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There is NO WAY that I could say enough about John Trudell!  Suffice to say, that when it comes to the Baby Boomer generation of natives, he is IT!  One of the founders of the American Indian Movement (AIM), served as it's leader in the volatile 1970's, lived through the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee, dealt with the aftermath of the Jumping Bull shooting and numerous other murders, including the death of his friend and fellow activist Anna Mae Pictou Aquash (for more on her tragic death, please click here).  He lost his entire family on the Duck Valley reservation to a clear case of arson, and still came through for others, such as down on his luck world famous Kiowa guitarist Jessie Ed Davis.  He has always been a poet, but has never liked the beat poetry movement, so he founded his own style of musical poetry--this is one is his earliest efforts released originally on cassette in the mid-80's.  To know more, watch the nearly 80 minute documentary below.  

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Alejandro Escovedo comes from one hell of a musical family.  Not only is he an extremely prolific solo artist, singer/songwriter and terrific live act, but he got his start in numerous punk bands, most notably Rank and File.  His family includes the late Coke Escovedo who was a member of Santana and went on to found his own group Azteca (which was revived by his son and another brother Pete).  Pete also has a solo career and makes big band type recordings with a Chicano bent (good stuff BTW!).  Younger brothers Mario and Javier were in notable bands of their own, with Javier being in the punk band The Zeros, with yesterday's featured artist Robert Lopez AKA El Vez.  Finally Sheila E. is Alejandro's niece (she is the daughter of Pete).  That's a lot of music for one family!!  I've never had the pleasure of seeing him live in person (something I'd love to remedy someday!), but I have seen numerous performances of his, most via YouTube, and can attest that he ROCKS!  Below is a live performance of "Notes On Air" from the Air City Winery in NYC, January 2013.

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Robert Lopez AKA El Vez--The Mexican Elvis is a lot more than just an Elvis impersonator.  Hard to explain what he does with words--much easier to just listen.  He actually got his start in a punk band, The Zeros, as a guitar player; a band that had a member from the ultra-famed Escovedo clan (more about members of that family later).  The song featured here is from his 1994 parody of the famous Paul Simon album "Graceland" (obvious from the cover--also somewhat referencing conquistadors at the same time).  The song, which is hard to get out of your head once heard, is about the last Emperor of the Triple Alliance, better known as the Aztec Empire:  the much sung about, even to this day, Cuauhtemoc, whose name roughly translates in English to "descending eagle."

Something New: Music Video Of The Day

I have a huge Native American music collection and have a playlist on my iTunes that currently features over 2900 items of and pertaining to Native music of the New World and South Pacific.  I used to have Yahoo list many, many years ago the topic of which was Native music.  I wanted to share some this, but short of starting another blog right now (I barely have time for the one's I have) I thought I would share some of it here.  First up is a traditional ceremonial beginning to Danza gatherings.  It comes from the above featured album, picturing Maestro de los Maestros Lazaro Arvizu of the Los Angeles famed Xipe Totec Danza Azteca.  Copal is a native incense that comes from southern Mexico and is extremely sacred.  Xavier, who is a leading expert on Meso American pre-contact instruments (he makes them), is of Huichol ancestry.

Speaking of sacred; eagle bone whistles are extremely sacred both here in the US and Canada, but also in Mexico as well.  Here's a cool little clip on their manufacture and how they sound (as well as substitutes made from copper) hailing from Jemez Pueblo down New Mexico

Choctaw Pompano A La Mud

This is from Howard Mitcham's incredible tome of seafood cookery and jazz history Creole Gumbo and All That Jazz.  He says that he got the idea from an old Choctaw Indian fried of his by the name of Nick Ducre' and that it originated on the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain.  This is really more of a cooking method, rather than a recipe with specific amounts.  I have made this and it is really, really good!  Any type of whole fish can be used in this.  Trout would be an excellent substitute for the pompano.  It is a very ancient cooking method that can be found in various forms all over the world.  I have experimented, for example, with a very old "recipe" from the British Isles that is very similar with just as good results.

Choctaw Pompano A La Mud

Rub a whole pompano with oil, salt and pepper, wrap it in a tight layer of dampened paper towels.  Get some firm clay that's free of sand, moisten it just enough to make it thick and malleable, and cover the fish all around with a one-inch of the mud.  Place the package on the coals of the campfire and cover with more hot coals.  Let it bake for a couple of hours or more, or until the clay is hard as a brick.  Bring it to the table and crack the clay open with a hammer.  Remove the paper towels.  

The Indians used this method for cooking all sorts of fresh-water and salt-water fishes, but just as we do, they treasured the pompano over all other fishes.

Paiute Frybread

Another "gathered" recipe, this time by the late Paula Giese (Anishabeg).  This comes from one Phyllis Jarvis who is Paiute.  Every tribe in the US and Canada have their own version of Frybread; it has even spread to tribal people in Siberia!  The Nenets, for example, make over open fires, just like the Navajo do.  There are hundreds of variations on this native staple bread; and hundreds of ways to serve it.  Some are subtle variations, other, like adding colored corn flour, are not so subtle.  This is a straight wheat flour recipe, but some corn flour, particularly blue corn flour, can be added for texture, taste and color.  This makes 8 to 10 smaller round breads or 5 big flat ones that can be made into Indian Tacos.

Blue Corn Frybread

Paiute Frybread

2 cups flour 

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

Deep hot fat for frying

1.  Sift the dry ingredients.  Then, lightly stir in the milk. Add more flour as needed to make a dough you can handle.  Knead and work the dough on a floured board, with well flour hands, until it is smooth.

2.  Pinch off fist sized limps and shape into a disk. (Actually shape this anyway you want, there are almost as many shaped for fried bread as there are recipes).  If you want large disks, the bread needs to be flat, with a depression (almost a hole) in the middle (actually some groups actually push a hole through the dough, to release "the frybread spirits, this is especially common here in the southeast).

3.  Fry in hot fat (around about 375º F), until golden and done on both sides, about 5 minutes.  Drain on absorbent paper.  Serve as is, with powdered or cinnamon sugar, the preserves or as the base for an Indian Taco.

Chaquewa (Tesuque Indian Porridge)

This is the ultimate "anytime" food for the cold months.  It is a basic recipes, which can be made into a type of unbaked quick bread, similar to the way that southerners mold, slice and fry cold cooked grits.  This is always made with blue corn, but any type of high quality cornmeal will suffice, no matter the color.  This is "gathered" recipe from Sue Dorame from Tesuque Pueblo, which appears in Lois Ellen Franks' expanded Foods Of The Southwest Indian Nations. As she notes, this is usually served with milk and/or sliced fruit, with the local peaches and strawberries being a favorite.

Chaquewa

2 cups water

2 cups ground blue cornmeal

1/2 tsp. salt

3 cups milk

Sliced fresh fruit (optional)

1.  In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil.  Add in the cornmeal and the salt and stir constantly until completely mixed.  Decrease heat to low and continue to cook and stir for about 7 minutes.  The porridge will thicken as it cooks.

2. In another saucepan, warm the milk over medium heat.  Pour milk over porridge and serve warm.  Top with sliced fruit, if desired.

Variation:  Mold cooled porridge into a loaf shape and all to cool completely.  It can be slowly reheated and sliced and served as quick bread.  [My Note:  These slices can be fried.