Elisa Harkins: Wampum / ᎠᏕᎳ ᏗᎦᎫᏗ

Wampum / ᎠᏕᎳ ᏗᎦᎫᏗ is an ongoing project where visual artist and composer Elisa Harkins sings in a combination of Cherokee, English, and Muscogee (Creek) to electronic dance music, some of which is inspired by sheet music of Indigenous music notated by Daniel Chazanoff during the 20th century.

As an act of Indigenous Futurism, it combines disco and Indigenous language in an effort to alter the fate of these endangered languages through active use, preservation on pressed vinyl, and radio play.

The performance of Wampum / ᎠᏕᎳ ᏗᎦᎫᏗ is referring to Wampum belts and Indigenous peacekeeping as well as the Cherokee use of wampum beads as currency.

ᎠᏕᎳ ᏗᎦᎫᏗ, pronounced a-de-la di-ga-gu-di can be translated to “money on a string”.

The intention of the Wampum / ᎠᏕᎳ ᏗᎦᎫᏗ performance is to create a metaphorical peacekeeping agreement that is between the people watching the piece, regardless of tribe or race.

You may also like the following events from Center for the Arts at Kayenta:

• This Friday, 2nd May, 05:00 pm, First Fridays at Kayenta in Ivins
• This Friday, 2nd May, 07:30 pm, DOCUTAH PRESENTS: On Sacred Ground in Ivins
• This Saturday, 3rd May, 10:00 am, Kayenta Native Arts Market in Ivins

Also check out other Parties in Ivins, Sports events in Ivins, Arts events in Ivins.