What is Birdsinging
Birdsinging is a form of music traditionally sung by the First Americans of the southwest. These rhythmic songs accompanied by handmade gourd rattles are known to have been out here for at least 10,000 years, although according to oral tradition, they are even older, perhaps even 25,000 years old! These songs of our earliest ancestors are still sung by our people today. Locally, the Cahuilla peoples have a birdsinging tradition that honors each day of the year, with a body of songs numbering over 365. In addition, the Creation Story tells of a time when we were all birds, and flew three times around the world before finding a permanent home in what is now Southern California. To honor this flight, bird songs are traditionally sung over a period of three days. Other groups around the Cahuilla people traditionally shared our songs and sang and shared their own, along with other traditions, which has given the southwestern Natives a long history of cultural connectedness. Bird songs have become a linkage between neighboring tribes and between generations, and are the heart of a growing revitalization movement demonstrating that cultural loss is not the only story to be told about Native Americans.
