Earthsongs; Thursdays @ 10:00am on KNBA 90.3 fmBy Eric Sowl, KTUU
Anchorage, AK – Shyanne Beatty's strong connection to the radio was forged growing up in the village of Eagle.
"When I was young, I didn't have Wii," Beatty said. "I didn't have television. I didn't have electricity, but I did have radio."
Back then, people would bribe her with quarters to be quiet.
"You used to pay me to shut up, and now I get paid big money not to shut up," Beatty said.
And Beatty can't hide her love of music.
"Everybody was always asking me, 'How did you learn how to sing?' And I was like, the truth of the matter is kind of my father would tell me, 'Shyanne, when you're walking through the woods -- or just anywhere -- I want you to sing really loud, as loud as you can to keep the bears away.' So I have to say, my strong voice comes from that advice, and it's singing away the bears."
In 2006 "Earthsongs," the national radio program of modern music for Native America, needed a new host. With a fresh degree in audio production the local girl from Eagle was a natural choice, and the weekly program is produced right here in Anchorage.
"It was almost like, 'There's a silver platter -- here's a national show, and it's going to be yours,'" Beatty said. "And I'm thinking, 'Are you serious?'"
"'Earthsongs' is definitely culturally important for holding and carrying the new songs, and taking care of the songs that are classics," said writer and performer Joy Harjo.
"A lot of people think that Native American or indigenous music is pow-wow music," Beatty said. "It's not that any more. It's rock, it's reggae, it's world music."
Since Native American broadcasters represent less than 1 percent of the nation's on-air media talent, Beatty is also a role model.
"One of the questions I asked a young girl was, 'Have you ever thought about being on the radio or on television?' And she said, 'No,'" Beatty said. "And I said, 'Why not?' And she goes, 'You don't see anybody that looks like me on television, or I've never heard a Native person on the radio.' So she said, 'That's not accessible to me.' That just really hurt, to hear a young Native American -- a young lady say something like that."
Beatty hopes to inspire cultural awareness among young people, all while helping to preserve that very culture through songs like "Red River Jig," recorded two years before she was born.
"Who would have known my great-grandfather, who was a very famous Athabascan fiddler -- his name was Willie Juneby -- when he was getting recorded on Dec. 23, 1973, that his great-granddaughter would use that audio in a national radio show and he'd be heard basically all over the world?" Beatty said. "That was my favorite show."
Who knows: perhaps there's a young boy or girl listening to Earthsongs out there, singing away the bears, and learning to love the radio just like just like a little girl from Eagle did so many years ago.