CURRENTS to Sample American Indian Music

Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate conducting SFS strings in the performance of his “Talowa' Hiloha” (still image from the video being discussed, courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony)

As was announced this past January, the CURRENTS series presented by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) through its on-demand streaming service SFSymphony+, will offer its next program at the very beginning of next month. The program will be curated by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, who is dedicated to composing music to reflect his own cultural background. The program will be framed by two of Tate’s compositions, “Talowa' Hiloha” (thunder song) and “Chokfi’.” Tate also collaborated with Elder Thomas Leon Brown (Machuchuk) to prepare an arrangement of “Hoy-Ya-A,” a traditional Shake Head Coming Out Song of the Pomo, the original residents of what is now Northern California. Two other composers will be represented on the program, Rochelle Chester (“Moon’s Lullaby”) and Louis W. Ballard (three selections from his Katcina Dances collection).

As might be expected, there will be a fair amount of percussion involved. SFS percussionists Jacob Nissly and James Lee Wyatt III will contribute, along with timpanist Edward Stephan. In addition Elder Ron Montez will play a traditional Pomo drum. However, a generous number of members of the SFS string section will contribute, along with Marc Shapiro on piano.

This episode of CURRENTS will launch at 10 a.m. this coming Thursday, April 1. A Web page has already been created for viewing this program. Like the other programs in this series, the admission charge will be $15. As has been the case for all other content uploaded to SFSymphony+, the video will remain available for on-demand streaming indefinitely. Subscriptions are still available for $120; and, as has already been mentioned, donors that have contributed $250 or more will be entitled to receive complimentary subscriptions. These subscriptions will remain active through the end of the current season on August 31.