The Words and Sounds of the Ancestors

Bear Creek drum group preserves culture and language through music

By Ren Brabenec | May 30, 2026

The mission statement of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB) states that the tribe will “reach out to the next seven generations by holding to cultural values of Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility, and Truth. We will utilize our Tribal assets to provide the necessary tools to become successful, hard-working community members who proudly represent our culture.”

The tribe works to accomplish that mission across all its operations, key among them being the teaching and practice of drum circle music, a traditional indigenous art form.

Drum circles are sacred gatherings for indigenous tribes across North America. The drumming connects participants to what tribal members believe is the spiritual pulse of their ancestors and of Mother Earth. The music centers on the rhythmic beating of a very large community drum, typically made of rawhide and wood. Musicians gather around the instrument in a circle and beat the drum in synchronized choreography while singing and chanting.

Bear Creek Drum Group Wins 2026 Juno Award

Recently, a prominent North American drum group with roots at the LTBB took home a major prize at Canada’s Juno Awards. The drum circle members used the event to highlight the importance of carrying Native American traditions forward.

Playing music since 1998, Bear Creek is a highly celebrated, Grammy-nominated, traditional Ojibwe pow wow drum group based out of the Batchewana First Nation in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Sault Ste. Marie may be the group’s home base, but its members hail from across the Great Lakes region. For example, Selese Syrette is a vocalist with Bear Creek and an LTBB tribal youth. Joe Syrette, her father, is the co-lead singer and serves as a visiting traditional healer at LTBB. Mother and wife Heather Syrette is the LTBB Child Welfare Commissioner.

In March, Bear Creek took home a Juno Award for Traditional Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year. The Canadian equivalent of the Grammy Awards, Junos are presented to highly talented musicians as recognition for outstanding achievements within the Canadian music industry.

Bear Creek won the award for their latest album release, On the Move, which readers can listen to on streaming outlets or music apps.

“A long time ago, we were all little boys and little girls who were looking up to heroes, different singers that we admired for what they did,” Joe Syrette said to an audience of fans as he and his fellow band members accepted the award. “So here we’ve been together since 1998. This is the first time we’ve done this, so we’re sending this award to all Indigenous kids. Young people, if you believe in our ways, this is what can happen, so ‘chi-miigwech!’ (thank you very much!)”

Syrette believes that maintaining traditional drum circle music across generations is essential to Native American identity, which, in turn, is critical to mental health, spiritual encouragement, and cultural knowledge. “Through [that] identity, we can reclaim our own path in life by living a Mino’biimaadiziwin (good life) that was always intended for us to live,” Syrette says.

Telling the Story Through Language

A big part of what drives Bear Creek is the preservation of not just traditional music, but of indigenous language. The band members feel their ancestral language, brought forth through song, intimately ties them to culture, tradition, and knowledge.

Theresa Chingwa, Cultural Services Specialist at LTBB, works closely with Bear Creek. According to Chingwa, everything about indigenous life, even down to each tribal member’s name and how they introduce themselves to each other, is deeply rooted in language.

“For example, folks call me Theresa Chingwa,” Chingwa begins. “But my formal introduction is Binesi Kwe Nindigo (Thunder bird Woman) of Mkwa Ndodem (Bear Clan).”

Chingwa continues. “When our people make introductions, we also identify where we are from and who we are connected to, as discovering these connections fosters a greater ability for us to relate to one another. For example, my tribes are Cheyenne Arapaho, Choctaw, Odawa, and Ojibway, or I would say, ‘Waganakising Odawa, Ndodabendaagwaz, (I am a member of Land of the Crooked Tree Odawa).’ And I would also say, ‘Odawaawiin ndonaangzhe, (I work for my tribe, Odawa).’”

Chingwa tells us that the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (North America) believe the intersection of music and language is the keystone to preserving knowledge and traditions that, for centuries, were repressed and often openly attacked by Euro-American colonists.

“The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians preserves its musical heritage and teaches it to the next generation,” Chingwa says. “We do this through mentoring, language immersion, cultural events, pow wows, and community-based workshops to pass on traditional music like hand drum and shaker making songs, dance, and traditional clothing.”

Chingwa speaks highly of Bear Creek, saying the group’s success at Canada’s Juno Awards shines an international spotlight on Great Lakes Indigenous tribes and their contributions to North American culture, music, and storytelling.

When and Where to Catch Bear Creek Live

Bear Creek has been traveling the continent and performing at pow wows for almost 30 years, which means there are many YouTube videos available. But the best way to experience Bear Creek’s drum music is to witness it live. The group’s Facebook page has a roster of upcoming pow wows Bear Creek is performing at, including:

Feeding the Fire Within Pow Wow: June 6 and 7 on the shores of the North Channel on Manitoulin Island, five minutes west of Little Current on HWY 540.

Fourth of July Pow Wow: July 3, 4, and 5 at Owyhee, Nevada.

Biigtigong Nishnaabeg Annual Traditional Pow Wow: July 10, 11, and 12 at Heron Bay, Ontario.

Thunderchild: July 24, 25, and 26 at the Thunderchild Pow Wow grounds, Saskatchewan.

Ada Wilson “Grey Cloud Woman” Pow Wow: August 4, 5, and 6, at Fisher River Cree Nation, Manitoba.