a question for one and all .... of course i need to ramble first.... lol....
recently i was talking to a person that was freely expressing thier dissatisfaction with a Lakota man that sang a song at a open charity event ....  I was informed by this particular person that the song was the "4 direction" song .... the one that is commonly sang during first round of inipi ..... he said that this was a "sacred" song and should not have been sang ....  
 
.... a long time ago, I was "chastized" on this forum about what is tradition .... and from that I learned a lesson ..... a good lesson at that ..... so I responded .... "what makes this song sacred?" ..... considering that it has been recorded by numerous Lakota and sold on cd's .... does this make it common knowledge and now is free to whomever wants to sing it?  
 
.... so the question remains .... are inipi songs .... c'nunpa songs "sacred" or are they common knowledge songs .... just looking for everyones opinion..... pila

I dont know if this will help to answer the question here or further cloud the waters, but here goes. There are sacred songs. There are songs for all occasions and some will overlap. True.... most of these songs have been recorded and sold for a profit. We arent responsible for what another person does, but we can disagree. I will not sing a ceremonial song for the sake of entertaining someone but if a song is requested for a funeral or wake....I will give the family their wish. The only songs I will not sing outside their context are heyoka songs....they have too much power to use indescriminately. Many songs are "common knowledge" songs, but they are gifts from the ones who went before us and they are now ours to protect and pass on to our next generations coming up....so we must respect that and use them for their intended purpose. Recording used to be a nono....a good singer would hear a song and memorize it and then use it. Today tape and disc have taken the place of good memories so it is as it is. WE have to respect these songs and use them in a sacred way....how we use them makes them sacred.
There are brothers on my powwow drum who have never heard a ceremonial song from me....they dont need to know them because they dont participate in certain ceremonies and I dont want them used wrongly, not out of malice but out of ignorance. Thats what I think about this.

hau tanhansi wakalapi .... i do not know if they approached the person or not ..... it amazes me that people want to be so "indian" and then they resort to dominant societies ways ..... here on the internet, many claim to be ndn .... yet they will attack another verbaly and use intimidation against another ndn .... so in reality, i can not answer your question truthfully ....
 
leksi .... rofl at your remark about pow wows .... you do not want to say that to loud .... the new agers will tell you that the pow wow pan indian movement is sacred and not to be mocked.
 
i posted this because i wanted to know how some of the people felt about the songs .... the story is true ..... it hapened here in Missouri .... at a public fund raisinf event ..... i do not know how to feel .... altho some will say these are sacred songs .... they were given to the people and now they seem to be common knowledge ..... toksa ake

Quote from kinajin on 01/21/10 at 16:30:10:

 
Hasnt there always been those who will profane the holy for a profit. It isnt right....but it IS. Its what each of us does with what we have that matters. How many "famous medicine men" do we all know about who are only about the mazaska or the wicincalas....are they wrong? I think so....but who stops them from profaning the wisdom/gift they recieved? No one. Some can go thru life as a cynic or a hypocrite....I cant....Im just me.

Singers;  what are your thoughts on Marty Makes Room's cd?

i think its fairly new.

Quote from ndnhorseman on 01/21/10 at 15:48:39:

 
Ohan, i know that many claim to be ndn, i am even guilty of making that claim .......   wait a second .... after thinking about it i am a ndn by some peoples definition!  
 
Sometimes i wonder if anybody has a personal war going on within theirselves? Then they continue to feed a dog that continues to dominate their heart ...  
 
Can you imagine?  

Good information to know.
 
J.