Oyate Online
Your Best Online Source for American Indian Music

Wintu/Midu from Grindstone Reservation in CA
Curtis Burrow

Listen to Sample MP3

Curtis Burrows lives on the Grindstone Reservation in northern California above Sacramento. Their music is very smiliar to the Wintu/midu.

I think the most wonderful thing about this music is the amazing complexity that can be achived with just 2 singers and their slap sticks. They sing in Nomlaki, which is a dialect of the Wintu Language.

Shake Head music refers to the Shake Head dance.

Brian took Curtis to Russia and his group to dance with 4 dancers. I really like that idea, that you have folks, like Brian Bibby, who are really fasicinated with both the culture and music, and somehow get taken up with - start going to dances, memorizes the music, studies the language, takes the time to meet with the elders, and really learn about the culture. I really believe that these folks have done so much to keep the songs and culture alive.