The bird songs of Palm Springs’ Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians

“Bird singing is the retelling of the migration story of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians through song.traditionally it would take place in the wintertime, during our Nukil ceremony, after a person’s death.with this song, our people would be laid to rest. First, the creation story would be told in a week-long process; then, on the final three nights, the bird song would occur.

It’s the tale of our migration.we were told to leave our homeland by our creator after we killed him, so we went off in search of a new home. According to our stories, we travelled the Earth three times, and this journey took hundreds of years. Upon the third revolution, we arrived at our new home – which was also our first home. Bird songs are sung with a gourd-rattle accompaniment, made from materials found in our canyons.

There are two events in Palm Springs that tourists can attend.the first is the Kewet, a Native American learning day and market in November. Here you can buy traditional handcrafted items such as jewellery – and our songs are showcased throughout the day. The other is called Singing The Birds, which takes place in late January or early February. Both events happen at Palm Springs High School.”

John R Preckwinkle III is a bird singer and member of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, who are based in Palm Springs, California.

The sounds of Indigenous America (top to bottom) Jir Anderson celebrates the music of New Mexico’s 19 pueblos – the Spanish word for ‘village’ that was originally used by explorers to describe both Indigenous settlements across the middle Rio Grande Valley and the people living within them; the bird songs of the Cahuilla have traditionally been passed down orally, with young boys having to commit to memory hundreds of songs that tell the legendary story of their people’s migration. As such, some of the more ancient ones contain words whose meanings have been lost to time