On my first visit to Canada in 1990 I met a Native Canadian called Russell Noganosh. Russell is an Artist, Dancer, Drummer, a Singer. We have been good friends since and he has been mostly responsible for my Aboriginal education. I believe you will serve yourself well by visiting his website at,

There are beautiful examples of Arts and Crafts by Russell and Margaret Tooshkenig.

Click on the following link to hear a Real Audio stream of a Pow Wow song performed by The Couchiching Singers, who were founded by and feature Russell Noganosh. Also singing are PJ and Jody who want on to form The Rice Lake Drum, who played all over Canada and in the USA. This Song is for an Intertribal Dance and is taken from The Couchiching Singers CD, Lake Of Many Winds.

Russell Noganosh Dancing (left) at The Fourth Homecoming Pow Wow at Kahnawake, Quebec in 1994

In 1994 I was fortunate to tour the Canadian Pow Wow circuit with a "Drum". I never got to play the drum but then it wasn't my place. In Canada and USA, Drum describes a group of four or five playing the same drum, (see the example below taken at the Cape Croker Pow Wow in 1990).

These men of enormous stature and character were responsible for beating the drum and singing the repeated chants which form the musical accompaniment to the dancing at a traditional Native Pow Wow in North America.

Depending on the size of the Pow Wow, it's attendance and length, there may be four or five Drums at a pow wow gathering, each group consisting of at least four members. The Drum would have a leader who would sing the lead line of the chant, which would then be repeated by the rest of the group, who were all keeping a steady four four time on the ceremonial drum.

Each member of the drum pounds out the beat with a long rod which is covered in leather at the end.

Each group has it's own drum which might be decorated and will have almost certainly been blessed and purified with the smoke from burning sage. Often members of the group make their own drum using hide for the head. the drum which I was travelling with was covered with a horsehide. The drum itself is usually at least three or four feet in diameter and the singers sit around it in a circle beating it with long rods which are padded with leather at the ends.

A song may last up to twenty minutes or more and generally falls into one of four or five categories such as Veteran or Traditional, to accompany certain dances. These dances include,

Some Pow Wow's in Canada and the USA are "Competition Pow Wows" where there are many more dance categories and participants compete for first second and third place cash prizes which can be as high as 1,000$.

This seems to have been an excellent way of generating new life in today's pow wows by encouraging keen attendance and study of the roots of native culture, especially by young people. From what I could tell, Pow Wows have helped awaken in Aboriginal people a passionate belief in their traditional culture and has helped to restore a human pride robbed by the colonists.

The Pow Wow

Bringing First Nations Together

The pow wow is an activity unlike anything in the culture of non-natives.

The pow wow is a spiritual gathering of nations, while at the same time it serves to distinguish between the social and cultural differences that set natives apart from other societies. Indeed, the pow wow is the expression of a way of life for native communities across Canada and the United States. And while the pow wow is colour in motion to most non-natives, to North American Indians the pow wow serves a far greater purpose.

Despite the ever-changing face of the nation on both the social and political fronts, pow wow tradition is one constant that remains throughout First Nations communities.

As well, the pow wow serves to bond tribes and bands of different linguistic geographical locations, building a bridge between it's paricipants. All Indians, whether they are of Ojibway, Iroquois or Sioux descent, are welcomed to take part in the intertribal festivities.

Women's Traditional Dance

From early spring to late fall, year after year, natives from across North America travel great distances to gather and to celebrate their heritage through singing and dancing. It is the expression of harmony among First nations and a way of life that has not been forgotten. The history of the pow wow is a long one. One must go back to the arrival of French explorer Jacques Cartier, in 1534, to the "new world" for the first recorded account of native dancing. carter recorded that up0n his arrival at the mouth of the St Laurence river, he was greeted by seven canoes filled with Indian warriors dancing while the women, knee deep in water, danced along the shoreline. Cartier also noticed that he had landed among the Algonquin Indians.

Further up the river, he was again greeted in a likewise manner, upom his arrival in the Iroquois village of Hochelaga. It was observed and recorded by Cartier that dancing was universal to the native communities, as well as vital to their ceremonial practises.

The term pow wow is a European term that has since been borrowed back by natives.

"Pau wau", which means medicine man or conjuror, was misconstrued by European settlers who witnessed the healing practises of the village shaman as he was also known as.

The frequent use of the word was taken to mean "the gathering of natives" that surrounded the medicine man during healing practices, rather than the man himself. Since the Nineteenth century, "pow wow" has largely been associated with any meeting, religious or social event involving natives. The pow wow therefore, can be said to be a gathering of First Nations.

The historical origins of the pow wow point to the Plains Indians of The United States. Other accounts state that the Algonquin Indians of New England played a significant role in the development of the modern day pow wow as it is commonly regarded. Probably the most significant renderings of native life in the early days of European exploration can be realised through the artistic works of George Catlin.

Catlin spent eight years amongst the Sioux Indians of the Plains in the early 1830's, painting and writing about their way of life. He is regarded as the best known of the American artists who depicted Indian life. His writings are also valuable sources of information.

Natives lived an oral tradition and taught the ceremonies and dances to future generations by word of mouth. Therefore, the writings and paintings of settlers, in particular George Catlin, are primary sources for historical analysis, as far as the early pow wow traditions are concerned.

European settlers, the pow wow continues to bring First Nations together; harmoniously and with great pride and dignity.

Reproduced with the kind permission of The Mississuagas of the New Credit First Nation

There is a great flute player from the USA called Joseph Firecrow. Visit his site at,

Russell Noganosh

The Pow Wow

Bringing First Nations Together

The Little Drum and Percussion Page