Closed Captions Audio Described

Keith Bear, a flute maker and storyteller from the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, shares Mandan and Hidatsa songs and stories about greeting strangers in peace, courtship traditions, warrior honor, and living in harmony. He demonstrates flute playing, discusses the Lewis and Clark expedition's arrival, and emphasizes respect, community, and cultural teaching through music and example.

Transcript

0:04 [Music] good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the tent of many voices this tent is part of a traveling exhibit that has been following the Lewis and Park Trail since January of 2003 and I'd just like to say we made it here we are the ocean this is pretty amazing it's been an amazing journey for us thus far and
0:29 we're looking forward to our our amazing journey next year returning back to St Louis just as Louis and Clark did 200 years ago but we are all very excited to be here at the ocean and we're excited to be here in the same weather Louis and Clark had 200 years ago uh they talked about the hail storms the rainstorms um disagreeable weather I think was what Clark called it and a couple of days ago I think we had some pretty disagreeable
0:53 weather but it's nice when the rain quits and I think it really makes you appreciate how wonderful it is um but we wouldn't have a beautiful rainforest if we didn't have the rain and this is a great temperate rainforest here we are pleased to be here and we are pleased to have with us Ray Gardner he is Vice President of the Chanukt Nation and I'd
1:18 like to at this time introduce him and let's please make him welcome and he will be giving our opening [Applause] prayer oh hi welcome all of you to Chanukt country it's just another beautiful day here you we don't we don't see anything wrong with any of this I I have to say
1:41 before I give the prayer we were with the uh Discovery Expedition on Saturday at cap poal which any of you that have been following the journals on that day 200 years ago Lewis and Clark came through at the Village site they did not stop but they were passed by by J so we had actually the that's sitting
2:05 right out here was one of them we had another one there and we went out and greeted them as we did 200 years ago and we'll be looking forward to greeting them again when they make it down here if they keep their news ight if not we will say ours but with that I would like to give a prayer to start this entire entire
2:29 event today as we stand together for the Louis and Clark Vice Centennial we pray for America's survival our survival we pray that we will be given strength by the Creator to follow the footsteps of our forefathers to share our love respect and compassion for one
2:52 another there is good in everyone because the Creator put a little of himself and all of us we pray to learn and use the wisdom of all that has come before us we pray for respect and love of Mother Earth because she is the foundation of human survival and we must keep her pollution
3:14 free for those who travel after us Creator we ask you protect her water air soil trees forest plants and animals we ask for Unity we ask that you provide us the wisdom to respect each other we pray for commitment and responsible behavior in
3:38 order to help those in need let us unite together so that we may have the strength to protect our future we pray to learn ways to settle our differences peacefully we are thankful for all who are here today may your time be enjoyable and your experience meaningful may your journey home be safe we ask the
4:00 prator for his Blessing amen again thank you all for being here beautiful to Country thank you very much go thank you very much we are delighted to be here and when we go out
4:25 in between the showers we do appreciate how beautiful it is here we have been down to the ocean already and have stood on the ocean just as Lewis and Clark did 200 years ago and as Captain Clark said he didn't understand why it was called the Pacific because it had never been Pacific since he'd seen it it was always ripb born and raving but it is
4:49 absolutely stunning and we are glad to be here we have wonderful programs for you all day please come back and join us here the T voices just to tell you guys a little bit about that we are a traveling exibit we've been traveling since January of 2003 we started out in Virginia and we made our our way all to the ocean and this is my first time here so I've never seen the Pacific Ocean before so we're glad to be here and our
5:14 presenter today is Keith Bear he is from North Dakota and he is Mandan Hidatsa and he's going to be talking to you about flute music and some of his history and culture as well so want you guys give keep a round of applause and give me your
5:29 attention okay all
5:50 right hello hello oh nice mostly speak English okay well makes it easier I speak English most of the time too my name is Keith Bear I come from the fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota I live right on the Missouri River the same river where we greeted Lewis and Clark little 200 years ago when we greeted them we greeted them with our
