March 15, 2008

Native band teams with orchestra

Symphony spectacular to feature BruleThe preview of the first-ever collaboration of a Native American musical group and a symphony orchestra featured a popular Christmas hymn.

Sioux City Symphony members Jungo Kim on the violin and Darin Wadley on the timpani performed with Lakota musicians Nicole LaRoche on the flute and Moses Brings Plenty on drums, hollowed out of a cottonwood tree and covered with buffalo hide. Members of the troupe Many Moccasins from Winnebago, Neb., danced to the unmistakable Native American spin on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."

The performance was part of a news conference Friday at the Orpheum Theatre to announce the symphony's 2008 Christmas Spectacular, which will include Brule, the Native American musical group from Lower Brule, S.D. that has introduced audiences to Native American music and culture for the past 14 years.

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