Dakota Music Tour gets underway

With the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Dakota War approaching next year, an effort at musical reconciliation concerning the events of that year is about to get underway. The Dakota Music Tour begins this Sunday in Mankato, and will also include stops in Redwood Falls, Granite Falls and Winona. The tour includes traditional American Indian music and Western classical music.

The war lasted about six weeks in the late summer of 1862. In December of that year, 38 Dakota warriors were hanged at Mankato. Mankato Symphony Orchestra Music Director Kenneth Freed calls 1862 a 'dark year' in the city's history. He says along with the music, there will be 'community chats' after the concert is over. Freed says he hopes the tour will bring people "a deeper understanding of our shared living history".

The music for the tour was composed by Brent Michael Davids, a Native American from the Mohican Nation. After Mankato, the tour stops in Redwood Falls on May 28th, Granite Falls on the 29th and Winona on June 4th.

• Editor’s notebook: Covering the environment in 2014
• Best of Minnesota Scenes from 2014
• 50 years of memory making in the Boundary Waters