Natosiwa
Sun Power...
© Richard Coffey - All Rights Reserved
Natosiwa
Native Americans were closely connected to the land and the supernatural. To them, everything was interconnected by an ever-present invisible universal force. In 1920, Clark Wissler, in his book North American Indians Of The Plains, briefly described some of the religious concepts of the Plains tribes.
“To most of us, the mention of religion brings to mind notions of God, a supreme over ruler, and decidedly personal being. Nothing just like this is found among the Indians. Instead, they seem to have formulated rather complex and abstract notions of a controlling power or series of powers pervading the universe, extending to all aspects of nature: animals, plants rocks, the weather, etc.
The Blackfoot resolved the phenomena of the universe into “powers,” the greatest and most universal of which is Natosiwa or sun power. The sun was in a way a personal god having the moon for his wife and the morning-star for his son."
About the Music:
This is an uptempo infectiously happy tune mirroring the happiness that the sun brings: warmth and brightness to our lovely planet. Although the groove has a Brazilian samba-like groove, it is actually primarily powered by a recording I made of the QuarryView Drum Circle I played with back on 6-25-2022. I felt that night we locked in pretty nicely and I excerpted two short loops that are used to propel this tune. Frame Drums and other percussion were added as well. The tune is in C major so I played the A minor double flute as a single flute throughout.
Other Instruments:
- Acoustic Guitar - Roland JV-880
- Acoustic Bass - Casio PX-S3000
- Rhodes ePiano - Roland MKS-20
- Pan Flute Sound (doubling the melody) - Roland JV-880