Indigenous Peoples Day in Amherst, Massachusetts

Thanks to the diligent efforts of some inspired students from Amherst Regional Middle School, the Town of Amherst now celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day. This change has gained traction across the US. Amherst was joined in celebrating Native Americans on Monday by the State of Vermont, and the cities of Phoenix, Seattle, Minneapolis, Denver, and Albuquerque, among others.

Click here for an article from the Daily Hampshire Gazette about the students' efforts.

Click here for a 2014 NPR story about a map maker who has created an accurate depiction of the native tribal nations of North America. 

An Introduction to American Indian Music on June 7 at the Jones Library

Learn more about the history of music of the native people of the United States in a presentation at the Jones Library.  Join us in the Woodbury Room on Tuesday, June 7 at 6:30 pm for a presentation by percussionist and educator Craig Harris.

Craig Harris,  author of Heartbeat, Warble, and the Electric Powwow: American Indian Music (University of Oklahoma Press, May 2016), leads an exciting multimedia journey into Indigenous North America’s vibrant soundscape and conjures an aural tapestry in which powwow drums and end-blown woodwinds resound alongside operatic and symphonic strains and Native-infused jazz, reggae, country music, blues, hip-hop, and electronic dance music. Copies of Heartbeat, Warble, and the Electric Powwow: American Indian Music will be available following the presentation.

Percussionist/author/educator Craig Harris has spent more than four decades interviewing and photographing musicians. His articles, reviews, and photographs have appeared in newspapers, magazines, and music-oriented websites and he is the author of The New Folk Music, The Band: Pioneers of Americana Music, and Heartbeat, Warble and the Electric Powwow: American Indian Music. A skilled hand drummer, Harris has played in concert and/or on recordings with Rod MacDonald, C.J. Chenier, Jonathan Edwards, Greg Brown, Rick Danko (The Band), Merl Saunders, Melanie, and Standing Bear. Possessing a masters’ degree in education, he taught music in public and charter schools for a quarter of a century before launching his multicultural and participatory Drum Away the Blues program in 2009.

Free and open to the public.  For more information, please contact Janet Ryan at 413/259-3223.