Buck

http://www.blackfoot.net/~dixon/index.html http://art.mt.gov/folklife/folklife_boyd.asp http://metalmontana.com/bandinfo.php?item=30

Not so Odd of a Request. My name is Buck Morigeau, I play guitar and vocals for WarCry. But I also teach the Salish language and culture to grades K- 8, and a Tuesday after school guitar class at Dixon Elementary. I also teach a class called Reservation Arts at our local community college, Salish Kootenai College. And I too have to prepare all of my own curricula, do to the lack of accurate materials available. I would like to let you know, that I am a “Traditionalist” and do not drink. The only time “I get to the bar” is when that is the venue we are playing. I would prefer to only play all age venues but some places only allow metal shows at the bar. I find it interesting that you are planning a unit on Native American Metal. I will try to help you out to the best of my ability. I will give you a list of Native American Metal Bands and try to give you some info. As for our songs and lyrics... if you follow the link through our A&R Select player and go to our audio page, you can download our songs for free by clicking on the HD and our lyrics by clicking on the lyric link. See Watching Dystopia and Last Spell Cast :) The 4 points that you are wanting to cover may not be expressed lyrically but a lot of times is expressed through the music. The angst, anger, and hurt is easier to express through the pure aggression of Metal then to put into words. Metal is what helped me through the difficulties I had as a teen and I feel that I need to try to give back that gift to the youth of today. 1- Traditional values Each tribe has it own set of values and customs (ways of doing things). But some of the values that are generally shared by most tribes are: Family, Community, Spirituality, Stewardship of Creation (land, plant, animals, birds, water, etc.) Warriorship (the duty to protect, care and provide for these things) and Humor. Most of these things were misunderstood and systematically destroyed in an attempt to assimilate the tribal people. There is a lot of pain over the loss of these things and without them things are very bleak. Family and Community were disrupted when the boarding schools took the children by force and did not let them return home until they we of age to start their own families, but these children were disconnected from their people and did not learn how to parent their own children. This break down of family and community continues today. The young people are creating their own communities to fill this void, in some cases it is a Metal community. In most cases the Native Spirituality was deemed Evil and forbidden, even though in most cases Native Spirituality was to give thanks to the Creator for everything within Creation. In rebellion to being told that your beliefs are evil, many bands will write lyrics about how evil they can be. Stewardship of Creation is a difficult value to maintain when the whole world does not understand this principle and acts in direct opposition to it. Warriorship was purposely crushed because it was believed to only encompass war, it was not understood that this was the principle that perpetuated justice, truth, love. This specifically diminished the mans place in society. We also had women warriors in our traditional culture. Through metal you can achieve the camaraderie and to some extent the war honors that would have been typical in traditional cultures. Humor is one of the important values that we still have in abundance, although humor is the most common coping skill. A lot of times the guy that you think should be a famous Stand up Comedian, is really the guy who is trying to cope with the most pain.

2- Native American perspective on the world, past and present The Native American perspective on the world is going to vary greatly depending on the individual person., their tribal affiliation, and their personal level on “the assimilation scale”. The assimilation scale ranges from Fully Traditional>. With the PowWow culture falling somewhere near the Fully Traditional. For the most part people see the hurt of the past, the atrocities committed against their grandparents, the loss of beautiful culture and customs, all of the systematic racism, and the recent past looks bleak. They see the same hurt continuing in the present and the present and future also look bleak.

3- life on the “rez” Living on the “rez” means dealing daily with death, poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, physical abuse, and racism. Each death of an “Elder” means that much more of the Culture has died, that much more of your connection to the “good past” is lost. Each death of a young person means that much more of your hope for the future is gone. Life on the “rez” means more hurt and pain, and everything looks bleak.

4- significance of the dying culture and traditions If we lose our culture, traditions and language, then we will have completely lost our tribal identity, we will no longer be a “people”. This loss of identity causes more hurt and pain, and makes the whole world look even more bleak.

Here is a list of our NativeBand myspace friends: You can see what they have for lyrics or songs to be downloaded.

