TW3 - Kwiat Syaya "Sacred Friendships"

This album is exactly as its title states.  Featuring Vi Hilbert of the Upper Skagit tribe in Washington State. Vi was known as one of the world’s 10 greatest storytellers (London Press, 2001). She also was instrumental in permanently preserving the ancient language Lushootseed and teaching it in her classrooms at the University of Washington in Seattle for 15 years. 
 
This recording was created as a 2 album set totaling 3 discs when listened to on CD.  The 2nd 2-CD album is TW4: Journey on the River. 
The word Kwiat means "Sacred, Syaya" means friendship in the Native American ancestral language of the greater Puget Sound region of Washington State.  Lushootseed, when spoken correctly, it is a rather poetic language to converse with. Generally it it is used with soft tones in a pleasantly-spoken voice.  TW3 begins as a tribute from a body of highly revered tribal elders of several local tribes endorsing Hilbert’s lifetime work of preserving the language and philosophy of, as she would say, "the first people to live in this most excellent part of our world."  It continues with the introduction to a long journey of ancient Ancestral stories to take the listener back in time the only way possible that would remain acutely in alignment with the culture of NW Native America. Hilbert teaches the Ancient way of life through the art of storytelling.  This was the method of the people who lived here for over 10,000 years. 
 
This album includes major examples of the Ancestral language and is translated into English as it is spoken by Hilbert. Nobody in the past 100 years has done more to preserve the language and uplifting philosophy of this Native American region of Washington State than our Sacred friend Vi Hilbert. 
 
Recently, Seattle University built and named its newest dormitory after Vi Hilbert, once again in a great symbol of a Sacred friendship (Kwiat Syaya).  (Link to pictures at Seattle University)