Review: Kevin Locke, "The Spirit of Music and Dance"

 1 comment(s)  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

BY KEVIN ABOUREZK / Lincoln Journal Star

Internationally renowned Native performer and musician Kevin Locke brought his Native dancing, drumming, singing and flute-playing ensemble to the Lied Center for Performing Arts on Friday night.

From the very start, Locke made it clear his performance would be more than pure entertainment.

Bringing on stage five young Native men and women dancers, Locke handed the spotlight to a young jingle dress dancer who skipped and twirled as four young men pounded a drum and sang before a backdrop the color of sunset.

The woman’s feet were a flurry of movement, her aluminum jingles swaying in rhythm to the drum beat.

The performance proved this night would be an exchange between performers and their mostly non-Native audience.

Following the young performers’ show, the lights went dim and a narrator in a booming voice explained that each instrument Native people use represents some aspect of nature: the drum is thunder, the rattle is rain, the voice, lightning, and the flute, the wind.

In the spirit of Veterans Day, the ensemble paid their respect to veterans, asking the audience to stand as they sang an honoring song. A Native woman held solemnly the U.S. flag as the men sang in Lakota.

Locke then interjected some comic relief, telling the audience how to say the word coffee in various Native languages.

“On Standing Rock Reservation where I live, we say Starbucks,” he said, eliciting laughter and applause.

Perhaps the most poignant moment of the night, however, came as Locke described an ancient Native creation legend. An eagle once rescued a woman from a great flood, he said, and took her to the top branch of the tree of life, where the two gave birth to mankind. According to the legend, a generation would one day come that would be able to once again see the eagle in each other and in themselves.

“I’d like to dedicate this song to all the eagles out there,” Locke said as smoke poured onto the stage and he took up his flute.

At one point during his performance, Locke wore sunglasses while playing the Native flute to a bluesy rhythm. Beside him, a massive screen played black and white 100-year-old photos of his ancestors.

Locke’s flute served as the bridge between the music and the images, an instrument of celebration of both the past and present.

The multimedia performance, perhaps more than any other, showcased Locke’s talents as a performer and musician, as well as his ability to artistically weave together the historical and contemporary.

While the small, seven-member ensemble never quite managed to fill the physical space of the Lied stage, they never failed to fill the air above it with music.

Reach Kevin Abourezk at 473-7225 or kabourezk@journalstar.com.