Gathering of Nations
Encyclopedia
Pow-wow
A pow-wow is a gathering of North America's Native people. The word derives from the Narragansett word powwaw, meaning "spiritual leader". A modern pow-wow is a specific type of event where both Native American and non-Native American people meet to dance, sing, socialize, and honor American...
s in the United States. It is held annually the fourth weekend in April, in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
. Over 500 tribes from around the United States and Canada travel to Albuquerque to participate. There are 32 Dance categories, and different age group categories including Elders (70+), Golden Age (55+), Adults (19+), Teens and Tiny Tots. Other competitions include Northern Singers, Southern Singers, Women's Back-up Singing, and a competition for Drum Groups and Drummers and other various special competitions. A pageant for Miss Indian World is held each year. The winner is chosen based upon personality, knowledge of tribal traditions, and dancing ability. There is also an Indian Traders Market featuring artists, crafters and traders selling Native American and Indigenous arts and crafts.
Electric 49
The Electric 49 was an annual Native American Music concert held during the weekend of Pow-wow, but in no way associated with the official events of the Gathering.The concert was originated/created by the group Red Earth
Red Earth
Red Earth is the name of an international chain of stores selling cosmetics and body care products.It was founded in Australia in 1989 as an environmentally-aware alternative to mainstream companies, taking a similar line to The Body Shop. Since then it has morphed into a fashion-following colour...
in 1998, and saw eight annual editions since that year. Since 2006, however, there has not been another festival, as Red Earth remains on hiatus. The Electric 49 focused on highlighting artistically challenging Native American Musicians throughout the Americas, and its goal was to highlight contemporary Native music.
Throughout the years, the Electric 49 has featured Red Earth
Red Earth
Red Earth is the name of an international chain of stores selling cosmetics and body care products.It was founded in Australia in 1989 as an environmentally-aware alternative to mainstream companies, taking a similar line to The Body Shop. Since then it has morphed into a fashion-following colour...
, Robert Mirabal
Robert Mirabal
Robert Mirabal is a Pueblo musician and Native American flute player and maker from Taos Pueblo, New Mexico.His flutes are world renowned and have been displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of the American Indian...
, Ethnic DeGeneration, Star Nayea, Native Roots, Casper, Querosene Jacare (of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
), Cisco, Derek Miller, Stoic Frame, DJ Abel and Quese IMC. True to the diversity of contemporary native music, festival performers have been from genres including Heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, Reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, Blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, Hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, and Waila (Chicken Scratch).