Abstract
Brent Michael Davids, 2004. American Indian Music: Wading Into the Mainstream on Moccasin Strings, FNCI, American Composers Forum.
Historical and contemporary overview of American Indian music that suggests the need for a new association: the First Nations Composer Initiative (FNCI). This presentation suggests that both Indian music and non-Indian music are negatively influenced by a “consumer assimilation effect” (CAE) which the author defines as a consumeristic market-defined affinity that displaces genuine culture. A marked aspect of the CAE is its tendency to reduce music from a vital life affirming process into a shallow musical “product” for buying, selling and owning. The CAE has tainted American Indian music and its development historically, but today is becoming a modern plague threatening the survival of authentic Indian music. Though “music as a process” ideas exist in Western life, they remain largely unknown in the mainstream; and, American Indian music as a genuine “process” is not given much public exposure beyond tribal ceremonies. Therefore, the author argues that a new association, FNCI, is essential to move toward healing the schism between the genuine Indian music “processes” and the mainstream’s consumeristic “products” in order for an authentic American Indian music to find its sea legs in mainstream waters. The author suggests ideas for the objectives and goals of the FNCI association, including the development of a “Composer Apprentice National Outreach Endeavor” (CANOE), and argues for adopting a “generative collaboration” approach that will yield positive results, in stark contrast to the insider-outsider debates that so often stalemate the participants.