"Devoted to Bringing Indigenous Music To The World's Consciousness"
NY Times THE WORLD'S FIRST OFFICIAL AND LARGEST AWARDS SHOW FOR NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC INITIATIVES FOUNDED & INCORPORATED IN 1998 Over 1500 Music Makers Nominated - Over 300 Recording Artists Awarded Since 1998 The Music Industry's Largest & Only Membership Based Organization for the advancement of Native American Music Initiatives & Expressions Around The World American Indian - Canadian Aboriginal - Latin American Indigenous It's time to start taking Native American music seriously. - USA Today There is no better indication of the remarkable variety of today's Native American music than a glance at the award categories for the Native American Music Awards - Billboard Magazine 'Awesome', 'Incredible', 'Amazing' - Indian Country Today Through the Nammys, American Indian musicians are beginning to enter the mainstream music industry without compromising their long submerged but amazingly resilient culture.
-Wall Street Journal It was standing room only at the Native American Music Awards. NAMA was conceived to promote greater knowledge and appreciation for Native American music artists. -New York Daily News The awards ceremony is a celebration and springboard to still wider exposure. -Boston Globe To me this is just a sign of the times, a sign of the acceptance of Native music out in the world like never before. And this is just the beginning. Robbie Robertson We’re Still Here. We’ve Survived All This. R. Carlos Nakai I am here again because I was very moved last year. John Densmore, The Doors This is truly heart medicine John Trudell It was absolutely amazing Robert Mirabal I just know Jim and my husband are just Tooty Fruity Stomp Dancing up in heaven because of this award. Floy Pepper (Mother of late Jim Pepper) The Nammys validate the native world view and artistry that would otherwise go unnoticed. Aztlan Underground Welcome to the official website of the Native American Music Awards, NAMA, or home of NAMA LIVE - an ultimate celebration of music honoring the outstanding achievements of today’s leading Native American artists. A MUSIC INDUSTRY ORGANIZATION The Native American Music Awards was created as a method to provide Native Music and it's artists its proper respect on a national level and prove that there is a viable and professional mainstream industry. It was also created to give Native Youth on reservations the needed inspiration and opportunities to pursue a professional career and garner greater exposure. Founded by a 20 plus year mainstream music industry professional, The Native American Music Awards & Association (N.A.M.A.) celebrates the rich cultural heritage of our nation’s first people and promotes cultural preservation and renewal on a national level through new music initiatives. We aim to raise the awareness level and appreciation of Native American culture to the public at large, both nationally and internationally. The Native American Music Awards ceremony honors Indigenous people north and south of the US and Canadian borders. Our logo is a satellite picture of all of North America and the tip of South America, therefore we honor Native American artists from those territories. OUR BEGINNINGS N.A.M.A. began in 1998 as a grass roots initiative among music industry professionals and record labels such as; Canyon, SOAR, Silverwave, Machoche', Turtle Island, Sweetgrass, Sunshine and others to prove that there was a viable music industry. Members from those companies, their artists, various communities and tribal radio stations and media personnel served as our first Advisory Board membership. We launched our Awards show with their endorsements and 56 annual recordings. Today we receive over 200 national recordings each year. As the first of its kind, our awards ceremony was modeled from other local and national music awards shows. In fact we created the first written proposal for the Native category in the Grammys and were invited to do so by its Vice President. We are a music industry organization first and foremost. We are all volunteers. Our membership fees pay for administration and operating costs surrounding submissions, hosting our website, and our national voting campaign. Our national and international membership and media coverage allows us to maintain a high level of credibility as a professional music industry organization. Without NAMA there would be no recognition of Indian music initiatives on a national and professional level. The artists and their record companies enter their music recordings to receive greater exposure and awareness. After over a decade of dedication, we have broken new ground with an ever expanding international audience. This show was inspried by the Black Elk prophecy and a band from the Rosebud Reservation called 7th Generation. Its founder was a mainstream music industry executive with over 20 years of experience and one who was previously involved with the MTV Music Video Awards, New York Music Awards, SPIN Magazine and more. Before NAMA was launched, it was merely an inside wish whispered on the reservation, became a vision, and then a realized dream. It embraced and required the support of music industry peers and Native community members who all gave it its blessings and approval and remain involved to date. THE AWARDS SHOW: · Each year the annual Awards program features over one dozen mesmerizing and dynamic performances by some of today’s leading Native American artists along with 30 awards