METAL: Damage Over Dose http://www.myspace.com/damageoverdose Ethnic De Generation http://www.myspace.com/edg Resistant Culture http://www.myspace.com/resistantculture Sacred Blood http://www.myspace.com/sacredblood Tribus http://www.myspace.com/tribus Dying Tribe http://www.myspace.com/dyingtribe F.U.M.E. http://www.myspace.com/fumebros S-Cuk Gogs http://www.myspace.com/scukgogs Bloodline http://www.myspace.com/bloodlineheavymetal Undying Hate http://www.myspace.com/undyinghate The Broken Circle http://www.myspace.com/thebrokencircle2005 Corrupted Vision http://www.myspace.com/corruptedvision Horny Toads http://www.myspace.com/hornytoads4life Native Reign http://www.myspace.com/nativereign1 Native Blood http://www.myspace.com/nativebloodtc Project Damage http://www.myspace.com/projectdamage Blood Still Flows http://www.myspace.com/bloodstillflows Rez Of War http://www.myspace.com/rezofwar Suspended http://www.myspace.com/suspendedchickz The History Of Suffering http://www.myspace.com/thehistoryofsuffering Exit Wound http://www.myspace.com/exitwoundone Thallium http://www.myspace.com/thalliumatomicnumber81 Old Indian Trick http://www.myspace.com/oldindiantrick06 21-40 http://www.myspace.com/twentyoneforty Seventhsign http://www.myspace.com/seventhsignband War Council http://www.myspace.com/warcouncil Shawn Michael Perry http://www.myspace.com/shawnmperry Crosstribe http://www.myspace.com/n8vx No Name Yet http://www.myspace.com/livinghistruth

RAP: War Party http://www.myspace.com/warparty4life Red Cloud http://www.myspace.com/redcloud Tribe 2 Entertainment http://www.myspace.com/tribe2entertainment Native Era http://www.myspace.com/nativeera Dark Angelz http://www.myspace.com/rezmob Pikture http://www.myspace.com/pikturemusic Rez Side Clicc http://www.myspace.com/illeaglerecordz

POWWOW: Wookie Lodge http://www.myspace.com/wookielodge Eya-Hey Nakoda http://www.myspace.com/eyaheynakoda Thundering Spirit http://www.myspace.com/thunderingspirit Southern Outlawz http://www.myspace.com/southernoutlawz Dry Lake http://www.myspace.com/drylake Bear Creek http://www.myspace.com/bearcreek15d Lightning Strikes http://www.myspace.com/gamubu Eya Bay Meskwaki http://www.myspace.com/meskwakination Smokeytown Singers http://www.myspace.com/smokeytownsingers Southern Extreme http://www.myspace.com/southernxtremesingers

Here is a poem that was recently forwarded to us through myspace:

Native Pride

When you came to our country We gave you a hand And so in return You took our land You said that we were savage And that we had no God Our way of worship was forbidden Because you found it very odd As the sun would rise We would face the east To pray for all creations From the birds to the beasts To thank our Creator For another sacred day Because all days are sacred If you worship the Native way

Thank You for your Request If you have any more questions please feel free to contact me again Buck Morigeau

- Original Message - From: [|Mooman] Date: Mar 26, 2007 4:57 PM

Alright...I think I have an interesting question for you that you could get a good laugh from your friends next time you got to the bar. I am 8th Grade Social Studies Teacher from Wallingford, CT. I am planning a Native american unit for this May, which despite my thousands of dollars in a wasted college degree would be like you trying to plan a lesson on a white guy from Connecticut suburbs based on what you have read and watched on TV. As a fan of metal and having had your song on my myspace for months now, I think you can help me. I have a ton of students who are also metal students and I think you can help me hook them in. I love your description of your band on your myspace. Especially the line about your music being a venue to reach the children of today. I would like to give you the chance to reach the children of Wallingford, CT. I want to plan a unit analyzing the lyrics of Native American Metal bands, not just songs about Native Americans -- I used Maiden's Run to the Hill's last year. I was wondering if you could help me find songs from you and other other Native American Bands that do what you say on your myspace: 1-explain the traditional values 2-Native American perspective on the world, past and present 3-life on the "rez" 4-significance of the dying culture and traditions

I would obviously love to support the bands and buy CDs, but I am not exactly a rich dude. If I could download individual songs from Itunes, or buy a couple CDs or whatever that would be super. Myspace is banned in school so we can't listen to songs posted on that. Sooo...what do you think? I would be starting this in about six weeks. I know there is no way I could totally convince you taht I am not a freak but below is my school website, my farm website, and my wiki that I would put the songs and lyrics on for the kids to listen to and write their interpretation of -- might be interesting for some of the bands to see what the kids out in the east get from their songs. I also run a Friday morning metal band that practices every week and then plays the end of the year picnic.

http://wallingford.ccsct.com/page.cfm?p=1904 www.geocities.com/shaggyhill www.team8-2.wikispaces.com

Thanks alot...I could really use your help or if you could refer me to someone else I would really, really appreciate it.

Paul Bogush PBogush@wallingford.k12.ct.us