The Bird Singing traditions of Native Southern California and the Southwest are among the most important and sublime legacies in world music.
We are Birds: An Evening of Birdsinging from Native Southern California takes place on Saturday, October 1 at 7 pm on CalArts campus.
Valencia, CA, September 6—
We Are Birds: An Evening of Bird Singing from Native Southern California will launch the 2016-17 season of the
Wild Beast Concert Series at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Tataviam territory north of Los Angeles. Elders
Wally Antone (Quechan) and
Walter Holmes, Jr. (Cahuilla) will traditional Bird Songs.
Derek Duro (Cahuilla) and the
Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians will represent the renewed interest in this musical and cultural legacy among younger generations. The event begins with a screening of the documentary film
We Are Birds: A California Indian Story.
The open-air screening and concert take place on
Saturday, October 1, 2016 at
7 p.m. at the Wild Beast music pavilion on the CalArts campus. Hosted by the
Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts, the Wild Beast Concert Series is free and open to the public. Reservations are suggested.
The Bird Singing traditions of the Native nations of Southern California are among the most significant expressions of Native American oral history and among the most important legacies of world music. Before the musicians take the stage to sing Cahuilla Bird Songs, director and producer Albert Chacon will present
We Are Birds: A California Indian Story, a documentary that chronicles the resurgence of the tradition through the eyes of Bird Singers, dancers, elders, and cultural preservationists.
“It was a dream to participate in the culture my family left, educating the community about Bird Singing by utilizing perspectives from within the culture,” said Chacon (Cupeno-Cahuilla-Apache).
In a
review of the film, composer Eyvind Kang said, “With big-hearted generosity towards its subjects and viewers, the film serves as an ideal introduction to Bird Singing. While conveying what Walter Holmes, Jr. calls the glory of the culture, the film situates itself as a part of the general resurgence of Indigeneity, demonstrating the possibility of simultaneously following the strict protocols of tradition while gathering the courage to live this tradition in today’s technological era.”
Calendar Editors Please Note:
What:
We are Birds: An Evening of Bird Singing from Native Southern California, a concert of Native American Bird Singers, Wally
Antone and Walter Holmes, Jr., and Derek Duro, and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians followed by a screening of the documentary,
We Are Birds: A California Indian Story
When:
Saturday, October 1, 2016
We Are Birds: A California Indian Story screens at 7:00 pm
We are Birds: An Evening of Bird Singing from Native Southern California at 8:00 pm
Where:
The Wild Beast Music Pavilion on the campus of California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)
24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia CA 91355
Free admission
Reservations suggested. Click here for reservations.
Click here for directions
For information call 666.253.7816
One of the first schools in the United States to offer degree programs in
World Music performance, CalArts has a history of nurturing traditional and new forms of music from a variety of cultures. Students in the World Music Program closely study music and dance practices from around the globe, while simultaneously acquiring
solid grounding in music theory, musicianship skills, and music history and literature.