WOPILA: A GIVEAWAY

The circle of giving and receiving, observed in the endless cycles of nature, is central to Native American culture. Storyteller Dovie Thomason (Lakota/Sioux) offers the animal stories on WOPILA: A GIVEAWAY as a way of returning the gift that the stories bring. Against background flute music by Kevin Locke, she explains that the Lakota would gather on winter evenings "to renew kinship and memories through the telling of our stories." Intended to teach valuable lessons in behavior, to explain and reinforce perceptions and to amuse, these stories have characters who are multidimensional and who make choices to resolve dilemmas. Thomason's gentle and reverential style blends well with Locke's flute music as it weaves through the story endings, linking the elements of the collection. R.M. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT 97]