Celilo Falls, Wy’am, is one of the most important places you’ve never heard of. The name refers both to the series of cascades and waterfalls in the Columbia River, and to the settlements and trading villages that thrived along its banks for at least 12,000 years. Celilo was the oldest continuously inhabited community on the North American Continent until 1957, when the falls and most of the nearby villages (a reconstructed Celilo Village remains) were submerged with the construction of the Dalles Dam. For percussion quartet, flute, clarinet, french horn and string bass, the duration is a little over 12 minutes.
