The Louis W. Ballard Project 2025 Updates:
The Louis W. Ballard project continues into 2025 and is pleased to continue with several more initiatives. We'd be delighted if you'd like to lend your expertise and time to the overall revival efforts. Please follow the links below to learn more and don't hesitate to reach out. Thank you and enjoy diving into history!
"Music history
is replete with examples of composers who championed the cause of
oppressed people. Composers
and their music sustained the spirit of their people at a time of foreign cultural attack and domination. Dvořák, in 1893, predicted that America should have a form of nationalistic music
built upon Indian music and black slave songs.
So I felt that I was in good company when I took up my pen to express the sufferings of my people, their regeneration and hopes for a better future life…
It is my hope that this work will be indelibly associated with the Indian movement and ideals, but also that the worth of the work itself shall rise above all political emotions of this epoch."
— Louis Ballard, program note for Incident at Wounded Knee, performed at Carnegie Hall, 1999
Welcome to the Louis W. Ballard
Memorial Page
This page has been created and will be being updated by his granddaughter, Simone A. Ballard from 2022 onwards. Louis left his family in 2007, but we never want to forget his legacy. While some performances of his music have taken place in the interim, and further articles have been written, this is the first family-sponsored revival of his story in 15 years. We sincerely thank our friends and family who helped us reach this point. If you have an inquiry about LWB music please feel free to use the contact form here and otherwise we hope you enjoy learning about his unique journey and thanks for visiting!
"I have found myself
in a curious circumstance, in that I am literally
between two worlds ...
that of the American Indian and that of Western society. These two worlds, of historical necessity, have been forced to coexist yet their
values and aesthetic concepts have remained almost irreconcilable.
In my music I have sought to fuse these worlds for I believe that an artist can get to the heart of a culture through
new forms alien to that culture."
"Don't think because you're a non-Indian
you can't sing Indian songs. These are our songs as Americans and we must learn to recognize it.
Indian singing is the most natural in the world'...
Find an Indian who knows songs, he said, and listen carefully...
Learn so you can sing them under water or in your sleep!
When a lead Indian singer dies its like an archive burning down...
Here's epic literature. Here's epic poetry - and it's unwritten."
"I want to thank you for the excellent coverage of my activities...
Society, of course, needs the composer, but often it is felt that the composer does not need society. This is not true and I take the opportunity to verify it.
Many people have called to express their interest in my work and the thriving Santa Fe music scene.
I even received an invitation to conduct a program of my music in the Midwest by a gentleman who was passing through our town.
Keep up your coverage of Santa Fe arts and artists."
- Louis Ballard, Letter to the Editor of Santa Fe New Mexican, 1975
