Jerod Tate, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, began composing more than three decades ago. One of his latest works, Ko'koom'fena, is sung entirely in the Shawnee language.
"I'm very, very proud to put our languages out on a dramatic and epic symphonic stage for the world to hear," Tate said.
CityMusic Cleveland originally commissioned the piece, first premiering in Ohio, the ancestral homelands of the Shawnee. Now Ko'koom'fena is making its Oklahoma debut on August 30, where three federally recognized Shawnee tribal nations are headquartered.
The Norman Philharmonic is presenting it at the McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church. Richard Zielinski, the artistic director and conductor there, programmed the upcoming concert, Classical Legends: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joaquín Rodrigo and Tate.
"These are three to me, three giants in the world of music," Zielinski said. "They've left an imprint on my soul and other people's lives."
Ko'koom'fena is a take on the Shawnee creation story and the wisdom grandmothers pass on. Tate said it is inspired by his friend Maggie Boyett, who is a citizen of the Shawnee Tribe, and her family of matriarchs.
"It's the female that takes care of everybody," Zielinski said. "It teaches everybody about the land and their language. …To have this gift that we've been given, this world that we need to take care of. The smallest of animals and insects, to the land and the weather and the climate, we're all a part of that."
The English translations will be available in the program and on the screen during the performance of Ko'koom'fena. Director of the Shawnee Tribe's language program, Joel Barnes, created the translations.
Though it's Shawnee-inspired, Tate said it's a universal tale.
"It's a human story about family," Tate said. "And to me, the story of Ko'koom'fena taps into my very romantic feelings of being a parent and the mystery that comes with being a parent."
But pulling off a 15-minute piece like this takes work. Soprano soloist Kirsten C. Kunkle, who is a Muscogee Nation citizen from the Wind Clan, said she had to study the lyrics meticulously.
"We study Italian and German and French and Latin and Russian and all of these other languages as classical singers," Kunkle said.
But not Indigenous languages, such as Shawnee.
"So the challenges are that it's all new," Kunkle said.
Kunkle said the international phonetic alphabet doesn't exactly work with Shawnee, so she's taken to writing her own phonetic notes to account for the nuances. She has also worked with first- and second-language speakers.
"Just because of the way the physics of music works with the soprano voice, you're not going to get an authentic vowel the same way you would in a spoken text," Kunkle said. "And that's just part of this overall process of trying to figure out how to represent it best within the context of what we're doing musically."
It's a balance, Kunkle said, but noted the hard work of singing in an endangered language is worth it. For her, she is living out a dream she never anticipated.
"My hopes and wildest dreams have already been exceeded," Kunkle said. "I'm part of this greater scheme of this renaissance of language revitalization, but also this renaissance of tribal people making a difference overall in the grand scheme of what is America."
While incorporating Indigenous melodies and ethos into classical music makes Tate's work unique, he said he is not the first or only Native person in this field. He nodded to the late composer Louis Wayne Ballard and a 19th-century music instructor at the Carlisle Indian School, Dennison Wheelock.
"I just hope that people can take away that, 'Wow, OK, Natives in symphonic music, it's a thing and it's real," Tate said. "And it's been going on for quite some time."
For those wondering if they need to be a citizen of a Shawnee tribal nation or a fan of classical music to attend, Tate said Ko'koom'fena is for everyone. His hope, along with Kunkle and Zielinski, is that this performance is another spark in the Indigenous language revitalization movement that continues indefinitely.
"I hope there are more commissions for people like Jared and other Indigenous composers so that we can keep fueling this for the future generations, for future language revitalization projects, for the children of these tribes who don't know that they can do this kind of thing," Kunkle said.
More information about the upcoming concert and tickets can be found on Norman Philharmonic's website.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
