Burnurwurbskek Singers: Drumming from the Toes

They may have been on stage, but what the Burnurwurbskek Singers offered was far more than a performance.

Barry Dana prepares to drum

As a group of six at the University of Southern Maine campus last night, they sang as one voice, sitting at one shared drum. The Corthell Hall audience couldn't have guessed that the group had just finished drumming as one of many Indian basketmakers and artisans that participated at the Common Ground Fair. After blessing their drum, the singers poured themselves into each song as though it were their first of the day.

One song welcomed to Wabanaki country the visiting performance artist James Luna, who gave his "Phantasmagoria" performative lecture after the Burnurwurbskek Singers finished.

Over half an hour, the group shared honor songs - old and new - that remembered veterans, blessed the children who will create our future, and recognized the long history of American Indian self determination struggles.

Burnurwurbskek Singers at Univ. So. Maine

I've listened to drums at pow-wows all across the country and have experienced my share of chills at the sound of some of the high Plains voices. But the sound of the Penobscot men who encircled this drum was distinctive, deep. When I mentioned it to Dean Francis (sitting at far right in photo below), he said that they were "drumming from their toes." Francis spoke eloquently to the audience about the power of the drum to bring people together and to remember who they were, who they are, and who they want to be.

Rather than clap, what the Burnurwurbskek Singers prompted me to do was to reflect upon the strength and bravery of those who labor to help their children remain proud of their heritage and their community to stay together.

Penobscot Drummer

So here's my cyber thank-you card to you, Burnurwurbskek Singers. Beautifully done. Thank you for sharing.

Stay in touch with me here at Heritage in Maine to read more Wabanaki happenings on my blog.

Puncturing Perceptions at the University of Southern Maine Art Gallery

"Wet Dream Catcher" (foreground), one of Luna's pieces on display

“Everyone is an artist. You’ve been given a gift of seeing (and hearing since it’s not just visual) in a certain way. The trick is letting it out” internationally-acclaimed performance artist James Luna assured his crowd of listener’s at Friday’s gallery talk on the University of Southern Maine campus. Standing amid the Turtle/Television Island Project installed at the USM Art Gallery and curated by Carolyn Eyler, Luna shared the behind-the-scenes stories, the life histories if you will, of each of the pieces on display, many of which are used as elements in his performance installations.

Luna, a member of the Puyoukitchum (Luiseño) tribe based in La Jolla, California, shared that “People come in thinking ‘I’m going to see Indian art. Horses. Feathers. Bark. I hear he’s gonna dance.’ I’m not any of that. I’m breaking perceptions. But I’m not just talking about me and other Indians, but humanistic things, how we relate to one another. We need to understand our similarities more than our differences and then maybe there will be peace in our lifetime. Art can do that.”

Well, at least Luna’s art can.

Luna is known for challenging his audiences by puncturing their expectations about what an “Indian” is or how one should look or act or even how “Indian art” should appear. As I wrote here, the first time Luna came to my attention was in the early 90s when I heard about his jaw-dropping performance installation called "Artifact Piece.” In a brilliant critique of longstanding museum practices of exhibiting Native American bodies or burials in gallery displays, Luna clad in only a breechcloth, installed himself in a glass case at the San Diego Museum of Man.

A peek at the ssipsis portion of USM Art Gallery Installation

 The theme of commercialization and exploitation of Native American spirituality is evident in one of the notable pieces on display. “Wet Dream Catcher” (photo above) is a condom- and good-luck-charm-adorned tennis racket  that parodies the ubiquitous dreamcatchers for sale in stores which, in turn, mimic the spiritual item known as a “dream catcher.” Luna explained that “Wet Dream Catcher” expresses his frustration with the selling of Native American spiritual items. “It’s not stuff to sell. If you take, you have to give back.”

All of Luna’s pieces ricochet between popular culture expectations of Indianness and elements of both historical and contemporary Indian experience.

The Turtle/Television Island Project installation is shared with the only Penobscot woman birchbark artist, ssipsis, who is also a poet and activist. The installation includes stunning birchbark artwork on loan from the Hudson Museum, Abbe Museum, and from ssipsis, as well as a section of a birchbark longhouse, constructed by Barry Dana. Subsequent events in November will feature and discuss ssipsis’ work which is available to visitors to the USM Art Gallery.

