A continuing grant has been given to THE LAKOTA LANGUAGE CONSORTIUM for their program “THE LAKOTA SONG AND DANCE PROJECT”. This project will (1) fight the loss of traditional Lakota songs dances and practices by improving the re-recording and up-dating of the text and audio components of “Sharing the Gift of Lakota Song” originally produced in 1977 and (2) introducing these traditional songs and dances into common use by providing FREE digital copies of this updated material to all residents of the Rosebud Reservation and the Lakota diaspora of off reservation people (24,000 people). We are please to help counteract the systematic eradication of Lakota traditional cultural practices. The songs recorded in “Sharing the Gift of Lakota Song” are precious cultural resources to the Lakota people and to the American cultural fabric in general. Preserving them in the Lakota Song and Dance project – before the last living generation of fluent Lakota speakers, whose average age is nearly 70 passes away- IS CRUCIAL. www.lakota.org
