PETER BUFFETT

 

 

John LeKay:  I read that you were inspired back in 1987 after having read "Son of the Morning Star : Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn" by Evan S. Connell.  What was it about this particular history book that sparked the transition in your music and how would you describe the music you were working on at the time?

Peter Buffett:  When I read this book, I was amazed at how little I knew about this chapter in American history.

I had grown up in the midwest and had no idea how this country was formed. I was most struck with the question of how much was lost. I thought of this country as being like a forty year old person that was wishing he/she had listened to their grandfather when they were ten.  That idea of "if only I could go back and learn all of the knowledge and insight that comes from someone who has been here before me". I had no idea where the Indian voice was today.  Where were the country's true cultural roots?

At the time I had finished my first album for Narada Records.  It was considered New Age music.  I never much liked the connotation of that.  I  had always wanted to be a little more edgy with my music than that genre seemed to allow. 

I was looking for a conceptual framework for my second record.  The book really spoke to me.  But the music had no typical American Indian musical references.   It was much more about the feeling of loss and the clashing of cultures.

 

 

JL:   The music on your album 500 Nations has a visual and palpable atmospheric quality.  I like your  use of computerized recording studio technology, synthesizers, chanting monks, flamingo , rock guitar riffs, blended and layered with ancient Native American musical instruments, flutes, drums, etc., which has an certain unpredictability.

Can you  tell me how you came about making this particular album and discovering some of these amazing American Indian voices of today?

PB:   The CD was a real breakthrough for me.  One of the editors on the show had heard Chief Hawk Pope's  vocals and we found him living in Ohio.  He came out to L.A. to record some songs for the show.  I wasn't able to be at the session but had lunch with him afterwards.  I had asked permission to use his vocals in somewhat unconventional ways - but I wasn't even sure what they sounded like.

After I heard his voice I realized that there was an incredibly unique relationship between the music I was making and the sound and quality of his voice.  Digital recording was in its infancy then (1994) and I was having so much fun exploring how I could place his vocals into my music using this new technology.  Definitely a marriage of the ancient and the modern.  I was really worried that Hawk would have a problem with what I had done, but he absolutely loved it.  We've been working together ever since.  Both in the studio and in live performance.  Douglas Spotted Eagle is also featured on that CD.  I forget exactly how  we met, but he brought his incredible talents to the CD.  Again, I was able to take his performances and through the use of digital technology place his flute playing throughout the CD in a variety of songs.  It was very liberating to create the soundtrack because it was focused on the story telling.  So the placement of the various musical styles you mention made sense based on the stories being told - this gave me much more latitude than a conventional CD would have.

It really opened up the musical possibilities for me - which carried over to other CDs.

 

 

JL:  With "Ojibwe Wasa Inaabidaa" and with your previous albums; I found it interesting how you have merged the diverse elements of this ancient art form with digital technology.   Just as important - your crossing of cultural and imposed historical boundaries.    How do you see these various factors and what inspired the making of the Ojibwe album?

PB:  I  think one of the keys to my approach is not having any rules. I'm often asked what research I've done or schooling I've had (either in music or native culture/music). As I think I may have said in an earlier answer, I've completely gone with my gut. I combine things that just feel right to me. Like you say, the boundaries are imposed - I couldn't find the reason not to break some of them down!

The Ojibwe documentary that the music was inspired by was in the works for many years. By the time the scoring work had to be done, I didn't have the time to really do most of it - so a friend did much of the actual scoring with source material the two of us had recorded when Spirit toured in Minneapolis in 1999. When it was finally all done, I was sent all these recordings of the amazing performances you hear on the CD (without any of the music attached). It is incredibly inspiring to write music to set these performances inside of - much like I did with Hawk Pope in 500 Nations. 

With 500 Nations, the score came first. With Ojibwe, it was really the performances that inspired the music.

 

Photos from Sprit - The Seventh Fire