April 5, 2007

Combining Cultures

Brulé Featured at Dutch Festival  

Street scrubbing, wooden shoes, brilliant tulips, tribal dancing and music…One of these doesn’t belong. Or does it?

Orange City’s 67^th annual Tulip Festival will feature the traditional Dutch elements, plus not-so-traditional performances. For the third year, the Native American musical group Brulé will be performing their original songs and dances Friday and Saturday, as a featured element of the Festival.  Paul LaRoche, founder of Brule, said, “We are honored and proud to come…represent our culture in a positive light.”

LaRoche, who was adopted off the Lower Brulé Sioux Indian Reservation at birth, grew up in Worthington, Minnesota. At a young age, probably 6 or 7, his adopted parents took him to Orange City for the Tulip Festival. “It made an impression on me,” said LaRoche. When LaRoche returned to the Festival to perform, he received a very gracious welcome. “It stirred up old sentimental memories,” he said.

Brulé’s performance and LaRoche’s story are an amazing demonstration of Native American culture. On Thanksgiving Day 1993, after the death of his adoptive parents, LaRoche was reunited with his birth family on the Lower Brulé Sioux Indian Reservation. His wife and two children witnessed this life-changing experience and according to LaRoche, “they have taken ownership of what this is all about.”

After moving from Minneapolis to the reservation, the LaRoche family began collaborating musically. Based on his life-changing experience, LaRoche composed the songs on Brulé’s best-selling CD, “We the People.” Brulé’s music is a new genre, pioneering one of the last musical frontiers. LaRoche describes the style as contemporary Native American music. Sioux City Journal staff writer Bruce R. Miller describes Brulé’s sound as “incredible…“just the introduction non-Native Americans need to a beautiful culture.”

“I pull from life experience,” said LaRoche. Since he grew up in mainstream America and was introduced to his Native American roots so late in life, he combines the two worlds and cultures into one style of music. The mission of LaRoche’s music is to “bridge cultures and bring Native America into the mainstream. It is important for some of us [Native Americans] to be in the mainstream part of the world.”

Brulé is a family group, featuring LaRoche, his son and daughter, and two friends. LaRoche plays the piano, synthesizers and electronic keyboards. His daughter Nicole, age 26, plays the classical and Native American wood flutes. His son Shane, age 27, plays lead, rhythm and classical guitars. “We are very honored that we can travel and perform as a family,” said LaRoche. “A lot of people take joy in seeing a family work together, especially in a world where broken families are prevalent.”

Rounding out the group are Moses Bringsplenty, drummer, from the Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux Tribe and Shane, who plays acoustic guitar and is affiliated with Lakota, Lower Brule Sioux.  “Moses is the real deal, a genuine article,” said LaRoche. “He brings a lot to the performances… he knows and understands the old styles. He grew up on the reservation, [so he’s] lived through the trials and tribulations,” said LaRoche. “He brings that element into the group.” Self-taught on classical guitar and well versed in many genres, Shane brings a new sound to the group, as well as many new fans from the younger generation.

LaRoche couldn’t contain his excitement about Brulé’s return to Orange City and his gratitude to the people for inviting the group back. He said that being asked to return was the most endearing kind of compliment.

“I’d like to thank everybody for having us back,” he said. “I speak very highly of being a part of the Dutch festival,” he continued. When he travels with the group and tells others about Orange City’s Tulip Festival and his performance there, he says it carries positive elements for the group.

“I felt honored to be a part of bringing [our] culture into an area where it hadn’t been,” said LaRoche. “It is a neat way to share the cultural exchange.”

LaRoche looks forward to bringing new material to this year’s performance. He encourages Tulip Festival goers to “come up, meet us [and] talk with us.”

Brulé will perform Friday following the afternoon parade, from approximately 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. They will perform again Saturday morning as a part of ArtBurst, from 9 a.m. to noon and again following the afternoon parade, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. All performances will take place near the west end of the Straatmarket on Sioux County Courthouse lawn, and are free to the public. For details on Brulé, go to www.brulerecords.com, for additional details on the Orange City Tulip Festival, go to www.octulipfestival.com.

Written by: Bethany A. Kroeze

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