regaining their language their regaining their songs their regaining the sense of themselves it's heartbreakingly beautiful I think there's probably more language spoken in California today than there was 10 years ago the it's been simply heartbreaking and very very beautiful with it comes with cultural revival comes political revival and I think it comes with it the rights and the capacities of people to maintain their own stories to tell their own attentive to have control of their own remains and this is often caused trouble with universities and with museums I've asked or the new director of the Hearst museum is Judd King and Judd has offered to come up and talk a little bit about the Hearst and what it's planning to do in the years ahead and what he's planning to do and it's a pleasure to have him as a co-host and this is his ninth day on the job so it's not his fault [Applause] I've had lots of hard acts to follow in my day this is another one I do want to offer you a welcome on behalf of the Hearst Museum and I'd like to make one other thank you towards the campus which is to the campus Arts Foundation which did contribute generously to this event as well I'm not the ordinary museum director I'm a chemical engineer and that they're not usually found directing museums but I've been in with this University for 45 years and I've been in a host of administrative positions on the campus and down in Oakland for 10 years at the system level and that's what I bring to this job rather than a knowledge of museums or of anthropology what I'm here about is for a period to work on several major things one is the relationships of the museum with its constituencies and of course Prime among these is the Native community of California so that will be a big effort and I'm also working with the museum to help guide it through some very major issues of facilities and projects and where it will be located in the future yes it may move around some but not away from the Berkeley campus one of the delightful things about getting back into the ranks from the stratosphere of Oakland is the opportunity to experience what the university is all about in an event like this is what the university is all about it really gives me a lot of pride and pleasure to be attached to it it very pleased that we're working together with heyday books on this and I very much look forward to the evening and unfortunately I can only look forward to the first part of the evening because before all of this happens starting about two to three weeks ago I had scheduled myself for a very early morning flight to Washington tomorrow that is where I am going so I will be doing my thing there but I will certainly enjoy the first part of this and I invite all of you to enjoy all of it thank you yeah thank you Judd I hope it works out with the relationships of the I think that the I've always been stunned at the depth and the beauty of the collection of the Hirst and its I mean this is the treasure house of California Indian world I mean this is you don't know it from the display area but back in these vaults and stuff is just treasures that are things of beauty things that are such tributes to human skill and such tributes to human imagination and I think that the hearse needs its own sense of greatness it needs a full relationship with the Indian community these are the people that have the knowledge they have the understanding they can breathe life into it all I mean this is the true constituency and I think there's a necessity and I hope it works out I hope that this in eyes furthers its working out the first person that will have to share something of their culture as my dear friend Linda yamani and I've known Linda for about 20 years she's Rumsey and Aloni traces her descent to people that lived along the Carmel River and were laid a mission eyes dihn mission Carmel and she has been absolutely lovely in her capacity to restore language to learn baskets to learn songs to take stuff that hasn't been done for years to pull back things from the brink of extinction and to bring them out and to share them with others and it's a pleasure to have Lindsay and money let's welcome her [Applause] always moving the next person up is Mike Marella's and Mike comes from the tourism athena's reservation in Southern California a thermal the desert area is desert Cahuilla and he's one of a group of young people that have revived the bird songs there were one song and I remember 20 years ago the bridge song seemed to be strictly in the hands of a few elders who had plucked them out of the old houses and had been relearning them and it's singing them and teaching them to younger people and now it's become you go down there and there are young people performing and there are young people doing bird songs and it's a vibrant scene people come there not because they want to do cultural revival but because they want to have a good time and it's one of the most heartening things that I've seen and it's a pleasure to have Mike Morales come to be with us tonight Mike Oh Jeremy oh there it goes um I'm not really much of a good public speaker I'm just strictly a singer so just please bear with me as you said I'm one of the younger singers back home the only reason we have are our queer songs today is because of the efforts of three men mr. Alvino Siva Robert Levi and Anthony Andreas these three men at one time you know when all Cahuilla we all knew the songs and everybody knew the customs and traditions they dropped down so drastically till only three men and three men from different reservations luckily they came together and and they started talking and and you know talking about how sad it was you know how things are that that remembering old times and said well why don't we just start bringing it back so they started meeting at the house and they started just practicing and and by doing so they started remembering tricking triggering their memory and slowly but surely we started to getting things back and that's kind of how like the sad part is you know there was only three of them so they couldn't be everywhere and I didn't hear our songs until I was 17 years old for a long time there was no songs or dances at all whatsoever in on my reservation it was pretty much almost almost extinct and it was until sadly a funeral my uncle's funeral that's when I first heard our songs and um once I heard him I was hooked I did everything I could you know before I you know I would never if anybody ever told me you're gonna be a singer and you're gonna do all these things everything no way I mean I can't even dance I'm gonna sing and um and but as soon as I heard these songs I had to learn them I didn't care if I look stupid or if I started you know like an idiot I wasn't doing it because I wanted to be recognized there's be seen I wanted to sing cuz there was just something that pulled to me or pulled me to it and that's all I wanted to do it was not to set out for any recognition at all just to be a singer that's it so I kept bugging these three men over and over again I kept popping up wherever they were singing I was there like whose kid it's coming out from nowhere I'd always find a way anyways I just trying to explain a little bit you know where I was coming from where I'm coming from see the struggle back then was you know the churches and everything we're killing our culture they didn't want us Indian people to exist anymore so devised a plan to get rid of it that was a struggle then the struggle now that we have is amongst each other you know there's no white person trying to stop me from singing there's no black person or Hispanic person stopping me from trying to be Korea sadly it's our own people you know it's you know and a lot of people they don't talk about this because there's certain things you don't talk about in public but you know it's just like racism if you don't talk about racism you know you know educate the public on what's going on and it's never going to change now no one's no one say anything and when no one says anything nothing gets done change never happens so I mean please forgive me if I offend