Twelve-year-old Michael Pete may be young, but he is already thinking about passing on the Cahuilla tradition of bird singing to the next generation.
His sentiment is notable — yes, because of his age — but also because the tradition nearly died out.
Few people alive today speak Cahuilla, the language of the bird songs. Southern California tribal members, including those in the Coachella Valley, are descendants of the Cahuilla people.
"I think it's important (to learn bird songs) because our culture was fading," Pete said. "There's only so many fluent speakers of Cahuilla out there ... I want my kids to carry on the culture. Tradition, tradition, generation to generation."
Pete was part of a group of bird singers, there were 10 groups in all, that performed Saturday at the annual Singing of the Birds event at Palm Springs High School. The event was hosted by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.
Hundreds of attendees looked on as women performed bird dances facing the bird singers, all men, shaking gourd rattles inside of the gymnasium. They also wandered from booth to booth admiring handmade jewelry, pottery, clothing and accessories and, outside, enjoyed food from vendors, including Native American fry bread.
After a performance, Arkamez Blankenship, a 41-year-old Morongo tribal member, helped to answer visitor questions about the tradition.
He teaches bird singing and Cahuilla language classes on the Morongo and Cabazon Band of Mission Indians reservations. He said he has practiced bird singing for about 20 years.
Why is it called "bird singing"?
"(The songs) tell the story of our migration and creation," Blankenship said. "That's why they're called bird (songs) — because we migrate like birds. They're not about birds."
He said that traditionally a young person was designated as the keeper of the songs for the tribe. Blankenship said there are many songs to remember and they are supposed to be sung in a particular order for a proper narration.
What are the occasions for bird singing?
Today you can find bird singers performing at special events like the Singing of the Birds and powwows. On other occasions, they may sing throughout an entire night, as Morongo tribal members did on New Year's Eve last year, Blankenship said.
"We sing from dusk until dawn for three nights, traditionally," he said. "I can do that."
This would coincide with a ceremony for tribal members who passed away the prior year, Blankenship said.
"The first three nights we spend reminding ourselves about our creation story and then eventually saying goodbye to them," he said. "Our funerals are basically celebrations of creation of self. After those three nights are over, we sing about what we went through to get into this modern world."
Do singers make their own rattles?
It is tradition for bird singers to give away the first rattle that they make, Blankenship said. The next one, they are allowed to keep.
"A lot of our own people don't know these steps, what you're supposed to go through," he said. "They kind of take shortcuts and they don't have elders that taught them this stuff."
Traditionally, only the lead singer would hold a rattle, but now all of the singers do. That style change came from Anthony Andreas, one of the few who brought bird singing back from near extinction, said Blankenship.
Where can you find bird singers?
"Bird singing goes through the Colorado River area, Yuma, Arizona; (in southwest Arizona) Needles (on the California/Arizona border), then down into the Sonoran Desert, and into northern Mexico, and all over San Diego County," Blankenship said. "The bird tradition unites all of us."
Desert Sun reporter Risa Johnson covers Native American affairs in the Coachella Valley and beyond. She can be reached at risa.johnson@desertsun.com or (760) 778-4737. Support local news, subscribe to The Desert Sun.
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Performers keep Cahuilla traditions alive at Agua Caliente's annual Singing of the Birds - Desert Sun
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