Aloha Boys (Native Hawaiian)

Isaac Ho’opi, Ramon Camarillo, Irvin Queja, and Glen Hirabayashi  play acoustic down-home, backyard-style Hawaiian music which includes everything from traditional to contemporary songs and styles.

Andes Manta (Chibcha/Mestizo)

The four Lopez brothers, originally from the Ecuadorian Andes, perform traditional music on a variety of wind, plucked string, and percussion instruments, including charango, zampoñas, quena, ocarina, and guitar.

Bannaba Project (Kuna)

Bannaba Project is a musical production that presents the music traditions of the Kuna people of Panama, connecting pre-Colombian musical roots with jazz, pop, calypso, and other rhythms of the Caribbean.

Buffalo Creek Dancers (Iroquois)

The Buffalo Creek Dancers of Victor, New York, promote Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) cultural traditions to enlighten and reinforce the spiritual values of Native people. Since 1988, they have taught Native youth the culture and social dances of the Iroquois.

Ccanto  (Quechua)

Jatipanakay, Quechua for “dance of confrontation,” is also known as the Scissor Dance. Practiced in regions of the central Peruvian sierra, the Scissor Dance is performed to Andean melodies of violin and harp. The dancers “play” the scissors, articulating their movements with the music and the sound of the scissors.

Cherokee National Youth Choir (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma)

Made up of young people from Cherokee communities in northeastern Oklahoma, the Cherokee National Youth Choir performs traditional Cherokee songs and hymns in the Cherokee language.

Conch Shell Players: Calvin Hoe and Kawaiolimaikampuna Hoe

The traditional ritual of the Conch Shell Ceremony, performed by Native Hawaiians Calvin and Kawaiolimaikampuna Hoe, will herald the beginning of the Native Nations Procession. The blowing of conch shells calls to the powers of the North, South, East, and West, and serves to honor the commencement of traditional ceremonies.

Rita Coolidge (Cherokee)

Born near Nashville, Tennessee, in the town of Lafayette, Rita Coolidge is the daughter of a minister of a small church where she sang in the church choir. Since 1971, she has released dozens of albums—from gospel to pop to rhythm & blues. Coolidge is a two time Grammy winner, and has performed with noted musicians Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, George Harrison, and others. In the 1990s Coolidge formed Walela, meaning hummingbird in the Cherokee language, with her sister Priscilla Coolidge and niece Laura Satterfield.

Diné Tah Navajo Dancers

Performing since 1993, the Diné Tah Navajo Dancers are a group of Navajo youth who promote the Navajo culture through traditional dances such as Corn Grinding Act, Social Song & Dance, Basket Dance, Bow & Arrow Dance, and others.

Lila Downs (Mixtec)

Expressing Latin culture has been a lifelong passion of Mexican-American singer Lila Downs. She performs her own compositions that are sung in Native Mesoamerican languages—Náhuatl, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Mayan, as well as ish and English. The pan-American make-up of her band is reflected in novel arrangements for Mexican cumbia, classic ranchera, waltz, bolero, and original works which experiment with rap, jazz, and reggae influences, among others.

Git-Hoan Dancers (Tsimshian)

The dancers of Git-Hoan, Tsimshian for People of the Salmon, trace their roots and ancestry to the village of Metlakatla in southeast Alaska. Led by artist and culture bearer David Boxley, the Git-Hoan Dancers use masks as they sing and dance their stories of the Tsimshian people.

Gospel Light Echoes, Dinetahgoo Diyingo Hodiits’a’ (Navajo)

The Gospel Light Echoes—Cynthia Anderson, Louise Smiley, Sharon Jim, and Rev. Stanley W. Jim—perform hymns both in English and Navajo languages, reflecting their faith, hope, and strength in God.

Grupo de Danza y Musica Comca'ac (Seri)

Indigenous to Mexico, this Seri song and dance group performs songs that reflect their life as people of the desert and sea. Their rhythmic dances, often accompanied by a one-string violin, reflect a style that is unique to each family.

Halau O Kekuhi (Native Hawaiian)

Halau O Kekuhi is the leading traditional dance ensemble in Hawai'i, with a seven-generation family history as practitioners in the art of hula (dance) and oli (chant). The group, led by sisters and National Heritage Fellows Pualani Kanahele and Nalani Kanak’ole, is particularly known for its mastery of the “Aiha’a,” typified by a low postured, vigorous, bombastic style of hula and chant which springs from the eruptive volcano personae, Pela and Hi’iaka.

Charlie Hill (Oneida), Emcee

From the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin, Hill is a renowned stand-up comedian who has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. With a long career in performing and broadcasting, Hill has established a reputation as the most popular and best-known comedic Indian voice.