6:15 hands as I did there said from where my heart is now to where the sun now stands we have no weapon here to hurt you with we have no rotten AEG to throw at you no M my hand to wipe on your clothes huh you see we come to peace we got and I use many different languages because I don't know what language you come from I don't know what tribe you come from your clothes are different than my clothes your hair is different than mine your language might be different maybe your
6:39 dancing is different so I want to try to greet you make you feel comfortable and so that's the way we do CU every morning when we greet someone the first one we greet is we greet the grandfather Creator the son is he comes and Rises and so we have a bird there on the prer who sings to us and greets us also and this bird is called the metal
7:01 so last night I arrived here from North Dakota but this morning I was Ling at from here the m and all of this rain you don't get too much rain back in North Dakota you don't have nearly trees that you have here this is very pretty but the sound the sound of the metal is something like
7:26 [Music] this [Music]
7:58 oh [Music]
8:27 [Applause] the [Music] [Applause] you see when the other tribes came to North Dakota before Lewis and Clark we were the Trade Center of America the other
8:50 tribes come from the south and the north even from here in the west and they would travel east and stop there on the banks of the Missouri River and so we tried to learn the people's language cuz we want to make them feel L you see in our dreams of our ancestors they said one day from the East it will come a log on that log it's pushed by a cloud and there will be holy sacred beings new
9:15 beings one day on the East Coast the Indians there they saw a wooden ship with a Full Sail like a log in a cloud and when those people got off of that ship they look like us they had two legs like we in two arms and two eyes but there're skin was different color the hair was different they look like our sacred being here in our land we call him The White Buffalo some of the men
9:38 they look like white buffalo too they had hair all over all fuzzy kind of stinking like Buffalo cuz they didn't take a bath on that boat you know so we greeted them anyways and we welcome them to this land you see we don't care what color their skin is or what language they speak as long as you come here in peace as long as you come in Harmon cuz we want our sons and daughters to be
10:03 strong we want to have relatives and Friends many places some of their stories that we heard said under the rainbow like this morning after the rain there's a little man with a pot of gold have you ever heard that story did anybody ever find that man you see in our stories they said if you follow the end of that rainbow you're going to find new friends and make make new relatives I think you're going to find more people as you chase
10:26 into the rainbow and you roll pots of gold if you treat those people people with honor and respect they too will treat you with honor and respect he said I'm a flute maker today and a flute player I tell stories of our tribes that are very very old and I try to include many of the people that I
10:48 have met you see this is the very first song that I learned how to play I don't know how to read music anybody can you read music you play piano with you see then you're you're smarter than I am and I teach College you guys know how to use a computer I teach College you can teach me how to I'm learning how I'm a te College teacher I'm learning something new so this song is a song that's very
11:13 old but when I learn how I have to listen you have to listen to the flute you have to listen to The Voice so the voice becomes my voice when I first learned the song it reminded me of a childhood because this story is very old this Warrior speak of is is much smaller than myself but I have great respect for him because this Warrior could hurt me perhaps even kill me but if we know
11:37 where to look inside this boy you can help heal us too and so I'd like to play for you the first song I taught myself how to play I'm going to sing in my Mand language Mand speak soft and pretty then I'm going to speak in the the hia language a little bit faster and then I'm going to play in this language that we share English maybe you recognize the song Maybe you even have some of his
11:59 medicine your home but this is the song I first began [Music]
12:24 [Applause] with
12:37 [Music]
12:58 e
13:03 [Music]
13:28 the [Music] [Applause] that you ever see your dad moving the stuff around the house or cleaning yard and oh spider how big is your dad how big is that
