Congratulations to Gathering of Nations Records for winning the Grammy in the Best Native American Music Album category last Sunday night in Los Angeles. The award was for Gathering of Nations Powwow: A Spirit's Dance, recorded last April in Albuquerque during the 27th annual Gathering of Nations Powwow.

Special congratulations go to the Mathews family — Derek, Dr. Lita, and Melonie — who produced the album at Capitol Records in Hollywood. What makes this recording even more impressive is that the powwow was held outdoors on the football field at The University of New Mexico because The Pit was undergoing renovations.

The album would not have been possible without the drum groups. This year's soundtrack included Chief Leonard Crow Dog (which must have been a special drum for the occasion to honor Lakota elder and holy man Crow Dog), Midnite Express, Tha Tribe, Buck Wild, Eyabay, Hail Creek, Cree Confederation, Head Stone, Rocky Boy, Wild Band of Comanches, Nakoda Nation, Mile High, Eagle Mountain and Cozad. The recording also featured a special message from Crow Dog. I assume that each drum group and speaker has to sign a release as part of the deal to perform or be featured at "North America's Biggest Powwow."

The Mathewses produce an album each year during the gathering, and I'm pretty sure they submit it to the Grammys each year for consideration as Best Native Album. The Gathering of Nations Powwow recording featuring various artists, produced by Tom Bee and Douglas Spotted Eagle, won the inaugural Native Grammy in 2001. So it's been 10 years since Gathering of Nations has won.

"We are thrilled to have won one of the music industry's most prestigious awards," said Derek Mathews, founder of the Gathering of Nations. "We're still reliving the moment they announced the winner and we heard our names. The fact that we won still doesn't seem real."

It must be even extra satisfying for the Mathews family because of all the criticism they take including having their powwow mocked as the "Gathering of Dollars."

"You have to take the criticism and the comments along with all the accolades for the good that you're doing," said Derek Mathews when I interviewed him on the radio while he was producing the album.

A bigger criticism that Derek in particular has had to contend with over the years is that he is not Native American, and therefore, is somehow exploiting the Natives. He also answered this particular critique when I spoke with him back in May.

"My particular background is African American, as everyone knows. And as I perhaps look to everybody. But at the same time, both my mother and my father have Native American backgrounds that are very close to them. My grandmother on my father's side was half Native and half white." His maternal grandmother was at least a quarter Native.

There's also been a lot of criticism toward the Grammy people for not allowing certain musicians and recording artists into this category. But I have read the criteria for the Best Native American Music Album and it specifically points out that the category is for "traditional" Native music. The argument then centers on what is traditional.

Congratulations to the other nominees who made the finals: Bear Creek for their album XI; Northern Cree for Temptations: Cree Round Dance Songs; and Peter Phippen for Woodnotes Wyld: Flute Sounds from the Dr. Richard W. Payne Collection.

Enjoy the award, Derek, Lita and Melonie. The boo birds are just around the corner.

Harlan McKosato, a Sauk/Ioway, is host of the syndicated radio show Native America Calling, which airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on KUNM, 89.9 FM.