Shron Tate

A powerful and inspiring biography of Merze Tate, a trailblazing Black woman scholar and intrepid world traveler

The idea of writing classical concert music based on Native American materials dates back to the so-called "Indianist" school of the early 20th century, but the execution of the idea by Native American composers is much rarer and is devoutly to be wished. Composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and the Chickasaw Nation, and he is an important practitioner of this difficult art. Lowak Shoppala' is a multimedia piece in eight scenes, featuring orchestra, multiple narrators, a Chickasaw children's chorus, traditional Chickasaw and modern dancers and vocal soloists, and Native American storytellers. Each scene "depicts a part of Chickasaw culture and history," from traditional spiritual ideas to the removal of the tribe from its traditional Southeastern U.S. homelands. The narration is in English, but the musical sections in the libretto by Linda Hogan, are in the Chickasaw language. This is remarkable, for the number of fluent speakers of Chickasaw numbers only in the dozens; Tate and Hogan are two of these. Tate's basic mode is to expand the pitch and melodic content of traditional chants into larger orchestral and choral structures.