This is the "Bear Claw Drum Group," based in Dallas, Texas. This Group is comprised of many members, many of whom have been active Indian community leaders and servers for many, many years. Those close to Bear Claw are familiar with the hours and hours of hard work, practice and dedication that go into all their work. In keeping with their traditional values, Bear Claw knows that their singing is a powerful gift from God, a gift which tends to bring the whole Indian Community together in celebration of their proud heritage.
By naming this CD "Goin' Home," we hope to communicate a lot of different thoughts and feelings about who we are, where we came from and where we're going as the "Bear Claw Singers." Our drum group started four years ago in Dallas, Texas and since our members originate from this area, Dallas has been the home where we've all grown up, went to school, and raised our families.
So, we want to honor Dallas and all the good memories we've made here over the years. We are here because thousands of Indian families like ours came to large cities like Dallas during the Relocation of the 1950's looking for greater opportunities, education and a better standard of living. Goin' Home is one way for us to honor our Comanche and Kiowa grandparents, parents and others who believed that they were carrying a part of southwestern Oklahoma and the spirit of the ancestors with them as they came here, making many sacrifices in order to begin a new chapter.
Being from Texas and living in Texas has certainly not lessened the depth of our Indian roots - in fact, in many ways it has deepened and strengthened them. Goin' Home also points northward to southwestern Oklahoma, because that is the mother ground of our ancestors, the place our tribal headquarters and the place where so many of our extended family and tribal members still call home. The elder members of our group, Darrell Blackbear and James Yellowfish, both have very fond memories of days in Oklahoma and we hope this CD helps rekindle pleasant, comforting images and sensations: traveling to Pow-wows and camping with our families, cramming a bunch of 'skins' in a grandfathers little four-room house, sleeping on the floor and thinking just before you fall asleep "man, we're rich!", sitting under a shade tree on a hot, August day and learning one of the old songs from your father or grandfather or the good feeling you got hearing one of the elders pray in the native tongue. Darrell and James's fathers, Paul Blackbear and Lyman Yellowfish, have already passed onward to the spirit world, but their legacy and our connection to Oklahoma is always inside our hearts and we hope that some of this rich legacy comes through on this CD.
Another important aspect of Goin' Home is the drum itself and the songs we sing sitting around it, for we're truly at home when we're drumming and singing. Somehow, maybe we must be genetically and spiritually "hard-wired" to do this, it just seems so natural. We always respect the drum's living spirit and provide an offering of special tobacco and prayers for the drum and to the Creator before we begin, asking for His help to spread his healing, love and blessings to others. We never allow anything but good thoughts and feelings inside our circle, so rest assured as you listen to Goin' Home that the pulsating drum rhythms and echoes of our voices are the physical expression of the Earth's good heart and ours. When you hear the young men's voices in Bear Claw, you can also rest assured that these songs and these old traditions will never die, because they will pass them onto their children and grandchildren just as our ancestors did. So for us, home is a place deep within our hearts. It is as ancient as the Earth and as strong as the spirits of our Kiowa, Comanche and Apache ancestors - whose presence we always acknowledge and honor within our drum circle.
Lastly, Goin Home is for you as well because our circle is unbroken, whole and wide. We hope you will sit with us, pray with us and sing along and remember: we are going home to a place that we have never left and never will leave.
Darrell Blackbear and James Yellowfish
Bear Claw Singers
Dallas, Texas 2005
