Tribal members participate in Circle/Ghost Dance social media challenge
From left, Hovia Edwards, Kaycee Dixey and Alonzo Bighorse.
By JOSEPH WADSWORTH
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — Social media is a way for Native people to share their knowledge and to bring a smile of joy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shoshone-Bannock tribal members Hovia S. Edwards, Alonzo Bighorse and Kaycee Dixey were involved in a Circle/Ghost dance singing challenge on Facebook through friends.
Edwards was the first challenge and in her own words said “I was encouraged to sing Ghost Dance songs by some of the elders who want to keep the songs alive.” She said the songs are prayer songs asking the Creator to bless the land, plants and animals, so that Indian people can live and good life.
Edwards has been fortunate to have many teachers and mentors who have encouraged and inspired her to carry on the culture and songs. She was challenged along with other singers to sing a ghost dance song from her friends Dean Barlese of the Great Basin area and the song Edwards chose was The Fog Coming Over the Mountains “I chose this song to sing is because it is spring time a time when the weather brings the moisture.” She went on to explain the ghost dance songs are sung in the springtime when the annual ghost dances ceremonies are held but because of the COVID-19 pandemic the annual dance was cancelled.
Edwards still sings her songs to ask the Creator for blessing over the world, the tribes, people and our families & for ourselves.
Alonzo Bighorse was nominated by Hovia Edwards for the Circle/Ghost dang challenge and at first, he was told they were going to yodel the songs. Bighorse said that he was learning how to yodel the songs but he didn’t realize Hovia Edwards was just joking with him. The song that Bighorse chose to sing is called A Grove of Green Aspen meaning of the song is the Green Aspen is blooming and standing because of springtime.
Bighorse has been singing ever since he was a little child and there was a time he stopped singing when he attended Lillian Valley School. He had more interest to sing and play music but while attending college at Idaho State University during a presentation he gave on Native American music Bighorse became more inspired to learn Shoshone songs and by watching YouTube he found songs that he wanted to learn and understand the meaning and a purpose of why they are sung.
Kaycee Jo Dixey, a resident of Gibson district, said she was inspired to start singing as a way to participate in ceremonies. She didn’t see many youth singers and at that time she was learning the language, wanting to know more and to be a singer inspired her. “Because there is not a lot of singers for this dance, so I wanted to be one of those singers to keep this dance alive.”
Dixey has been singing since she was 14 years old. Hovia Edwards also nominated Dixey to sing a ghost dance song for Facebook and she along with her grandparents Clyde and Louise Dixey decided to head down Bottoms and set up by the Fort Hall monument for Kaycee’s challenge. They chose the location because it is where the Shoshone and Bannock people were first moved to from their original homelands and believed it would be a great place to sing from.
When asked what songs she sang for the challenge Kaycee said “I had a lot of songs that I could have chosen from but I chose three different songs — my top three favorite songs.” The first song she sang came from Nevada and it has different meanings and translations. Dixey said she learned it from Bryan Hudson, “It is a super easy song to sing and learn.” She then explained the song has bits and pieces of it that comes from different bands of Paiute, Shoshone and Bannock. Her teachers are her grandfather Clyde “Duke” Dixey Sr., Hovia S. Edwards and Bryan Hudson.