anybody but what I'm saying that's not my my objective at all my objective is my objective is to point out that you know we shouldn't be jealous of each other we shouldn't be looking at when when somebody gets up to sing and dance we shouldn't be jealous and singing while they're taking my thunder they're taking my recognition they shouldn't be up there doing it that's the way it's kind of seen and sadly that's what's killing our culture now that's what's stopping it from progressing and and getting any further so that's the thing now like when we talk about like new songs every to stop there whoa you know don't do that you can't do that you have to just stick with what we have and that's it but the sad thing is is that a lot of our songs and even our old people say this that our songs are so old that the language some of it's forgotten so some of the meanings lost so we can't translate other songs that we have but we know what the songs pertain to we know what the meaning is for so that part we're safe but to get people like it sad when we go to our wakes and they're singing you know our elders get angry because people start talking because the way our wakes go is that when there's a death they sing from sundown to sunup they're singing to that person they're telling them where they're gonna go okay now now that's something very beautiful very meaningful I mean you're expressing how much love you have for that person that creator up above I mean it's nothing higher than that and people begin to talk they start talking in the crowd and it's rude and the elders they get angry and they turn on you why are you talking you shouldn't be talking you know this person here is on their journey over you're talking and laughing and have a good time there's two perspectives that neither one are seen there's the perspective of you know the elders and how they've grown up with this and how you're supposed to be and how you should be understanding and looking at it and they're right but they're missing the point of view from my generation on we don't know what they're saying we don't know what they're singing about the only thing we connect with is the music their music is the only thing that makes us feel and understand like what's going on but as for the words you know no one's getting up and explaining it because they really don't take the time to do it so it's kind of hard when you're sitting there too for them to be connected and that's kind of where we're at right now and that's something that you know hopefully in the future it'll change because they think you know if you understand what's being said and what's going on well then you know there's you won't have we won't have that problem of having that disrespect being down where people are talking you know they start to reminisce about the person up there that's what they're doing they're talking about the good times they had with them so you know that's what's going on in the crowd so I think if we just start talking together more and be more open instead of being so closed and trying to stick on things that we think look Indian and that actually are then we'll start to move forward and then our culture flourish even more so that's that's my take on that now on to the songs the bird songs as I said the bird songs are the quia the queer version of how life began the bird songs are kind of like I can give you a little example for those that know powwow the power culture is shared by many tribes Cheyenne Lakota Arapaho you know all those Plains tribes they all share the power culture with the dances and songs well bird is kind of like that for those of us in Southern California and parts of Arizona and even down parts of Mexico we all share that that that's song c-44 Cahuilla it's strictly a social song not for ceremonies at all whatsoever but for the other tribes because they've lost so much they use their songs for the bird songs for wakes blessings and ceremonies and stuff but that's as queer we try to keep to the tradition we don't sing our social songs at our ceremonial at our ceremonies because I don't we believe you can't substitute one for another and it's not to downplay what you know what they do it's just you know we're trying to stick to as close as the culture as we can know the songs the songs like I said are talking about the beginning of creation and it goes so far back to explains even when God was born he's saying the beginning there was nothing it was all blackness and then lightning struck all different colors red white brown yellow all these colors they struck a lightning struck and an embryo was formed but the embryo died it didn't make it two more times has happened so a total of three times finally on the third time when I construct the embryos survived and inside the embryo was two beans instead of one there's mukha and Demi Ellen these are the two twin brothers that were born and they started to talk to each other as they're filling their bodies trying to fill them and understand what's going on and the beginning the first song that we sing the beginning of the bird song the brothers are singing to each other you're saying that together we're going to we're going to use our feathers and our staff and we're going to start going to create the world win them I'm going to start laughing to create life so that's what the first song I'm going to sing is talking about the second one is talking about when they start to mold man and put him into the earth for incubation so to start you know the creating process I don't know the word for it so those are the first two songs I'm gonna sing and these are these are the beginning songs the beginning songs [Music] Oh come to the water [Music] and they are computed on the wall - love you oh I'm good to go oh let you all know holding off oh no enough all computed war to do oh go to the water number Oh No [Music] nyow nyow nyow nyow leo a message on my always a thematic on nacho nacho holds nyow nyow aoa the my gosh the Murdock's tyoma Choi Oh nut oil Oh Toyo on the show well below it's a little company always summer corners on the toy oh my oh the song start from when we used to do these traditionally we don't start from sundown to sunup without repeating one song that's ooh that's way that the dance would go maybe because you know I'm desert kuya nobody's dancing during their day because it's too dang hot so night times when I dancing good the beginning songs talk about the creation of life and how it began now the brothers start to argue as brothers do there they start arguing about whose creation is better Mooka is looking at them you know it and he's saying oh he's looking at his creation and he sees the head you know actually he sees her feet and he's got feet going one both directions forward and backwards so what is that what say well that way their balance goes well they just stand still you know they got two legs and then he says a woman and what's with this what's with the hands cuz it hands were webbed he says well that's why they can that way they can gather water better and drink so well they just put their hands together he goes what's with the head just two faces one face for once for the bank doesn't know what he's coming or going and with that Daniel got angry he got tired he got fed up with being criticised and he slapped his staff into the earth and earthquake the earth opens and he goes into the earth and he takes all his creations with him and that's what this next song I'm about to sing is talking about it's talking about when he's taking everything with him and mukha and his creation stayed here on earth now that's what moved to go in and remove it then y'all they go into the earth the second song is after the earthquake they say that's when um we started speaking different languages because after the earthquake he was calling everybody and only those that understood Korea came to him and it was calmed to get everybody together to explain what was going on what what was happening says that kind of the explanation why everybody well we have so many different languages because the earth shook so violently that it just