Preservation of Native American music traditions has proved to be extremely difficult for a myriad of reasons. First and foremost, of course, this is due in large part to the needlessly cruel behavior of the U.S. government.
Interactions between Native Americans and European settlers often resulted in the complete destruction of music considered "pagan" by the Europeans. Native peoples were continuously removed and relocated from their traditional homelands, losing many of their mythologies and ancient music traditions in the process. Tribal elders and holy men were usually the first to be killed, as Native American religious beliefs, history and music were never recorded down but were usually related orally by the elders. Furthermore, The government placed a ban on traditional cultural practices such as drum circle dances, and punished those who broke this "law" with imprisonment and, most commonly, death.
This long history of oppression and genocide led many Native peoples to become extremely defensive about their music. As a result, many of the traditions once considered 'secular' and folk, have now been safeguarded as 'sacred', and are practiced only during ceremonies open to tribal members alone.
