A month ago, newly-arrived volunteer Emily Bieniek joined second-year volunteer Dayneé Rosales in traveling to Wales, Alaska: a small community within our listening range that was the 2013 host of the Kingikmiut Dance Festival.
Kingikmiut (KING-ick-mewt) is an annual gathering that brings together representatives from many of the communities we serve; it’s a weekend celebration of traditional Alaska Native music, culture, and food. Thanks to a longtime sponsorship with a regional air carrier, Emily and Dayneé’s travel was free.
This year, for Emily – our volunteer music director – the trip was a vital chance to expand our music library. One of the many qualities that makes KNOM unique – and that, we hope, endears us to our listeners – is that our programming features a very regular sampling of Alaska Native music; we play at least one Native song during most of our broadcast hours. Almost all of these songs are live recordings from music festivals like Kingikmiut; at this year’s Wales performances, Emily was hard at work, capturing new samples of traditional music (as pictured).
This music – and the larger culture it taps into – is so important to our listeners and to our mission. Thank you for making trips like these possible!
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This article is part of the October 2013 edition of our newsletter, The Nome Static.
