CrickettHill

Cricketthill, formed in 1999, is a Chicago-based-intertribal group of singers who provide and share songs from the great Oklahoma Nations of the Southern Plains. Cricketthill adopted its name from a park that resides between Wilson and Montrose avenues just east of Lake Shore Drive on teh Great Lake Michigan. This area was a gathering place for community members and the Drum took the name to honor the Native Chicago Community. The singers of Cricketthill have their own stories that are derived from Cricket Hill. Additionally, the formation of Cricketthill was executed to fill a void in regard to a true intertribal representation. In Chicago, a large percentage of the Native population is comprised of Northern tribal nations (i.e., Ojibwe, Lakota, Ho-Chunk, Potawatomi, etc.). Thus, as a means to balance Native American representation, Cricketthill formed to present songs from the Pawnee, Kiowa, Ponca, Otoe, and several others who are lacking representation in the Midwest region of the United States. Although Cricketthill is an Intertribal drum group, at most of the group is comprised of southern nations placing an authenticity to Crickethill’s mission. Cricketthill was formed because we want to honor our relations to the south. Members come from the Ponca, Choctaw, Arikara, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Navajo, Pawnee, Odawa, Ho-Chunk, Oneida, Menominee and Sioux nations. LIVE AT ONEIDA 2008