Native Blues Band Gives Free Concert on Sacred Ground

The Satwiwa Native American Indian Cultural Center, nestled on a serene and sacred spot at the foot of Boney Mountain in Newbury Park, might seem like the wrong venue for a blues concert.

But it makes perfect sense to Tracy Lee Nelson and his group, Native Blues Band, who will perform there Saturday in a free outdoor concert from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Looking to his roots, Nelson puts a Native American spin on the blues when he picks up his acoustic guitar and laments the plight of Indians, then and now.

“Blues is a natural outlet of expression for my people,” he says, noting that Native Americans have been oppressed for more than 500 years. “It’s part of our culture and survival skills to be singing, making music.”

And the Satwiwa center, located in the grassy, rolling hills of Chumash country, is “a cool place to kick back and jam,” Nelson said. “There’s not a lot around there.”

Built two years ago at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa Park, the center is open weekends for visitors to peruse Indian artifacts and learn how local Indians lived off the land and sea thousands of years ago.

Outside they can see a reproduction of an ap, an Indian shelter made from willow trunks and reeds that thrive around a nearby pond.Miles of hiking trails surround the center, which is located in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

For an unusual kind of Valentine’s Day, visitors can make a day of it, hiking and picnicking before the Native Blues Band performs.

Nelson, whose roots are in the Diegueno and Luiseno tribes, is originally from La Jolla Reservation at the foot of Palomar Mountain, near Escondido. He is getting ready to move back there from his Studio City home.

“Music runs through my family,” said Nelson, 33, who was enthralled with it as a young boy. The blues isn’t his only musical outlet. He still performs with the noted Indian drum group, the Whitecloud Singers, hitting the powwow circuit.

A year ago he found his niche, he says, and formed the Native Blues Band, which includes Ben Klein and Donald Durham on guitars and Ryan Romas on harmonica.

The theme of his music is clear and relentless: the exploitation of Native Americans. His album, released last year, is titled “500 Years of the Blues.”

One of the songs, “Natives No Respect,” is getting some play on Indian stations, he says. It lashes out at exploitation through insensitive names such as baseball’s Red Skins.

Nelson says one of his aims in forming the group was to promote a more positive image of Native Americans.

BE THERE

Blues concert--Tracy Lee Nelson’s Native Blues Band will perform Saturday, 1:30-3:30 p.m., at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa Park on Potrero Road near Pinehill Street, Newbury Park. For information, call the National Park Service, (818) 597-9192.