Bo Taylor Presentation

Partial Transcript: Bo Introduces himself in his own language. He is a Cherokee, from Cherokee North Carolina. Bo explains what he just said. He comes from this area, the homeland of the Cherokee. The Cherokee extended to parts of seven states.

Keywords: Cherokee; homeland; Language

Subjects: Bo Taylor

Partial Transcript: Bo outlines the program for the evening. Bo explains he is an educator, not an entertainer. He wants the people there to get a better sense of who he is and what his people are about.

Bo lives in Cherokee and he is a Cherokee, they have been there for about 11,000 years.

Bo describes what people do when they see him walking down the street. Bo asks the audience to whoop. He explains when he goes into the school the boys always win.

Bo explains how Whopping is acting like a woman. When a woman wants to honor someone she’ll take her hand in front of her mouth and Woo. Bo demonstrates how it is done. It means a job well done, a celebration.

Bo’s first song is the Iroquois smoke dance. Bo talks about how he is dressed and references "Indian in the Cupboard", no one in the audience had heard of the movie. He mentions "The Last of the Mohicans" and many have seen that. The Iroquois are very much like the Cherokee.

Keywords: Cherokee; Indian in the Cupboard; Iroquois; Smoke dance; The Last of the Mohicans; people; whoop; Educator

Subjects: the evening’s performance

Partial Transcript: Bo explains how the Iroquois differ. They live in a long house. Bo describes a longhouse. There is a fire that burns in the center. Sometimes it gets smoky, everyone goes outside and they dance around to create movement and a draft.

Bo demonstrates the Smoke Dance.

Keywords: creates movement; fire; smoke dance; Longhouse

Subjects: Smoke Dance

Partial Transcript: Bo talks about the dance and how White men tell him they love the music but want to know what it means. Bo explains he is going to sing the White man chant, not a Native American chant.

Bo sings the chant. (Laughing). Bo asks the audience “What does it mean?” Bo says music is very powerful.

Keywords: chant; powerful; sing; White men

Subjects: The meaning of music

Partial Transcript: Before Bo sings he talks about the power of music. He mentions Mel Tillis, how he stuttered, and the Beatles. Both made powerful music. Bo explains the power of music and how Native Americans always knew the power.

Keywords: Beatles; Mel Tillis; Native Americans; Power of music

Subjects: The Power of Music

Partial Transcript: Bo explains the path the song will take. Bo talks about the fact that there are a lot of Native Americans in Oklahoma; Choctaws, Chickasaws, and the Seminoles were all moved, this was the Trail of Tears, a sad story. The Native Americans in Oklahoma created a style of singing called a powwow; they call it a Southern style of singing. Bo explains there are two different styles, the northern, and the southern. He describes each one.

Keywords: Chickasaws; Choctaws; Oklahoma; Seminoles; Trail of Tears; powwow; Native American

Subjects: different styles

Partial Transcript: Bo demonstrates the music they would play in Oklahoma.

Keywords: Oklahoma; South

Subjects: Music from the Oklahoma area

Partial Transcript: Bo explains that the music sung in the North and South Dakota area, the Sioux, the Cheyenne, and the Arapahos, is sung high.

Keywords: Arapahos; Cheyenne; Sioux; North and South Dakota

Subjects: The singing style of North and South Dakota

Partial Transcript: Bo talks to the audience. He explains he will tell a couple of stories.

Bo tells the story of an eight-year-old boy who did not have the use of his legs. He saw people dancing and it made him happy but then he knew he would never dance. The story tells how the great creator helped the boy to dance, the Grass Dance. At powwows, they dance the Grass Dance.

Keywords: Grass Dance; Great Creator; powwow; use of his legs; Eight year old boy

Subjects: Grass Dance

Partial Transcript: Bo demonstrates with a member of the audience, Scott, the Grass Dance.

Keywords: Grass Dance

Subjects: How to do the Grass Dance

Partial Transcript: Bo tells a quick story, one of his favorites in the world. The story is about a young Warrior who was special because he had no parents. They died from smallpox. It wiped out everyone in the village except a little toddler. He was passed from one family to another. He became an awesome warrior. He went off looking for a wife. He found a beautiful woman. They married. She became pregnant. The warrior was so happy. His wife died in childbirth. The warrior raised the baby. The baby followed in his father’s footsteps. It was time for the son to find a wife. They had a little baby boy. Everyone was okay and they lived together. The baby grew to love his grandpa. One day the mother became jealous. The young warrior had to decide between his wife and the old warrior. The old warrior and his grandson walked west, the old warrior’s last journey. The young boy explained why he took half of the old warrior’s blanket. The young warrior went to get his father and bring him home.

