INDIGENOUS MUSIC AND THE NATURAL WORLD

Indigenous peoples continue to be the original stewards of forests, deserts, mountains and grasslands around the globe. Native cultures in various climates engage with the earth through music that venerates land, water, sky, and all living beings that share this planet together. Preserving and growing the world's repertoire of indigenous music and thought has been a core goal of The Multicultural Music Group (MMG) since the organization's inception almost thirty years ago. MMG organized and produced "The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas" Encounters series in 2016, honoring the diverse native cultures of the global hemisphere containing the North and South American continents. One of the concerts in this series was "Indigenous Blues: The Eroded Land of the Gulf," which featured a panel discussion that gave voice to the native peoples living in the Gulf Shores of Louisiana. Dr. Rain P.C. Gomez, Assistant Director of The Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas, was present on the panel at the Lovinger Theater on June 17th, 2016 when she delivered the following statement:

"So much of our language, from traditional plant names, place names and familial names, all come from the land. When that land is impacted, how is it possible to even talk about moving on? The Katrina and Rita Hurricanes were very devastating. We lost not only vital historic records, but a diaspora was created through the removal of African American, American Indian, and Creole communities from Louisiana. The separation pulls on the umbilical cord tethering the land to its people: the further we move away, the tighter it stretches."

Crucially, Dr. Gomez includes African Americans in the list of populations most impacted by the destruction of natural resources in Louisiana. Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Voices, published by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, defines the term, indigenous peoples as "non-dominant sectors of society who are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their historical continuity with pre-invasion societies that consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories." By that definition, members of African diaspora throughout the world fit the criteria of indigenous peoples, particularly those whose ancestors were forcibly torn from their homeland as a result of the horrendous capture and sale of human beings during the Transatlantic Slave Trade.