Monday, December 21, 2009

New words, familiar sound

Last week when our young Haitian friends were visiting and we were sitting in traffic waiting to get into the Zoo, Frandy and Zeke sang "O Holy Night" for us in French. Here's a treat if you like language--the Christmas album, of Jana Mashonee singing ten traditional carols in different Native American languages – “O Holy Night” in Navajo, “Silent Night” in Arapaho, “Winter Wonderland” in Ojibwe, “Joy to the World” in Chiricahua Apache, etc.



Jana’s website You can hear her new album. In addition to providing all the vocals and piano, Jana wrote and co-produced the album. I think she was on Fox this morning if I got the dates right, although I'm not sure it was local or national. Which ever, I missed it.

For native youth, through her organization Jana's Kids, “Jana addresses the issues of cultural pride and identity, motivation and ambition, education, alcohol, tobacco and drug awareness, and gang association. She proactively involves her audiences in this extraordinary interactive presentation. Music, lecture, questions, answers, and demonstrations are the main components of this educational, entertaining, and motivational program.”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have this CD and it is spectacular! I've bought it for friends and family as a gift or stocking stuffer to rave reviews! Thanks for writing about this fabulous artist...her new CD "New Moon Born" is also spectacular. This girl can sing!
Merry Christmas and thank you!

Glen in Phoenix AZ said...

Norma, I love reading your thoughts. Thanks for the heads up on this beautiful Christmas album. Jana is a wonderful example to her culture and I hope that he does well in mainstream music without becoming corrupted by it. Oh yeah, I bought the Christmas album. Merry Christmas!