Center Records

07/21/2025

Greeting the morning sun...

07/16/2025

Celebrating 25 years since Lakota holy man, Joseph Flying Bye from the Standing Rock Reservation (1917-2000) recorded traditional songs and teachings to pass on to the future generations!
He knew as the grandchildren in the community would grow up and move on to have families of their own in other parts of the country, there would come a time when they would want to come back to learn more about their heritage and be able to sing the songs of their ancestors in their own language, while gaining a better understanding of their culture.
He also knew there would be people of all races coming together to protect the earth asking the powers of nature to open their minds and hearts to live in a better harmony with all of our living relatives, the plants, animals, flying ones and those who live in the waters, as we go through this lifetime together.
The booklets that accompany Joseph Flying Bye's CDs include lyrics in both Lakota and English to help with that learning and cultural understanding.
It is also beneficial to listen to the recordings in the original CD order, since he recorded the teachings all in one sitting in the Lakota oral tradition, imagining a group of his grandchildren, nephews and nieces would be sitting in front of him.
These traditional songs are a form of communication between spirit and ourselves, a crying in prayer to the universe to come forth to give us strength, to help others in our communities who are in need, and to uplift and encourage each other while singing together in ceremony.
Joseph Flying Bye's audio CDs are available through the following links:
CD #1 The Night is Sacred https://py.pl/1rkpbw
CD #2 Friend, Do It This Way https://py.pl/BpM6p
CD #3 Putting the Moccasins Back On https://py.pl/1mVt2W
or Order all three CDs in one order: https://py.pl/3Ii2lJvAGJT
Your purchases help us to keep our project alive.
Pilamaya yelo (thank you)

02/14/2025

HUNKPAPA LAKOTA WICASA WAKAN
Joseph Flying Bye -
Kangi Hotanka (Crow with a Loud Voice) (1921-2000).
was a pejuta wicasa (medicine man), akicita (decorated war veteran), from the Hunkpapa Lakota of the Standing Rock Reservation.
Joe Flying Bye spent much of his early years helping his blind grandfather prepare medicines and pray over sick people.
He would often lead his grandfather into town and listen to the old men talk of battles and life on the open plains.
His grandmother would also tell him creation stories at night and in these ways he became a keeper of traditional knowledge and culture. Besides his work holy man, Joseph Flying Bye was an accomplished pipe maker, singer, traditional pow-wow dancer, and bead worker. He enjoyed his many visitors from all over the world and if you stopped by his house you would often find him working on a beaded staff or carving a pipe stone or stem.
He would stop and tell you a story (usually a humorous one as it was traditional to start with light conversation before talking about the more serious matters that he would advise on), and during the course of your visit one or two other people might stop by with gifts of thanks or just to say hello.Lakota was Joe Flying Bye's first language and it was rare that you would hear him speak English in a public address.
He felt that in order for the Lakota culture to stay alive the people must speak their own language as a community.
He was very concerned that the younger people were not interested in learning their own language.
He knew that when they got older they would be looking for these things and we would need some elders to speak directly to them in their own language and frame of mind rather than getting information from historians after the fact.
Along with Pete Catches Sr, Joe helped bring back the Sundance to the Standing Rock reservation in the 1970's.
-CENTER RECORDS
“The Greatest thing that we need to do is to remember the Great Spirit, every day and every night,” Flying Bye asserts, “
Every chance we get, we need to pray that the Family will stand.”
“Every chance we get, we need to honor our relatives, to talk with our relatives,”
he states, “We need to learn our language and our ways and be happy with that.
” PUTTING THE MOCCASINS BACK ON.
“When you pray, you end the prayer with all my relations, not only your human relations, but your animal relations.
” Further, “
That is the power that the Grandfathers are talking about, but there are no Grandfathers they are all in the spirit realm, and so our young people get lost.”
Putting the moccasins back on, literally and figuratively, represents a return to the culture and traditions because,
“we have to go back to our own ways of life because we are on the wrong ways of life, we are walking the wrong directions.”
The antidote to spiritual and societal sickness is to “go back to the ways of life that we used to walk, we need to live with the values we had, this doesn’t mean living in tipis and going back to hunting buffalo but to come together in a more traditional and spiritual way like we used to.”
“I pray to Grandfather to help us.
I pray with the sacred things that I am talking about.
He will answer me, Sun Dreamer will help.
My prayers will be answered,” Flying Bye reflects.
He encourages us to pray since,
“If you do these things, if you remember these things, then you will have life. Always remember to say a prayer.”
Channeling the wisdom of his Grandfather Flying Running, Flying Bye called to the youth to return to the culture to return to that “good way of life”.
“Put your moccasins back on.”
“Think about it.
Then you can honor your relatives and know where you come from.”
“In this modern time you have to do your best yourself.
That’s your answer to “What is life?
” You must do it yourself, your doing, your thinking.
The answers to the meaning of life are inside you.”
- JOE FLYING BYE
Photo credit: Don Doll

