looking for advice & HELP

[pupdog]

I am the secretary of the Alamo Gourd Dance Society in San Antonio, Texas. This society was formed under the direction of Eugene Blackbear.

I have been asked to locate, gourd dance songs on CD,

can anyone recommend any artists, groups and title of the CD & most importantly, how to obtain the music?

We wish to form our own drum group to sing these songs, so any phonetics would be a bonus

Thank you in advance,

pupdog

[powwowbum49]

Pupdog

If you organization wants to have it's own drum group singing gourd songs then those that want to sing on it really should just start sitting in with other groups when they are singing gourd dance. Talking to the head singer and others on those groups might give you invaluable info as well. Your group could go out and buy the many tapes that are out there (about 7 or 8 tapes on the market dedicated solely to gourd dance), but these tapes do not point out the little things about gourd songs like their tempo and where in the gourd dance they should be sung. Specific songs are sang at specific times during a gourd dance and these tapes do not actually tell you where in the line up a song belongs. Also it is extremely easy for a new singer to overlook the little thing like how the actually drumming changes in the middle of a song, when/where it is supposed to make that change, how often it does.

These are all things that one cannot get from a tape, but need to know to be able to sing gourd dance. Tapes are good to listen too and you can learn songs from them but there is sooo much more that needs to be learned about when and where with this type of song.

As for the gourd dance tapes that are out there - Indian House offers 2 Kiowa gourd dance tapes, I believe Canyon as well offers 2, there are 2 that were recorded live at IICOT several years back that are distributed through Crazy Crow and Greyhorse has one called 'gourd talkers', but I can't remember the company that put it out. Most any powwow vendor that carries tapes/CD's should have at least some if not all of these tapes. Companies like Crazy Crow also carry most all of these tapes too.

Hope that helps

[pupdog]

powwowbum49

Thank you much for spending the time to respond. When I posted the thread, I did not think of the things you brought to mind. Thank you. I have sat in on several drum groups to begin the learning process, and now you brought it into focus, and everything you mentioned needs to be considered. Also I have danced gord and realize the importance of order of songs and tempo.

Again thank you

PD

[spicysouthern]

[bqueton]

You normally don't learn the gourd dance songs from cd's or tapes. All the songs have their meanings. To learn all of this, you should just sit in at drums and listen. There are many good gourd dance singers in your area that I know of.