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)

Voices From The Land  showcases living indigenous composers.
Click HERE for the complete video playlist.

​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 and modern day Arizona. Throughout
Massachusetts there are 50,000 residents with at least partial Indigenous ancestry, some from tribes outside of the region.¹​​
More than 300,000 residents of Arizona have Indigenous ancestry.

The twelve virtual concerts in this project, presenting music written by living Indigenous composers of
Diné (Navajo), Hopi, Laguna, Salt River Pima-Maricopa, San Carlos Apache, and Tewa ancestry,
offer and respect the musical stories and human emotions that can bring together marginalized and traumatized, and all, populations. 
These virtual concerts, recorded in 2021 by SMB musicians, take place only on the SMB YouTube Channel. 
​
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, particularly individuals reached through the Shelter Music Boston 26 partner organizations, and will respect all involved. Please reach out to Shelter Music Boston with questions and comments.

Click here to learn more about NACAP

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Sheet Music

For those interested in adding this wonderful music written by living Indigenous composers to their libraries and performance repertoire, a set of seven “best of” scores and parts including works from our "Voices From the Land" partnership are now available. Click here to purchase! Pieces included in the set include:
"Black Serenity" by Greg Cortez
"Chiarpscruo" by Michael Begay
"Forest Fire" by Trenton Begay
"Illusion" by Sage Bond
"To a Friend" by Jessie Bilagody
"Nuclear Crystal" by Xavier Ben
"Colors of Sadness" Skyler Bilagody

For information regarding sheet music for a specific piece, please contact Clare Hoffman at info@grandcanyonmusicfest.org.

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Geography

There are 574 federally recognized Indigenous nations in the United States, each with their own histories.
​​​Click here to find out whose tribal land you live on.³​

²

Historical map of where Voices From The Land composers live

Modern map of where Voices From The Land composers live

Map of Massachusett and Wampanoag Lands

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.

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   Voices From The Land Composers

​Youth Composers

Xavier Ben - Diné
Gemal Benallie - Diné
​Gregory Cortez - Diné
​Sage Bond - Diné, San Carlos Apache
​Cina Curley - Diné
​Damien Jones- Diné

Sialik King - Salt River Pima-Maricopa
​Arika Morningstar - Hopi
​Christina Shupla - Hopi, Tewa, Laguna
​Dennelia Stevens - Diné
​Thylia Yazzie - Diné

To learn more about these youth composers, listen to the the podcast:
​Original Score, an Indigenous perspective on music

SMB Artistic Director Julie Leven and Grand Canyon Music Festival Artistic Director Clare Hoffman discuss the Native American Composers Apprentice Project, life during the pandemic in the Diné  (Navajo) Nation, and the impact of learning to write a string quartet on Indigenous youth.

NACAP Faculty Composers

​​​Micheal Begay - Diné
​ ​Raven Chacon - Diné​

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

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

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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.