02/23/2006
Sharon Burch, a Navajo singer and songwriter whose music combines traditional Native American melodies with Western guitar styles, will perform on Saturday, March 4, at SUNY Cortland.
The concert, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. in the Dowd Fine Arts Theatre. The event is part of the College's celebration of Women's History Month.
Burch's album, "Touch the Sweet Earth," was the winner of the 1995 INDIE Award for Best Native American Recording. The 'Grammy' of the independents, the annual INDIE awards recognize recording excellence in 40 categories for independently produced albums. Burch has three other recordings: "The Blessing Ways," "Yazzie Girl" and "Colors of My Heart."
Much of Burch's music is sung in Navajo, the language Burch spoke until she entered kindergarten in New Mexico. Her grandfather was a Navajo healer and her first album was based on the songs he chanted during the sacred Blessingway ceremonies.
In college, Burch began singing at folk festivals, although she had terrible bouts with stage fright. In 1980, she began singing with Paul Ortega's band and then decided she wanted to write her own songs, based on the teachings of her grandfather.
Burch, who lives in Northern California, has performed all over the world, but still enjoys returning to the Southwest to perform at the Navajo reservation. "Having a German father and Native mother helped me understand that a human can relate to all people, not just your own kind," she says. "The whole planet is ours; there should be no boundaries."
Though she is a recording artist who has appeared at the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., music is not what Burch does for a living. She works with developmentally disabled children and adults and is the mother of two children. "I don't want the music to be work," she says. "I want it to be a gift."
Her performance at SUNY Cortland is sponsored by Native American Studies, Campus Artist and Lecture Series and the Center for Multicultural and Gender Studies. For more information, contact Dawn Van Hall at (607) 753-4890.