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DISCLAIMER, PLEASE READ: Ebay posts boks, music, & other titems to the right of ALL guides & reviews. These are NOT placed there by me. I do NOT endorse or recommend ANY of these items! Many may fit into the category of "NOT INDIAN", or be in direct opposition to the statement I am attempting to convey about buying & selling AUTHENTIC "Indian" items.
<p>
That said:
Is that recording you're about to buy REALLY performed OR composed by REAL Natives of the Americas?<p>
Below is a short list of musicians who are often considered to be REAL Indian performers. Sorry, but they aren't! They may be Inspired or Influenced by American Indian music, but these are musicians who are NOT Indians! <p>
(This short list is gleaned from a highly respected REAL Native musician's website & from other sites run by REAL Indians. That these musicians are NOT Tribal members is easily verifiable.) <p>
* Douglas Wallentine "Spotted Eagle"; this person is very likely the most mistaken for being native, fooled many with his name.<p>
* Coyote Old Man; this is NOT a native elder, it is two non-native guys sitting in a studio with synthesizers, flutes, and pan pipes. <p>
* Gathering of Shaman; this is not a group of native elders playing native flute together, much less medicine people. <p>
There is very little connection between flutes in North America & our medicine people. The principal use of flutes was to assist in courting women. Maybe in South America there was some kind of connection to medicine people, but not in the U. S. of America.
There are some persons going around the country today saying they are some kind of flute shaman, some even claim to be real Natives. There is no such thing as a flute shaman that I have ever seen or heard talked about within the traditional singing community. To be a medicine person you need to learn to sing the Sacred Songs, not play the flute. Native People here don't have SHAMANS! That is an EASTERN religious term. NO SHAMANS IN THE U.S. Tribes! <p>
* Native Flute Ensemble; This is not an ensemble of Natives playing flute, it is an ensemble playing native-type instruments. None of which have been able to be identified as Native. <p>
* Mesa Music Consort; Same here... Be very suspicious of any recording that does not clearly spell out the Tribe/Nation to which the artists belong. <p>
* Sacred Earth Drums & Sacred Spirit Drums; both by David & Steve Gordon. Billed as the "The Native/Drumming Music Your Customers Want!", and the "#1 selling Native/Drumming Title Ever!", in a distributor's catalog. Replete with pictures of Native style hand drums and New-Agey type Indian cover art.These are not American Indian drumming rhythms, but variations of African, Caribbean, Celtic and other ethnic styles. Are the Gordons members of any recognized Tribe? What does it say on their label? Best to ask the Tribes themselves.<p>
* Sacred Spirits/Yeha Noha; Beware! This is what could be called the biggest Native Music fraud of the decade! This recording was produced, composed, performed and arranged by a European named Claus Zundel. No Native artists were involved! Many or most on this recording are probably dead! He took archival recordings and set them to drumtracks and ambient music in his European studio, liberally added native images, spiritual babblings, and sold millions of copies!! He bills himself as the "Fearsome Brave" on his cover... For a major expose' of this fraud, Google search for " A Line in the Sand ". Upon finding out this recording was a fake, the Line in the Sand website was born and dedicated to the protection of Native American cultural property. <p>
We all enjoy music, & all of us are entitled to listen to & buy whatever we like, but shouldn't we want to HONOR others by NOT referring to FAKE music, to BLENDED or Re-styled music of ANY culture as the REAL McCoy? Why not call it what it is? Why dishonor the cultures & people whom we admire? <p>
Buy AUTHENTIC American Indian music! There's a LOT of great Tribal music out there!
<p>
That said:
Is that recording you're about to buy REALLY performed OR composed by REAL Natives of the Americas?<p>
Below is a short list of musicians who are often considered to be REAL Indian performers. Sorry, but they aren't! They may be Inspired or Influenced by American Indian music, but these are musicians who are NOT Indians! <p>
(This short list is gleaned from a highly respected REAL Native musician's website & from other sites run by REAL Indians. That these musicians are NOT Tribal members is easily verifiable.) <p>
* Douglas Wallentine "Spotted Eagle"; this person is very likely the most mistaken for being native, fooled many with his name.<p>
* Coyote Old Man; this is NOT a native elder, it is two non-native guys sitting in a studio with synthesizers, flutes, and pan pipes. <p>
* Gathering of Shaman; this is not a group of native elders playing native flute together, much less medicine people. <p>
There is very little connection between flutes in North America & our medicine people. The principal use of flutes was to assist in courting women. Maybe in South America there was some kind of connection to medicine people, but not in the U. S. of America.
There are some persons going around the country today saying they are some kind of flute shaman, some even claim to be real Natives. There is no such thing as a flute shaman that I have ever seen or heard talked about within the traditional singing community. To be a medicine person you need to learn to sing the Sacred Songs, not play the flute. Native People here don't have SHAMANS! That is an EASTERN religious term. NO SHAMANS IN THE U.S. Tribes! <p>
* Native Flute Ensemble; This is not an ensemble of Natives playing flute, it is an ensemble playing native-type instruments. None of which have been able to be identified as Native. <p>
* Mesa Music Consort; Same here... Be very suspicious of any recording that does not clearly spell out the Tribe/Nation to which the artists belong. <p>
* Sacred Earth Drums & Sacred Spirit Drums; both by David & Steve Gordon. Billed as the "The Native/Drumming Music Your Customers Want!", and the "#1 selling Native/Drumming Title Ever!", in a distributor's catalog. Replete with pictures of Native style hand drums and New-Agey type Indian cover art.These are not American Indian drumming rhythms, but variations of African, Caribbean, Celtic and other ethnic styles. Are the Gordons members of any recognized Tribe? What does it say on their label? Best to ask the Tribes themselves.<p>
* Sacred Spirits/Yeha Noha; Beware! This is what could be called the biggest Native Music fraud of the decade! This recording was produced, composed, performed and arranged by a European named Claus Zundel. No Native artists were involved! Many or most on this recording are probably dead! He took archival recordings and set them to drumtracks and ambient music in his European studio, liberally added native images, spiritual babblings, and sold millions of copies!! He bills himself as the "Fearsome Brave" on his cover... For a major expose' of this fraud, Google search for " A Line in the Sand ". Upon finding out this recording was a fake, the Line in the Sand website was born and dedicated to the protection of Native American cultural property. <p>
We all enjoy music, & all of us are entitled to listen to & buy whatever we like, but shouldn't we want to HONOR others by NOT referring to FAKE music, to BLENDED or Re-styled music of ANY culture as the REAL McCoy? Why not call it what it is? Why dishonor the cultures & people whom we admire? <p>
Buy AUTHENTIC American Indian music! There's a LOT of great Tribal music out there!
Guide created: 14/09/06 (updated 12/10/10)
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