04/26/2020

2020 marks 20 years since Lakota holy man Joseph Flying Bye passed into the spirit world. He is remembered fondly as a kind grandfather and caring spiritual leader among the Lakota nation, always teaching the upcoming generations at the drum and at social gatherings. His recordings include traditional ceremonial songs and teachings in both Lakota and English, with translations to aid in learning the language and meaning of the songs. To order please visit: www.centerrecords.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji9mhjN2_y0

04/28/2019

Lakota holy man, Joseph Flying Bye from the Standing Rock Reservation, recorded traditional songs and teachings near the end of his life with us, to pass on to the future generations. He knew as the grandchildren in the community would grow up and move on to have families of thier own in other parts of the country, there would come a time when they would want to come back to learn more about their heritage and be able to sing the songs of their ancestors in their own language, while gaining a better understanding of their language and culture. He also knew there would be people of all races coming together to protect the earth while, asking the powers of nature to open their minds and hearts to live in a better harmony with all of our living relatives, the plants, animals, flying ones and those who live in the waters, as we go through this earthlife dance together. The booklets that accompany Joseph Flying Bye's CDs include lyrics in both Lakota and English to help with that learning and cultural understanding as our families intermingle through marriage and our new generations come forward. It is also beneficial to listen to the recordings in the original CD order, since he recorded the teachings all in one sitting in the Lakota oral tradition, imagining a group of his grandchildren, nephews and nieces would be sitting in front of him. The songs are a form of communication between spirit and ourselves, a crying in prayer (cewakiye) to the universe and listening for answers to come forth to give us strength to help others in our communities who are in need, and to uplift and encourage each other while singing together in ceremony. A true gift from our ancestors.
To order CDs using Paypal:
CD #1 The Night is Sacred https://py.pl/1rkpbw
CD #2 Friend, Do It This Way https://py.pl/BpM6p
CD #3 Putting the Moccasins Back On https://py.pl/1mVt2W
For more information about Joseph Flying Bye's recordings please visit: http://centerrecords.com/

02/10/2019

Lakota Sundance Song: "I am the morning sun that brings light into this world, look at me, know me, that I may light your path and bring you out of the darkness."
In this early morning Lakota sun dance song, the singers at the drum are the voice for the sun, just as it is coming over the horizon. Dancing in place at the east gate of the arbor, the sun dancers, blowing on eagle bone whistles with arms raised to greet the rising sun, receive the light and wisdom as it comes over the sacred butte and streams across the prairie grass to meet them.
Joseph Flying Bye, a Lakota Holy Man from Standing Rock teaches the future generations in his recording "Putting the Moccasins Back On, Walking the Red Road to Another Life".
To learn more about Joseph Flying Bye's recordings visit: http://centerrecords.com/

11/23/2017

“We were under care of the Great Spirit, so we passed through the night into another day, so we are thankful. We say thank you…”

Joseph Flying Bye - Friend, Do It This Way, an Interpretation of the Pipe Filling Song. Track 2: Remember Who is Greater Above

In his final years, Lakota Holy Man, Joseph Flying Bye recorded songs and teachings for the future generations. These recordings are best listened to in their entirety for learning the songs and continuity. This is only a small portion of a longer recording which is available through Center Records. www.centerrecords.com

03/11/2017

Allen Flying By from Standing Rock Reservation speaking at the 2016 Native American Music Awards in Salamanca, New York, thanking the many nations for their support of the water protectors. Allen's father, Holy Man Joseph Flying Bye, Received Two Nominations in the 2016 Native American Music Awards for Best Traditional Recording and for Best Historical Linguistic Recording. If you would like to support our project of preserving the oral teachings of this respected Lakota elder, please purchase CDs or digital downloads from our official site at: www.centerrecords.com
or visit http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/josephflyingbye
Your purchases will help us to keep this project of Lakota songs and teachings alive for the future generations.
Pilamaya (thank you)

07/02/2016

Joseph Flying Bye, Putting the Moccasins Back On - Walking the Red Road to Another Life. Lakota ceremonial songs and teachings from the Standing Rock Reservation.

In the fall of 1999, Joseph Flying Bye decided to start recording songs and teachings of the Lakota ceremonial pipe, to leave behind for the following generations an understanding of how important the sacred pipe is to their spiritual path in this life, and to encourage them to walk in the way of a traditional pipe carrier.

