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.
Keith Little Badger: Drum Maker
Click on Keith's picture to learn more about your drum maker.
The Drum People are in full compliance with the Indian 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.
As a Native American, Keith preserves his heritage by practicing the craft his Grandfather passed down to him: he builds authentic NATIVE AMERICAN DRUMS.
WHY BUY FROM The Drum People?
First, we are committed to Green, ecological methods to build our Native drums. We do not cut down any trees. We do not poison the earth with chemicals from our rawhide.
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 from RIVER-RECOVERED CEDAR. 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 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 it Respect for Mother Earth. We invite you to 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.
All powwow drums come with a FREE STAND.
We offer beautiful unique drum bags crafted from durable Native American/Southwest Style print fabrics.
We build the only leather drum bags on the market, by hand, punching holes and cutting lace, to sew them.
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 drums to Native Americans in prison so that they can practice their spiritual ceremonies. By doing this, we hope that they will allow Creator to guide them back to the good Red Road.
We donate 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 careless and greedy business practices of settlers who invaded Indian country.
We sponsor 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 suporting the beauty of their traditions and songs. We also help sponsor Native American drum teams so that they can play at powwows and share the culture with the general public.
We are just beginning to 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 people with diseases like autism and alzheimers.
We donate drums to Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centers with the very specific goal of helping Native Americans achieve recovery from this disease. We support Drug/Alcohol programs targeted only to the Native American population. We let places like the Betty Ford Clinic help more fortunate people.
When you buy a drum from The Drum People, you support the causes we support. We are not a shopping cart company with the only goal of making money. We are people
who want
TO CHANGE THE WORLD!
Join us.
News from The Drum People Click on picture for more information on the news
May 12, 2010 A Great Urgency:To All World Religious and Spiritual Leaders
Regarding the Gulf Oil Spil and the Care of Mother Earth
Message from the Peace Chief of the Lakota Oyate, Arvol Looking Horse:
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.
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