Native Music and Musicians of South Dakota

Created nearly 20 years ago by the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, the Lakota Music Project is a combination of symphony performers and traditional Native musicians. The musical project was created by Maestro Delta David Gier in the spirit of racial reconciliation, a way of bridging cultural gaps through the universal language of music. The combination of sounds and talents makes for a unique & beautiful way to celebrate unity through music.

LaRoche and his daughter, Nicole, were one of the earliest iterations of Brulé, a band whose combination of traditional Native and theatrical rock has gone on to sell more than 1 million albums. In addition to creating a renowned live show that includes traditional Native dancers, the group has made major media appearances, won loads of awards, and performed as far away as Saudi Arabia.

A mix of garage rock and power-pop led two Native brothers to 16 years of rocking as The Reddmen. Based in Rapid City, J. Waylon Porcupine and Miyo One Arrow formed the foundation of the band whose reputation for ripping riffs, soulful lyrics, and energetic performance gained them a dedicated following. They embraced the DIY (Do It Yourself) attitude, producing and releasing all of their music independently.

They didn’t need a formal record label to get their music included in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, play the Live Earth/Mother Earth festival (hosted by Al Gore), or receive press from NPR, Razorcake magazine, or the New York Times. The Reddmen disbanded in 2011 but members kept making music, especially Porcupine in his latest project, Friends of Cesar Romero.

Born and raised on the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Reservation in northeastern South Dakota, Bryan Akipa studied under renowned artist Oscar Howe. As part of a visual project, Howe showed Akipa a mallard-head flute. Neither man would know where that would take Akipa.

Today, Akipa is considered a master of both making and playing flutes. The 2024 South Dakota Hall of Fame inductee has released five albums, been nominated for a Grammy, and won several Nammies (Native American Music Awards). He’s actively making flutes to this day, occasionally playing with organizations like the Lakota Music Project.

Since the late 1990s, the band Indigenous has been making music, winning awards, and getting people to groove. The blues rock group started as a family affair on the Yankton Sioux Reservation with Mato Nanji and his relatives. Influenced by Nanji's father, Indigenous' first album and music video each received awards upon release. That caught the attention of B.B. King, who invited the band to play on B.B. King's Blues Tour in 1999. Since then, the lineup has changed, but Mato and company continue to release acclaimed albums and deliver blistering performances across the country.