Customer Reviews

My Relatives Say

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Two years before the release of this CD, I purchased "The Elders Speak", on which Mary Louise Defender Wilson (aka "Gourd Woman") tells half the stories. I was so impressed with her work that I took the trouble to write the recording company, Makoche, to request they release an album exclusively of her stories. Lo and behold, here's the album I requested! Her stories here are told in the same calm style as on "The Elders Speak", with sounds of nature and flute designed to enhance the story without overwhelming it. Simply put, she's the best Native storyteller recording today, and this CD is highly recommended. And given its limited availability (as of early 2005), you might want to pick it up soon.

In a remarkable and flawlessly recorded CD format, My Relatives Say, Mary Louise Defender Wilson presents an impressive and memorable series of stories drawn from traditional Dakotah sources and using traditional native American imagery incorporating animals, wind and stars to showcase lessons on how to live in a civilized way as humans on Earth. The stories include The World Never Ends (5:04); The Blue Heron Who Stayed for the Winter (14:02); Earth Beans (4:57); The Dakotah Have had Horses for a Long Time (6:31); How Snake Creek Came to Be (10:38); Why the Fawn has Spots (4:52); The Star in the Cottonwood Tree (4:53); and The First Flute was Used for Courting (7:36). My Relatives Say is a strongly recommended addition to any personal or academic Native American studies collection.