changed everything and confused the hell out of everybody elmo shallow a mocha loca Elmo's Aloha which move girl ooh hello a little good the lowest of the low most Aloha omocha [Music] hello I am Elsa Louis motor hello salut a no-good [Music] mosa Louis I'm a girl wish oh boy I'm okay we'll hit my car motor Lewis color mocha Louis omocha I know mo girl wish my car motor hello most Aloha elmo's Aloha motor Louis hello Elsa Louis I'm Elsa no muscle ooh Milka [Music] tell you something boy oh boy okay mmm oh boy okay oh boy okay [Music] your mama [Music] no he gathers the people and the story actually takes like a week to tell so I'm giving you like the Cliff Notes version kid I'm chopping it up like crazy so I could fit it in the 20 minutes now um fruit everything starts to set own life's going on but something happens mukha gets bored and he starts to do things with the people he starts to entertain himself with the people and he does a lot of bad things and finally the last straw was one day he was bored and he stands up he says eh you know why don't we play a game and he grabs his staff and goes do this and he sticks himself in the stomach and pulls the staff out of his back and there is like looking at like no no way we do that we'll die he goes no no you won't look and he did it again they're like well Luke it says it's okay why not you know he's God we're gonna say no so they all line up they start shooting each other with arrows bows and arrows sure enough people start dying they start dropping like flies and later on the people got together and had a secret meeting and they're talking about what are we gonna do we have to do something you know he keeps doing things like this we can't have this we have to do something and they say it was the flicker that's uh um yeah flicker the Sun quivered thought of established is the flicker it was the flicker that said p.m. beer means - which him kill him you know cuz that's what he's doing to us because if we don't we don't do anything more is gonna happen so they decided to kill Mook it and they do they use frog frog has the strongest medicine so frog which is mukha and that's when things start to really get bad and she's jumping forward a little bit more see they killed mukha so he tells them that you know since this is after they cremated him and everything that will Kay since they've done that it's fair it's understandable but now you guys have to leave you can't stay here yeah I have I have a place for you but you have to go find it so that's when they start the journey for the promised land that's they say that's when we we travel this continent three times before we found the promise that we're looking for and that's what the bird songs are talking about the trials and tribulations of the people through the journey and some of these songs that they'll describe like the things that they've seen and things that they went through these next two minutes I'm going to talk about is like the things they experience with with the weather and the conditions the first one is talking about the winds coming upon us and it's hard it's blowing hard and you know with everything blowing the rocks and sticks and everything it stings and the second song is talking about it's cold it's really cold and people are dying because it's so freezing cold and that's what these two songs are talking about the the trials and tribulations that they're going through so um [Music] come on come on girl come on girl come come come come come come come come more to me Oh you and my boy Oh [Music] oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh hello oh you and my my oh my oh boy oh boy Oh oh and boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh hello and boy [Music] now the songs that that follow they start talking about the terrain and things that they see and they start describing the area so you know we've been able to actually go back and find those places so it's kind of like a blueprint of you know that's art that was that's how all natives kept their history was through or orally through song through stories and that's what that's another reason why they created bird bird is sung in the sequence so they could stop like I said they sang from sitting out in the Sun up and wonder well how do you keep track the songs were put in a specific order so wherever they stop they come back they knew exactly where to start from so these songs are sung for social events only for whatever birthday parties you know just getting together everybody hanging out that's what what that's what they're there for to the music the music is to remind the people you know why we're alive what we live for because like I said the songs talk about the the trials and tribulations that the people went through and all the love that they had for the Creator the Creator had for them and each other and how that's how we survived by sticking together and I think a lot of times we all talk about that publicly but a lot of times behind the scenes you know nobody's ever he's kind of forgotten that part they think they don't really have to do it I remember I was at the tribal hall for a week and I was there helping see normally the women they put up the material for the wakes but there was no women there helping there was only two older ladies and I was the only one that was young enough to climb up and down the ladder to put the material so I remembered mr. Levi he's the one that he's our head singer for tours Martinez and he says you know what you're doing is good and I was just I thought I was just helping out two ladies I wasn't really but I wanted to learn what was going on - at the same time but he says you know what you're doing is good this this is what being Indian is it's not having the long hair wearing the feathers and going out in public and dancing like that it's doing things like this taking care of each other I mean this is what we have to do this is what makes us a tribe this is what makes you Indian and he pointed me and he said that and I never forgot that sadly this is actually the first time I've sang in a few months because we lost mr. Levi a few months ago he's the head singer for towards Martinez the desert queer like I said there was three out of one time ten thousand now down to three now myself and a couple other friends we've been struggling trying to revive these songs to keep them going to carry on their work and that's that's a struggle we face today and it's going pretty good because now birds flourishing like crazy now it's coming back and it just takes their you know learning these songs and spending time with these three men I learned not to give up and that's what these songs are about to the journey is you don't give up you keep going through and fighting and getting up every day no matter what no I'm going to close with these last two songs these last two songs talk about the birds the birds were singing towards the Sun and he pointed it out he says you ever noticed that at night and in the morning the birds are always facing towards the Sun and they're singing they're singing it up and they're singing it down says that's what these two songs are talking about and for me each time these songs they represent to me it's a new day it's a new day start all over get up no matter what happened yesterday get up and you got to do what you got to do to make it happen because if you don't who will so I'm gonna close with these two songs um I just want to thank the people from here at the Museum for bringing me out I really appreciate it gives me a chance to come out and talk about these three men and give them the recognition they deserve and also the fact that it's California natives see the thing is not too many people know is that California natives were almost like the Forgotten people because other tribes they look at us like we don't exist you know they say oh there's Indians in California and it just changed me because we don't dress the way they do we don't look the way they do and you know like me I'm just I asked them what am I supposed to wear what kind of event is this I know I don't know what to do and she