By Lyn Hacker
NKyTribune correspondent
It may seem like this nearly non-stop, chilly rain is never going to let go of us, but hooray, there should be a significant break in the area of Harrodsburg this weekend, and just in time for the Native Dawn Flute Festival.
A festival favorite in Central Kentucky, the founders, Angie and Fred Keams, have been unable to hold the festival the past couple of years due to COVID. But they are bringing it back at Fort Harrod this year with a plethora of Native musicians, crafts and food for a three day period from May 27, 28 and 29th. The cost is free.
Fred Nez-Keams with Grammy winner Bill Miller
Old Fort Harrod was built around 1774-5 on what were then known as sacred Native American hunting grounds. The encroachment was enough to bring on a month long seige by the Natives designed to run the settlers off. It might seem innocuous to stage a Native American Flute Festival on these same grounds, but according to Angie Keam, this whole festival is a peace offering, “designed to share education and to give back. To say we are still here.”
Native tribes have always been in Kentucky, of course. Although (broadly speaking) they were primarily Shawnee in Central Kentucky and Cherokee in South East Kentucky in recent history (1700s on), there were many smaller tribes living in the area also. During the 1700s, when the Europeans were coming in, their presence was downplayed partly to avoid scaring off new settlers, but it is still downplayed today, why we don’t know.
Fred with Angie Keams
Hundreds of Natives in the South Eastern states were forced on the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma in the 1800s, but many escaped into the hills and settled there quietly, living very much like white people with small plots of land, a cabin and outbuildings, crops and stock, sometimes even slaves. To date there are no federally recognized tribes in the state, but there are two state recognized tribes, the Southern Cherokee Nation of Kentucky and the Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians. There is also the Sizemore White Top Band of Cherokee Indians, an organization of the principal Cherokee Indians living about White Top and whose descendants live in Clay, Leslie and Perry counties in Southeast Kentucky. A great deal of Southeastern Kentucky families carry a genetic trace of Native blood.
One of the most iconic sounds associated with Native Americans is the Cedar Flute. They are used in ceremonies, rituals, spiritual purposes, celebrations and sometimes to steal someone’s heart away. They are specifically different from Eurasian flutes because each flute is an individual, handmade piece of art, with its own fingering pattern and sound. Each flute is an unique instrument and its characteristics are heavily based on the person who is making it. It is a true fusion between maker and nature. Native flutes in Kentucky were made primarily from cane. But Fred Nez-Keam, who is a full Navajo from Arizona, has become a master in the ways of the Native flute made from cedar, which is also plentiful in Kentucky. He makes beautiful flutes and plays them just as beautifully. Fred is a prolific flute maker and performs regularly around the area. He and his wife Angie have been powerful, tireless proponents of the value of Native flute festivals in Kentucky, as a means of fostering education and peace among people.
Dancer
Fred, who was born in Red Rock, Arizona, has been in Kentucky for about 15 years. He’s been playing flute almost as long. Fred can make a flute in a week from start to finish using Kentucky cedar. Cedar is also a traditional wood in his culture. Fred says he came to Kentucky and was impressed with all of the different kinds of folk music. He said the sound of the flute came to him in a depression, from a flute played by his cousin, and it helped him a great deal. He said he never thought he’d be a performer and talk about his culture, so now he feels very blessed. He said he would like to teach more about the flute and have classes for making them.
“The more you make it, the more you understand it,” he says.
Flute festivals are similar to pow wows and are becoming more popular everywhere. They are held as part of soltice festivals, competitions and community gatherings. They have developed their own online community which sponsors events all over the country and abroad. This festival will run from about noon on Friday till Sunday evening.
Following are the players in the festival. Besides the music there will be plenty of food and crafts for people. Times are subject to change, and you are advised to bring your own seat. The cost of the festival is free.
