The Drum People . . 256-538-0246 . . 8 am - 6 pm CST
Native North American Drum Maker uses Recycled lumber for all drums. NO NEW TREES DIE. The Drum People have been GREEN since the company started in 2000.
We are proud to offer this new limited edition of TORNADO-ENERGY "King's Pine" hand drums, representative of Northeast from whence these majestic trees derive, and sacred to the Abenaki and other Algonquin Nation Peoples of the Dawnland. They are sturdy like all of Little Badger's drums, but lighter in weight, perfect for women drummers.
The Drum People are in full compliance with theIndian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, which helps ensure that only Native North American People market and sell authentic Native North American crafts. The Act requires all artists to acccurately label their crafts so that consumers know whether they are purchasing authentic Native American crafts. According to the Act,Native American People make Native American Drums. NON-Native People make "Native STYLE" Drums.
Keith Little Badger: Drum Maker
Click on Keith's picture to learn more about your drum maker.
As a Native American, Keith preserves his heritage by practicing the craft his Grandfather passed down to him: he builds authentic NATIVE AMERICAN DRUMS.
He gathers the logs, has them sawn, planes them smooth. Then he cuts each board to create staves for powwow drums or segments for his hand drum frames. Each frame is sanded four time with 40, 80, 120 and 220 grit sand paper to make as close to a circle as a human can make. He uses unbleached, air dryed rawhide. He makes his drums with reverence for the Creator and caring for the people who will use these sacred drums in their lives.
If you ever doubt that we are all connected, you need to hear this song - another experiment in global musical unity and peace.
First, we are committed to Green, ecological methods to build our Native American drums. We do not cut down any trees. Our rawhide does not poison the earth with chemicals.
If you compare Native American drums, you may notice that many of them seem to look alike. Our drums look different. Wonder why? We build our own hand drum hulls. We build hand drums, sweat lodge drums, and powwow drums. We offer each type of drum in several standard sizes, or we can build a drum to your custom size specifications.
We do not buy one-piece plywood hoops and simply stretch a hide over the hoop.Keith is an artist, a wood-worker, a wood craftsman.He painstakingly cuts, planes, hammers, glues and sands every board of lumber to make each unique hand drum, sweat lodge drum or powwow drum. From the sawmill to the shipper, your native drum is handled by Keith and Cheryl, The Drum People, in a loving, respectful way.
Some people call us tree-huggers. We call itRespect for Mother Earth. Become a partner in our stewardship efforts. We believe that native drums should be sacred instruments - from their construction in Keith's hands, to resting in your hands, where they will carry your songs and prayers to Creator.
All native drums come with a free drum stick $20 value.
All powwow drums come with a FREE STAND AND DRUM STICK $120 value.
We offer beautiful unique drum bags crafted from durable Native American/Southwest Style fabrics.
We hand craft beautiful leather drum bags: punching holes and cutting lace, to sew them.
We use rawhide "scraps" to make unique rawhide rattles.
Second, we are committed to promoting Native American culture. Making drums is not a job, it is a CALLING for us. It is our MISSION in life.
We donate or discount drums to Native Americans in prison so that they can practice their spiritual ceremonies. By doing this, we hope that Creator will guide them back to the good Red Road.
We donate or discount drums to schools to help children learn about the REAL Indigenous People of this country, rather than allowing them to learn only from the biased stereotypes of "Indians" portrayed on television and movies.
We partner with wildlife rescue efforts to protect the animals that were once destroyed and on the brink of extinction because of historical carelessness and greedy business practices of those who invaded Indian country.
We have sponsored cultural events, like our annual Hand Drum Competition, to showcase the talent of Native American singers and drummers. We hope to educate the public about the Indigenous People and Culture of the United States by supporting the beauty of their traditions and songs.
We also help sponsor Native American drum teams so that they can play at powwows and share this wonderful culture with the general public. We invite them to build their own drum for the cost of materials, or we discount drums for drum teams.
We partner with groups of caring people who have found creative ways to use drumming to improve the health and quality of life of our Elders, and for people with diseases like autism and alzheimers.
We donate drums and our time to help build homes for victims of tornadoes, hurricanes and floods.
When you buy a drum from The Drum People, you support the causes we support. We are not a shopping cart company with only the goal of making money. We are people
who want
to Change the World.
Join Us.
