Kevin Locke

Kevin Locke (Lakota name: Tokeya Inajin, meaning "The First to Arise") is Lakota (Hunkpapa band) and Anishinaabe. He is a preeminent player of the Native American flute, a traditional storyteller, cultural ambassador, recording artist and educator. He is most known for his hoop dance, The Hoop of Life.

Born in 1954 in Southern California, at five years-old Locke moved north with his family, later to settle in South Dakota on the Standing Rock Reservation in 1966. It was from his mother, Patricia Locke (1991 MacArthur Foundation Grant winner), his uncle Abraham End-of-Horn, mentor Joe Rock Boy, and many other elders and relatives that Kevin received training in the values, traditions and language of his native Sioux culture.

He is frequently cited as an ambassador of Native American culture to the United States, and the world.

He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico for high school and earned a master's degree in educational administration from the University of South Dakota. He taught himself to speak Lakota as an adult, as it was illegal to learn his native language when he was a child. Mr. Locke learned the hoop dance, which had nearly died out, from Arlo Good Bear, a Mandan Hidatsa Indian from North Dakota. [http://www.onecountry.org/oc82/oc8208as.html One Country Volume 8, Issue 2 July-September 1996] ]

Since 1978, he has traveled to more than 80 countries to perform. [ [http://www.chinafrontier.com "Hoop of Life: Lakota Stories of the Nobility of the Human Spirit" Kevin Locke CD World Premiere, China Millennium Council] ] Locke has served as cultural ambassador for the United States Information Service since 1980, was a delegate to the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil and was a featured performer and speaker at the 1996 United Nations Habitat II Conference in Turkey. He has recorded twelve albums beginning in 1982, and is an active member of the Bahá'í Faith.

In 1990, he won a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest award granted to such traditional artists. [ [http://www.nea.gov/honors/heritage/allheritage.html National Endowment for the Arts Awards List] ]

Mr. Locke comes from a distinguished family. His great-great-grandfather was the famous Dakota patriot, Little Crow. His great-grandmother, Mniyata Ojanjan Win, was a renowned medicine woman. His mother, Patricia Locke, was an activist for Indian rights and recognition. She worked for the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, which returned to Indians the right to freely practice their spiritual traditions. She also helped 17 Lakota tribes to establish Indian colleges.> In 1991 she won a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Grant [ [http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142777/k.9559/Fellows_List__L.htm List of MacArthur Fellows] ] and was later elected to the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. She was named posthumously to the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls (village), New York. [ [http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=217 National Women's Hall of Fame Patricia Locke] ]

=Recordings=

Since 1982, Kevin has recorded 13 albums of music and stories, including:

* Dream Catcher as Tokeya Inajin (July 13, 1993)
* Keepers of the Dream ( June 27, 1995)
* Love Songs of the Lakota (September 29, 1995)
* The Flood and Other Lakota Stories (The Parabola Storytime Series) Harper Audio (March 1996)
* The Flash in the Mirror (April 2, 1996)
* Open Circle (Oct 15, 1996)
* The First Flute, (July 27, 1999) won the Native American Music Award for best traditional recording.
* Midnight Strong Heart (January 1, 2003)

Publications

* Lakota Hoop Dancer, with Suzanne Haldane and Jacqueline Delahunt, Dutton Juvenile; 1st ed edition (May 1, 1999)

* Real Dakota! : about Dakota by Dakotans! : the life, people & history of the Dakotas by the people who know and love it! by Kevin LockeTempe, AZ : Blue Bird Pub., 1988.

Films

*"Songkeepers" (1999, 48 min.). Directed by Bob Hercules and Bob Jackson. Produced by Dan King. Lake Forest, Illinois: America's Flute Productions. Five distinguished traditional flute artists - Tom Mauchahty-Ware, Sonny Nevaquaya, R. Carlos Nakai, Hawk Littlejohn, Kevin Locke – talk about their instrument and their songs and the role of the flute and its music in their tribes. [ [http://www.nmai.si.edu/calendar/index.asp?year=2006&month=9&day=9 National Museum of the American Indian] ]

Reviews

[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/arts/dance/21heri.html?_r=1&ref=dance&oref=slogin Celebrating the Circles That Signify Our Lives By Jennifer Dunning January 21, 2008] [http://turkey.usembassy.gov/pr_04102007.html US Embassy Brings Native American Culture To Turkey] [http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2006-04-27/musicpicks3.shtml Musicpicks: Kevin Locke] [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JQP/is_/ai_30120119 Open Circle, Review] [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/snohomishcountynews/2004152300_locke30n.html Seattle Times:Telling stories, saving heritage through dance] [http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080201/ENT/48822072 Everett Herald: Lakota dancer reaches out to kids]

References

External links

* [http://www.kevinlocke.com/ Kevin Locke's home page]
* [http://www.turtleislandstorytellers.net/tis_south_dakota/transcript_k_locke.htm Turtle Island Storytellers]