Mesa Media, Inc.
Hopilavayi pavan öqawi'yta
Keeping Hopi language vibrant
Mesa Media Events 2011 JOIN US FOR AN UPCOMING EVENT!!! The Natwani Coalition in partnership with the Moenkopi Legacy Inn is pleased to feature the “Hopi Historic Agricultural Photo Exhibit” and “Hopi Agricultural Expo”, on January 22, 2010. The event is directed to the Hopi community as well as the local communities and the general public. It is our goal, through the exhibit & expo, to highlight Hopi farming and agriculture. The day will be filled with special guest speakers, performances, the photo exhibit, artist information booths, and presenters. The event will begin with presenter set up at 8:00 am. Formal reception will begin at 10 am and Mesa Media Events 2010 Hopi Harvest Festival
Hopi Agricultural Expo &
Hopi Agricultural Historic Photo Exhibit
January 22, 2011
10am-4pm
Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites
Tuba City, Arizona
all events will conclude at 4:00 pm. Anita Poleahla will contribute her understanding of the Hopi language as it relates to Hopi foods, agriculture and history. Join us!
For more information contact the
Natwani Coalition (928) 734-2390
natwani_coalition@hopifoundation.com
Hopi History Project
Museum of Northern Arizona
Flagstaff, AZ
November 21st, 4pm
Anita Poleahla will present Mesa Media's latest project to document Hopi perspectives on historical events. A draft booklet and audio CD entitled Hopi Hiniwtipu: Hopi History will be available for review. This project was made possible in part by a grant from the Arizona Humanities Council. Thank you to the Arizona Humanities Council and to our private funders for supporting this project that helps to revitalize Hopi language!!
Sitsom'ovi Village, September 25-26, 2010
Anita Poleahla will present Mesa Media's new project at the Hopi Harvest Festival on September 25-26th at Sitsom'ovi Village on First Mesa. Mesa Media's latest project is to produce a Hopi History booklet and audio CD that documents Hopi perspectives on historical events. Anita, along with our recording specialist Peter Bungart, interviewed Hopi people in the Hopi language. These interviews will be part of the audio CD that accompanies the Hopi History booklet. The booklet has both Hopi and English translations of the interviews, a timeline of the multiple events, and a summary of important events in Hopi history. Anita will have a booth at the festival to present the interviews and progress of this project that was made possible in part by a grant from the Arizona Humanities Council. Thank you to the Arizona Humanities Council and to our private funders for supporting this project that helps to revitalize Hopi language!!
Mesa Media Events 2009
Mesa Media’s Hosts and Openhouse for the Hopi community
Friday, October 9th, 2009
6-9pm
Event report:
Listen to an interview with Anita Poleahla and learn the history of Hopi language loss and revival. The interview was recorded at KUYI 88.1 FM Hopi Radio Studios © KUYI 88.1 FM 2009 Used by permission. http://www.kuyi.net (928) 738-5505
Congratulations to our two raffle winners: Cheryl Tenakhongva and Marlene Sekaquaptewa! They won a complete set of Mesa Media's three CDs.
Bucky Preston addresses the group saying "The Hopi language is spiritual and sacred."
About 50 people showed up on Friday night to learn more about their role in reviving the Hopi language. Mesa Media volunteers provided snacks and free handouts on the Hopi alphabet. Alph Secakuku and Boyce Koyaquaptewa sang songs in Hopi and played drum and flute. Miss Indian Day Princess from Second Mesa Day School, Nikki Lomayaktewa performed her talent song in Hopi. ** Each classroom has a Hopi teacher. We try our best to get the language across. Everything we do on Hopi is based on the Hopi language. You have to talk the language so they can understand you. We are not really encouraging the writing but are teaching orally. The kids are saying good morning. They know how to say their names. We are seeing it now, we are losing our ceremonies because no one is carrying it on and the language is not known. The kids have to help themselves. ** Hopi parents have a say. Let them know what we would like for our children. ** We are all raised differently depending on the parents we have. It is our responsibility to teach our grandchildren. I need to get better at this. Our language is our life. We cannot abandon it. If you know the language, use it so you don’t forget it.
Alph Secakuku and Boyce Koyaquaptewa perform their second set of songs from Alph's Rain Songs Recording.
Nikki Lomayaktewa, Miss Indian Day Princess, performs her talent singing a song in Hopi.
Anita Poleahla introduced Mesa Media's latest projects to finish the DVD entitled Nu'Wuuyoktiqe'e (I Have Grown Up) and to compile a new CD of songs entitled Puwvitstawi: Hopi Lullabies and Game Songs. Bonnie Secakuku initiated a group discussion asking each person to comment on the Hopi language. Eskwelí, Kwakwah for all of your comments. We have documented them here so that your thoughts can help guide efforts to revitalize the Hopi language.
What do we need to revive the Hopi language?
** Play the CDs. We need more singers. Play the songs for the kids. Have the children watch the videos.
** We were both raised off the reservation where no Hopi was spoken. We are at a point now where we are trying to learn Hopi. We have small children and we chose to live out here so our children can know Hopi culture, language and traditions. There are many written materials but we need to hear it to know if we are pronouncing it correctly. We need basic stuff on DVD all the way up to more complex recordings like conversations. We need to hear it, like Rosetta Stone, and we need it in different dialects. It gets discouraging. We need audio lessons in the correct dialect, female and male versions too.
** We need to get a collection of materials. People here need things in different dialects. Some things are different words but they mean the same thing. Each gender has its own too.
** I have been teaching for 30 years. When I first started, all kids knew how to speak Hopi. So if they didn’t understand the concepts, we would say it in Hopi and they would grasp it. It is harder now because when they can’t get concepts, we don’t have Hopi to use. This year in school, we do reading in the morning. We taught the children how to say certain phrases. Now every student knows them. We hear kids walking down the hallway saying good morning in Hopi. We started out with the colors because the kids have this in Hopi Head Start. We can work from that. But the older kids have a harder time getting the correct pronunciation.
** At that time, 70% of children spoke the language and we used Hopi as a crutch to teach. Research says that you have to have a basic language first and then it is easier to learn. I knew only Hopi and didn’t go to school. We were trained by getting punished when we got words wrong. I didn’t think Hopi was that important. There is a young girl in our classes. She has a goal, she is going to talk to so’o. And she did it. It’s working.
** Language is spiritual and sacred. Our skin may be brown. Our hair may be dark. But if we cannot speak, we are gone. Hopi is gone. Makasutavö, we must know Hopi to understand this one word. A lot of these words I thought I knew but I’m still searching. That’s how deep this language is. I am skeptical about recording songs. A lot of them I don’t remember because when it goes out to the people through katsina or social dances, it belongs to them. Don’t make it a competition. Make it something for the children. Our language is the only thing that is going to keep us alive. The language has roots just like the seeds that we plant so we have to plant seeds in our children.
Event announcement:
Friday, October 9, 2009
6-9pm
Hopi Arts and Crafts Guild
383 Highway 264, Second Mesa
(next to Hopi Cultural Center) Map
Learn more about how you can help revitalize the Hopi language. Get involved and share your ideas to create your own CD, DVD or book. Join us on Friday, October 9th from 6-9pm at the Hopi Arts and Crafts Guild.
Activities:
Meet Mesa Media founders and board
View the new CD Living Through Hopi Songs, written and
performed by Ferrell Secakuku & Anita Poleahla
View Koona, a DVD of the Hopi chipmunk singing and talking in
Hopi
Listen to songs performed in the Hopi language.
Purchase these Hopi CDs and DVDs.
Enjoy complimentary refreshments.
Enter to win a full set of Hopi CDs and DVDs.
