This collection of musical elegies and celebrations by Curt Cacioppo skillfully evokes a Native American time, a space and a people.

The history and the literature these meditations trace are often tragic—intensely dramatic. Tone poems infused with vibrancy, they elevate. Listen to the “Invocation” trilogy—the work summons images of Native American lifeways paradoxically familiar and strange. It calls the listener to muse on the deeper meaning of past narratives, while “Kinaaldá” joins in the ancient, enduring Dance of Life.

Direct, moving, and inspiring, Cacioppo’s tribute avoids the obvious, eschews triviality, and does not pale. His offering to first peoples invites repeated listening, an erstwhile ritual.

In the case of “Wolf,” based on the poem by Peter Blue Cloud, emotion overcomes us.

Rick Hauser
Executive Producer, Wačipi Powwow,
KTCA-Twin Cities Public Television