((PKG)) GIFTS FROM SPIRIT
((TRT: 11:56))
((Topic Banner: Gifts from Spirit))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: June Soh))
((Map: Germantown, Maryland; Dickerson, Maryland))
((Main character: 1 female))
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
Every time that I make a drum, I'm already making for the person that is going to connect with it. So what I do is I ask for spirit to connect with that energy so that I can create the tone that that person is looking for in their drum.
((NATS/MUSIC))
And after 30 some years, spirit hasn't let me down yet.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
I'm Yolanda Martinez. I am Native American, born and raised in southern New Mexico.
I am a singer, songwriter, a performer and a master drum maker.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
When I do my drum making workshops, I always do a demo and people are watching this and they go, “Oh, that looks easy,” until they start making one. And then they go, “What? Wait. What did you do?”
Growing up in New Mexico,
((Photo Courtesy: Yolanda Martinez))
we grew up where our closest neighbor was seven miles [11 km] away. So, I grew up very connected with nature and Earth Mother. It was 1986 that
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I got this urge to make what I thought a drum. So, after struggling for over a year, attempting to figure out how to do this,
((Photo Courtesy: Yolanda Martinez))
I came up with…my first drum was out of a redwood planter, made out of cowhide. And I felt
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this awaken the Native side of me and my family.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
I have a full deer hide that I've soaked in the water and some elk hide that's already been cut into rounds.
((NATS/MUSIC))
I saged the hide [for blessing and cleansing] before it went into the water. And now I'm saging it again because I'm starting to work with it.
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
The journey into my drum making was a difficult one. A lot of the tribes believed that women weren't supposed to touch a drum, let alone make a drum.
((Photo courtesy: Yolanda Martinez))
I went to my first powwow, selling my drums at the Native American Indian Festival that's called The Powwow, and the people are loving my drums. And pretty soon, I see the elders come and they look at the drums and they say, “Where do you get these drums?”
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((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
And I tell them, “I make them.” And he gives me this really angry look, “Who gave you permission?” And I just, I never took my eyes away from him and I just went like this. And I told him, I said with tears in my eyes, I said, “If you can tell me of a higher power that says I cannot make these drums, I will stop.” And he just stood there looking at me, took a step back, put his head down, looked up to me, which was forever, looks up at me and he says, “Nice drums.” And that was the beginning of my journey. And I went through that for
((Photo Courtesy: Yolanda Martinez))
the first four years that I was doing the Native American festivals all over New York, from Florida to New York to California to the Midwest.
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And this is how I got known. And it was the people I heard that named me the master drum maker.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
From now on, into the design, I wrap. I do eight wraps. So, this is the handle. And then in here, it's a sequence of eights because eight represents infinity. So that energy of infinity is going into this drum and all my drums because I do that with all the designs.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
And there we have it. A nice handle that's comfortable and a spiral.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
I'm painting Grandmother White Buffalo because the white buffalo is very sacred to the people. It was a White Buffalo Calf Woman that brought the peace pipe and explained the peace pipe to the people, that it was supposed to gather the people together and bring peace among all nations. And I love this painting because she's running towards you, you know, like she's coming, bringing the message of peace and…
So, this painting is one of the favorites for my customers.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
This is what I call the Spirit Journey Horse. And this is, a lot of these are ordered for children and as gifts for other people. And people love them just to hang on the wall.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
When I am making my drums and my beaters is, I guess, when I'm the happiest because I am creating and I'm doing what I love. I'm doing and following my passion. So, I always feel good.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
Welcome to the summer solstice, a very powerful time on Earth Mother. I am so honored that you chose to come and help me to celebrate and bring this energy forth, not just for ourselves but for Earth Mother and everyone on the planet.
((NATS/SOT))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
The drum means the gathering of people. You know, the drum is the circle of life. The drum is Earth Mother's heartbeat. So this, it's our heartbeat. So to me, the drum is life. It's singing. It's dancing. It's gathering. It's a big part of our joy.
((NATS/SOT))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
My music career really launched through the drum. When I was living in Modesto, California, I had started these women's circles.
((Photo courtesy: Yolanda Martinez))
I taught them to drum and to sing the songs and chants that we were doing. And I was moving to North Carolina. The women were adamant that they wanted me to leave them the music that I had taught them. So, I made this little
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cassette in 1993. The name was ‘Resounding Spirituality’. So, I made 500 copies and they went really fast. I mean, I was surprised that it kind of woke me up to, whoa, wait a minute. If I can make a recording and sell with my drums. So that launched my music career.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
And then my first CD that was in ‘94, ‘95, I believe. And that CD is the one that got me the top
((Photo courtesy: Yolanda Martinez))
Nammy Award, which is the Native American Grammys for best female artist. And then I have three other Nammys for different compilations.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
Most of my songs came when I was out walking. And I just started
((Photo courtesy: Yolanda Martinez))
thinking about my land of New Mexico and how much I love it and how beautiful it is. And it just started coming.
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((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
New Mexico land, such beauty I see.
And it took off from there. And so, the more the song came, the faster I walked and went back home and wrote the words down and recorded the tune and there it was.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
I moved here to the Washington, D.C. suburbs a little over six years ago, to be close to my daughter and my grandkids. Since I moved here, you know, I miss my desert and the open spaces. And that is why I come to places like this. You know, this area is close to my house in Germantown. And I like to come and walk over here and I love the water. Water is so precious to all of us. And just the birds, and the sound of the water flowing, and caterpillars, and everything calls me.
((NATS/SOT))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
I love being out here in the quiet because I can sit here and meditate for as long as I want, and it just takes me away.
((NATS/SOT))