From The Santa Fe New Mexican:
Black Eagle, a drum group from Jemez Pueblo, is making history today at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards.
According to the group’s producer, Tom Bee, the musicians will be the first American Indians in history to perform at the Grammys, which celebrates artistic achievement in pop, jazz, blue, rap, classical, folk and other musical recordings.
The group is scheduled to be the opening act at the ceremony, which begins at 1:30 p.m. at Staples Center in Los Angeles. [But not part of the telecast.]
The Jemez drummers, who have been nominated each of the last three years, won a Grammy in 2004 in the Best Native American Music Album category. Their album Straight Up Northern is up for a Grammy this year in the same category. …
[Last year] OutKast’s Andre 3000 and his backup dancers performed the song Hey Ya! clothed in neon-green outfits and wearing feathers, fringe and war paint. To many American Indian viewers, including the Black Eagle drummers, the performance came across as a derogatory portrayal of American Indian culture and suggested American Indian music is sung with only the words hey ya.