presentations including; Lifetime Achievement and Hall of Fame. · The Awards show is an extraordinary and unprecedented celebration of today’s best contemporary and traditional music. · The Awards program is an innovative, visually advanced production using prerecorded music of the nominees, voice over, live presentations and performances, and large screen imaging. This critically acclaimed Music Awards show and its high production values have been featured in Billboard Magazine, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, NY Times, Boston Globe, and CNN. HISTORY: · The highly anticipated annual awards show program debuted in 1998 at Foxwoods in Conneticut and drew its first audience of 1500 people in the Northeast. It has since been held throughout the country in cities such as; Albuquerque, Milwaukee, Ft Lauderdale and has drawn its largest audiences in the Southwest and most recently in the Northeast · Based on ticket sales, an estimated 43 % of our audience travel from all across the country to attend our shows. - The Native American Music Awards logo features an emblemed music note with an Eagle Feather as the cleff and Mother Earth's Turtle Island as the base of the note. - The first annual awards show featured 56 national recordings with a mission and obligation to showcase and bring music from the reservations to larger audiences. Today, over 200 national recordings are submitted each year. NOMINATION & VOTING PROCESS: · The Awards show honors national recordings by Native American artists that have been released in the previous calendar year. Nominees are submitted and selected by our national Advisory membership consisting of individuals directly involved in recording, manufacturing, distributing and promoting Native American music nationally. · Winners are selected by a combined vote by our national Advisory membership and the general public who can listen and vote to the tracks of our nominees on our website Native American Music Awards Inc. - Our Annual Awards show event involves over 200 plus artists who submit recordings for nomination consideration. - Over one million people from around the world will participate in our national voting ballot campaign by visiting our website where, both membership and the general public will listen to music tracks of our featured artists in over 30 categories and vote on their favorites. Native American, American Indian and Canadian Aboriginal music is the original roots music of the fthe North Americas. Our organization also embraces Latin American indigenous music initiatives from South America.
Originally a traditional music which was an integral part of Native American life and tribal identity, such as; round dance songs and flute music , Native American music has grown to encompass many contemporary genres such as; rock, pop, blues, hip hop, country, and new age as well as have created some unique genres that remain distinctly indigenous such as; Waila or Chicken scratch, and Native American church music. Today, we are the World's Leading Resource for Contemporary and Traditional Native American Music Initiatives consisting of over 20,000 registered voting members and professionals in the field of Native American music. We hold the largest Native American Music Library in the World with a national archive featuring a collection of over 10,000 audio and video recordings in all formats housed since 1990.
The Annual Native American Music Awards, which USA Today urges to “take seriously” and Indian Country Today has called, “Awesome & Incredible” continues to proudly honor the outstanding musical achievements of Native American artists from across the country in over 30 Awards categories. Since our inception in 1998, NAMA continues to honor our songmakers, foster pride, provide national exposure and celebrate their gift of music with others around the world. “All the professionalism and production values of much larger events like the Grammy Awards and the American Music Awards” American Federation of Radio Television Artists By request of the Grammys, we also assisted in the creation of a Native music Grammy category in 2000 (see Report below) which has now been merged with a Roots music category.
COPY OF OUR ACCEPTED PROPOSAL ON TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC SUBMITTED TO THE GRAMMYS January /2000 (Click on Link) It has been our personal and volunteer contributions, not to mention, our determination and dedication, that continually creates this magical evening of pride and musical excellence. Like the BET Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, the American Music Awards, The Grammys, and the Latin Grammys, and we continue to grow mainstream awareness for our perspective genre. None of this would be possible if not for our tireless volunteer staff, our national membership and the support of our sponsors. To all of you, we thank you. Disclaimer: Reference herein to any specific products, process, or service, does not necessarily constitute or imply our endorsement, recommendation. The views and opinions of the authors expressed herein are expressly those of the administration and membership of the Native American Music Awards & Association, Inc.
All Rights Reserved Copyright 2011 Native American Music Awards Inc The Native American Music Awards is a registered trademark. In the United States trademarks are protected by both Federal statute under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1051 - 1127, and states' statutory and/or common laws. |
