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A Southern drum group, Sizzortal, will be performing this weekend in the American Indian Student

There are only 89 self-identified Native American students at UCLA – but that hasn’t stopped them from having a presence on campus and educating the community about their cultural heritage.

The 20th-annual Pow Wow is taking place on May 21 and 22 on the North Athletic Field. The event is open to the public and aims to educate both the campus and outside community about Native American culture. It has become one of the largest student organization events on the UCLA campus.

The first Pow Wow originated in 1976 when the American Indian Student Association noticed how Native American students were feeling isolated from the rest of the UCLA community and were dropping out of school. They started a cultural week, which included a pow wow, to make the Native American students more comfortable at UCLA.

Theresa Stewart, the president of AISA and a Pow Wow director, feels that the Pow Wow allows Native Americans from not only UCLA but from around the country, to gather as a people and celebrate their heritage.

“It’s an opportunity to gather as one and observe our culture and spirituality through music and dance,” Stewart said. “It allows us to reclaim our Native identity.”

The Pow Wow lasts two days, with the first and second rounds of the drumming and dancing contests held on the first day and the finals on the second day. Tribes from across the United States, Canada and Mexico participate in AISA’s Pow Wow, which is a well-known and respected Pow Wow throughout the country.

Both the drumming and dancing contests are held at the same time, with different judges concentrating on either the dancing or drumming aspect. The drums are extremely important in a Pow Wow because they are considered the heartbeat of the earth.

“The drum is the most important thing in the life of Native Americans because it is said to connect the people with the spirit of Mother Nature,” Stewart said. “Without singers or the rhythm of the drum beat, there would be no dances.”

A drum consists of six to 16 people who sing songs from their area. Songs can range from traditional intertribal songs to war and conquest songs to memorial songs. Each drum has a head singer, which is an honored position because he leads the drum into songs. He starts the drum and ends it. Songs are sung four times because the number four is sacred in Native American tradition.

The songs usually have no words, just melodies.

“Most songs are sung in vocables, which are syllables that carry the melody and the meaning of the song,” Stewart said.

There are also two main styles of drumming and singing: the Northern and Southern style.

“The Northern style is sung in a higher-pitched voice than the South and is a bit more experimental than the traditional Southern style,” Stewart said.

The physical drum is made from a wooden shell covered in rawhide leather on both the top and bottom. The leather is then stretched tightly around the drum. Some drums are painted depending on the tribe.

Judges evaluate the drum competition on four categories: how many singers are in the group, the quality of song by the lead singer, the singing by the rest of the drum, and the overall quality of each drum. The judges consist of the head judge who is usually a representative from the Pow Wow circuit, and a representative from both the Northern and Southern drum to correspond to the two different styles.

“Drums are really sacred objects to each individual tribe,” Stewart said. “In some tribes, drums can be as old as 100 years and represent different things such as a woman’s womb, and is always given the utmost respect of the tribe.”