He has been traveling the country emceeing powwows for 26 years, but Rob Daugherty, Cherokee, believes there are still places to see and new friends to make.
Powwow dancing is not a Cherokee tradition. He said he was introduced to powwow tradition by roommates while attending Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., and learned even more about powwows when he taught at Haskell.
“From there it grew to where I started doing a lot of powwow stuff. I’m not shy on the microphone, and that’s kind of what it takes,” he said with a laugh.
But before sitting in the emcee chair, he went through a training period.
“You just can’t jump right in because as an emcee you have to know the songs, the dancing, know the different nations and the way they handle certain things. So, I spent a long time just observing,” he said.
Daugherty, of Jay, Okla., credits well-known powwow emcees Wallace Coffee, Comanche; Henry Green Crow, Ho Chunk; and Dale Old Horn, Crow, with mentoring him while he learned to emcee. He said he also gained valuable experience by attending powwows throughout Indian Country.
“I don’t consider myself a southern emcee or a northern emcee; I’m just an announcer,” he said. “I think a lot of times because I live in Oklahoma people think I’m a southern emcee, but I’m just as comfortable at a northern powwow.”
He estimates he has emceed more than 260 powwows in 26 years, but believes he still has more to learn. He said every time he is asked to emcee he is appreciative because it provides another learning opportunity.
Daugherty emphasized he too is an observer at a powwow and is conscientious of not talking too much during one.
“People come there to see the dancers and hear the singers, so I would just assume to let them sing all they want and dance all they want, but of course the emcee kind of controls the tempo of the dance,” he said.
“When I’m asked to emcee I look at it as a job, so I take it seriously.”
His seriousness is mixed with much humor, but he said he doesn’t like to tell jokes like many powwow emcees.
“I’m one of the few emcees that will not tell a joke because I don’t care how innocent a joke is, you’re going to offend someone,” he said. “What I do to keep it humorous is that I know enough of about people’s situations that I’ll make light of those situations.”
Being a former professor of Native American Studies at Haskell also has enhanced his emcee skills, he said, because he is able to draw on his knowledge of tribes and their cultures as he is announcing a powwow and trying to explain tribal culture.
And because he has emceed even in Canada, he is also familiar with First Nations tribes.
He is scheduled to emcee one in Hawaii soon and has even emceed a powwow at the bottom of the Grand Canyon for the Havasupai tribe’s annual peach festival.
“It’s very unique. You have to walk in, ride in on horseback or fly in on a helicopter. I flew down, 17 minutes in a helicopter, but I have walked in before. It’s a five-hour hike from the rim to the bottom.”
He said his favorite powwow to emcee is the annual 4th of July powwow in Cherokee, N.C., because he considers the area to be his homeland. Fluent in his language, Daugherty takes the opportunity to speak Cherokee during the powwow, he said, for the Cherokee people in attendance.
The largest powwow he said he has ever emceed is the United Tribes Powwow in Bismarck, N.D., with its 43 drum groups and 1,200 dancers, including dancers from Canada.
“Grand entry will take almost an hour,” he said.
His favorite small powwow is the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians Powwow held annually in Tahlequah, Okla., during October.
“It’s just a good feeling, a good time there in Tahlequah,” he said.
He said emceeing a smaller powwow usually requires more adlibbing and talking because there are only one or two drum groups to keep the music going and not as many dancers.
So, he fills airtime and keeps the crowd occupied and to give the drummers and dancers a break.
It’s much easier to emcee a large powwow even though there’s a lot more going on, Daugherty said.
Because more powwows are inter-tribal today, he said, they are easier to announce. In “older days” he said when a tribe hosted a dance it was usually to commemorate an event in the tribe’s history or to honor a particular aspect of their culture. The more culturally specific and ceremonial a powwow, the tougher it is to emcee, he said.
“I’ve really thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it, big ones, small ones, medium size, everywhere,” he said. “Through the years I have made some really good friends. I really treasure the friends I make. During the grand entry, I’ll be welcoming the dancers and they’ll break away from the grand entry to come up and shake my hand. That makes me feel good.”