SAMA & Thing Festival/STG Present: Delbert Miller-Skokomish Tribal Storyteller

SAMA was honored to help bring PNW Indigenous Artists as part of Thing Festival in Port Townsend, WA. This interview & Performance is with Delbert Miller of the Skokomish.

Delbert Miller's art is as much a calling as it is a career. As a singer, carver, drummer and keeper of the Skokomish tribal ancestral history, Miller has taken on the role and responsibility of carrying on the traditional legacies of his elders.

Recently the Skokomish Tribal Council and US Forest Service have allocated a Cedar tree from the Olympic National Forest to support the work Delbert has been doing with youth from local tribes. Delbert is humbled to share this gift of Seeqwulal, or Grandmother Cedar Tree, by training a small group o f Salish apprentices on the spiritual aspects of carving. They will design and carve a matching set of Tsaqt3d, carved posts historically serving as cultural identifiers to visitors (an art form in danger of disappearing if it is not shared and preserved). Delbert will also teach the youth how to utilize their own personal spiritual gifts to bring their work to life. He seeks to strengthen their sense of personal cultural identity.

And for his work as a culture bearer, has was named one of First Peoples Fund's 2014 Community Spirit Awards honorees. The CSA award is given annually to individuals who show exceptional passion, wisdom, and commitment to serving their communities.

Miller is a notable example of that, fellow Skokomish community leaders say, he has strengthened youth, families, and the community with unwavering leadership.

"Delbert reminds us to remember who we are and where we come from, and secures the foundation of our identity," said Pam James, a fellow Skokomish tribal member. "He helps our young ones know where they belong—that they are part of something greater than themselves. Delbert is truly a keeper of culture and history for our people."

About SAMA:
Seattle Sacred Music & Art (SAMA) curates, produces, and collaborates on an immersive series of music and art performances that share the healing power of global sacred music. New videos presented every Thursday. We are dedicated to share with you the best and most compelling artists in the world.

SAMA was launched in 2019 as a way to foster understanding and dialogue through global music during a time of extreme political and cultural polarization. Co-founders Darek Mazzone and John M. Goodfellow, both long-time Seattle residents, have created SAMA in order to help expand global sacred music’s impact on the human spirit.

“We want to open people’s hearts,” says Mazzone, a KEXP DJ and Polish immigrant who moved to the US as a child, “that’s what imbues our sense of humanity.” SAMA aims to help bring as many outstanding international artists to the Pacific Northwest to perform as possible as life resumes in public spaces. Through musical performances, global artists have the power to challenge out preconceived notions of what “the other” thinks and feels.

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