13:52 spider how about your mom you ever see her dance clear across the room I see women busting cool moves but I've seen children in their innocence Reach Out And Touch the spiders you see some of those spiders if they bite us they can hurt us make us sick maybe even cause us to die but if we look inside of those spiders inside of a few of those spiders just a piece of them we take that we mix with some
14:15 leaves and some Ash and take some other things look together there's medicine for children as your bones grow and stretch there's medicine for women in the time of the Moon and you have pains and cramps there's medicine there for the elders with are arthritis but it's having to look inside you see as I make these flutes sometimes friends of mine like this guy he makes fancy flutes with different kinds of wood and
14:38 mix them together he can make you limited edition G minor all I know about G miners g a miner I can't sell you cigarettes I don't know how to read music and I can't but I hear music and I feel music so when I give these like this one it was a fence post from a friend of mine and I took that and I look inside that fence
15:02 post and I have to see where I want I look inside it and I use my fingers to measure and I use my hands to do the measuring for the holes there I take the knives and the gouges and I scrape off the inside and I put those two pieces together two seeds to mix the ho then I use my hands to measure on the top and I put these together CU these are Medicine of the of the Soul these
15:26 are Medicine of the spirit these will take our young War and turn them into great leaders protectors and providers of Tomorrow these will take our elders return them to the days when they were young and strong and had their own hair their own teeth they can whistle without blowing their teeth on the floor need also touch the hearts and minds of those who are hurt inside and maybe lost them but take them someplace where they can heal and feel better you
15:51 see long ago these were uses love medicine also because there was a young man who came upon the tribe and he saw this beautiful young woman and he went down by the river he stood there when she walked past him he like now he couldn't say anything to her he just smiled a lot and HED that she looked at him cuz there might be two or
16:14 three other guys maybe this guy likes my girl maybe that guy likes my girl so I want to make sure that he doesn't steal her from me oh you don't want him he looks like a Kyo well you don't want that one over there he smells like a buffalo and a wet rain you know so they tease each other if you can teas each other not be offended not get mad and your spirit is strong for someone teases you get angry and maybe you need to look inside and be a little bit stronger but
16:39 one day the boy came along and he stood there by that young woman in the trees he spoke he said all through the night I have dreamed of you and all through the night you have been my dream I woke this morning I sat upon the hill to the East and I waited for you to bring sunlight into the day as I sat upon the hill I twisted flowers with the sweet
17:03 grass soon I saw your Lodge door open and when you stepped upon the Earth the Sun began to shine and the birds began to sing the butterflies began to dance my heart began to pound as he walked towards me I wanted to say beautiful things to you my mind turned into clouds my tongue was so thick I couldn't move it he looked into my eyes and I Lord my head and I offered you that bracelet
17:28 when you took this from my hand and you walk past me I said there goes the light of my life there goes the source of my desire there goes the woman of my dreams and all through the night I have dreamed of you and all through the night I shall dream of you
17:47 [Music] again
18:00 [Music]
18:28 for [Music]
18:58 e
18:59 [Music]
19:28 for [Music]
19:49 [Applause] [Music] [Applause] see the band theology like many nations across this great land of our we have greeted many people how many people do you know of different colors how many languages can you speak I can speak a little bit of about 17
20:12 languages it's good to say hello it's good to say how are you it's good to know how to say where's the bathroom that's an important question don't you think we could use sign language you guys understand sign language right you know what that means right yeah but what what does this mean when the policeman does this yeah how
20:35 about how about this oh yeah about this one yeah how about this one right about what else River bird how about this how about
20:58 this field goal touchdown don't you guys even watch sports yeah different I said we still have sign not the whole sign Lang I'm a modern in Indian too just like you I like to watch sports and my son is a good at it so we have to be careful what we think but when you understand language whether it's the language of how someone stands it's the language of how someone Smiles at you it's always
21:22 good to make new friends the M the H we have greeted many people from many nations even here on the West those Indians that lived here they greeted Lewis Clark those where they left they greeted the first pilgrims and so this is a song that we have among our people and This song is called a friendship song and when you have more friends the better it sounds so this flute has two and I asked