Joseph Flying Bye was raised in a family of traditional medicine people. He was both a pejuta wicasa (medicine man) knowing how to use the plants and herbs that grew wild in the surrounding area, and also a wakan wicasa (holy man), being given the gift of a personal ceremony from the spirits to be used for healing others.

Concerned about the younger generations losing their native language, Joseph Flying Bye speaks in both Lakota and English to encourage them to learn not only the words, but also to open their minds to the Lakota way of thinking, opening to spiritual communications or reception of spiritual imagery that contain an even deeper level of understanding beyond what words can convey.

Joseph Flying Bye held a Lakota sun dance for 28 years just outside of the Little Eagle, South Dakota with the help of his extended family, the Hunkpapa tribal community, visitors from around the globe and singers from many neighboring reservations all the way west to Vancouver and up into Canada where their ancestors had fled with Sitting Bull in the late 1800s. Many elders came each year to share knowledge and teaching around the drum circle, the fire pit and in the sweat lodges, as well as in public address around the arbor and cook shack areas after the fasting and ceremony was over and the feasting began.

Putting the Moccasins Back On - Walking the Red Road to Another Life, is the third recording in this series released so far. The recording starts with a spirit calling song to call in his ancestor Wi Ihanble (Sun Dreamer) and you can tell by the pacing of his voice that Joseph Flying Bye is both listening to his Grandfather and translating at the same time. His intention was that he would bring forward words and imagery that would help to guide and inspire people of the future, who would be looking for ways to connect with their spiritual life in a personal way, for the highest good of all our relatives in this universe.

Joseph Flying Bye has two previous recordings available: The Night is Sacred and Friend Do It This Way, both available through
Center Records at http://www.centerrecords.com/ .
Joseph Flying Bye passed into the spirit world during June of 2000, leaving behind this gift of songs and words as a well trodden trail for the future generations to follow, just as his ancestors had set the Good Red Road before him.

Mitakuye Oyasin, hetchetu welo
(All are my relatives, that is so)

To learn more about Joseph Flying Byes recordings visit: http://centerrecords.com/

12/27/2015

Joseph Flying Bye, discussing the teachings behind the ceremonial Pipe Filling Song in his recording Friend, Do It This Way, "The fourth stanza of the song says, ...raise your hand. You are to ask, ...and using your hand. You are doing things with your hand. You cannot just leave your hand and do things, …no you can’t, you have to use it. But your hands have to be pure, not doing any evil ways with your hands. Clean your hands and raise to God (Wakan Tanka kin yugata yo), and that is good. He will see your good clean hand. He’s gonna touch you and take you. Help you to be more, …give you more power to be a teacher, if you want to be a teacher. So what you are going to be. If you want to be a healer, a medicine man, that’s even good. You work with the plants that the Great Spirit have planted since the beginning of time. These are the plants that in time, that it will be used as a medicine. If there is sickness, they are going to use this. In a dream, somebody will tell you, ...that plant is good for that purpose. That’s how the medicine people know how to use the plants. From your top of your head to the soul of your feet, there are medicines. So understand, somebody is giving us all this. Young people…Takoja hena wanyankapo…grandchildren look at these things. Someone is giving you many things, remember him and believe in him."
For more information about Joseph Flying Bye's recordings of traditional Lakota songs and teachings, please visit: http://www.centerrecords.com/

10/20/2015

Here is an audio sample of the introduction of Joseph Flying Bye's first recording, The Night is Sacred, available through www.centerrecords.com : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2dRXeGExtI

Center Records presents Lakota ceremonial songs and teachings by Native American medicine man, respected elder and spiritual healer, Joseph Flying Bye.

09/20/2015

Joseph Flying Bye, Lakota Holy Man from Standing Rock, speaking about how the sacred pipe came to the Lakota people in his recording The Night is Sacred: "The pipe was created from the Star Nation beyond heaven. First the Star People came to earth, among the Lakota Nation...so the grandmothers and grandfathers started having dreams, dreaming about things they never knew before, but they were in a dream, and it became true later. The Star Nation have sent this sacred pipe to us in the world here below, so now it is useful, now it is in use. Under the sacred pipe I will try to do my best to tell you the sacredness of yesterday. The Eagle Nation (Wambli Oyate) was asked. They told them to bring the pipe down below because there were people in the world that need to know God (Wakan Tanka)...the Star Nation that brought the sacred pipe to earth, and in hand, in the power of the Buffalo Nation, that was given to the people, that these people (Tatanka Oyate) will have to deliver this." For more information about Joseph Flying Bye's recordings of Lakota songs and teachings visit: http://www.centerrecords.com/ or www.cdbaby.com/m/CD/jflyingbye1