I’m not a real live recording guy because there are a lot of trade offs between live and studio. With improvement in audio technology, however, this live offering doesn’t disappoint. The thing that shines about Canyon Records release A Soldier’s Dream is the absolute joy and pleasure these people have singing together.

The recording work is clean and fresh and reflects the intensity that is brought out when a good circle sings together. I always love the women’s voices in a drum group.

We must take immediate notice that Elk Soldier’s; A Soldier’s Dream has been nominated for a Nammy Award this year. Evidently people in the music business are beginning to take real note of the talent that’s out there.

In my experience, even when the singers are sitting around a steel barrel under some bridge somewhere, traditional singing tears at your heart string because you are experiencing something that has existed on this continent for some time. I don’t really want to get into the “Origin of Species” philosophical conversation about how long we’ve been here on this continent, however, I will say that one of the things about our singing and drumming is that it’s kept us alive in more ways than one.

All the people who find solace around a fire by the river with a pack of smokes and sing high and proud sound good, feel good to me. When you combine practice with patience and commitment all you’re going to be is a winner. Not just awards but in life. The spirituality that is created by people that have these qualities becomes palpable in the air when you hear them ply their craft.

The titles of the songs are interesting and sharp. There are several of note. For instance the third cut, Cree Love by Gary Drapeau, interpretation provided by Ferlin McGilvery, sung in Plains Cree.

Of particular note is the fourth track on the CD entitled Saturday Night Special, which is a very clever title on several levels if you think about it. Written by Gary Drapeau and sung in Nakoda, it is a whistled song. This means that you can hear the Je dowan in the back ground, the traditional whistle given to certain appointed dancers. A very beautiful piece.

Then there is the entire Grand Entry Medley, beginning with the eighth track Hoka Hey and ending with the fourteenth track The People’s Champ. All of the songs built around a coherent theme and sung beautifully with passion.

We definitely shouldn’t forget Track seven A Soldier’s Dream, which is obviously the CD title tune and placed in the center of the list because it is the centerpiece of this work.

Not only is the material sung from various and diverse origins, the liner notes in the CD insert have interpretations of the respective languages which to me is a nice touch, since neophytes to Pow Wow singing don’t understand either the languages or that some songs are sung in vocables. Do I need to explain the vocable? Probably to the uninitiated.

In the old times when our religion became against the law in a country that was built on the foundation of religious freedom our elders took the drum out to a private wild place where they were far away from any prying official eyes to sing and drum and dance.

If you don’t understand the language and you read the interpretations you will see beautifully spiritual sentiments that speak to the power of the drum and our understanding of our cosmogony. So this is where I’m coming from; I’ve always understood that I work mostly with the more contemporary popular music but, the understanding that I have comes from my heart and spirit. I know how the music makes me feel.

Whenever I listen to Elk Soldier/A Soldier’s Dream, I grow a little as a person into the spirit world of my tradition. This is a truly beautiful CD that teaches me about this music and myself every time I listen to it. They ask you to come along on a journey of spiritual self-discovery with them.