Perceptions of an accomplished artist are far from the reality of Keith Bear, dressed in jeans and plaid shirt with his long hair in braids hanging over his shoulders. This talented, nationally-known flute player and story-teller hides his success well.
Signing autographs for the elementary school children that have just attended his performance, he speaks in a quiet melodic voice with a twinkle in his eye that dispels any thoughts of seriousness.
In his soft tone, he asks if they want him to write on their arms or on pieces of paper. Most choose the arm, following the lead of one child. Huddled around Keith, the children wait their turn in subdued hero worship. They all seem to remember and comprehend his messages of respect for themselves and others. Many find a connection with him and are reluctant to let him go as the end of their school day draws to a close.
Keith has just completed a performance of traditional flute playing and story-telling that is not only entertaining and soothing but teaches lessons in everyday life. Even though the lessons revert to his Mandan Hidatsa culture, they are lessons that apply to any society. Keith explains them as “A type of Aesop’s fable or a story with a moral so people, especially children, learn to conduct their lives with honor and dignity. The models in the stories are many times animals, which help children relate to them very easily. The stories and songs make the children think about their own lives and help them question what is the right.”
This unpretentious, gentle Indian is the winner of a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) in 2001 for Best Traditional Recording. He also received a Grammy nomination in 2002 for new artist, best artist, and best video. Laughingly, Keith admits, “I didn’t even know what a Grammy was at the time. My children thought it was so cool and of course asked if I got to meet various entertainers they were familiar with. It took about three days for me to realize how important it really was. Some people strive for this all their lives and here I just fell into it.”
For the past decade, his days have been spent traveling to schools around the nation and the world in between his busy schedule of concert performances. Keith has become a nationally-known artist in both his Native American Culture and the recording industry with his hauntingly historic flute music and stories of his Mandan Hidatsa heritage. Based in New Town, west of Minot, he performs with such groups as the National Symphony Orchestra and for the recording studio Makoche out of Mandan.
Travel has become an essential element of Keith’s career, and, true to his non-assuming nature, he does not have an entourage of staff waiting to schedule his next move. He is the one to make that late-night phone call to arrange his own travels or logistics of his next performance. “I’m on the road more often than not, but I’ve finally learned how to take time off and relax when I’m not working. I will be home for most of this summer for the first time in a long while. I never ask for money for my performances either, but the money has increased and I can take care of my family. Many times some of my family travels with me as some of my sons and daughters entertain as well.”
A world-renowned flute player and legendary storyteller was not what Keith had envisioned for himself as a young man. But this profession, or gift, as Keith calls it, has allowed him to continue the practice of his culture that was slowly being lost. In tune with Native American tradition, Keith’s aunt passed the right of story-telling on to him in a cultural celebration. “It’s a great honor to have that right among our tribe,” notes Keith.
Along Keith’s journey to a more respectful way of life, he taught himself to play the flute. The first song he learned to play was a children’s song that he knew from his childhood, Itsy Bitsy Spider. “When I was first learning, it was pretty squeaky and there wasn’t much music. My wife told me the flute really is magic. I thought she was giving me a compliment until she added, ‘We have no mice left in our home.’” Keith chuckled.
Carl Whitman, who was also a Mandan Hidatsa and clan uncle to Keith, taught him to carve the flutes. Very few traditional flute players carve the flutes they use in their performances. Carl’s uncle passed the right of crafting flutes onto him and Carl, in turn, expertly passed the art on to Keith. “Carl was very highly respected for his generosity and kindness in both the reservation and the world. He was a tribal leader and a university professor during his lifetime. Unfortunately he passed away the year after he taught me to carve the flute,” noted Keith.
Flutes that Keith carves and uses are uniquely decorated with either beads or quill work and are considered to have a healing quality. His first flutes used only beads, but his aunt explained to him that beads were not the way of the Mandan Hidatsa. She told him that beads do not have a heart, and that is why they use quill work. “The quills are from porcupines, but they aren’t truly dead, because their spirit continues to live through what they are made into. I don’t actually kill any of the porcupines myself, but many people give me the quills. I also use quills from dead porcupines on the road, which we call road-kill art. Quills touch the spirit of elders and children. They turn our children into good warriors that are honored and respected. They turn the elders into children and give them a chance to remember those days and a chance to think and heal,” explained Keith
There are 28 hand carved flutes in Keith’s treasured collection. He receives wood from all over the world that people donate to him for his flutes. He has used fence posts, 2 x 4’s, door jams, table legs, scrap from a cedar deck, hand rails and a log from a homestead that had to be sold. “Each of my flutes has a name that comes from what they were constructed out of. My flutes are sold for anything from a drink of water to $2000. I never ask for a price, I ask what the person wanting it thinks it is worth,” observes Keith.
“I’m an Indian, not a politician, so I can call us Indians and not Native Americans. My uncle told me many years ago that anyone born in this country is a Native American. It doesn’t matter what color you are. You just need to remember that you always represent more than just yourself in everything you do. When people look at me, they not only see an Indian, but a Mandan Hidatsa, a North Dakotan, and American. We need to remember that and make each group proud of us,” explains Keith.
“Without my relatives giving me the songs and stories, I wouldn’t have them. My talent comes from my family that has shared these with me and I feel very honored and humbled to be where I am. When the children hear the songs and stories, maybe they’ll reflect back on this moment and it will be a good reflection,” Keith says.