Black Eagle
Photo by Sara Stathas
Members of Jemez Pueblo's Grammy-winning Black Eagle Drummers
Whatever you do, don’t call Black Eagle a band. “Since drums are our only instruments, I prefer ‘drum group,’” says Malcom Yepa, who founded the collective on the Jemez Pueblo in 1989. Fair enough, but to qualify: this drum group won the 2004 Grammy for Flying Free, named Best Native American Music Album. They’ve also been honored with two Native American Music Awards and three other Grammy nominations. Plus, they’ll peform at Indian Market’s opening ceremony, at sunrise (7 am) on August 18.
How’d you get into drumming?
MALCOM YEPA: Ever since we were born, we’ve been singing and dancing here on the pueblo. If you can sit down and actually beat a drum at the meetinghouse, then you can play. That’s how we learned.
Is powwow, the type of drumming Black Eagle does, different from Pueblo music?
YEPA: Powwow is a different way of singing. You sing high in the melody parts, and then you vary your tone to bass. A powwow song is four verses, and we sing Pueblo songs from beginning to end. They don’t have verses.
So when did you learn powwow?
YEPA: We went up to Lame Deer, Montana, in 1988, for the Gathering of Nations. We never knew what powwow was, so I talked to the late Jimmy Little Coyote [a family friend] about what was happening in the arena. I was fascinated, and I brought that with me back to New Mexico.
And eventually you formed your group?
YEPA: Yeah, I had a whole bunch of friends, including my cousins. We taught ourselves by listening to tapes. At first, our drumming was offbeat. My mom told us we sounded like coyotes down by the riverbank.
How old were you?
YEPA: Sixteen. Man, we sounded terrible! But we just practiced for so long that eventually we got it right.
Why Black Eagle?
YEPA: I was out in the yard shooting hoops with my brother. I tossed my ball in the air, and I looked up and there was a black eagle. If it weren’t for that eagle flying by, I don’t know what we’d be called: The River Rats? The Coyotes?
Now you write your own songs. Are your lyrics in English?
YEPA: No. We sing in Towa. It’s important to sing in our native tongue.
Did you ever imagine you’d win a Grammy?
YEPA: When I was in fifth grade, I played the cornet in the school band. I couldn’t get the notes right, so my band teacher dropped me from class. [laughs] But I never gave up my music.
So what was it like to be up there?
Cassandra Toledo [backup singer]:
I couldn’t believe it. Now I see the Grammy sitting on the shelf and it’s like, “Is that really ours?”
Did everything change after that?
TOLEDO: We all crammed into a limo and drove it from Albuquerque all the way into the village. As we approached, people started to line up, jumping up, holding signs. They greeted us like royalty. The women put down shawls, kind of like the red carpet.
YEPA: We had calls from everywhere.
TOLEDO: News stations, magazines …
YEPA: … music producers. But mostly it was a regular day again.
If you could perform anywhere, where would it be?
TOLEDO: [laughs] We already have.
YEPA: We sang on the Mall in Washington, D.C., for the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. We were on stage with Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Robert Redford, and the president of Peru. There were 100,000 people!
Do you think you’ll ever stop playing?
YEPA: Black Eagle is going to live on forever. When I’m too old and can’t walk, the younger generation can take over. They’re like brothers to me. Their support is my strength.
What do you love most about drumming?
YEPA: It’s a wonderful feeling when you sing a song. It lifts up your spirits. To make people feel happy, that feels good. The drum is so powerful.
It just vibrates your soul.