Victoria Huggins (Lumbee)

From St. Pauls, North Carolina, ten-year old Higgins expresses her love of music and Jesus through her singing ministry. Having performed with some of southern gospel music's top singers, her ministry appeals to the young and young at heart.

Indigenous (Yankton Sioux)

Brothers Mato and Pte, their sister Wanbdi, and their cousin Horse—grew up on the Yankton Indian Reservation in South Dakota. As adolescents, their primary influence was Greg Zephier (father of Mato, Pte, and Wanbdi), a Native rights activist and musician who introduced them to the work of classic blues and rock legends Santana, Buddy Guy, and Jimi Hendrix. They now share stages with music legends such as Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, Indigo Girls, Bonnie Raitt, and Santana.

Ledward Ka'apana (Native Hawaiian)

Ledward (Led) Ka'apana was born in the village of Kalapana on the Big Island of Hawai'i. He is a master of ki ho'alu (slack key guitar), and complements his instrumental virtuosity with his baritone and leo ki'eki'e (falsetto) voice. He performs with his trio, I Kona, with whom he has recorded six albums.

Willie French Lowery (Lumbee)

Singer, guitarist, songwriter, and composer Lowery hails from Robeson County, North Carolina, and has over forty years of experience as a professional musician. He has recorded several albums and published over 500 songs, which have been recorded by numerous gospel, rock, country, and R&B artists.

Métis Fiddlers and Dancers

From the village of St. Laurent in Manitoba, Canada, the Métis Fiddlers and Dancers perform rapid, old time square dancing to lively fiddling. Métis “jigging”—such as the Red River Jig, the Waltz Quadrille, and the Broom dance—is largely influenced by the step dance traditions of the Irish and Scottish.

AMO Maori Ambassadors from Te Wananga o Aotearoa (University of New Zealand) and Rangimarie Maori Cultural Group

Rangimarie embodies a life-style commitment aimed at upholding the values and spirituality of traditional Maori society. Rangimarie, a pan-tribal performing arts group, practices a form of dance that is one of the many ways of attaining this state of being.  Based in the Central North Island of New Zealand, Rangimarie members are from several tribal groups, from the Pacific Islands including Samoa, Fiji, the Cook Islands, and Tonga.

Los Nativos de la Isla Taquile (Quechua)

From the Peruvian island of Taquiles, Los Taquileños perform traditional music—playing zampoñas, piquillos, drums guitars, and mandolin—and dance, including negritos, jicures, and carnival dances.

Nukariik (Inuit)

Sisters Karin and Kathy Kettler perform traditional Inuit throat-singing, drum dancing, a ja ja songs, and Inuit games, which they have learned from Inuit friends, elders, and family.

Oneida Hymn Singers (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin)

Formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the 1960s, the Oneida Hymn Singers perform hymnals in the Oneida language. While only a handful of people in their community speak the language today, the Oneida Hymn Singers feel strongly that these songs must be sung and remembered to preserve their language.  

Pamyua (Yup’ik/Inuit)

Performers Stephen Blanchett, Phillip Blanchett, Karina Møller, Kristoffer Jul, and Ossie Kairaiuak, reinterpret traditions of the Inuit and Yup'ik Eskimo of southwestern Alaska through modern expressions in storytelling, music, and dance.

Pappy Johns Band with Murray Porter

Finding their inspiration from Glen Miller to AC/DC, the Pappy Johns Band—Murray Porter, Faron Johns, Don Powless, Oren Doxtator, and Joseph Michael Mahfoud—collaborates to compose original soul and R&B songs. All group members are Iroquois, and hail from Canada’s Six Nations Reserve of Grand River and Fort Erie.

Primeaux & Mike

Vocalists Verdell Primeaux (Oglala/Yankton Sioux/Ponca), and Johnny Mike (Navajo), perform healing chants, a newer style of songs from the Native American Church which are peyote melodies and harmonies sung with drum and rattle accompaniment. Both singers rely heavily on the musical power of prayer to survive illness and hard times, and aspire to help restore and maintain balance, peace, harmony, and beauty for all people. 

Red Earth

Based in Albuquerque, Red Earth mixes musical, cultural, and political influences to create an explosive sound which they label “tribal stew.” Funk, rock, reggae, and Latin grooves are mixed with ska, punk-a-billy, jazz, and Native rhythms—along with a heavy dose of Indian humor.

Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree)

Born in Qu’Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Sainte-Marie was adopted and raised in Maine and Massachusetts. In the early 1960s, she became known as a writer of protest and love songs, many becoming huge hit and classics of the era. Her work has been performed by many artists including Janis Joplin, Barbara Streisand, and Elvis Presley. Her song “Up Where We Belong,” recorded for the film An Officer and a Gentleman, won an Academy Award in 1982.

