“Jeny Covill recently highlighted RainSong’s new CD Rise Up and Dance on her radio program called “First Nations Monday”  You can find out more info about her ministry at   http://www.runningbrookministries.com/ati.htm”.
 
Click here to listen to the broadcast.

March 15, 2007

RainSong is happy to announce the release of their third CD, “Rise Up and Dance”!

This project has been in the works for three years, in between traveling and then moving to Indiana.

Ten songs and five sacred stories that reflect their call and love for Creator and the original people of North America. The planned release date is Mid-March 2007.

If you are interested in purchasing a CD just email them at RiseUp@rainministries.com. All proceeds from the CD goes to helping RainSong continue in this ministry of music, storytelling and teaching. In the near future we will provide a link here to purchase this CD online.

Here is their dedication statement from the insert in the CD jacket...

All honor and gratitude to Gitchi-Manitoo our Great Father/Creator and to Jesus Christ. And Miigwetch (thank you) to our family, friends and supporters. Without your encouragement and prayers we may never have gotten this project completed. It is our prayer that the words and meditations in these songs touch many hearts with healing and encouragement.

It was the late 1800’s. The Native People of North America had endured over two hundred years of broken treaties and bloody massacres. A Piute man told of a vision he had. He said Jesus, who had scars in his hands and feet, told him not to make war with the white man but to live in peace and pray. He was given a dance to pray with. It came to be known as the “Ghost Dance”, in reference to it’s spiritual nature. The dance spread like wildfire though out the tribes, each tribe interpreting the meaning of the vision for themselves. They began to dance and pray, through the day and all night, in the rain and the snow, hoping for deliverance, desperate for relief from their oppressors, longing for the land to be healed. The Colonists became alarmed, thinking it to be another uprising. Soon they made the Ghost Dance against the law, hoping to stem the religious fervor. But the Natives chose to obey the words they believed were from the Great Spirit. Like many religious movements they were persecuted, misunderstood, and martyred.

The year 2007 is the Four Hundredth anniversary of first contact between the Native People of this continent and the first European immigrants. We believe that God still requires justice and righteousness from nations and will hold all accountable even if it takes a while. If a thousand years is as a day to God then all this has happened in the last few hours.

We dedicate this CD, especially the two songs “Rise up and Dance” and “Echo’s of Lost Footsteps” to the memory of the Ghost Dancers, to those who died, and to the hope of their descendants who live on.

Terry and Darlene Wildman

RainSong