che guevara | harriet tubman | kwame nkrumah

I am committed to a just world with equal distribution of the planet's resources to all people. A self-sustaining use of the world's resources, in harmony with, and not control over, the natural environment. One that uses renewable energy, such as that from solar, wind, and geothermal sources. A society that values nature and its healing powers, whether in forests, plains, meadows, mountains, oceans, rivers, streams, lakes, or parks. A human society that sees itself as one interdependent and universally responsible family.

fred ho | tecumseh | w. e. b. dubois

This goal will require the transformation from a hierarchical, competitive, materialistic way of life to an egalitarian, communal, cooperative, approach that values people not as disposable economic animals but as rational, emotional, spiritual beings. Real freedom and equality come not with theoretical abstract 'freedoms,' such as voting when there is no real choice, or self-centered market purchasing power, but rather with the knowledge that all people have adequate food, clothing, shelter, health care, education, meaningful work and life activities, such as expression through the arts, whether by performance or enjoyment. Part of the transformation is in consciousness: from acting for profit, material reward, or ego to doing things for their own sake or for the sake of others.

martin luther king | sitting bull | malcom x

To these ends I have dedicated my life and music, and my colleagues, musical and social, share this outlook.

red cloud

personal philosophy

as an artist, scholar, student, and human i cannot work among the peoples of the world as a distanced observer, blind to the daily inequities and suffering which infect most of our planet. i cannot gather information, record melodies, transcribe rhythms, and learn dance movements without seeing the villagers' hunger, illness, and lack of clothing and shelter. i cannot return home to perform and contribute books and recordings as if all is well, pretending, covering the underlying reality, the paradox of ancient, powerful, spiritual music born from constant pain and struggle for survival. i cannot have a worldwide website and ignore the people who give us music and dance.

the human path has been a story of physical survival. with the accumulation of surplus wealth since the middle ages, humanity has been largely coerced into a role as competitive economic individuals and societies. now at the nadir of a barbarian competitive way of life, we stand at a crossroads of extinction due to our blindness. if we do not realize our true human and spiritual essence we are doomed to self destruction: that life can and should be a cooperation in an interdependent worldwide family, where we are part of, not separate from, nature, caretaking it, rather than controlling it for ego-driven self gain in a styrofoam narcissistic disposable society.

the clear cutting of forests at the stroke of a lobbyist's pen; the pollution of our air, water, land, bodies, minds, and spirits to maximize profit margins; the denial of health care, education, and opportunities to the world's masses while the few enjoy privilege, at a time when elderly people are thrown into concentration camps called nursing homes, guns are rampant, and worth is judged by material possessions; the control of discourse by mainstream government, media, and educational institutions; and the colonial penetration into the so-called third world by multinational corporations, extracting resources, people, and wealth with the same results as slave ships; these are all genocide against people and the world which must be confronted and stopped if we are to survive.

the historical reality of 600 years of colonial and neo-colonial penetration has made our globe into a grand prison where people are herded into geographical and psychological cells, a wall street garage sale, with everything available to the highest bidder - money, television, and technology as the new gods. the result is a twenty-first century economic-based totalitarianism arising from the information revolution just as the american robber baron abuses were spawned by the nineteenth century and earlier industrial revolution. the ill-named american dream is in effect the world's nightmare, a walt disney snake oil sideshow, lying to us about the reality of history and of our time. yet time and space do not alter truth: we are all responsible for each other, and what happens in a boardroom in new york or a government office in washington, tokyo, or paris affects someone's life in tanzania, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

history has so far been kind; since world war two we have had the ability to wipe life off the earth, and have avoided that possibility. if we do not change we will destroy all that is living on this planet through nuclear, radioactive, chemical, biological, mental, and emotional holocaust.

i am an egalitarian. i believe in the equality of all peoples and value of all cultures and their artistic expression. political equality means nothing without economic, social, and cultural equality. no one has a right to a pair of shoes until everyone has a pair. in my view, self interest and greed is not a valid motivation for work or activity. meaningful activity is done for its own sake or the welfare of others. we are part of nature, not its dictators or controllers. property necessary for survival and lifework is at most a temporary custodianship for the creator, as many native americans believe. excess property and control is theft.

social, economic, political, academic, or personal hierarchies are betrayals of human social justice and equality. the world has historically functioned as a grand plantation with a minority of wealthy and powerful people committing daily direct and indirect murder against the masses. this old-new world order should be replaced with a radical redistribution of wealth, so that people may eat, be clothed, sheltered, and live in a dignified way in their communities, able to pursue their humanity and spirituality. we are not economic animals or usable pawns; we are spiritual, rational, emotional, creative beings.

my music is inspired by the spirit of world cultures voiced through an african american idiom, as a symbol of the equality and worth of all peoples. as trumpeter dizzy gillespie said, ‘we are all different branches of the same tree, each with its own unique and beautiful fruit.'

working at our friends of springside park annual clean up
at springside park in pittsfield, massachusetts