"Songs of Power and Prayer in the Columbia Plateau" explores the role of song as a transformative force in the twentieth century, tracing a cultural, spiritual, and musical encounter that upended notions of indigeneity and the rules of engagement for Indians and priests in the Columbia Plateau.
In Chad Hamill s narrative, a Jesuit and his two Indian grandfathers one a medicine man, the other a hymn singer engage in a collective search for the sacred. The priest becomes a student of the medicine man. The medicine man becomes a Catholic. The Indian hymn singer brings indigenous songs to...