Not a "Nice Indian Storyteller": James Luna Coming to Maine

Luna's performance installation "Artifact Piece"

Stand back. James Luna, an internationally renowned Native American artist is on his way to Maine to perform alongside a number of talented Wabanaki musicians, dancers, filmmakers, and activists. As Luna's website warns,

"Don't be fooled that he is a nice Indian "Storyteller" as his anecdotes are humorous and painful at the same time. The stories are more about the strife, misconceptions and commodification of ethnicity in America than about Indian people alone." 

 Indeed. The first time Luna came to my attention was in the early 90s when I heard about his jaw-dropping performance installation "Artifact Piece" (above). In a brilliant critique of longstanding museum practices of exhibiting Native American bodies or burials in gallery displays, Luna clad in only a loincloth, installed himself in a glass case at the San Diego Museum of Man. Luna later reflected on this installation:

"The exhibit was not announced which was good because of the element of surprise...Then these people came, just 'Joe Family' on a Saturday to the museum, were, like, totally blown away.  That told me something about the power of the piece, and also about what people come to museums for.  They don't come to see living things, they come to see dead things.  I've been requested to do it numerous times and I've refused because it's a really emotional piece for me"*

The University of Southern Maine Art Gallery in Gorham, Maine is hosting a series of events entitled the “Turtle Television Island Project,” incorporating the work of James Luna, a member of the Puyoukitchum (Luiseño) tribe based in La Jolla, California, and Penobscot birch bark artist and Maine author, ssipsis.

The exhibit, “Turtle/Television Island,” will feature Luna’s photographs, video utilizing innovative storytelling formats, and objects that create humorous commentary. The exhibit will also present historic Wabanaki birch bark artifacts and contemporary birch bark art by ssipsis. A new video and other material highlighting forty years of ssipsis’s activism will also be on display.

Burnurwurbskek Singers of Penobscot Nation

The series of events will include a 1 p.m. gallery talk by James Luna on September 24th at the Burnham Lounge, USM Robie Andrews Hall in Gorham; Luna's performative lecture "Phantasmagoria" with the Burnurwurbskek Singers of the Penobscot Nation on September 25th at 5 p.m. in USM Gorham's Corthell Hall; and a Talking Circle "Thirty Days to Move: The Art and Activism of ssispis" featuring a short video of ssispis produced by Susan Evans on November 4th.

All events are free and open to the public.

For more information, call Carolyn Eyler at 207-780-5008, Judie O’Malley at 207-780-4200, or see
http://usm.maine.edu/gallery/cal.html

* Farmer, Gary   1994  Aboriginal Voices 1(4):20

Passamaquoddy Language Survival: Film Screening

Allen Sockabasin, speaking Passamaquoddy to his son

The indigenous tribes whose homelands we now call Maine include the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Micmac, and Maliseet. The living cultural heritage of these groups is as precious as any resource that exists in our state, yet it remains invisible to many who live or travel here. Filmmaker Ben Levine's documentary film "Language of America: An Indian Story" has intervened and attempted to reveal the hidden story of Passamaquoddy language preservation efforts in Maine.

"Language of America" features Allen Sockabasin, a Passamaquoddy elder who speaks his Native language, and is a successful storyteller and author of books such as "An Upriver Passamaquoddy" and "Thanks to the Animals." Sockabasin's extraordinary career of cultural preservation efforts for his tribe has just earned him the 2010 "Catalyst for Change Award" from the Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity at the University of Southern Maine. The awards banquet for this honor occurs next month. October also offers Maine residents an opportunity to attend a screening of "Language of America" at the Space Gallery on Congress St. in Portland on the 14th at 7 p.m.

Levine with Maliseet Elders I. Perley and R. Nicholas

"Language of America" tells the compelling story of colonial genocide, language loss and survival, and what it means to devote oneself to cultural revitalization efforts in a digital age. Sockabasin, as well as Jessie Littledoe (Wampanoag), Ella Sekatau (Narragansett) and others, offer moving perspective on how their indigenous language ties them to the knowledge and identity of past generations.

As I wrote in an earlier post, the movie Avatar is the latest Hollywood blockbuster to popularize  (faux) indigenous culture and language. Against this backdrop, it's refreshing that Levine's film takes us into the real communities of indigenous peoples in Maine and New England. Watch it and you will feel as though you had traveled with him.