October 18th, 2016 Last Updated on: August 23rd, 2017
The opening night of the Wild Beast Concert Series at CalArts this Fall showcased the rich culture of bird singing in California.
Increasingly recognized as one of the most sublime legacies in world music, the Birdsinging tradition of Cahuilla and other Southern California Native cultures is the subject of this revelatory program. CalArts is honored to welcome Elders Wally Antone and Walter Holmes Jr., the foremost practitioners of a repertoire that includes nearly 400 songs. The Elders are followed by Derek Duro and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, who represent the younger generation fueling the resurgence of Native art forms across Southern California. The program opens with an outdoor presentation of the documentary We Are Birds: A California Indian Story by its director, Albert Chacon.
Albert was at the event and captured a little bit of the program that showed Derek Duro and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Birdsingers. Check out this short clip that includes three songs from that evening.
You can watch this full performance by following this link! http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/91851574
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First time I have heard the bird sing, known what it is. Thank you so much for sharing and educating us. I really enjoyed it. I am 70 now. My family was in Alaska in the fifties. we lived, also, in New Mexico in The fifties, I returned in the sixties and early seventies.