Chicago's Fifty Years of Powwows

<Adapted from the book of the same name>

The Second Circle: The Men at the Drum

The Drum (a powwow term that conveys the group of singers) is at the center of the arena and the center of attention. The big powwow Drum is made from a wooden (or sometimes metal) shell covered in rawhide. Today, cowhide is common, although buffalo, horse, steer, or moose hide is sometimes used.

The sticks used to strike the Drum are usually thin fiberglass rods with a leather handle and leather padded head. There are about ten people on an average Drum; seven or eight men and two or three women. The singers on a Drum are required to know a variety of songs because they are expected to be able to sing for an entire powwow without repeating a song.

Songs are composed for many reasons and exist for the people. Songs from Indian country, have a direct relation to the oral tradition. These songs have power and when sung "in a good way" we allow the environment an opportunity to receive the good. The environment (the land and the people who derive from it) is the ultimate receiver of the good. Without the land where would we be?

In Native America, songs are composed and sung at ceremonies (e.g. healing, prayer, Stomp dances, sweat lodge, pipe, etc.), powwows, wakes and funerals, veteran gatherings, birthdays, weddings basically at any social event. There are literally tens of thousands of songs that are hundreds of years old and are still sung today.

Today, there are two kinds of songs, word songs and vocable songs. Word songs are generally the older songs because Native languages were widely spoken. On the other hand, vocable songs are composed regularly due to the growing absence of language and the formation of intertribal communities. Vocables are melodic sounds used in place of language and words.

It is an honor to sit at the Drum. Drum is medicine. The Drum provides balance; a process of healing "for all living things," for the good of all people and the land from which we came. Most powwows share a commonality in regard to the collection of songs performed:

Follow this link to learn more about each type of song performed at powwows and to hear some examples.

Forward to the next page of this essay

Back to the previous page of this essay

Back to the menu page for this essay

Listen to some Powwow Songs

Back to Online Essays

The book Chicago's Fifty Years of Powwow has many more photos and offers insights that are not presented in this Online Essay. To obtain a copy of your own, follow this offsite link to the webpage for the Chicago American Indian Center.