Sandy Scofield (Saulteaux/Cree)

Based in Vancouver, singer-songwriter Scofield combines elements of folk, pop, jazz, country rock, rap, and Cree music, with songwriting that reflects her social and political views on her heritage, as well as the world around her.          

Keith Secola (Anishinabe)

From the Mesabi Iron Range country of northern Minnesota, Secola is a master guitarist, Native flute player, singer, songwriter, composer, and producer. Secola calls his music “alter-Native,” a blend of blues, folk, country, mellow and heavy rock, reggae, and indigenous and world beat genres.

Joanne Shenandoah (Oneida)

From the Haudenosaunee Nation of central New York State, Shenandoah blends Iroquois songs with traditional and western instruments. A leader in the genre of contemporary Native music, her music addresses everything from Native American struggles and issues, to love, relationships, and the environment.

Star Nayea

Raised in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, singer and songwriter Star Nayea delivers powerful soul with a voice rooted in “Motor City” rock ‘n roll. She has recorded and performed with many Native artists, including Robbie Robertson, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Keith Secola, Robert Miribal, Indigenous, and many others.

Suurimmaanitchuat Dance Group (Inupiat)

From Barrow on Alaska’s North Slope, Suurimmaanitchuat is one of the most highly regarded traditional dance groups in Alaska. Using flat, frame drums to accompany their songs, the group’s dances depict aspects of their hunting and fishing traditions.

Suyá from Upper Xingú Region

Husband and wife Kuiussi and Uekwoiyi, along with two other tribal members, draw from a wide variety of Suyá song traditions that include curing chants and political oratory. 

Ulali (Tuscarora, Apache/Maya)

A cappella trio Ulali—Pura Fé, Soni, and Jennifer—known for their unusual harmonies and wide vocal and musical range, sing music in the many styles and languages of their ancestors in the Western Hemisphere.

War Party (Cree)

Hobbema, Alberta-based War Party is Kool-Ayd (Karmen Omeosoo), Girlie Emcee (Cynthia Smallboy), and Mic Noble (Rex Smallboy). Drawn to hip-hop for its seeming openness—regardless of creed or color—War Party delivers a full-force message of potent commentary.

White Oak Singers

Formed by the late Colin Bears Tail (Arikara/Hidatsa), the White Oak Singers perform Northern Plains-style singing of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. The group has recorded songs for the Discovery Channel Network and is included in the soundtrack of the documentary “How the West Was Lost.”

Jimmy Wolf  (Mohawk)

Wolf has released three albums since 1999 and has shared the stage with some of the world's best blues and R&B artists, including Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Koko Taylor, Albert King, Millie Jackson, and Little Johnny Taylor.

Mary Youngblood (Aleut/Seminole)

Classically trained on piano, violin, classical flute, and guitar, Youngblood is one of the first Native women to record and perform flute music. She received a GRAMMY Award in the “Best Native American Album 2003” category for her release, Beneath the Raven Moon (SilverWave).

Regalia

• DY Begay (Navajo) Arizona, Navajo dress making
• Gerry and Eric Hawpetoss (Menominee) Minnesota, Plains moccasins and regalia
• Clarissa and William Hudson (Tlingit) Colorado, Chilkat robes
• Nathan Jackson (Tlingit) Alaska, Northwest masks
• Esperanza Mamani Javier and Leonardo Ventura Polo (Jalq’a) Bolivia, Weaving and embroidery
• Narcisa Champi Mamani (Tarabuco) Bolivia, Chu’spa weaving
• Florentine Johnson and Fernando Cellicion (Zuni) New Mexico, Pueblo tablitas (head-wear)
• Berenexa María Márquez Malo and Maria Magdalena Chicunque Agreda (Puto Mayo) Colombia, Weaving
• Chuna McIntyre (Yup’ik) California, Yup’ik clothing traditions
• Mother Bear Peters and Ramona Peters (Mashpee Wampanoag) Massachusetts, Painted buckskin and hide dresses
• Karen Pheasant (Ojibwe) Canada, Jingle dress
• Kimberly Stevenot (Mewuk) California, Traditional regalia
• Sam Thomas (Cayuga) New York, Iroquois regalia
• Margaret Wood (Seminole/Navajo) Florida, Seminole dresses
• Wilbur Arce (Quechua) Peru, Charangos
• José Guadalupe Bautista Alejandro and José Alberto Guadalajara Chávez (Tarahumara) Mexico, Fiddles
• Adolfo Condori Vela (Tarabuco) Bolivia, pan-pipes and drums
• Steve and Rose Darden (Navajo) Arizona, Gourd rattles
• Joe David (Mohawk) New York, Water drums
• Arnold Herrera (Cochiti Pueblo) New Mexico, Pueblo drums
• Calvin Hoe and Kawaiolimakampuna Hoe Hawai’i, Gourd drums, nose flute
• Fernando Juárez and Guillermo Bethancourth (Maya) Guatemala, Marimba
• Bernardo Esquer López (Mayo-Yoreme) Sinaloa, Mexico, Harp
• David A. Montour (Potawatomi/Ottawa/Mohawk/Cayuga) Arizona, Flutes
• Rex and Leona Okakok (Inupiat) Alaska, Frame drums
• Rock Pipestem and Kingston Louis Pipestem (Otoe-Missouria) Oklahoma, Powwow drums
• Perry and Kathy Van Buskirk (Cherokee) Oklahoma, Turtle leggings & rattles
  

