{"id":37040,"date":"2022-12-01T00:58:36","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T07:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/native-american-heritage-month-brings-ed-kabotie-and-band-to-san-juan-college\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:35:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:35:24","slug":"native-american-heritage-month-brings-ed-kabotie-and-band-to-san-juan-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/native-american-heritage-month-brings-ed-kabotie-and-band-to-san-juan-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Native American Heritage Month brings Ed Kabotie and band to San Juan College"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ed
Ed Kabotie on flute, with Alec Tippett on lead guitar. Kabotie captivated a sparse audience with personalized storytelling, visuals and music on Nov. 17 at the Connie Gotsch Theatre at San Juan College. (Courtesy Dante Stevens)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Ed Kabotie captivated a sparse audience with personalized storytelling, visuals and music on Nov. 17 at the Connie Gotsch Theatre at San Juan College.<\/p>\n

He shared \u201calter-Native\u201d history, as he calls it, in a presentation enhanced by an occasional song with clean, looping acoustic guitar, flute and a powerful voice. His band, Ed Kabotie and Tha Yoties of Flagstaff, rocked the same venue with reservation-rock reggae on Nov. 19.<\/p>\n

After opening with a Native American song, Kabotie launched into his presentation, a mix of storytelling, song, art and history.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuman beings have a great talent for screwing things up,\u201d he said. Many cultures, including the Hopi, believe that we\u2019re in the \u201cEnd of the Fourth World,\u201d<\/a> but how are we doing? he asked.<\/p>\n

\"Ed
Ed Kabotie with some of his art. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ed
Ed Kabotie gestures passionately throughout his performance. On lead guitar, Alec Tippett added superb effects. (Courtesy Dante Stevens)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ed
Ed Kabotie stands outside Connie Gotsch Theatre after his performance Thursday, Nov. 17. (David Edward Albright\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThese teachings are so important that our culture is built upon it,\u201d Kabotie said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve ever been to Hopi, but you don\u2019t get lost and end up in Hopi \u2026 you\u2019re going to figure out you were lost way before you ever get to Hopi.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kabotie projects a powerful presence and grabs the audience by the heart. He projects an open and generous spirit on stage and off.<\/p>\n

Kabotie\u2019s mother is Tewa from Santa Clara Pueblo in northern New Mexico, and his father is Hopi. He graduated from Santa Fe Indian School, and though he enjoys taking classes at community colleges, he said he was not driven to seek a degree.<\/p>\n

As Kabotie spoke, he projected images of his family\u2019s artwork on a big screen behind him, often depicting stories of hardship and brutality. With photos of Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly and paintings by his grandfather and others, he conveyed a vast landscape of artistic talent. His own art was on display in the lobby.<\/p>\n

The big screen amplified a message about the birth-life-death cycle and the role that manifest destiny played in subjugating Native cultures in North America. His music also reflected the ties that bind the oppressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cReggae music is the music of an oppressed people that have lived under the iron hand of another culture for the last 400 years,\u201d Kabotie said.<\/p>\n

He said Jamaicans and the Hopis share common ground of oppression, a passion for freedom and a vision of peace. In the reggae of Bob Marley and the Wailers and other performers, they echo a cry for their people.<\/p>\n

Native Americans in the Caribbean after Columbus\u2019 landing were \u201cdecimated by disease, by war and by refusal to be enslaved \u2013 they would rather kill themselves than accept slavery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a foundational truth that we need to recognize that our country was built on \u2026 the genocide of Native American people and the enslavement of African people,\u201d Kabotie said. He then strummed the chords of Marley\u2019s \u2018\u2018Redemption Song,\u201d his strong voice resounding with the famous lyrics:<\/p>\n

Won\u2019t you help to sing<\/em><\/p>\n

These songs of freedom?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Cause all I ever have<\/em><\/p>\n

Redemption songs<\/em><\/p>\n

Redemption songs<\/em><\/p>\n

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery<\/em><\/p>\n

None but ourselves can free our minds.<\/em><\/p>\n

Warfare against Indigenous people endured, he said, referencing the bloodshed in the historical Santa Fe Plaza and the execution of five medicine men in 1670s, which led to the Pueblo Revolt in 1680.<\/a> That date, Aug. 10, 1680, is celebrated as Independence Day by his people.<\/p>\n

The continuous warfare marched on, past the imprisonment of the Navajo people, which saw one-third of the population die between 1864 and 1868, and into the oarding schools, such as the Carlisle Indian School.<\/a> There, Indigenous children were removed from their family, indoctrinated and forcibly assimilated with white education and religion, sometimes suffering sexual, physical and emotional abuse.<\/p>\n

Kabotie showed a photo from 1906 of his great-grandfather, who, he said, was arrested for refusing to send his 6-year-old son to the school.<\/p>\n

The attack on Native land includes, Kabotie said, the Kayenta and Black Mesa strip-mining operation and hundreds of unremediated uranium mines on Navajo land. Though the Peabody Coal mine was started with tribal approval and employed hundreds of tribal workers, rights to coal and aquifer water were obtained for pennies on the dollar. Today, many Navajo communities still lack running water.<\/p>\n

A natural showman, Kabotie introduced each song with a personal story that displayed a highly forceful stage presence.<\/p>\n

He demonstrated his concern for a patron, who was injured in a fall before his show, by playing one of his original tunes, \u201cSunflower Girl,\u201d as she was being assisted.<\/p>\n

Kabotie spoke of the matriarchal nature of his people and said his grandmother was one of his heroes. He dedicated the now electrified version of \u2018Sunflower Girl\u2019 t<\/a>o all mothers, aunties and sisters, thanking them for their sacrifices.<\/p>\n

Inventive lead guitarist Alec Tippett used a slide to create eerie effects for a rollicking tune with a heavy bass line provided by Hunter RedDay and Andrew Baker on drums, about environmental destruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cCry for the River\u201d honored the Colorado River and other endangered waterways. Based on the Steve Miller hit \u201c\u2018Take the Money and Run,\u201d the band played reggae riffs and Kabotie expressively rapped-sang about mining companies doing just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestless Native\u201d got everyone howling, with Kabotie in highly animated mode as he synced his guitar with lead guitarist for a climatic finish.<\/p>\n

Kabotie laments the fact that everyone experiences the repetition and results of cycles of destruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us experience some very unexpected twists and turns in this life \u2026 but maybe mistakes we make are the things that make us the strongest \u2026 and open our eyes to truth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now I\u2019m crying, I\u2019m crying out for my people \u2026 I\u2019m crying out for our land,\u201d Kabotie said. He then wound up his presentation with his adaptation of by Bobby McFerrin\u2019s 1988 hit \u201cDon\u2019t Worry, Be Happy.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n

With a reggae beat and a catchy guitar looping under the well-known melody, he played lead guitar and flute, and sang his version \u2013 \u201cDon\u2019t Worry, Be Hopi.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kabotie and the Yoties got the crowd howling Saturday night<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-37040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83538,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37040\/revisions\/83538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37040"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=37040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}