goes well just wear what you wear and that's what we do when we sing well it's not about it's not about dressing up because it's not a ceremony we're just coming out to sing and share our culture so I just kind of want to explain this but again thank you very much I really appreciate it and I really appreciate the fact that you know it's it's giving recognition to California natives because like I said sadly you know it's our own home and you know a lot of times in beginning we weren't even allowed to sing at the Pao house which was funny you know you're at our house and you're having a party and we're not invited just gonna hear but things are changing things are changing uh-oh uh-oh hi oh hi oh boy uh-oh uh-oh uh-oh I own over I hope oh hi oh hi oh hi oh boy I'm not based on of a carport oh no I oh I oh I oh I oh I oh forever on your holiday pop or tone oh hi oh hi oh hi oh hi oh aiyyo aiyyo aiyyo aiyyo aiyyo aiyyo aiyyo oh wait there's only two pieces on the toy far off it hallway all elect on me away y'all elect on me hey told me toy your peers too busy it's on the toy your pocket bosses always all alike so me always all alike to me hey Tommy hey Tommy Oh ha ha ha hey call me all your peers a pity it on the soil fall apart all waiting on the Little Miss hallway y'all Alecto me hey Tommy toy your fears appears hey Tommy Hawk office hallways all electro me hallways all they told me hey Tom you're so stupid it's only 400 faulty it on this all your feet Oh [Applause] yeah thank you Mike for such a vigorous and honest presentation that I remember listening to some of these older bird singers and thinking that if I died and went to heaven and there was an eternity of bird songs it would be an eternity that I'd be willing to spend I mean do they just go on and on and stories unravel the next person is Ron good and Ron is tribal chair of the North Fork mano and this is the group of people that live between Fresno and Yosemite up on the mountains the ron is a teacher he's taught at universities he has a deer farm he's been an administrator he's been a wonderful craftsman and a variety of skills he's a storyteller and he's been just vigorous and marvelous in his advocacy for Indian rights for the rights of unrecognized people to reach to achieve federal recognition he's a good friend and it's wonderful to have Ron good here thank you [Applause] man whoo lovely crowd first of all Thank You Malcolm and and Lillian sandy and Museum everybody for inviting us [Music] welcome to California American Indian Day this is what it is today so good celebration thank you to Ronald Regan for mechanist sarday I wanna thank two of my good friends and elders and one of my council members I've Adele Maori and Sue Jackson and my good friend in the back Marilyn good to see her that was great but now with no songs great I mean no mike says that he's not much of a public speaker but I think he's great hear them songs I could sit back you're that big chair he just snooze away you know and then Linda what a voice you know I don't want to sing I'll tell you that the you know whenever alone our spirits and our ancestors are always with us and I think that your your ancestors were right here sitting with you they were there she said something about there goes dinner [Music] you know what a vegetarian is right that's a poor Indian hunter deer hunter where mono which means monkey or doll in Spanish in our language where Noom means the people and so I want to kind of start off with a little blessing and healing song today we've formed a bridge this is a good bridge between our culture and our people museum has like you said all of our traditions over there we have our traditions too at home but we like that bridge to be able to go in there and see what was there and like Linda said some things sometimes they're hiding you know and when time is right and that's how we teach that's how our way is is that when time is right it will be given to us and be brought back and so that's that's how we are this is a healing and blessing song [Music] [Music] [Music] hey hey hey hey hey hey wanna like Mike was saying we have songs for everything there's for weddings for funerals for fun for gambling and music just a great part of all of our lives I do a lot of study a lot of history and studying the the yo Kutch and me walks and a me walk in Dimona we have over fifty two different games that they would play and I go out to the schools and I tell the kids our villages were just like your schools we had basketball courts and football fields over here and in playgrounds and play in hand game and I'm a hand game play so you know you can play hand game all night all day just keep going and so there's all kinds of different things and that they would do this is a little hand game song that came to me and I I put together gobo gobo na hoo-wee gobo gobo gobo gobo la lluvia gobo gobo na booyah Kovu Kovu Kovu Kovu na Kuya I saw Coco bono booyah Kovu Kovu Kovu Kovu now booyah Coco Bona booyah Kovu Kovu na hui loco Mona booyah Coco Bona Bona we have you ever heard that whistle that's the Oriole and one time I was playing this for the kids and one little Oriole came and he sat right on the wire and he started singing with me that oh that was really great our songs do lots of different things we had this little song it's a very simple little song and it's for the kids we gotta imagine it's called a squirrel song and this young boy is going out he's going out with all the family members of grandmas and the aunts and they're going out to gather get some sticks some berries and they're taking him along with them he's got his little bow and arrow and he's going to go out and hunt squirrel I don't know if any of you ever hunted squirrel but I'll tell you what you could pack a big old shotgun and still not bring a squirrel down they're tough they'll hang on to that tree and not let go you know have 50 bullets in it still didn't matter they're tough so their little boy in his arrow he's going to be out there that squirrels pretty safe with him but they go along and I got to find that squirrel where's that squirrel at so they're going along they're singing this song idle away a gun gun my dil awakened my dil away gun gun my idle away hey gun gun my dil away a gun gun my lil away hey gun gun guru to to to get the thing contradicted there's that squirrel there pointing over there but over there doodoo doodoo he likes that song by the way he can good my dil away he gun gun my dil away hey gun gun idle away hey gun gun so off the little boy goes and he goes over and he's got his little bow and arrow and he's walking all around that tree and his family goes over here they're getting sticks and they're getting berries and they're talking and once in a while so that he doesn't get discouraged they sing the song my lil away hey gun gun my idol away my dil away hey gun gun my dill away Hagan them in the little boy he continues his little hunt you know so I remembered that song and I remembered that story a few years ago I was out cutting wood and I'm out running my chainsaw and just nervous really cutting wood man gotta get that winter fire going took break nobody around a few Birds sitting there having lunch pine cones are coming down off the tree up here yeah I looked up there and there he is sorry next day every time at lunch same thing next day I say okay three days is enough so I said you know nobody's out here so nobody's going to hear me sing so I think I'll just sing to that squirrel and see him see if he likes this song so I did put my sandwich down he's up here in the trees and I sang to him my dil awakened gun model away a gun gun model away hey gun good I know if anybody saw me you know singing to the squirrel model awakened gun my idol away might not be here tonight my idol away a gun gun model away a gun gun and here he come tree to tree he started coming down and he got over there on that stump where I was sawing and he sat right there he just started seeing you my little away gun good model away hey gun gun haha well I guess that song actually does work you know so the next day here I come I'm out there I've