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Written by Mariska Wobbe
Posted on 23 February 2012
Last Updated 23 February 2012
Biografie van Kendall Grant Old Elk
Afkomstig uit de staat Montana in de VS, lid van de Apsaalooke natie oftwel Crow Tribe. Hij is zanger en danser, geeft lezingen over zijn stam en over Native American onderwerpen voor kinderen en volwassenen. Hij zingt en danst al zijn hele leven maar doet dit professioneel nu al zo’n 15 jaar.
Kendall heeft zowel powwows gewonnen, georganiseerd als gejureerd. Hij geeft graag voorlichting over zijn reservaat en over de scholen aldaar. In Europa heeft hij onder andere opgetreden met de “Eagle Feather Dance Troup”, “Buffalo Spirit Dance Theatre” en “Little Big Horn College Dancers”.
In Amerika heeft hij 4 seizoenen een show gegeven in PortAventura bij de Universal Studio’s en opgetreden bij de inhuldiging van Gearge.W.Bush en nog voor meer hooggeplaatste mensen mogen optreden. Kendall Grant Old Elk heeft zowel een traditionele als een moderne opvoeding gehad waardoor hij goed in staat is zijn geschiedenis en cultuur over te brengen. Hij heeft diverse CD’s en DVD’s gemaakt. Bovendien is Kendall een getalenteerd kunstenaar.
Hier een stuk Biografie over Kendall Old Elk:
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
My name is Kendall Grant Old Elk. I am a member of the Apsaalooke nation, or Crow Tribe, from the South Central part of the state of Montana, in the United States. I am dancer and a singer. I do talks about my tribe and about Native American issues for children and for adults. I do work with traditional native arts and crafts. I have been dancing and singing for most of my life. Dancing and singing in, as well as organizing and judging Native American celebrations called Powwows. Winning many competitions throughout North America. I have been performing professionally for about the past 15 years. With the bulk of that being in the past 9. I have given talks throughout my reservation. Local Schools in the communities surrounding my reservation. As well as throughout Europe. Here in Europe I have been giving talks and performing with the Eagle Feather Dance Troupe, Buffalo Spirit Dance Theatre, and Elk River Dancers, Little Big Horn College Dancers, just to name a few. I was a performer for 4 seasons with the Pluma de Aguila show in Universal Studios PortAventura. Was lucky enough to be invited to perform at President George W. Bush’s Inauguration in 2000. I performed for the King of Spain Don Juan Carlos. And our show was seen by a Prince from Saudi Arabia, who, for security reasons, did not inform us until after that he was there, and unfortunately did not leave his name. I have sung on various CD’s both here in Europe and back home in North America as well as performed on various DVD’s here in Europe. For the past 17 years I have been active in doing traditional Native American arts and crafts. I have been lucky in that I was raised in both a traditional and a modern lifestyle. I served in the US Army. And I have had a few years of College as well. It is through these experiences that I draw my knowledge and am able to share with people that knowledge. I am also well versed in the traditions of my people. I am not only a performer, but also am able to help organize events from initial planning to scripting the show itself. As well as being able to share history and culture.
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE POWWOW
The powwow is a form of celebration hosted by many Native American tribes throughout the United States and Canada. Today many have evolved into competitions of Song and Dance as well as celebrating important dates associated with the local hosts. We as Native American expressed and express ourselves through our song and our dance. We tell stories of important events. They may be an important battle. A particularly good hunt. They may also convey what we see or hear around us. When the warriors would return from a battle or a hunt there would often times be a celebration. And at these celebrations the events that occurred were related in this manner. With the passing of time, the traditional form of dance evolved into various styles. Depending on the region and surrounding circumstances. Also with the passage of time. Women started to dance as well. And as with the mens style of dance. That too, evolved into different styles. Depending on the region as well. In todays Celebrations you can see as many as up to 10 different styles of dance. The Mens style all seem to have the same root in the traditional style of dance. What the Traditional Dancer wants to do is tell a story. It is very impressive to see a good dancer. You can almost hear the buffalo that he is hunting, or smell the dust and gunpowder of the battle that he is recounting. This style has many sub styles. There is the Southern style popular in the southern part of the US. There is the Northern Style that can be broken down in to various sub styles as well. You may have Old Style, Contemporary, Chicken, and Crow Styles. From the Traditional style evolved another type of dance called the Grass Dance. It is a very athletic style, requiring stamina and agility. What the dancer wants to do is, through his motions, show that he is laying down, without breaking, the long prairie grass in a manner that it will grow again after the celebration. This also has evolved into 2 different styles in some places. Old Style and a more contemporary style. During the first days of the reservation era, trains would stop along there route to refill their tanks with water. This allowed the passengers of these trains to stretch their legs a bit before continuing their journey. At many of these stops some Native Americans would perform songs and dances. Gradually, those responsible for these areas would ask these performers if they could dance a little livelier. And maybe brighten up their regalia with brighter colors. And this is how what is today called the Fancy Dance evolved. This too can be broken down into 2 different sub categories, both northern