Six terrific performers presented an evening of Native American music at the Alaska Native Heritage Center on Saturday night. Sponsored by the center and the Anchorage Baha'i community, the "Ayyam-I-Ha Concert" not only raised $2,425 for the center's Rural Arts Scholarship, but left the audience dancing in the aisles.

The four or five days of Ayyam-I-Ha are Baha'i holidays of celebration, gift-giving and joy. The concert supplied all three.

Paul Pike, a Micmac singer, composer and founder of local band Medicine Dream, opened the concert playing a cedar flute, an instrument traditionally used in courtship and engagement rituals. Its gentle, soothing tones filled the main amphitheater of the center, welcoming an audience full of adults, elders and squirming children. Buz Daney, Choctaw traditional singer and another member of Medicine Dream, joined Pike, playing the drum and accompanying on vocals while Pike played guitar. The two sang several songs, blending traditional Native sounds with contemporary sounds to create powerful, moving music. After a short break for cookies, coffee and juice compliments of the Baha'is, the concert continued with performances by Stefanie Bouchard, Cowlitz singer and songwriter; George Holly, Athabaskan storyteller; and Mary Gubatayo, Tsimshian mother and singer. The three took turns singing or accompanying one another with vocals, drum or dance.

Holly sang a song about when Raven created light. He broke midway through the song to tell the story in English to the beat of his huge, octagonal drum. Bouchard, whose incredible deep, throaty voice gracefully filled the room, sang several songs she had written, most notably "Your Heart is Home," about coming into her heritage. Gubatayo lead a traditional Tsimshian song about motherhood, one she noted carries the "breath of the grandmothers" with it. Holly accompanied in song and dance while Bouchard played the drum.

Holly, Bouchard and Gubatayo are extremely talented on their own. Combined, with three voices, three-part harmony and three drums, this trio was dynamite.

Three members of the local group Pamyua, Phillip Blanchett, Karina Moeller, Ossie Kairaiuak, as well as Marie Mead, Blanchett's mother, surprised the audience and the performers by offering to go onstage and sing a traditional prayer song. Their song was delightful, the harmony right on. It was a gift for everyone.

Yup'ik elder and Native healer Rita Blumenstein finished the concert by singing a traditional prayer song of healing. She played the drum as she sang while Buz Daney accompanied her on drum.

The concert ended with all the performers onstage. Six drums beat as all sang the final song, to which children danced in the aisles and even adults grooved

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