Dark Water Rising
Dark Water Rising performance at the Graduate Student Center
When the band Dark Water Rising opened with the first notes of their performance at the Graduate Student Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last November, the audience was instantly entranced.
All four musicians of Dark Water Rising are members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and three are alumni of UNC-Chapel Hill. The group's name is inspired by the water of the Lumbee River. Their music blends aspects of the Lumbee culture with a mainstream sound.
"We are blessed to travel around to different places and share part of our culture," said lead singer Charly Lowry as she spoke to the crowd.
First Nations Graduate Circle (FNGC), an organization of graduate and professional students devoted to advocacy and support of American Indians at Carolina, invited the group to campus to allow students to interact and connect with the local American Indian community.
The importance of an event like this is apparent to the members of FNGC. Member Chelsea Kolander recalls a recent exchange she overheard while visiting a museum. A mother and daughter walked through the history museum together. They came upon a group of Cherokees that the museum had invited to share some dance from their culture. "Look honey!" said the mother. "Native Americans!"
A descendent of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and American Indian Recruitment and Success graduate student assistant in The Graduate School, Kolander recognized this as an example of a common misconception—that American Indian culture is removed and remote. "If you're not in the buckskins and the beadwork and the feathers, then it's like people think you're not an Indian," Kolander says.
As a result, the American Indian population can seem virtually hidden, says Brooke Bauer, from the Catawba Indian Nation and co-president of FNGC. "That perpetuates that notion of the invisibility or absence of American Indians," Bauer says.
This fallacy is one that Kolander, Bauer and other members of FNGC strive to counteract. "Education is important where this is concerned," Kolander says. One way in which the group did so this year was by asking Dark Water Rising to perform on campus for American Indian Heritage Month, an event both educational and entertaining.
"When we were talking at the beginning of the year about events we'd like to plan, we were hoping to focus on and connect with local communities," says Liz Ellis, co-president of FNGC and a member of the Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma. "And to move beyond academic discussions of American Indian life to incorporate some contemporary culture. Dark Water Rising seemed like a natural fit."
The award-winning band has been featured on NPR's The Story with Dick Gordon. They won the 2010 Native American Music Award for "Debut Duo or Group of the Year."
During their performance, Dark Water Rising played their unique and powerful blend of musical traditions, which they have dubbed "rocky soul." The group seamlessly blended aspects of the Lumbee culture with their songs to create a moving show. For example, during one song, Lowry performed the "Fancy Dance," her feet flying with the music. This dance is traditionally seen during powwows.
"They have amazing amounts of energy," says Kolander, who, with Ellis, saw them perform again at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro a few days later after a wearying tour schedule. "Their music is very moving and very healing."
FNGC was able to bring this show to Carolina with the help of the Performing Arts Special Activities Fund (PASAF) grant, which, according to the grant's application, supports quality performing arts projects to enhance the creative and cultural environment at UNC-Chapel Hill.
"We believe it is important to give students an opportunity to interact with local artists and connect with our neighboring Native communities," Bauer says, "and to publicly showcase and remind the Carolina community at large that Indian people and culture continue to flourish"
To read more about Dark Water Rising, visit their website www.darkwaterrising.net. Their most recent album Grace & Grit: Chapter I is available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.
♦ Laura Lacy
Photos by Ryan Comfort