News from The Drum People Click on pictures for more information on the news
Image:
SLIDE SHOW ABOVE
Omaha Public School's Pre-K program honored The Drum People by allowing us to help them obtain their own pow- wow drum. Omaha tribal elders taught the boys how to drum. The young drum team shared their songs with their community at a Pre-K Pow-Wow. The beating of the drum enabled the girls to learn their traditional dances, so they too love the drum. The school uses the drum as part of their family night gatherings, allowing the teens to drum and sing together. According to Tami Maldonado-Mancebo, Director of the School's Office of Native American Indian Education, "The drumming brings greater peace and harmony to all of our activities."
Thank You Tami and the Omaha Public School system for allowing us to help pass on cultural traditions to young and old alike. Thank You, Tami, for choosing The Drum People.
Dr. April Lea Go Forth, Shauna, Anna Wells, Barbara Warren, Megan in front
"Women all over the world are coming to the drum."
The Drum People Partnered with White Horse Ranch to Save Horses
Miss Indian Alabama 2008 sings her sons on a drum built by The Drum People
EARTH DAY IS EVERY DAY!
Our friend Tina Four Winds plays her Little Badger hand drum at 2009 Earth Day awareness event in Huntington, West Virginia. To the left of Tina is the Governor of West Virginia.
We know most of our customers are involved in healing/saving the earth efforts. Send us your photos and stories. Let us help you spread your message.
The Drum People Sponsor Native American Hand Drum Competitions
Native American people have supported us for years and years at powwows. Their love and support made us who we are: The Drum People. We wanted to give back to the Native American community. We have had this dream of bringing the hand drum tradition back to the Southeastern part of the United States because this tradition seems to be lost here. We have been hosting informal hand drum competitions for four years. In 2008, we finally made our dream come true and sponsored an official hand drum competition with $1000 prize money and free drums for the winners.
We have held tight for six years. We have tightened our belts to the final hole and then taken our hole punchers and added additional holes. Despite changes in the economy and sky-rocketing prices, The Drum People have not raised our prices since 2007.
In 2007, the recession hit and we sent our young people, mostly minorities, people of color, to fight unwinnable religious wars in foreign countries. Recession and War: Coincidence? We think not. Since 2007 we have survived our two sons' tours of duty to the United States of America. Our eldest son served in Afghanistan and we went weeks without word from Garrett, wondering if he was still alive. All of Garrett's army-issued battle gear was made in China. American soldiers wearing gear made in China. No offense, but none of the gear fit our soldiers. Study anthropology: young Americans are larger than average Chinese young people.
Our oldest son, Garrett, is home from Afghaistan now. He founded Honor bound USA, building battle gear for soldiers, police officers, and Swat Teams. He also creates custom back packs and bug-out gear for everyone preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse (just kidding, but he builds an awesome backpack). All Garrett's gear isMADE IN AMERICA, specifically in Oklahoma where he lives.
Our younger son, Ethan, got out of the Army in one piece and earned his engineering degree. He builds green technology buildings in South Dakota, where he lives with his beautiful wife and our wonderful grandson, Charlie. Visiting Ethan, Heidi and Charlie allows us to wander the sacred Black Hills (Paha Sapa) of the Lakota People and pick sage, which we send home to Alabama, so that we can share it with you.
Since 2007, we have fought wars in Irag and Afghanistan. Our tannery doubled the cost of each full rawhide. Food prices have nearly tripled. Gasoline shot up drastically. We pay almost twice as much to run our power tools: chop saws, table saws, sanders, routers, as we paid in 2007. Our solution was to work longer hours, work seven days a week, crank out more drums to make up the difference.
But we are getting old. Soon we will retire (and work at our retirement jobs because who the heck can afford to retire on Social Security, especially Self-employed social security at $200/month!). Expect to see us out on the Powwow Trail again.
With utter sadness and deep regret, the Drum People will raise the prices on all drums April 1, 2013. It's been a great run, guys. Thank you for all your support. We hope that you will understand and still choose to buy a quality drum made by Keith Little Badger, third-generation drum maker. But if you have to buy cheaper cheesewheel drums, we understand.
One of our customers shared this wisdom with me when I was upset about having to raise prices. As a small business owner/healer, she too was faced with this dilemna, and finally surrendered, saying."If people come to me for price, they aren't my clients. I tell them to get a $40 massage, and they always come back to me." Sylvia Sitters, Shamanic Healer, Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT). Thank you, Syliva, you are absolutely right. We will continue to build the highest quality drums and Creator will continue to send the right customers to us.
Che meegwich,
Keith and Cheryl
The Drum People
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Call Today: 1-256-538-0246 (7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m Central Time to speak to live person) Please leave a message if we are not here and we will call back ASAP
This Web Site was Created and Maintainted by Cheryl "Talking Bird" Farabaugh, Ph.D. Last Update: May 2, 2013