got my chain song I'm just a cutter I got to get my load get out of Everett playing with that squirrel I look over and there's a pine cone on the road oh no here he is here he comes he's hopping from tree to tree there's one little oak tree right here in front of me I'm just a cutting he comes down that oak tree like that he's upside down just little tails back up here like this and his little paws down here and he's looking at me and he's going by that song play that song I was raised with my mother my mother is a sense passed away many many years ago and she was raised with her grandparents she went to eighth grade and then quit school her grandmother and her grandfather were born before the first white settler came to Fresno County in 1848 they were born according my mom back in 1820s but in any event they were raised with the culture before it was influenced by European and she left the eighth grade dropped out of school and then entered the Indian University she could speak over 13 different languages dialects from all over she would go to Utah go down to Arizona all over Central California go to Nevada speak to all the different Indians even go down to Chinatown down Fresno said I oh you got to learn you got to know a little bit of Chinese because you don't make sure they not talking about you so it was easy for her to you know to her understanding of life and when she was five years old she was out on the trail and a great horned owl came and walked along with her she went back to her grandmother and she said what does that mean why what is that how I did that I'll walk along with me well in the Indian culture owl has many connotations if you're an owl person then the owl comes to you and what the owl does is makes you a preparer owl is going to come and tell you bad news going to tell you about illness sickness death but as a preparer you have to go out and be ready to take care of the tribal ways let the the singers know let the the leaders and the dancers and and then go to the thus the the place where the house that Tetris where their illness is taking place or the death is taking place and then the Criers come and they take care of these these for this family this is the responsibility of an owl person but the animal can also be good luck for the owl person yes great luck my mom used to have she would was a gambler and we would go and she would spend week sometimes playing cards I'd have to go home on my own she would come with a new new purse pop it right down on the table big owl sitting on this brand new leather purse and all the card players would come to the table and then they look up and they would get their money out and whatever else they look over they see that owl like black birds they were gone said where did they go Debbie back they would go out there and they'd get wormwood and they'd get a rabbit's foot and they'd get Hawk feathers anything to try to change what she just did psychologically to them it was a good night she had this power though with the owls that the owls could come to her and they would come to her they would land on the house you'll land on the porch and he would talk to her and they would bark bark like a poodle off in the distance [Music] and she could interpret that and she would tell us who was sick in that tomorrow morning somebody we had no telephones no communication but she would tell us that tomorrow morning someone was going to come and pick us up and take us and off we'd go so first thing to get up in the morning is to take care of my chores and get everything ready to go it only got one one chance that's what I had to do and it would happen so over the years one night we're sitting out in the full moon we had I was raised without electricity so we had kerosene lamps had to do my homework early she after nine o'clock she didn't like the light on blow it out fetch it on a full moon time to go outside sit down on the porch talk look at the Stars look at the moon tell stories always telling stories so we're sitting there I've Adela's across to her family lives across the road about mile closest neighbor highway goes this way you could hear cars 2 3 miles see car lights for a couple of miles nothing beautiful night and she says do you hear him can you hear him they're coming I said who's coming there's nobody coming there's no lights I can't hear no car Shh listen the Owls are coming it's the Owls are coming she said look coming toward from lizzi's she said they're coming over there right over in front of the moon over the oak trees and they came great horned owls ten twelve they came in pairs some of them never landed they floated they played some landed one came and sat down next to her and she sat a chair and it walked around her and walked around her and she never moved her body but just watched with her head and was talking to it no words were said I one sat on the post I didn't like him he was looking at me sometimes he was licking his beak one was nervous up on the roof stamping clickety Steve he had something to say the others eventually they started flying off I was happy when the one on the post flew off then the one on the ground got up and left maybe 20-30 minutes had gone by then finally the one up on the port on the report flies off and I said what did he want what did they want she said just came to visit I said oh good and as the one flew away he turned around and came back and she said oh no I said I knew he had something's good just bad to say he had to ruin the whole night and of course the next day we were on our way to a funeral that was the owl and this was her connection to the owl and I could tell owl stories all night with her but she had this connection connection to the elements raised that way knew all about the elements knew all about the spirit of the land spirit of the elements knew how to work with them had this perception of being able to see things especially whirlwinds we would be sitting there on the porch she would be over here making baskets I would be doing beadwork and a whirlwind would start to come our house was an old house sitting on a stagecoach road but we were also a cross-section for two Indian trails so sometimes a big whirlwind would come and it would come toward the house and she would get up and she'd walk over there and she'd yell it Manor quite a question Mia boy had a whirlwind would get to the yard and you'd look at her I guess or something I didn't say okay and it would turn go the other direction I said whoo that's some power yeah that's good so then she'd be sitting down maybe another day she'd be sitting there Oh she'd say I say what she goes oh little family's going on its way and one little whirlwind would start up wouldn't be very big maybe 10 feet you need start to go and then pretty soon another one maybe five six feet and then another one maybe two three feet and they would all go and they would go up the road and she'd say they're going on their way they're going up to see Mary up the road so yeah that's good you know they were on their way she could see that one day we were sitting there she's over there making her baskets I'm doing my beadwork and I kind of sense something was going to happen you know starting to get a little bit of that power I could feel the wind something was not right with the wind I looked around and Here Come a big old whirlwind man it was building man it's gonna hit the house you know I'm looking over at her like well are you gonna do something I'm not saying anything you know I'm just looking waiting for her to do something she's over there covering up all her baskets with her quilt you know I'll start gathering up my beads that whirlwind came it hit the house boom house rocked dust went everywhere just in my hair sat there for a while you know put my beads back brushed off my chair she pulls the quilt top back off her baskets shakes him out I'm him back to beading how come you didn't make that one go in the other direction she doesn't say a word why he says white man never listen anyway Indians have a very interesting way of teaching here we are one of the greatest campuses in the world and we've