and southern. Both having their seperate rules on how to dance. At first the women would sit around the circle watching their men dance. Little by little with the passage of time. They started to bounce in rhythm to the singing and beating of the drum. Then, gradually, they would stand and bounce and sway in place around the circle. And eventually they started dancing in the circle itself. And this is how the traditional form of womens dance evolved. Now, as with the mens style of dance, can be broken down into various sub categories. Northern Buckskin, Cloth, Crow. Southern Buckskin, and cloth. They are all very graceful beautiful Styles. Each with its own set of rules. As with mens fancy, the womens traditional style eventually evolved into a livelier, faster paced style. This is danced with a shawl covering the shoulders. The style is fast paced, with complicated foot work. This is what is called Womens Fancy today. As with the grass and mens fancy styles, this is a very athletic style requiring stamina and agility. From the Great Lakes region of North America evolved another style called the Jingle Dress. The dress itself has hundreds of metal cones which has a distinct sound when the dancer moves. Now a typical celebration will last anywhere from 2 to 5 days. With dancing all day and into the night. Not only do the dancers compete against each other, but the different drum groups do as well. The singing and songs are just as important in telling stories as dancing. If not more so. A typical drum group today consists of anywhere from 5 to 20 men around a drum. All singing in unison. Their job is to sing songs appropriate to the occasion. The songs would tell stories as well. Many tribes consider the drum and the drum beat the heart beat of their nations and the heartbeat of motherearth herself. There are songs for many types of occasions. For ceremonies, dances, courtship, weddings, funerals. They can be happy, sad. Convey many types of feelings. Depending on what the author wants to convey with his songs. Some are with words in the native toungue of the author. Some have English words (so that many people from many different tribes can sing together), or they can just have vocables (also so that people from different tribes can sing together). At our celebrations, we have many different styles of Singing. There is the Northern type, which can be broken down into different types of Styles. Such as Northern Contemporary, Straight or OldStyle, Crow. And there is the Southern Styles as well. Not only is there the large type of drum that everyone is familiar with. But there are smaller types as well, known as hand drums.
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE APSAALOOKE NATION
The Apsaalooke nation, or what are known as the Crow Tribe of Indians, is located in what is now south central area of the state of Montana in the northern United States. We came from the Great Lakes Region of the United States and migrated to the area of what is called Spirit Lake in the state of North Dakota. We were locate there with the tribe of Native Americans called the Hidatsa, and lived mainly by farming and hunting. We broke off from them around 500 to 1000 years ago and migrated in a large circle to central Montana and Northern Wyoming. One of our stories handed down tells of our route. We went into Canada and decided that the winters were too long so we left (some stories say that we left some people there, a delegation of Apsaalooke went into Canada some years ago to look for any survivors, if there were any to be found, and found a band of Natives that spoke our language, and continued many of the customs that we do). Travelling along the front of the Rocky Mountains through Montana, Idaho, Utah, and eventually in the Desert region of the SouthWestern United States. Deciding that it was too hot, the story says, we continued east into what is the region of Texas and Louisiana. But it was too humid, so we left that region as well (members of my tribe back up this claim by telling that we are the only Plains Tribe that has a word for the animal alligator, there are no alligators on the Northern Plains). Continuing in a north westerly direction we travelled through Oklahoma, Nebraska, and eventually back into the region of Montana and Wyoming. (During our trek, we befriended the Kiowa tribe of the Oklahoma area, and again, left some members of our tribe there, and to this day that friendship continues, with members of our tribe travelling back and forth to Oklahoma for ceremonies, and members of their tribe travelling back and forth to be with us). We settled in this region and controlled a large part of the Midwestern United States for a long time. Historically, there were no more than around 2,500 to 3,000 members of my tribe. Where we were located happened to be some of the best hunting grounds around. And we were surrounded on all sides by our enemies. The Lakota, Cheyenne, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, Blackfoot, Arapahoe, and Shoshone. In this era we mainly survived by hunting. My people were based around three main bands. The River Crow in the north, the Mountain Crow in Southern Montana and Northern Montana, and the band known as the Kicked in the Bellies in Central and Northern Wyoming. We migrated throughout our territory hunting and defending our territory from our enemies. Around between 200 to 250 years ago we discovered an animal that would vastly change our way of life. This new brother of ours was the horse. As one story tells it, when we first heard of the horse, we sent some young men to go after some. They left on foot. After a journey of 7 years they returned with horses. It is told that they joined with a camp of Utes in the area of Utah and Arizona. The horse rapidly became indispensible to my people. And we formed a bond closer than that of the other tribes around us with him. That is why he is considered one of our brothers. In this era, an Apsaalooke horse was worth much more than that than any other horse from another tribe. With the introduction of the