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Honoring the central importance of music and sound in decolonization practices. Amplifying Indigenous worldviews, knowledge systems, and sound practices. Restoring the central role of music and sound in these worldviews, with honor, respect, and attention to cultural protocols. Reconnecting culture to Mother Earth through sound as a requirement for positive futures. Through music, song, and story, embodied wisdom is shared and activated to maintain the fluidity of a functional, balanced, and regenerative society. Music has always played a central role, through ceremony and personal practice, in sharing wisdom and knowledge. It is through sound that humans and nonhumans are able to communicate with each other across thresholds. Indigenous worldviews have long had a sophisticated understanding of this important reality. Music continues to be central to cultural restoration, reactivation, and resilience. The show honors the necessity to centralize music and sound in decolonizing and indigenizing culture. It also amplifies Indigenous music traditions to bring attention to their right to a sustainable future in the face of continued violence and oppression. We will explore the intersection of acoustic ecology, musical ethnography, soundscape studies, and restorative listening practices from the perspective of Indigenous musical TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge).

Matthew O’Neill is a ritual centered musical artist, producer, and cultural ecologist based in the Catskills. With deep roots in Indigenous musical ontologies and over two decades of recording, performance, and land-based living, his work bridges soul, folk, experimental, and ritual sound traditions. O’Neill is the founder of Panther Mountain, a nonprofit Indigenous-based music label and cultural restoration project,  O’Neill develops innovative releases, educational programs, and community-rooted collaborations that explore sound as a vehicle for healing, decolonization, and ecological reverence. His music has been featured on NPR, performed internationally, and praised for its raw spirit, depth, and visionary scope.

www.matthew-oneill.com
www.panthermountain.io