all heard the old adage lifelong learners lifelong learners comes from the Native Americans it's their way of teaching you will get when your time is ready to get and you will learn when your time is ready to be taught that's when you'll be learned that's when you you get the information so I was got a little lesson one day oh I don't know much time my gut will get cut in short it's a long story I'll run with it okay so you got to go back though to the Acorn when we were gathering acorn and my mother would rip this certain dress always had this one multicolored dress put it aside tear strips off of it and always had it set aside she color-coded all her all her acorn baskets and her acorn which she gathered acorn she was an acorn maker and so some would be red some would be blue but one or two always had this multicolored one well I figured out after a while why we would go out early in the season and start looking at the trees that were going to gather from and that September like right now the Acorn frost has already come and the first group of acorn that's dropped or is either frostbitten orbs or in them a feel-good acorns are down on the ground right now so then later on October November really good picking so then late in November here we were we had one more crop of trees we hadn't gathered but I see that she was getting that one special bask of act together and tie in it and put it in the car and off we went so then she wanted to stop at this place that we've already gathered from two or three times there's no more acorn there and she said come on boy boy that's what she called me come on boy boy let's go pick this sack real quick I said mom there's nothing here let's go to the good crop see we're going we're going oh you know I was about 12 13 dragging my feet I didn't want to go come on come on she challenged me make me go fast she'd get over there so we'd pick I get mad you know good 12 year old just gathering up everything put it in a sack as soon as we had it filled off we could go hey faster the better so January comes she's a basket maker she needs some roots she goes up to one of the elders up at the mission area this lady pulls out her she has me pull out a trunk big trunk full of roots now normally when they go to buy roots they don't even bother to pull them open that's kind of like a bad thing to do to check the roots because if the lady says this is long this is short then that's what it is but no my mom was pulling them apart I said whew this is not good of course we always ate first we had little acorn we had a little soup then she tells me she's got a quilt top down here and she's got it full then she tells me run out in the car and get that sack of a quart and I'm thinking to myself no wait a minute we don't have no money my mom's got a big sack of roots on a quilt top how is she gonna pay for that sorry go out in the car and I'm thinking to myself you know kind of smart bring the sack out I'm looking at it going not this sack this sack is the one that I got nothing but a wormy acorn in and holes in it and frostbitten acorn so I put it on a porch the cabins were kind of single-walled one single frame underneath so a hundred pounds of a corn I pick it up boom I hit it on the porch the whole house shakes she's inside she goes what are you doing mom boom I hit it again I'm trying to get those worms to drop down you know that lady opens up this sack she's gonna open it up cuz mom opened up her roots so then you know my mom's yelling ons I get that what are you doing I'm coming I'm coming so I take it in the house I put it by the door I'm watching you know she's got this her quilt top kind of tied up now so let's get that quilt album let's get out of here bring that sack over here bring it over here oh okay now can we go so we're going down the road nothing you we don't have no money how'd you pay for all that she goes I paid her going down the road my mom was like super honest least I thought we're going down the road you know I said man you really ripped that old lady off she owes she got paid okay I just learned something about my mom time goes by spring comes lots of baskets being made baskets being sold summer comes late summer still got baskets still got some of them roots using them my mom's cleaning the yard she's got stew going tortillas a corn I said somebody coming because yeah they're coming this afternoon okay down they can this lady comes she sits down with my mother she picks out half a dozen baskets nice ones I'm looking the lady doesn't have her purse so I said she's gonna send me to go get that purse pretty quick she says go get that sack in the back of the car so what sack I go back to the car and I see this sack same one I had with multicolored string on it you know I brought it back I set it down lady takes off I said gee I thought she was gonna take us up to the store or something she goes with what we don't have the money I said she you just sold all those baskets she goes there's the payment right there she goes you mean a whole year has gone by and you haven't figured this out yet and I said well a little bit slow no she says that's our barter sack that's our barter a corn there was good acorn in it the older first lady she took out what she wanted I took her acorn that day she took a little bit she took it to the next lady she told her that I had it and each one progressively took a little acorn out of it and traded until it got to the last person that said that's Lemus and the last person said yeah her height because I'm going to Lena's and I'm going to get whatever I want as far as baskets were concerned that's how the barter sack worked in you know hard lesson but later on as I became a you know teacher and studying I find a report from Gifford written in 1925 there it is all about the barter sack except I'm reading it and I'm going this is not good as I read it some old lady back in 1925 decided to make this white man sick and she took from the barter sack and crushed up the Acorn with the worms and all the good stuff and fixed him some acorn to see if he would eat it or not well unfortunately that's how he wrote it up and it's still being taught in our colleges today so this was the real truth thank you [Applause] is the mic on yeah it is uh hey listen I really hate to do this but the I got a message from the hotel that we're running late and uh for Clarence and Charlie quicker is better than longer and I'm really sorry to do this the next person to be with us tonight as Clarence hustler Clarence is from Hoopa Valley from the town of taka mildy which is the center of the world they still have his family is in charge of the dances in that have been heralding the creation of the world for a long time Clarence has been has moved back to his homeland I think you live in which back in Orleans now losing Orleans and has been just tremendously active in the dance community which is like having a second full-time job and it's a real honor to have Clarence hustla here [Applause] thank you so much Clarence I mean that was just spectacularly generous in terms of the performance the regalia all of the care that went into that there was just a tremendous gift and thank you so much Clarence [Applause] and the last of this delicious evening is Shelley Tom uh charlie is cook Indian from the quartz Valley for the Jones area he grew up speaking the language he grew up immersed in the culture he's in love with his language and his culture and shares it with a vigor and a strength that's just extraordinary I think that if we lived in a decent culture Shelley would be a national treasure and whether he's declared as such a nut he is a national treasure so Shelley [Applause] I think I'll start us with I guess I have North 10 around no agenda it works better for me that way I'll do it mine up mock their feathers do my talking because I like to I like to tell the world what really inning really is it is something that was brought in just like a spirit spared from well a district class a this world will flood one time same thing you know the Indian Bible it's in my hand now of course was the tools that were you the