Jared Tailfeathers is release another book, which explores Blackfoot history and culture. Photo from Eventbright page
Local Blackfoot historian and artist, Jared Tailfeathers, has spent the past seven or so years working on a multi-part research project about traditional Blackfoot ways of making.
Blackfoot culture has been around for 18,000 years, or more, and because a lot of people existed during that time and a lot of notable events have occurred, Tailfeathers divided up his research into several books.
Tailfeathers’ first book, The Art of Making: Rediscovering the Blackfoot Legacy, represents the first year of his research.
Now, he has a second book coming out shortly, called Music of the Earth’s Heartbeat.
This book is also on traditional methods of making, and represents Tailfeathers’ second year of research, which coincided with the start of the Covid pandemic.
As part of the new book, he speaks to how Covid affected his research and how he was able to learn the history while Covid was happening.
The research was framed and focused on music.
In this book, Tailfeathers’ expands on the history of Blackfoot people, as well as the sign language used by Blackfoot people, and more.
Through this book, Tailfeathers also explores the places that were affected by smallpox due to the western push of settlers into traditional Blackfoot territory.
Because of that push west, the names of areas in Alberta and Saskatchewan have Blackfoot names.
Tailfeathers also did research on the areas adjacent to Blackfoot territory.
According to Tailfeathers, the first European map of western Canada is based off a map called the Fidler Map.
Tailfeathers says that it may seem like a lot of what’s in the book doesn’t revolve around music, which is the title of the book, but music was a key part of everyday life.
Through this second book, Tailfeathers connects to other Nations and historical events that all link together and brought us to present day.
While this book will be officially out at the beginning of April, there will be a book launch at Memorial Park Library in Calgary on March 31.
The event will run from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
To learn more about the book release, click here.
Once the book is out, it can be found at Indigo and other bookstores around the province.
Tailfeathers adds that he will have another book out in the next year and half, which will be a direct follow up to this book.
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