Wednesday, September 22, 2021, 7 PM
Thursday, September 23, 2021, 7 PM

Street and Davis Performance Hall, Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre

THIS EVENT HAS ALREADY OCCURRED

PROGRAM NOTEs

View the program for this event here.

Presented in partnership with the American Indian and Indigenous Community Center

Claiming rich heritage, representation, and contexts both ancient and urban, Indigenous artists reveal the power of music and stories in the East Coast work-in-progress premiere of Welcome to Indian Country, commissioned in part by the Moss Arts Center.

Diverse Native American performers seamlessly share songs and stories about life, love, connecting to culture, survival, and resilience. In an evening celebrating Native peoples and culture through original and historic music, poetry, and storytelling, collaborators Delbert Anderson, Nick Lucero, Nokosee Fields, Mali Obomsawin, Julia Keefe, and Rena Priest represent the Diné (Navajo), Osage, Nez Perce, Lhaq’temish (Lummi), and Abenaki, as well as South American Indigenous descent.

Related Events

Trumpeter Delbert Anderson, an Indigenous man with dark short hair and glasses, plays his trumpet in what looks like a club.

Tuesday, September 21, 5 PM
OLD TIME AND ACOUSTIC JAM WITH WELCOME TO INDIAN COUNTRY MUSICIANS
Market Square Park
108 W Roanoke Street, Blacksburg, VA
Free; registration recommended

 

Wednesday, September 22, following the performance
POST-PERFORMANCE Q&A
Street and Davis Performance Hall, Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre
Free

Together, they exemplify the vibrant life of modern Native people and honor their ancestors—including the Indigenous musicians who left an indelible mark on the world—and the many art forms we call American music. Welcome to Indian Country captures the joy the artists feel being part of a Native community, while sharing their expressions with the world.

This is Indian Country. Welcome. This land called Turtle Island.

The traditional homelands of the Tutelo, Monecan, Monetan and Saponi Tribes, whose ancestors now mainly belong to the Cayuga Tribe. The hundreds of nations who have called it home since time immemorial.

Today we gather to celebrate a point in time. We come together to celebrate life, love, and connection with culture. We come together to honor our ancestors.

This is these artists' first performance at the Moss Arts Center.

Welcome to Indian Country is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation and Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech; Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College; Washington Center for the Performing Arts; Native American Community Development Institute; and NPN. For more information, please visit npnweb.org.