thongs like mister Hoffler gave me a phone call all night [Music] lovin o'clock at night now who in the world is calling me living o'clock at night so he telling me I would have phone that Charlie you don't know me but after hoop are you know I noticed grandma and I knowed all the older people in the hoop I didn't reservation you rock words of Asian Ikaruga the bacon I kind of placed him where he was coming from he said to me one of the little boys I watched you dance I watch you sing I want you tell many things when I was a little boy and he begin to begin to explain himself and after Marley he told me buddies grandma I said yet I know your grandma I what was to come on fact she made me a lot of baskets a lot of pretty basket with predesigned and with all of that he said I need help and I said I'm gonna only helped identify I gave California Indian yeah that's it sure I'll help you whatever it is and of course he said you know any stories of course I said I don't know what's in store or any come in destroy anything well he said I I want to make I wanna I want to show part of this California Indian culture show some sort of the people of of the world over half - I said yes I will he said he may he met a guy at one a Mako of filum want to make some kind of one thing that alive like you know a shadow of whatever was it sure comes a shadow the spirit space fear just like your shadow like a tree shadow or like a buzzard or whatever make a shadow like a eagle may be shadow like my shadow here by the light I said sure then he start explained to me that what he wants I said one when you run me down here at any time I said I'll be down there tomorrow I'll be darned tomorrow and of course without a dollar if visitors a doubt of course I went to San Francisco next day of course living up here on top Cisco Street near cap Street I think I finally found him so we share would like to share the knowledge that he was talking about about the white deer it's like I was talking better way to drain I got defeated expiry for the way dude tonight he's not something I was talking about how when I was running round six Rivers National for two Klamath River national for looking for something I didn't know what I was looking for but in my mind I think I was looking for white deer or Bigfoot you're the Bigfoot you know Graham my grandparents you did tell me that when you contact with Bigfoot don't be scared don't be scared Bigfoot so my first contact with Bigfoot was a modern mountain wilderness area made monka monka who used to like to crawl with me and I was just ready to go soon as he warms up a little bit I'm ready for the mountain and I would stay up there for months at a time talk about excitement talk about love of the wilderness I was one of crazy about the wilderness want to get out there and see what I can see and what I can learn on mother earth because all my all my people were all old people I mean old they all we good up hey very can see oh and I was the only person who boy but that's I cuz I I was a left orphan when I were three months old mahmud dad died when mom was praying at six months and she died when I was three month old that can I left me all by myself they took all my brothers and four brothers and two sisters took them all away to boarding school and Kansas City Riverside Carson City are you know chamalla they all left me but me at home I was so I kind of grew up in the adult world are all people like I said all wrinkled up stupid around tagging around but they were allies they show me everything I him talking my language my Indian language oh we're gonna two old ladies talking you know not the only little boy will get on a river they all took all the kids away all in hunted and I was wondering why did they take all the kids away they left me out by myself with old people but I'm glad they did because today charlie Tom as he is his little wild will crazy Union and you know crazy mouth way you know but I tell you I learned all of this because the white deer that he was just seen today made me proud to see that because I was talking about white deer but four or five days ago I was up at a mountain and by the way I'm a write in the book finally after all these years and this young girl is Captain but my book pass on around it's not like you couldn't mount some worse today I said you know what I gotta fought with a cry by here full of gas yes why don't we only take let me see ya look up there mom fact I took up to the mom drove up the logging road rough road wood up there and we'll look at mom shaft did he'll know that you're sad sad or sad the girls had a fairly sister little snow and just bear and anytime I get to see that my grandparents would you say you got to do something about it and I do strongly believe with the faith that I carry which I learned from all old people which I shall share with you tonight what I learned through these feathers that that Eagle shed for me I never kill eagled in my life but I got the ball Gil fell feathers in my hand who shows me from the spiritual value of this feather the spiritual value of the white deer the spiritual value of people that I love to hear thing to hear but what inning really is and to hear but how it was many many moons ago you know I told mister officer well I'll help you and I want you to help me just in case that ever happens to me to teach my boy what where I left all to teaching him so that's that kind of verbal deal spiritual deal I made with it yes I'll help you so today I see him he's involved in a lot of things to bring back the supernatural physical spiritual power back in the Indian community in his own personal away from the heart that's was the one I love all my people here in this room today because you have our talent please use that talent because we all have a talent in us I liked if I like to see the dancing that the healing dancing I like to see people saved at a healing and I like to see people laughter because they Haven and everything at the healing because when they touch the old people's God look at me like this I know we're going to have to make something of this little boy playing on the ground Hadley rock for my car or maybe a little little bark with a bark for my car and I make sure I've played it I exactly what they're talking about because I understand any language beautiful and I am top yeah we got to make something a little boy playing here talking to me of tongue because he's only little boys left they took all the other kids away and only God knows where were they going to come home they took him away just like that and of course to educate them instead of that it took them away to take the culture the language the the dances that would des and the singing and their Drummond they took that all the way to roll the kids away but left me home so today I'm proud of mr. Harper because he finally got it he already had it in him but he finally got it now he already knew the diskin was your liver the further one you know to everything but people were beginning to tell him this is how you do it and this is how you do this you don't force it do this you know how you do it I said don't you tell people listen to your own heart [Music] just like that you listen to my own tuition from my heart then I start going out and exercising the oxygen pedantic residing home exercising carnival like a wild lizard or while squirrel or we know whatever like it like that school were doing to that young man they're butter squirrel making fun of him I'm exercising that now but I have the beautiful eagle feathers that the bald eagles shed for me and making me talk making me jump around make me look crazy you know you know how you know how to you get up die but only spirit kind of make me kind of make me I guess you'd call spiritual group you know that kind of date and I'm happy I'm happy to be chosen by mr. Hasler to to give him the momentum to do whatever he wants to do you know and it works I'm glad that young mention or whatever chosen me to be part of this you know part of this because I guess I can fail I'm a little teacher or little single or whatever you want to call me I enter little