21:46 for this clu that my children I said go get the shotgun you see why they know which one I mean so this is a song that says thank you for the gift I accept your gift my high thank you for this gift take this gift in return and share with those take this gift from my heart and the gift we're speaking of it's the gift of friendship so this friendship song is a little over
22:11 200 years old and it sounds like [Music]
22:28 this
22:38 [Music]
22:57 d [Music]
23:27 w you see we set examples because in our old ways we did not have schools that we sent our children to we gave our children to the aunties and the uncles the grandmothers and grandfathers when I wanted to learn how to ride as young boy my mother gave me to my uncles who are good Cowboys they showed me the ways of being a young man that way she gave me to one of my uncles who was a good
23:52 Hunter a good bowl maker she gave my sisters to the aunties and the grandmothers who taught them how to S how to cook and how to make things you boys know how to find a rock that makes the fire no Flint do you know how to make fire with that you girls do you girls know how to take a a skin and make clothes out of
24:16 it you do all right that's good see most of us we go to Kmart Walmart right you see back then was different we all have dreams about what we want my son have dreams I used to dream about being a cowboy and I learned how to be one it took a lot of hard work it took me a long time to become a black Gan but I did that also and I taught other people
24:40 how to do this today I'm a flute maker and a Storyteller and I teach other people how to make flutes and they come to my home and my daughter said Daddy can you show me too when she was 5 years old she made her first flute this food she made when she was n guys can make flood all now let me ask you if you could be a
25:05 warrior and if you could fly I want you to everybody sit up in your chairs please all right sit I want you take a nice deep breath when I play this song I want you to close your eyes and let your spirit just drift around for just a moment fly through this tent fly all over the top of these mountains go clear up to the top of the tallest mountain touch them
25:29 with your wings and watch the snow Sparkle as it rolls down the hill fly out over these Forest these beautiful forest and listen for the Thunder of a waterfall maybe you want to fly out to the planets and put your feet on Grandma Moon's face fly past grandfather's Sun feel how warm he is fly all over the ocean and swim there with the whales and the dolphins jump there in the water
25:52 with them feel how good that is maybe you have lost someone or left someone recently maybe they have gone away and you missed them think of them for just this moment put them in your heart I'll ask you to do is take a deep breath let me he you take a deep breath feels good doesn't it cuz you just taken a drink of water when you
26:16 think of someone when you speak to someone your word should wash away pain your words should wash away ignorance your word should make them feel good and feel strong but our words can't hurt like ice can't they we should think before we SE let that words be warmed and let that water be strong and good and holy now as I play this song I want you to take a deep breath and close your
26:38 eyes let your spirit fly everybody ready take a deep breath close your eyes no peeking no peeking take a deep
26:57 breath
27:37 [Music]
27:57 oh [Music]
28:27 e
28:44 [Music] e
29:05 [Music]
29:27 oh [Music]
29:57 w [Applause] [Music] [Applause] as you leave here today you take a look at these other exhibits when you go back to your homes I hope that you will remember this that we here in this nation are many colors it takes many colors to make the rainbow and that's a very beautiful thing and the most part
30:21 of it is we live in harmony the harmony of Our Song the harmony of our community the harmony of our family depends on how we treat one another we all have different voices we all have different dreams but if we work together and help each other maybe it'll turn out to be a very beautiful thing cuz when we learn how to walk with each other and help each other and we learn how to do what we've always done that's walk in Harmon that's the last song I want to give you
30:46 called walk in [Music] Harmon
31:00 [Music]
31:42 [Applause] [Music] oh [Music]
32:12 [Applause] what we're going to do is the general public can stay seated um we're going to have Keith play a little bit more cuz the school kids here have to go out but you guys can stay in Keith and probably play a couple more songs for you guys but the school kids what we're going to do with you guys is split you guys up into groups I want the fourth graders to be a group and the fifth graders to be a group and the fourth graders if you guys
