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  • Home
  • What we do
    • Who We Serve
    • Children's Program
    • Artistic Innovation >
      • Voices From The Land
      • Florence Comes Home
    • Concert Experience
    • Impact
    • Concert Calendar & Programs
  • Who we are
    • Our Story
    • Mission, Vision, Values, and Cultural Equity Statement
    • Musicians
    • Leadership
    • Internship Program
  • Donate
    • Donate to the Mission of SMB
    • Donate when you shop online
    • In-Kind Donations & Community Partnerships
    • Foundation, Corporate, and Individual Donors
  • Get Involved
    • Events >
      • Past Events
    • Host a Virtual House Concert
    • Subscribe to our Newsletter
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Employment Opportunities
  • Press & Awards
    • Press
    • Awards
    • Social Innovation Forum
  • Video
    • Videos about SMB
    • Performances by SMB
  • Links
    • Citizen Artists Working for Social Change
    • Transformational Power of Music
    • Anti-Racism Resources

Voices From The Land
An Indigenous Composers Project


​Shelter Music Boston is honored to collaborate with the Grand Canyon Music Festival and the 
Native American Composers Apprentice Project (NACAP) 
to present: 

Voices From The Land
Tutsqwat angk Taatawi, My Land Songs (Hopi translation)
Náhastsaan biyiin, Songs of the Land  (Diné, or Navajo, translation)
​This project acknowledges that Shelter Music Boston musicians perform for homeless individuals and people in recovery on the ancestral land of the Pawtucket, Massachusett, and Wampanoag people. With this collaboration, Shelter Music Boston seeks to create empathy for indigenous people and share knowledge of the ancestral and tribal land of modern day Massachusetts. Throughout the state of Massachusetts there are 50,000 residents with at least partial indigenous ancestry, some from tribes outside of the region.¹​​

The virtual concerts of this project, presenting music written by living indigenous composers of Diné (Navajo), Hopi, San Juan Apache, Tewa, and Laguna ancestry, offer and respect the musical stories and human emotions that bring together marginalized and traumatized populations.
​

Special Thanks
Thank you to Clare Hoffman and the Grand Canyon Music Festival, Diné composers Raven Chacon and Michael Begay, and all of the young indigenous composers who have made this project possible. We hope the music will provide dignity, creativity, and passion to those who listen to these performances and will respect all involved. Please reach out to Shelter Music Boston with questions and comments.
Click here to learn more about the native american composers apprentice project

Geography

There are 574 federally recognized Indigenous nations in the United States, each with their own histories.
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²
​Click here to find out whose tribal land you live on.³​
​
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Historical map of where Voices From The Land composers live
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Modern map of where Voices From The Land composers live
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Map of Massachusett and Wampanoag Lands
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This map locates the organizations in Greater Boston collaborating with Shelter Music Boston to provide concerts to homeless individuals and people in substance misuse recovery. All are located on the traditional land of the Pawtucket, Massachusett, and Wampanoag tribes. Click on the map to zoom in to SMB partner organizations in Greater Boston.

Voices From The Land Composers
​Youth Composers
Cina Curley - Diné
Sage Bond - Diné and San Juan Apache
Xavier Ben - Diné
Gemal Benallie - Diné
Dennelia Stevens - Diné
Christina Shupla - Hopi, Tewa, and Laguna

Arika Morningstar - Hopi
Gregory Cortez
Sialik King
Damien Jones- Diné
Thylia Yazzie - Diné

​
To learn more about these youth composers, listen to the the podcast 
Original Score, an Indigenous perspective on music.​
NACAP Faculty Composers
​Micheal Begay - Diné
​
Raven Chacon - Diné​

Raven Chacon, whose piece Invisible Arc SMB cellist Rhonda Rider performed for SMB shelter and recovery center audiences in 2018, is the artist who connected SMB directly to the Grand Canyon Music Festival and the Native American Composers Apprentice Program.

Click here to learn more about the NACAP Faculty Composers.
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Languages of Indigenous People

Click the links below to learn to say something in the languages of the:
Diné, or Navajo

Hopi
​
Wampanoag
Information about all Indigenous languages of the Americas can be found HERE.
More about indigenous composers in collaboration with classical music organizations

¹As reported by The Boston Globe, February 10, 2021.
²Indigenous peoples maps: Sturtevant, William C, and U.S Geological Survey. National atlas. Indian tribes, cultures & languages: United States. Reston, Va.: Interior, Geological Survey, 1967. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress
³Thank you to the The Native Land Team for the land acknowledgement map enabling SMB audience members to learn about indigenous lands.  Please note: The Native Land Team recommends that the map is not to be used as an academic or legal resource. Sourcing data on Indigenous territories is a delicate process therefore the map should be used with an understanding that areas may be incorrect according to localnations and individual interpretation.  The Native Land Team are in a constant state of research and adjustment to the map in effort to remain as accurate as possible, however errors may exist.
CONTACT US
info@sheltermusicboston.org
1337 Massachusetts Ave #116
Arlington, MA 02476
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