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How Did Thousands Of Years Of Disparate Peyote Music Traditions Consolidate Into One Concise Sound?

The history of peyote music

Stanley C.
The Riff
4 min readDec 15, 2024

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Source: New Orleans Public Radio

The Sacredness Of The Peyote Cactus

Peyote is a common cactus that grows in dry climates in the Americas. For the Indigenous tribes who lived in the water-constrained lands of central and north Mexico, like the Lipan Apache tribe, peyotes were a strong source of spiritual and creative guidance. Over the millennia, Indigenous tribes developed ceremonies and songs around the use of peyote, such as smoking and drinking it. These ceremonies allowed the tribes to communicate with their ancestors and share community in a profoundly healing way.

Peyote songs and ceremonial traditions varied across the Americas, but the cactus was the one thing that was common among them. These tribes didn’t speak the same language, so unison between their practices was few and far between. Therefore, it begs the question, how is peyote music commonly understood?

Consolidating Peyote Music Practices

In the mid to late 1800s, many indigenous nations conceded or made truces with the American federal government. Several nations agreed to create autonomous regions where tribes could live, support, and govern…

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Stanley C.
Stanley C.

Written by Stanley C.

Hi there 👋🏾 I'm a music writer that posts weekly essays about albums, genres, songs, and other novel topics in the music world that span across time.

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