Today, Sept. 25, 2023, would have been Harvey Arden's 88th birthday. To honor Harvey, I decided to release a Spoken Word project that we originally put out through our publishing company, HYT Publishing, for free, for the very first time. This is the recordings of "Noble Red Man - Lakota Widomkeeper, Mathew King". I know Harvey would have wanted you all to hear it! Stay tuned for a full podcast on Harvey...I'll get one out, eventually!
Mathew King (1902-1989), also known as "Noble Red Man," was a highly-respected Elder of the Lakota Nation.
Harvey Arden, while working with National Geographic, went to Kyle, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, in February 1983 and met with Mathew, who let Harvey into the depths of his rich history, thoughts, and visions of the world.
After many years of friendship, Harvey decided to organize and edit a book of Mathew's writings and interviews out, calling it "Noble Red Man".
King shares the story of the struggles of the Lakota people, his spirituality, and our personal Instructions and Responsibilities we must follow in life. After Mathew passed on to the spirit world, Harvey spent a great deal of time taking interviews, personal correspondence, and recordings Mathew's family gave him access to, and formed the book into what feels like an intimate conversation with King, himself.
When Harvey was asked by David Lee if he was interested in recording readings from the book, he agreed—not only giving a powerful spoken-word performance of Mathew’s transformative words, but adding his own moving first-hand memories of meeting and getting to know Mathew.
These one-of-a-kind recordings have now been put together in an audio format, with haunting accompanying music by composer Jeff Foreman.
This recording was nominated for (2) Native American Music Awards in 2011, as was Harvey, for the "Native Heart" award.
To learn more about Harvey Arden, visit:
HarveyArden.com
To learn more about the books and audio projects we did together, visit:
HaveYouThought.com
To learn more about George Blitch, visit:
www.SonofaBlitch.com
www.MapMyRanch.com
IG: "TheSonofaBlitch"