32:37 don't mind get up and go to the back for Rangers waving her hand follow her all right now you fifth graders if
33:00 you follow the other R they'll take you to your station as [Music]
33:22 well for the rest of you guys you guys can move up front closer to Keith if you like and um can keep playing I want to make you stand this is a beautiful day some of us have other places to go but it's always nice to sit and visit to learn new things you see as I sit here today my
33:46 heart is back home I have a very beautiful wife and that's what these were used for at one time was to attract that woman to get her to think good ways about you so those guys have to brag about themselves and tell what they do because if a woman wants a man who can provide and protect a man wants a woman to make clothes and cook and make a good home we always say look at the grandparents you want to see what your
34:11 wife's going to know about look at the grandparents you want to see what your husband's going to look like we teach our children to look at each other too we don't teach you to look at the outside and see what's different because that's to easy we want the same wants and desires for our children they want the same things for theirs they might come from a different place so when those other people would come we would sing these songs and we invite that young woman to go down there by the
34:35 river those boys will be all standing comparing each other maybe Wonder sing a beautiful song to that girl they all hears and their hearts beat fast song like this down
34:57 by
35:07 [Music]
35:27 the [Music]
35:57 oh honey oh my honey know
36:17 I'll River where the cold and CLE I
36:33 H HS know that I'll be with you tonight we
36:55 go walk by the waters love
37:11 [Music] morning
37:32 [Music]
38:07 [Applause] girl writes a song she likes her young man she will nod to him she will acknowledge Him she will maybe offer him some water that makes his heart be really fast he'll go home and he'll bring gifts that he has he'll give them to everybody in her Lodge and they will make sure that he sits on the robes so she is prepared the food she has grown maybe take some of the medicine that she
38:30 has found and made at the end of the evening visiting telling about what Clan he belongs to what Society she belongs to because you want to know these things I belong to the N Clan the CL of my mother that's the three Clans is a low cap Cur chicken and Flint knife my mother is a flint knife so I can't dat anybody in that Clan not like press people kissing cousins like that cuz you
38:55 know what you have you know what you get you haveing end up with politicians I'm just teasing in case any of you are but if you are then we're glad that you are taken the time to come here and we're glad that we can tease our leaders because our leaders we choose them by what they do for the people not about how much money they have or how big their houses but what can you do for the
39:19 people we set examples for our children what have you said for example today or tomorrow children will watch you children will listen to you what will you do what you say that are going to influence these children lawyers of Tomorrow respect and hon see when those other tribes came the Warriors step forward they
39:43 would wants to lead the people Warriors are not those who Hur destroy Warriors among our people like voice grub National Guard you see when we see a need in our community we try to feel that need and teaches our children take our children with to show them how to do these things to help others we don't say now give me something cuz that's a job you will pay for if you show kindness and honor and respect people will say
40:07 good things then they will remember you what kind of example have you said when those Warriors are forced to step before the enemy those Warriors those men who put their lives on the line for all of us these men here in the National Guard my sons and Son children maybe your relatives they're standing under our flag in the full service of our nation I've had four sons in there two are
40:30 returned and two are in there now I have eight sons and I have three daughters I have a very good family and my youngest daughter her name is New Earth Woman new Earth woman when snow covers the ground she did some beautiful things I call her my bug my little honey bug my sweet bug sometimes
40:52 you bug the that's my daughter it's her child her brother is like was afraid of him how would you let to be so powerful that lightning would be afraid of you respect and honor they give these things and they receive these things and they have got their name in this way so it's with respect and honor but I honor our vet the song it says our war shall
41:15 [Music] [Applause] [Music] return
41:35 [Music]
41:54 [Applause] I [Music]
43:10 [Applause] love songs honor songs song of respect see my people have lived on Missouri Riv we have shared our songs with many nations talk speak we have the opportunity to come out here to the coast to meet old friends to make new
