Discover the heartbeat of
Native American lifeways and legacy
A millennia of tradition: the drum, the voice, the dance
For over three decades, the GRAMMY® Award-winning Black Eagle Singers drum and dance group (Pueblo of Jemez) has carried forward the ancestral sounds and vibrant spirit of American Indian Country, connecting audiences to traditions that have sustained our people for generations.
Blending traditional Pueblo Indian songs with contemporary powwow styles, Black Eagle Singers create a distinctive sound that has earned recognition across the USA and beyond. From traditional powwows, ceremonial gatherings, and special events for Heads of State to international stages and cultural epicenters, listeners feel the heartbeat of the world in every strike of our drum.
A culturally authentic performance experience, Black Eagle Singers unite the raw power of the Native peoples: the drum, the voice, the dance™.
Select List of Awards & Achievements of Note
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Black Eagle Singers won a Grammy Award for their album Flying Free in 2004, making them the only traditional powwow group to win the Music Industry’s most prestigious honor.
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Black Eagle Singers have been nominated 4 times for Music’s highest honor for the following albums:
Life Goes On - Hand Drum and Round Dance Songs
Flying Free (GRAMMY WIN)
Straight Up Northern
Voice of the Drum
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The Native American Music Awards or N.A.M.A. was the first national awards program for Native American music in North America. The Awards (AKA “NAMMYs”) was born out of a need for greater recognition for Native American music initiatives and remains the largest professional membership based organization in the world.
Pow Wow category (2003)
Pow Wow category (2006)
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Black Eagle Singers have a long history of association with many important museums, from archival music recording to special event appearances and high-profile performances:
Musical Instrument Museum - Phoenix, Arizona — Recorded Music Archive, American Indian Powwow Music
Opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian — Headline performance for over 100,000 people
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)
Lincoln Center - NYC
Platinum Music Award - New Mexico Governor’s Music Commission highest honor
About Black Eagle Singers
Malcom Yepa: A Legacy of Leadership
From the picturesque landscape of Walatowa (Indian Pueblo of Jemez), Malcom Yepa has made an indelible mark on indigenous music, showcasing the rich heritage of Native American peoples. As an accomplished musician — singer, drummer, and composer — Malcom's artistry spans both Pueblo and Powwow styles, blending traditional sounds with contemporary influences.
Raised in the revered traditions of his ancestors and fluent in his native Towa language, Malcom embodies the spirit of his culture. He is not only a talented musician but also a dedicated educator, sharing his knowledge and passion with younger generations. His contributions to the arts were recognized when he received the prestigious New Mexico Music Commission’s 2018 Platinum Music Award.
From Formation to Flight
1989 — while in Montana, Malcom was profoundly inspired by the Powwow style of singing and drumming. This pivotal moment led him to return to Jemez Pueblo, where he founded and directed the Black Eagle powwow drum group — later using the ensemble’s full name, Black Eagle Singers, for disambiguation with other acts.
37 years later, Malcom Yepa remains the group’s visionary leader, guiding Black Eagle Singers in exploring a style that is both innovative and deeply rooted in the traditions of his own Pueblo peoples and tribes across American Indian Country. Under his direction, Black Eagle Singers continue to earn international acclaim.
The impact of Black Eagle Singers extends beyond performance; their award-winning albums, recognized by Grammy and Native American Music Awards wins, scores of notable achievements, and the highest honors represent a significant contribution to the State of New Mexico’s music legacy and Native America. Supported by the Yepa family’s younger musical talents and core members of the group, Cassandra Yepa and her brother, Mark “Bear” Toledo, Malcom’s commitment to fostering talent within the community has resulted in the mentorship of multi-generational singers, ensuring that the songs and stories of Native American culture are preserved for future generations.
Throughout their extensive travels, the Black Eagle Singers have proudly represented Jemez Pueblo, Indian Country, and the USA, earning respect and admiration around the world. The group’s original compositions have garnered numerous accolades, a testament to Malcom Yepa’s unwavering dedication to amplifying the voice, culture, and traditions of Native American peoples.
Malcom Yepa stands as a pillar of cultural preservation and innovation, inspiring future generations to honor their heritage through the power of music.
Listen to the voice of Native America
FAQs and Facts
Expect Amazement.
Black Eagle Singers deliver a culturally authentic performance experience, uniting and amplifying the raw power of Native American peoples: the drum, the voice, and the dance. A vibrant music tapestry driven by the beat of traditional powwow drums and energetic vocals of the GRAMMY® Award-winning group fuels the athletic grace of a full troupe of Native dancers in full Indian regalia.
