A tale of two cultures

Omaha musician Michael Murphy is a descendant of both American Indians and homesteaders.

Murphy, an American Indian flute maker, played both “Native American” and folk music at the Homestead National Monument on Sunday.

Homestead Ranger Susan Cook said the employees at the monument were excited to have Murphy play.

“We wanted Michael to play here today because here at the Homestead we celebrate Native American culture and how the law changed Native American lives,” she said.

Sitting behind his silver Yamaha keyboard, acoustic guitar strapped around his chest, harmonica positioned at his mouth and wooden flute in hand, Murphy played several pieces for a small crowd. In between each song, he shared parts of his heritage.

“I’m an open book,” he said.

His grandmother was a 14-year-old school teacher when his grandfather, a 28-year-old cowboy at the time, came into town and fell in love with and married her.

On the other side of his family tree is where his American Indian heritage comes from.

Some people might say he’s one-sixteenth American Indian, but Murphy doesn’t look at it that way.

“You can’t be ‘part’ Native American. You either are or you aren’t, “ he said.

It was this love for his American Indian culture that started him on his journey with the Native American flute.

Murphy said his mother was Native American and when she died, he felt that side slipping away.

When a project arose with his child’s class at school, the two decided to make dreamcatchers in memory of Murphy’s mother and their partly-forgotten heritage.

It was in the book where they learned to make dream catchers that Murphy noticed the directions for making a Native American flute. He wrote down and kept those directions. As a woodworker, he knew he could make the flutes.

As he tells this story, he pauses and plays the instrument he made. It’s a long wooden flute with six holes. He taps each hole making different noises as he slowly blows in the mouthpiece.

Murphy also enjoys folk songs, which show a little of his homesteader roots. His great-grandfather originally homesteaded around the Fremont area.

When Murphy brings out his guitar and harmonica, his tune changes.

“I enjoy the powwows, but I enjoy the folk festivals, too,” he said.

Again he picks up one of many flutes of different sizes. He said playing the flute was never difficult for him, and it’s a talent that took him 50 years to find.

“Whenever I play the flute, I play it for my mother,” he said. “I get to hear my mother sing again, so thank you for that opportunity.”

Murphy played one song on his flute that he didn’t write, but is very important to him and the Cherokee tribe.

He said during the Trail of Tears, when tribes had to travel by foot great distances to reservations, many of his ancestors were lost.

According to Murphy, the tribe would circle around the body of those who died and sing a song they were taught by Baptist ministries: Amazing Grace.

Though Murphy is proud to play his flutes, he told those in attendance Sunday that it’s not necessarily a hard instrument to master.

“It’s very simple to play the flute. You have to be smarter than a stick,” Murphy laughed, while holding one of his hand-crafted flutes.