43:34 friends maybe find relatives that I haven't seen for a while perhaps even find new relatives it's how we treat each other that makes us to good about one another when we can do these things and teach our children these ways of what we have done and this will be a good Nation once again because many of your ancestors came from far away they came on really old Bo
43:58 that little wooden boat never sank today is made out of Iron and Steel and sails of seven seeds it's made out of luminum foil and slides around the Moon it might be an anude but it still brings pilgrims here to this land my grandfather said if you born here at the trees and the grass if you're born here like the eagle and the Buffalo and the Butterfly if you are born in this land then you are native some people St on the Native American
44:22 because of the color of my skin but where were you born if you were born here in this country your as much as I am we should be proud of our heritage I'm knew I can speak a little bit of many different languages what's your heritage you proud of this thing because those pilgrims today they come from chesh and
44:45 Bosnia today they come from the Middle East it's up to us the new Native Americans to greet them they're not all crazy my wife she's half Sue half Jer and half crazy that's why shees me so I know about P She said that I'm half man just half off she say said just a good
45:08 couple but respect and honor and the ability to laugh at ourselves but the ability to recognize other people the Friendship the honor and the respect as he travel today I hope that you will set a good example for those around you watch what you say think about what you do because you are teachers of our children our protectors our leaders our providers for
45:30 tomorrow so was teaching how to live in a good and honorable way they can't do this without help so we ask the spirit grandfather Creator Jesus God Allah whoever wish to call us being she is a great holy
45:47 person Spirit lives within us in this songs [Music]
46:09 [Applause]
46:17 [Music]
47:53 [Applause] all so thank you very much for taking the time to come here I hope that you enjoy this day look at all these beautiful things that they have remember these gentlemen made this journey 200 years ago they didn't have a nice warm tent they didn't have McDonald's down the street they didn't have a can of off it was a great and hard journey but that
48:17 Journey would never been completed without a woman the woman is the back of people our husband our gives us life Mother Earth gra the moon women are all around us so we want to say thank you for taking the time to come here today look at these things enjoy these things share these things encourage your friends and neighbors to come and see these things
48:40 it's taking 2 years 200 years to get his far it's taking them almost 2 years to get to this Coast too so we want to say thank you for coming [Applause] today thank you P for coming uh real quickly to any of you have any questions for Keith about his music or his flues say can you show us on the map
49:04 where you come show you repeat it yeah she wants to know where he lives on the map right on the corner of the Missouri River where it comes from Montana turn South I live on the inside Hunter any other questions did you make the that
49:27 did you make the F the has of three HS no I I didn't um this was a gift from a magazine named Johnson he writes about flute players and he interviewed me in 1995 and he came back in 2001 so I've heard more stories about you he said uh there are fute makers and fute players and not many that do both tell the flute makers he said not many hand Carvers of
49:51 those stud said you're one of the best so he gave you this as a gift took it as kind of a chall because I never played three at went before and so it took me while maybe almost a year to give my first good song out of here when I played is I hear men sing on the top I didn't know how to add that bottom until one night had drum practice my daughters my nieces were coming up the stairwell as they were
50:15 singing the song The Women sing behind the drum the men that sit there and as they were coming up the sound and the St I heard the women so when I had that third voice the woman that good can see you my friend um we're
50:38 working underne CV now we have about four out there we have a couple of comilation with other artists and so um hopefully this week I'll be able to finish my new CD also we have one more track put down appear from Los seles um gentlem from in Heritage I was like te one of those um was inali those lost guys lost
51:02 tourists Columbus so he my buddy I teasing and Joo comes from South America so the mixture of music is really really good quite wonderful we also enjoy the music my friend [Music] Jack uh you can find them on the web music at ww
51:23 m.com M A ocg or 00 n sound northa sound to any other
51:39 [Applause]
51:56 question for