A powwow drum group led by a member of the Blackfeet Nation has been nominated for its eighth Grammy award. The Black Lodge Singers were nominated for Best Regional Roots Music Album by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Kenneth ScabbyRobe, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, has led the group for nearly 40 years. Although ScabbyRobe is from Montana, the group is based out of the Yakama Nation in Washington state and is made up of two sets of brothers.
"Founded in the heart of the Blackfeet Nation by the respected Scabby Robe family and sustained by successive generations of their extended family, the Black Lodge Singers have helped shaped the sound of contemporary Pow-Wow singing," said the group's label, Canyon Records, in a statement.
The group was first nominated for a Grammy award back in 2000, for Best Native American Music Album. ScabbyRobe said the group has come a long way in the past 20 years.
"When I was five years old, my uncle got me started singing," he said. "Our music doesn't have lyrics or anything, but I never thought the Grammys would take music like that and recognize you."
The 63rd annual Grammy Awards will air on January 31 on CBS.