A full production, the Black Eagle Singers immersive concert experience fuses the sacred sonic power of American Indian traditions with cinematic-scale staging — engineered for the world's most prestigious venues: Performing Arts Centers (PACs); Schools, Universities, and Colleges of Music; Opera Houses; Music Festivals; Corporate Events; and special Heads of State events, cultural exchanges and diplomatic initiatives.
This is not a powwow brought to a theater. This is a symphonic-scale Native American concert experience built for the proscenium stage to stadium.
How are Black Eagle Singers different than other Native acts?
A noted pioneer in live and recorded Native American music, Black Eagle Singers embrace, encourage, and respect their contemporaries and peers alike in the arena of Native Arts. However, the group does not put performers on a stage to dance to pre-recorded audio tracks.
Black Eagle Singers deliver a culturally authentic performance experience, amplifying the raw power of Native American peoples across Indian Country: the drum, the voice, the dance™. While their performing configuration is scalable to intimate venues, the full production features over 35 performers, incorporating cinematic-scale staging designed and engineered for the proscenium stage.
Social Impact
Black Eagle Singers believe music carries hope and healing — and that the communities most often overlooked by the touring circuit are precisely the communities where live performance matters most. We bring our work to underserved and distressed communities, to culturally rich urban and rural neighborhoods, and to Indigenous nations across North America, with the conviction that authentic performance is not a luxury reserved for major venues.
Through partnerships with corporate sponsors, schools, tribal organizations, nonprofits, private donors, and civic foundations, we extend performance, residency, and cultural exchange programming to audiences who would not otherwise encounter it.
Educational Programs for K-12 Schools, Universities, and Museums
Black Eagle Singers deliver training workshops and multi-day residency programs designed to ignite curiosity and deepen understanding of Native American music, language, and living tradition through the authentic lens of our lived experience and cultural context.
Each engagement is shaped around the host's audience and learning objectives, and may include performance, demonstration, hands-on drum and song instruction, lecture-format presentations, and Q&A with the artists. Programs may be tailored to meet Standards Requirements, and typically culminate with a performance at a PAC or other suitable venue.
Is Black Eagle Singers music available for sync licensing in film, recordings, and media use?
Yes. A GRAMMY® Award-winning group, Black Eagle Singers music is available for licensing for Major Motion Picture, TV, Advertising, Museum Installation, Indie Film / Documentary, and other uses.
Authentic Indigenous music is one of the most-requested and least-supplied categories in sync licensing today, and we work directly with music supervisors, producers, and agencies to ensure both the licensing terms and the cultural framing meet professional standards. Submit a licensing inquiry or commission an original work via the form below.
Cultural Consultation Services
Black Eagle Singers provide cultural consultation for productions, institutions, brands, and creators committed to representing Native American music, language, art, and tradition with accuracy and respect. Past consultation work has supported film and television productions, museum exhibitions, brand campaigns, educational curricula, and live-event programming.
Consultation engagements are scoped to the project and may include script and storyboard review, music and language guidance, on-set or on-site advisory presence, casting and credit recommendations, and post-production review. We approach each project as a partnership and can advise early in development — when our input meaningfully shapes the work — or later in production as a final accuracy check.
Submit your inquiry about cultural consultation for an upcoming project via the Contact form below.
Booking Black Eagle Singers for a Corporate Event, Festival, or something else
Black Eagle Singers perform at a wide range of private, corporate, and institutional events — including festival headline slots, opening and closing ceremonies, conference keynotes, gala performances, brand activations, museum openings, civic commemorations, and international cultural diplomacy engagements. Past stages include the Smithsonian, Lincoln Center, the 46th Annual GRAMMY® Awards Gathering of Nations Powwow, and the national commemorations of America's 250th anniversary.
The drum and dance troupe perform domestically and internationally, and each engagement is approached as a true performance, not a backdrop. We work closely with presenters, producers, and brand partners to ensure the program fits the venue, the audience, and the cultural context of the occasion — and to ensure the songs we share are appropriate for public performance. Typical engagements run from a 20-minute ceremonial set to a full 90-minute headline concert, with custom formats available for fundraisers, conferences, and broadcast productions.
Technical riders, group sizes, and pricing are tailored to the engagement and provided on request. via the Contact form below. If you are a Talent Buyer, please note that in your message, so the group can best respond to your specific needs.
Booking Black Eagle for Studio Recording Sessions
As GRAMMY® Award-winners, Black Eagle Singers is certainly no stranger to recording studios across the United States, and welcomes session work in Nashville, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, and beyond. Use the contact form to make your request for avails and provide details about your project.
Media-ready for Interviews
Journalists with credentials, bloggers, and other media reps may request interviews via the contact form below. The group’s principal members are media-ready for televised broadcast and podcast appearances.
Contact Us
Interested in doing positive work together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch within 24 hours. We can’t wait to hear from you!