Native American (1st Nations, American Indian) song, dance, chant...

Grandma (with my Mom and Aunt) who shared her native genes with me.  Unfortunately one of the genes I got was the tendency towards alcoholism (still not sure the whole alcoholism/addict gene is a factual thing).  Recently I finished reading "Potawatomie: Keepers of the Fire" (the particular native group I inherited traits from), a history from European (French) contact through their "relocation".  I was always idealistic about Native Americans and over the years, even though I subscribe to a lot of the spirituality (not in a New Age way by a long shot), I realize that they were just people too.  In that book, just prior to most of the tribe being removed from the great lakes region to lands further to the west (there is still a small reservation here in Kansas and of course a very nice casino), a Chief, Topinbee (He Who Sits Quietly), was quoted as saying, "We care not for the land, the money, or the goods, it is the whiskey we want - give us the whiskey."  Man that's a place I have certainly been.  One of my first memories was my Mom telling me that we had Indian blood.  From that point on I rooted for the Indians in every Western movie or TV show I watched (my first rated 'R' movie was "Little Big Man").  Of course in film and television, true to history, they weren't portrayed accurately and in the long run they won nothing.   I wonder if I was born with a tendency to root for the underdog.  Regardless, whenever I've had the chance, from childhood, through college, and still, I've studied Native American history, culture, mythology and religion.  The reality of course is that there were hundreds (if not thousands) of tribes in the America's that were as different from each other as the tribes of Europe, Asia and Africa were.  There is a tendency to do this pan-Indian thing (lumping tribes together for their shared traits), today part of a unifying factor among the tribes and their mutual identity, but as separate groups of people they were like any other groups of people, sometimes they got along other times they didn't.  Like all human beings, as  individuals flawed but I always felt drawn towards the spirituality and the strong ties to the earth.  Still wonder if there isn't some idealism.  To this day I consult a Native friend of mine who has a lot of experience, wisdom and close ties to various groups of elders.  A BIG part of my sobriety and what little sanity I have.  So for the various tribes their lack of a common cause was up against the European unifying factor, conquest of the America's by any means necessary.  Inevitably the groups were knocked off like flies or as my Native American history professor, Jack Norton would say, a kind of systematic genocide. The Dawes Act is a great place to start if you're interested in the conquest of North America. So back when I was in elementary school, we would walk over to the library, and even then I had a love for records and music, so imagine my joy when I discovered albums full of Native American music.  I had been to Pow Wow's, but the first thing these records showed me was the diversity in the music.  Back then I recorded everything to tape so of course these ended up recorded as well.  Shit I think I used to bug people because every time they had something worth listening to I would beg, plead, demand that they dub me a copy.  These recordings were from the 30's and 40's so the individuals playing and singing had a closer connection to this almost lost portion of their culture.  The elders represented here left behind some serious invaluable energy for the future (and the way I felt was that they were specifaclly recorded for me).  I spent a lot of quiet moments just laying there and listening to these tapes. I still feel a lot of emotion listening to them and back then I could close my eyes and be someplace else.  Someplace where the emotions were pure, a sense of belonging to that exact moment as opposed to the chaos I usually felt.  I will say it again, this is not some lame modern New Age flute music, this is timeless stuff. These songs may be thousands of years old or may date back to the dawn of mankind.  Pretty much just Plains and Southwest stuff here, but there is still a lot of variety.  If you listen to two make it the Rabbit Dance (2) and Bird Song Cycle (23). Night Chant (Navajo) Rabbit Dance (Sioux) Sun Dance (Sioux) Omaha Dance (Sioux) Devil Dance (Apache) Eagle Dance (San Ildefonso) Harvest Dance (Zuni) Rain Dance (Zuni) Squaw Dance (Navajo) (a better translation would have been woman or even maiden, "squaw" in Algonquin means something like pussy, cunt or twat [or some other unpleasant term for vagina], but somehow in common English it means an Indian woman.  Not a term of any kind of dignity or respect.  Irony. Plains Indian War Dance (Flathead) Snake Dance (Flathead) Pow Wow Dance (Canadian Plains) Dog Dance (Plains) Moonlight Song (Taos) Gambling Song (Taos) Eagle Dance (San Ildefonso) Butterfly Dance (Hopi) Enemy Away Song (Navajo) Sunrise Song (Apache) Bird Song Cycle (Yuma) Saguaro Song (Papago) Funeral Song (Walapai) Stick Game Song (Havasupai) That was one tape and I have a second one, that's separated into tracks, but as was sometimes the custom when I was younger and not anal like I am now about proper labeling, I didn't write anything down. Another 90 minutes, the second half of which is some of the best on these two tapes found here. I am very curious to know if anyone bothered to listen to any of this.