A Little About André
André L Picard, from Lapwai, Idaho, is a Nez Perce Nation member, married and dad of two. Plays Native American flute, singer and drummer. Musical achievements: featured on Smoke Signals, featured on over seven CDs including two which won at the Native American Music Industry Awards. My teachings comes from a long line of musicians and song composers. I have been taught the old ways as well as keeping up with the new ways. My style of music: traditional, contemporary, Nez Perce and Native American music. Plays ancient love tool – the flute. Can sing many styles of native music. Styles including northern and southern pow wow, round dance, stick game and love songs.
André Picard
André Picard is Nez Perce and lives in Lapwai, Idaho. The Picard name is from his dad’s side of the family that comes from the White Bird Band. White Bird is a well-known chief and medicine man of this band. André’s great great great great grandfather, Three Feathers, was a medicine man. His mother’s side of the familyher father is John Allen and her mother was Iva Wilson. The Wilson side of family is related to Chief Joseph.
The tribe used to reside in portions of Oregon, Washington, Montana and Idaho. The reservation now encompasses about 65 miles in upper central Idaho in the pan handle. The area is filled with hills, mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, fruits, and berries. The summers are hot and the winters are cold.
André is a song carrier and storyteller. He sings songs made famous by his grandpa and knows all the pow wow songs. He tells where songs came from and tells the stories behind the songs. His grandfather passed him the knowledge of how singers had to go through an initiation process to become a song maker. There are songs and dances for women such as the swan dance and the welcome dance. The women know these songs and dances and pass them on to the next generation. There aren’t many dances for men. He also plays the flute and has stories about the flute.
André appeared on the sound track for Smoke Signals. The same song appeared on a preview for the movie ‘Windtalkers’. He has a complimation CD for Gatherings of the Nations and it won an award at the Native American Music Industry Award. Along with his drum group ‘Red Stone’ they have two CDs out for the Gathering of the Nations. He also has his own CDs including four CDs with stick game music, one love songs CD and two flute music CDs.
A storyteller and tribal historian, he tells coyote legends and does a funny take on what it’s like being a Nez Perce in this day and age and talks about some of the myths people have about the Indian. Although a fire destroyed a lot of his family’s artifacts such as old outfits, war bonnet outfits, buffalo outfits and cornhusk bags, Andre` can discuss their history. Museums have many of these same types of items. The environment, health and healing, tribal politics and tribal government have also been included in André’s presentations. Sometimes he picks interesting stories from the newspaper to use as a topic. He doesn’t consider anything taboo and will answer people’s questions. He gives presentations to all age groups and in all types of settings including schools, tour groups, pow wows, museums, information centers, and conferences.
André Picard
PO Box 1190
Lapwai, ID 83540
208-843-2219
andrep@nezperce.org