Storytelling

Cochise Anderson (Chickasaw/Mississippi Choctaw), Oklahoma

Cochise Anderson (Chickasaw/Mississippi Choctaw) is a storyteller, playwright and actor who has shared his storytelling at museums, powwows and schools all over the United States.  He is the recipient of the Bush Artist Fellowship for Performing Art and the Jerome Fellowship for Playwriting.

Lloyd Arneach (Eastern Band of Cherokee), North Carolina

Storyteller Lloyd Arneach was born on the Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina. His first storytelling influences were his uncles, Frell and Henry Owle. He has performed at the National Storytelling Festival, the Carter Center, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and many others. He has been featured on several videos, including Voices in the Winds, and a National Geographic television special, and his stories have been published in several books.

Loren Bommelyn (Tolowa), California

This Tolowa tradition bearer from Crescent City, California, is a 2002 National Heritage Fellow. He has played a significant role in the Tolowa community of Northern California by preserving, practicing, and promoting Towola cultural traditions including language, regalia, ceremonial dances and songs, and basketmaking.

Joe Cross (Caddo/Potawatomi) and Donna Couteau Cross (Sac & Fox), Oklahoma

Together as the Leaf Arrow Storytellers, this performance duo relates tales of the Caddo and Sac & Fox nations of Oklahoma. Themes of traditional beliefs and the cycles of life are expressed through story, song, and dance—expressive of the special relationship Native peoples have with the Earth.

Paulla Dove Jennings (Narragansett), Rhode Island

Jennings is a storyteller, historian, and author of Strawberry Thanksgiving. She is a curator for the Tomaquog Museum in Exeter, Rhode Island, and serves on the Economic Development Committee for the Narragansett tribe.

Iguaniginape Kungiler (Vianor Perez Rivera) (Kuna)

Kuna writer, editor, human rights activist, computer technician, and storyteller Iguaniginape Kungiler was born in Panama City. He has published two books, Espiritu de la Tierra Nuestro Espiritu (Spirit of Our Earth, Our Spirit), written in Kuna and ish, and Caminante y Guerrer: Biografía de Simrral Colman (Traveler and Warrior: the Biography of Simrral Colman).

Sean Fahrlander (Ojibwe), Minnesota

Storyteller Sean Fahrlander (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) was raised on the Leech Lake and White Earth Reservations in northern Minnesota. With the permission of community elders, Fahrlander shares their stories that have been handed down to him. He is a published writer and will soon release three illustrated children’s stories. He currently lives and works in the Minneapolis area.

Trudie Lamb Richmond (Schaghticoke Tribal Nation), Connecticut

An accomplished storyteller and lecturer, Ms. Richmond has performed across the Northeast to school and community groups and performed at countless festivals, social events, and conferences. Dedicated to Native American educational and political issues for over two decades, she presents programs that highlight the history and culture—both traditional and contemporary—of Native peoples of southern New England.

Gayle Ross (Cherokee), Texas

Storyteller and author Gayle Ross is a descendent of John Ross, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation during the infamous “Trail of Tears.” From her grandmother’s stories,

Gayle relates her rich heritage—through live stage children’s books—enthralling audiences of all ages.

Dovie Thomason (Lakota/Kiowa-Apache), Virginia

Thomason celebrates her heritage through traditional stories learned from her grandmother—stories that inspire delight in the spoken word and teach respect for values passed on through generations of storytellers. The importance of choices—whether made by a talkative fox or a bullying fox—are the heart of her stories.

Mary Louise Defender Wilson (Dakotah), North Dakota

Also known as Gourd Woman, Wilson is a Dakotah elder and traditionalist born into a family of storytellers on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation of North Dakota. For decades she has been telling the stories of her relatives so that following generations might live "in a good way." Wilson is a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship award recipient.