Chant and dance lend lyrical layers to conference schedule

By Alexis Yancey Jaami

New Thought News Service

Naga Chants

What would make you content to fly into eternity?

That's one of thousands of Naga mystical chants, blessings by clan elders and prayers to the female God Ukepenuopfu.

Nagas make their home in Nagaland, in Burma and Northeast India. Their powerful, entrancing chants are in danger of being lost as master chanters die.

Visier Sanyu is one of the few who know the traditional chants. His brother, the late Niyiehu Sanyu, was a master chanter. Accompanied by Tom Duncan on drum and Reg Blow on didgeridoo, Visier Sanyu's chants draw listeners in with their jazz-like rhythms and deep, melodious vibe.

One chant on longing to live after death, makes this request:

"If I die, I would like to return as an eagle bird, sit on the top of a tree in my father's forest, watching the children. Then I'd be content to fly into eternity."

From left, Reg Blow, Visier Sanyu and Tom 

Duncan perform Naga chants.

The Hoop Dance

Kevin Locke of the Lakota Nation promotes a world that embraces all people and all cultures through his performances of the Native American Hoop Dance. The dance expresses what Lakota Mystic Black Elk called "the great hoop of life."

Locke spreads the hoops out along his outstretched arms, transforming himself into an eagle. He bends and twists, moving through life, bringing the hoops together to represent the world.

Holding the hoops up in a circle, he explains that the hoops show an all-inclusive world.

"In this world, everyone has a place of honor," he says. "There is no exclusion, because when you exclude someone this is what happens."

Locke then takes one hoop out and the world built of hoops falls apart.

Locke concludes his presentation with a story about ancestors surrounding a mountain, trying to ascend to heaven.

"This represents the collective ascent of all people," he explains. "Until we get up to the top of the mountain, we can't see each other and we can never reach the summit until we can see we all have gifts to give each other."

Speaking in his native tongue, Locke than thanks his relatives (everyone in the audience) for participating in this wonderful experience on the shared journey of life.

Kevin Locke demonstrates Hoop Dance principles.