Shkeme and Native Roots

The Albuquerque band Shkeme and Native Roots offers at the Oralidad festival, organized by the Instituto Cervantes Albuquerque, a concert that combines the ancestral oral tradition of Native Americans with reggae music. His compositions inspired by traditional Pueblo music and pow wow are the perfect vehicle for Shkeme, a veteran storyteller of the Pueblo Indians, to vindicate the importance of traditional languages and culture, spirituality and respect for elders. About Shkeme and Native Roots Shkeme and Native Roots was created in 1997 by musician John L. Williams (Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux) and lyricist/vocalist Emmett "Shkeme" Garcia (Santa Ana Pueblo) with the goal of spreading through their music the stories passed down for generations and generations by Native Americans. Shkeme's style reclaims traditional language and cultures and condenses his experience as a Pueblo Indian storyteller. Shkeme and Native Roots have brought Native American oral history to numerous stages, including: The Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Sundance Film Festival, the Bob Marley Music Festival in Phoenix, the Native Roots and Rhythm Festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Cherokee Tribal Fair in North Carolina, the Seminole Tribal Fair in Florida, the Havasupai Peach Festival at the Grand Canyon, and the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC.