Skip to main content

Heartbeat: The Voices of First Nations Women

A woman hums songs to a child. Three old ladies sing as they pick chokecherries or cactus buds, husk corn, or dig camas root. A woman's high-pitched lu-lu-lu-lu rises over the men's voices at the end of an honoring song for returned veterans. "Chorus girls" back up the men's lead song at the drum during a war dance. The pulsating, driving hand-drum beats and magic-making songs women sing at a stick game.

Read Full Article

Support the Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, sustainability projects, educational outreach, and more.

.