Powwow Music

Powwow Music is the intertribal singing and drumming of Native North American powwow gatherings, performed by drum groups seated around a single large drum. A lead singer delivers a phrase that the group answers in unison, building songs in repeated cycles called push-ups, in Northern style with high, intense singing or in the lower, more relaxed Southern manner. The repertoire serves contest and social dances, honour songs and the Grand Entry, and is the musical engine of the contemporary powwow circuit across the United States and Canada.