Keywords: blanket; bring him home; died in childbirth; jealous; love his grandpa; no parents; small pox; walked west; wife, baby boy; Young warrior

Subjects: young warrior

Partial Transcript: Bo explains why he told the story. Elders belong with the family. The culture has to be picked up by the young people but given away by the older people. Bo asks that people share their culture. Bo tells the audience what Oklahoma means, Land of the Red Man. It is a Choctaw word. At one time they wanted to pass a law that English would be the official language of Oklahoma.

Keywords: Choctaw; Land of the Red Man; Oklahoma; culture; given away; picked up; Elders

Subjects: culture

Partial Transcript: Bo tells another story, a short one. It is about Walker Calhoun, Bo’s mentor. He was in his 90s when he died. He taught Bo things, he was Bo’s best friend. Bo talks about the Sunday family reunions they had. One Sunday Walker explains to his daughter Bern, Bernice, that he had to bring medicine to a friend, she had been really sick. Bo talks about the daughter’s reaction.

Keywords: Sunday family reunions; ask; medicine; mentor; Walker Calhoun

Subjects: ask questions

Partial Transcript: Bo talks about how important it is to ask questions. If you can ask questions it will take you anywhere in the world. Bo explains what happens when you ask questions and when you don’t. It is important to ask questions.

Keywords: Ask questions

Subjects: asking questions

Partial Transcript: Bo asks the audience for questions.

The pouch? Bo explains in the old days there were no pockets. He wears a breach cloth, no pockets. Bo talks about what they carried in the old days and what he carries now. Bo describes the rest of the clothing he is wearing.

Keywords: beads; bear claws; breach cloth; no pockets; sash; southwest people; Pouch

Subjects: clothing

Partial Transcript: Bo talks about winning a Nanny, a Native American Grammy. He can’t sing in English but in Indian music, he does OK. Bo describes his singing and how he feels while singing.
Bo uses a rattle and a hand drum. The old style is to use a water drum. Bo describes a water drum. Bo explains how a water drum is made and how it sounds.

Keywords: Native American Grammy; hand drum; rattle; singing; water drum; Nanny

Subjects: music

Partial Transcript: Bo talks about when he is a Grass Dancer. Grass Dancers are amazing. Bo describes what it is like to watch them dance and the ringing of the bells on their feet. Their bells sing.

Keywords: bells sing; ringing bells; Grass Dancer

Subjects: Grass Dancers

Partial Transcript: Bo is asked if he has a spirit quest. For many years he was trying to find himself. He read books on self-help and Zig Ziglar. He was looking for himself, looking for God. He is spirit-led. He believes in the Creator.

Keywords: Creator; God; Zig Ziglar; self-help books; Spirit quest

Subjects: Bo’s spirit quest

Partial Transcript: Bo talks about being in Wise Virginia. He talks to a black fella in the front row, it was a high school. The black fella yelled out “Hey red man you going to do a rain dance?” He kept on Woo, Wooing. Bo talks about telling the kid to come up on the stage and his reaction. The black kid was offended.

Bo talks about Atlanta, Georgia. There are a lot of African American people there. Bo points out that when we talk about other people we whisper. In his world, there is the Native American Football League. He pokes fun by listing the names of the teams. It’s funny until it is you. It is the diversity of life that makes things awesome.

Keywords: Native American football league; black fella; diversity; high school; offended; Wise Virginia

Subjects: Wise Virginia

Partial Transcript: Bo answers the question about nature spirits. As Native Americans, they believe all things have spirits and they are tied to the Creator. Bo talks about the stomp dance and the fires they would build. They would build with prayer and scared wood. They would meet the sun in the morning by standing on the creek beds and singing. The Cherokee believed the sun was the embodiment of God and the fires built on the mounds are the embodiment of the sun on earth. They would sing their songs into the fires and blow the smoke up to the creator.

Keywords: Creator; embodiment of God; fires; prayers; scared wood; spirits; stomp dance; sun; Native Americans

Subjects: Spirits

Partial Transcript: Bo talks to Phil, who is Scotch-Irish. He asks Phil what his temperature is. Bo tells the story about a Chinese guy going into a Starbucks in Shanghai, at about the same time with the same temperature. The Cherokee believe in the Eternal Flame. Bo talks about the time he went to see the Eternal Flame and it was out. Bo looked all over for someone to fix it. He saw an old Cherokee who told him “The Eternal Flame was inside him, it makes you burn, it makes you alive. “ When we die the body goes cold. The Cherokee believe the flame that burns in the sky; burns on earth and in our soul are all connected. The Creator revealed himself differently to Native Americans. Bo sings a song in Cherokee.

Keywords: Eternal Flame; Cherokee

Subjects: Eternal Flame

Partial Transcript: Bo is asked if he is singing in Sequoyah. Bo was singing in Cherokee. Bo explains that Sequoyah is a written language, written by a guy named Sequoyah the only man to ever write it down.

Keywords: singing; written language; Sequoyah

Subjects: Sequoyah vs. Cherokee singing