horse we were able to defend our territory in a much easier manner. Around the later part of the 1700’s, a member of my tribe had a dream. In this dream he was told that we would make new friends with a people different than the tribes around us. And so that we would recognize them when we saw them, his next child would have many of the same characteristics as these new friends. Soon after, he had a son. This child was born with a lighter shade of skin, his hair was a lighter shade of brown, almost blonde, and his eyes were green. This is how we were able to recognize our new friends, the white man. Because we were surrounded by enemies on all sides, we had a very militaristic society. As such, if we were to survive, we had to have, and follow, a higher set of values. One of those values or morals was, if a person said something, they had to act on those words as if they were an oath or vow. When this man’s child was born, my people said that they would befriend these people and help them in any way that they could. A number of years later, we signed a friendship treaty sealing that friendship. An interesting note here. In the old Hollywood westerns, the Indians are always the bad guys. And more likely than not they are represented by the Sioux (Lakota), Apache, and other tribes. The Apsaalooke weren’t really that well known. That is because of this vow of friendship so many years ago. And we held true to those words for many generations. For this reason we supplied scouts to the American Cavalry during the great Indian wars of the middle 1800’s. This is also why we have such a high percentage of members of my tribe that are veterans of the armed services, and or, currently serving in the military. Through a series of treaties with the government of the United States, we were put on a reservation in the middle of our hunting territories. Gradually that territory was diminished for a number of reasons. The discovery of gold in California and in the Black Hills of South Dakota brought many settlers to the region. With the diminishment of the vast buffalo herds that roamed the Great Plains, it was easier to raise cattle and farm sheep. So land was needed to feed these animals as well. Also with the rapid development in methods of farming, land was also needed. Also in this era, my people were not as well educated as the white man. The translators were not as well versed in our language either. So, with these series of treaties, backed by these reasons, our territory was greatly diminished. From an expanse that covered over 3 or 4 states of the United States, and entered into 2 Canadian provinces we were cut down to an area of just over 50 miles by 30 miles (80 kilometers by about 48 kilometers). We currently govern ourselves through a system similar to that of the United States. We have an Executive branch (the Tribal Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and Vice-Secretary along with their respective cabinets), a Legislative Branch (Each of the 6 districts within the reservation has their representatives), and a Judicial branch (we have our own active court system in place along with our own tribal police force). We make and enforce our own laws, with little or no outside help. Since the reservations within the United States are considered Federal Land, whenever a crime of high magnitude occurs (murder, etc) then we receive help from the FBI. To also provide a checks and balances system of overseeing the government, we also hold a series of quarterly meetings attended by all adult members of the Tribe, called the Tribal Council. This is to ensure that all members are aware of what is going on and that the Chairman not only remembers who put him in charge, but also to ensure that he does not take advantage of his position of power. Economically, my tribe is very low on the list. Not only for the State of Montana, but also in the United States as a whole as well. Realistically there is almost little or no economic base on my reservation. A person could work for the tribal government, but with the current system of nepotism, it would only be for a limited number of years before a new set of leaders takes office and replaces almost all the employees with their family. There is a coal mine on the reservation. However, there a limited number of jobs available to tribal members. Most of them being of the skilled type of labor. There is very limited tourism employment available. And there is also a small casino on the reservation providing a small number of jobs. There is some farm and ranch work available. But by and large, employment on the reservation is very hard to find. With many member of my tribe living away from the reservation to find work. Housing could definitely use some improvements with, sometimes, as many as 2 to 3 families living within the same household. Historically and today we were and still are a tribe that is not materialistic. We provide for our families the best way that we can. Not really planning for the future, but living for the moment. We measure our wealth not in the money that we have in the bank or the cars that we drive, but in how close we hold our family and friends, and how people talk about us, and remember us. There are currently over 12,000 members of my tribe, up from the historic figures of around 2,500 to 3,000. With around 8,000 members living within the boundaries of the reservation. We are a very traditional tribe with many of our ceremonies and customs still practiced to this day. Our tribe is one of the few that has a high percentage people that not only understand our native language, but also speak it. Many tribes in this day and age have lost their language. We are also considerably modern. With many members being doctors, lawyers, and various other professional type professions. It is through our ability to adapt and evolve that we are alive to this day. And with the majority of our population being under the age of 30, I personally believe that we will survive for many generations to come.
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