T about to struck the Bible says please have instrument whether it's a flute whether it's a drum Oh rattled or about every instrument so I have instrument now to a dinner for Who I am one time I was over here in San Francisco when I was a younger man I think late 68 maybe early 70s walking down financial Street and San Francisco all at once I heard the commotion and I was walking down the street like this with this squared brother feeling proud going down there meet somebody L do something I don't know are very active in in late 60s early 70s very active you know how it ended you know walking on the street financial Street San Francisco you know put is you know like them all I get a look at their lies I am II hear it was a bus load of people stop right close to me and don't fall open there was no lady come walking out he stopped the whole bus I want to see this man stop the bus stop the bus top his voice and of course the bus driver stopped loaded on with people she jumped out of their shoes all right here here was a lady that moves out of all names many many years ago he tells me who are you who are you I I finally told him well I'm Charlie time the Kuril tribe he said I I had to stop and see who you were I haven't been home for so many many years to come from Orleans panic Nedim cheaply I come from took my language pulmonic get him fever I come from Orleans California and your child home he says I know your grandparents is it and beside you related to me and you know there were many that was but 1970 be packing a crumb down the street so again I want to tell you that this drum he did I carry telecommunication she's seen it and stopped the bus making you know what is when she start the bus there were people but this much right around financial Street they wanted to see what's happening and that was taking place where of course I was younger TNT and and of course I told her he said I like to I like to meet you of course we met in San Francisco of course I told her Bo we here at Cal exports like a miner I'm going to be there a certain day you know she was there in Psych and Hanan and next time I've seems like a man oh but you know she were there and she told me how she was related to me and some things I'm related to the rubens in orleans and i didn't know that delta till a late start up but I tell you I thought I'd share that with you because she identified this drum it way it came from he came from right there somewheres in Northern California will have a square drum so I just want to show you that drum that that young man officing it it means many things to the hoop on you our curves follow us it means many things like that camber over here you talk about Gamelin my grandpa has four wives [Music] how many but grandma take care for wine I can't even take care one but you know they come and it got so serious is part of the culture the capital part Oh [Music] and Clancy me singing them songs when he was a little boy running around at the ceremony grounds I'm I want to be like him one day when I grow up and he's getting there it really makes me feel good that he is here I'm I'm with him I tell him I want to go with you cuz I can't drive but I'm well now I went see a doctor about my eyes he says you don't need them glasses no more I know my for getting good I can read a fine print or somehow my heart was bothered my eyes and I got my heart fixed now I can see good again so I will not thank the great fear for fixing my heart I want to thank the great fish for being with you tonight and really show you there's something to the song that's a luck song that I'm singing that's reason why grandpa had four wives he wanted an Indian card game and I've courted they'd a bet you can sleepy I bet you can tired I think we're going to have to there's a lady you yawn and one after another gotta shut her down she's ready to fall over here I'm not making a lot enough noise but we'll forgive her it just you do like a I'm a teacher I'm an educator I teach from little wooden clear up you know I teach I've been I went to La Jolla University San Diego to get certified to be conquer I did a lot of things I think that's where I think Punk is certified now he would the school fort you know so he's a good counselor I know because so my grandchildren is is getting hit pretty hard by his teaching and they begin to sing better than me you know what I mean the court is still young yet and I'm Pro proud of him because and my son he says I'm ready to dance now I got some peach fuzz here I'm ready to dance now so he's he said but he's saying that when he was 15 dad I'm ready to dance I got some fine whiskers I need to shave my whiskers I'm ready to death you know he doesn't for a mean klarnood of the day he sang son of mean Clarence Eid of the day so I know he's ready then we went on down to the part she'd seen him that 10 babe ritual they had down there 10 nights and 10 days he liked it and not only that his mother was so proud of him because when he got home he was dancing around what did you do to him I nothing it's clamped on something to him down hoop I went he went down there and watched him ancient feathers like that white deer skin feather and he's feeding the retouching heart when he got home mother says what'd you do to the boy I never did nothing to me whatever scene down there he really touched him I think it's a beautiful thing when you your own boy that age taking notice of the feathers that kind of thing and and he believed and what his dad does I like to see you guys by the book that says world's no no he's a brand-new book to come out and all my policies all the way through there what I don't have to go get a lawyer have a good lawyer up here you know I want a lot of a lot of secret places one recognition of the tribe and I aim one to come step in I said get out of here you guys I don't want a radical people around me to save the goal road [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey [Music] you know I can sing all night tonight and all day tomorrow and tomorrow night different songs and I didn't just pick these sums up a noun had to be spirit spirit has guided me good many years also this wilderness area somebody had to record the song somewheres by the lake some words on these tall mountains somewhere around the places I went someplace of the record these songs you know then I come along and received it receive a song that is why I tell people is got to be you nobody else to go up there and sacrifice what you up there for what I am I what was I looking for for 70 70 years what was I looking for I don't know but I did when I share this with you because it's so true how you been received is so true that you can love yourself I also please love you first before you start loving things around you love yourself dad you know now come from every direction then love that tree love who you all love your neighbor you know all the better just pure pure dand sugar or honey in a sweet Thai lots cool I'll let ik yeah much pretty there's three words Thai lot yeah much pretty all of it all old just rhythm three words and see what this come out of it I'm cool smoke book steam I'm top does use them three words we'll see what you out of it you know spirit it'll disappear a little while it's like a shadow so again I want to thank thank you for your but a little bourbon listen to me and I will sing your coyote song coyote a trickster like me [Music] ah [Music] [Music] Oh oh whoa whoa oh oh I think I'll cut it off right here [Applause] well thank you and thanks to Linda and Mike and Ron and Clarence and Charlie for their wonderful generosity into the hosts for sponsoring it and for everybody for coming so and this is the tip of the iceberg I mean in terms of the richness of California Indian culture and cultural revival it could have gone on for three days thank you [Applause]

Channel: UC Berkeley Events

Views: 83,028

Rating: 4.8438029 out of 5

Keywords: uc, berkeley, ucberkeley, cal, webcast, education, native, american, song, story, stories, yt:quality=high

Id: X-ehvPCnldU

Length: 125min 40sec (7540 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 04 2007