Who is Chiovari/Afendoulis? well it’s an interesting story.
Peter Afendoulis hails from Northeast England and is a folk singer/songwriter who released his first album in 1978.
On that album was a song called “Indian Twilight” and Peter says what inspired him to write that song was he had just finished reading the book “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” and felt such a strong emotional connection to the history of what happened to the Native Americans that he wrote this song.
As often happens Peter’s album was limited production and was not heard by many (you can still find a rare vinyl LP for sale).
Fast forward now to 2009. Joe Chiovari is an unknown American singer songwriter with no official releases but with considerable talent both as a writer and guitar player. I came to know both Peter and Joe through a guitar forum. This particular forum had an active group of songwriters that shared songs and collaborated.
Peter shared his song Indian Twilight with the group and when Joe Chiovari heard the song he was floored. He asked Peter if he could take his lyrics and put his own music to them and Peter agreed. So in December 2009 Joe Chiovari recorded and shared his version of the song. That is when I first heard it and now i was blown away by what I heard. As time passed the song got forgotten and buried in the guitar forum. So recently I convinced Joe Chiovari to release the song as a video and let the world hear and see the song and experience it.
And so that is what we have hear. A video that uses actual photographs from the time of the Indian Wars including several photos of Wounded Knee. It is a fascinating and sad but true song. I felt the song with my soul. The Wounded Knee Museum saw the video and is going to add it to their collection. Through this song I have learned so much about what really happened to the Native American peoples. It caused me to do research on that time and on Wounded Knee in particular. It is a very powerful song and reminder and certainly a song that needs to be heard and felt. I am glad it is finally seeing the light of day. Songs like this should not be lost:
