Lakota Music Project

Phase II: 2012-2016

From 2012-2016, the Lakota Music Project expanded the program’s reach across South Dakota. The SDSO visited new reservations and communities, formed partnerships with organizations that shared the project’s goals, and continued building relationships with longtime collaborators. This phase also introduced new music, including Pentatonic Fantasy, a cedar flute concerto created by Jeffrey Paul in collaboration with Dakota cedar flutist Bryan Akipa. Wind on Clear Lake came from Pentatonic Fantasy. 

 

The four initiatives of Phase II include:

 

1. A new partnership with the South Dakota Humanities Council 

The South Dakota Humanities Council partnered with the SDSO on two programs featuring the Lakota Music Project: the New Harmonies Project and the Festival of Books. 

The Lakota Music Project launched the New Harmonies tour with concerts in Sturgis and Sioux Falls. Both performances featured the world premiere of Waktégli Olówaŋ (Victory Songs), the third work commissioned for the project. Written by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (Chickasaw), this five-movement song cycle for baritone and orchestra is sung in Lakota. Each movement honors a Lakota leader and warrior: Red Cloud, Gall, Crazy Horse, Two Strike, and Sitting Bull. 

 

2. A return to Crazy Horse Memorial

Following the project’s first successful appearance at Crazy Horse Memorial in 2010, the Lakota Music Project returned for a second performance on Native American Day, October 8, 2012.

 

3. New music and new communities 

The final tour of Phase II brought the original Lakota Music Project program to Pierre, Eagle Butte, Sisseton, and Mobridge. 

This phase also introduced Pentatonic Fantasy, the fourth work commissioned for the Lakota Music Project. SDSO Principal Oboist Jeffrey Paul created the cedar flute concerto in collaboration with Bryan Akipa. The work premiered in October 2013 in Akipa’s home community of Sisseton, followed by performances at Crazy Horse Memorial and the Multi-Cultural Center in Sioux Falls.

 

4. The Lakota Music Project comes to the SDSO mainstage 

During the SDSO’s 2015–16 season, the Lakota Music Project was presented on the orchestra’s mainstage series at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls. The concert was paired with musicologist Joseph Horowitz’s Dvořák and America program, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Following the Sioux Falls performance, the program traveled to Sisseton in the Lake Traverse Reservation in March 2016.