Powwow Soundscape
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Each summer, Native American tribes gather for special social dances to celebrate the cycle of the seasons. The modern slang term for these ceremonial gatherings is "powwow." Curt Nickisch recorded at powwows in Idaho and South Dakota and spoke with Martin Brokenleg of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

Martin Brokenleg: "We Lakotas welcome back the summer the first time we hear the thunders. Our understanding is thunders are living beings and when we hear them calling that's the sign that the summer has returned. So, we go out to greet them with tabacco smoke and cedar smoke.

We base our lifestyle on what we see in the vegetation around us. That is, in the summer it is turned outward. So, powwows typically follow that summer pattern of being communal.

All of these rthymns are sacred and so since rthymn is sacred, the drums are going to be sacred. In our symbol system the sound of the drum and the sound of hail are fairly similar because the hail comes with these thunderstorms. Rattles are like rain or snow. So, they are all allusions to the products that come out of thunderstorms. So we mark that beginning of summer as a sacred link.

Curt Nickisch produced the soundscape of Native American powwows in Idaho and South Dakota.