Native American Day singer is Ellsbury's cousin

BOSTON, Mass., April 17, 2008

It hit her at the end of the national anthem, which started with her lone voice echoing in dulcet falsetto throughout Fenway Park and ended with the Boston masses singing along.

That was when Shawna Allison Becenti felt the culmination of weeks of preparation.

When she finished the anthem to the deafening cheers of the baseball fans, Becenti reflexively threw her arms up with a simple, victorious, "Yes!"

"I did hear them sing along, but I was too concentrated on doing a good job," Becenti said. "When I heard them cheer it was a major relief."

Becenti then made her way to her seat, just behind home plate in the historic baseball stadium. She was barraged with hearty compliments and high-fives from all directions.

Before the national anthem, Becenti sang the Navajo Nation flag song, which was also met with rumbling cheers from the stands.

Becenti sang prior to the April 11 game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, which ... yeah, it featured the best-known rivalry in Major League Baseball.

But it was also Native American Day at Fenway. A chance to show New England exactly what it means to be Navajo.

"I'm going to be giving them a taste of our language," Becenti said before Friday's performance. "I want to give them a sense of the rhythm and symbolism of our culture in music."

She lamented that she wouldn't be able to explain the flag song lyrics to the crowd, which would have added useful perspective, Becenti said. She'd like to translate and explain the significance of the imagery, the rainbow and cornstalks.

Instead, time constraints meant she quickly had to follow up the flag song with "The Star Spangled Banner."

Becenti was supposed to sing the latter in Navajo. This could have better introduced the Boston crowds to the language, as they already know the song. However, Becenti was told on game day to sing the national anthem in English, but she could also sing the Navajo flag song, which is in Navajo.

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"It worked out," she said. "The flag song gives more of a feel of our culture."

Becenti, 32, is the athletic director at Navajo Preparatory School in Farmington. She is also cousin to Jacoby Ellsbury, the Boston Red Sox outfielder. However, he had little to do with her gig as Fenway's tribal ambassador.

Becenti's name came up at the end of a trail of research by Red Sox management for a national anthem singer. They first contacted the Colorado River Indian Tribes, where Ellsbury is an enrolled member.

YouTube video of Shawna Allison Becenti singing the national anthem at Fenway Park in Boston.

The community then notified its adopted member Emily McCabe Allison, who in turn reached her daughter Shawna, an independent recording artist.

Native American Day at Fenway came at the end of culture week for the Red Sox. Earlier in the week the team celebrated Japanese and Dominican cultures.

"We're spending the week recognizing the cultures that our players come from," explained Julia Glazer, a Fenway ambassador.

In essence, Native American Day was designed specifically for Jacoby Ellsbury.

"It's good to see Native culture represented here in Fenway," Ellsbury said. "There is a lot of history here. It's special and sweet."

His family indeed meant to represent. More than 30 family members flew into Boston over the weekend, including Ellsbury's parents. However, none had yet spoken with the outfielder after two days there.

"He's in the middle of the season," Becenti said. "The last thing we want him to worry about is his family getting into the game."

The family did meet up with Ellsbury following Saturday's rainy game, at an upscale restaurant that featured bowling. They had use of a private bowling room and great food.

"We really got the star treatment for sure," Becenti recalled.

Of course, this was long after the stressful moments leading up to her performance Friday before the first in a three-game series that ended Sunday.

Prior to the game she was constantly on the phone, making sure that she had Native American ROTC students from Harvard University ready to post the flags of the Navajo Nation and Colorado River Indian Tribes.

The stress intensified the day before, as Becenti was boarding the plane leaving Albuquerque. That's when she realized she forgot to pack the tribal flags. She immediately called her assistant at Navajo Prep and arranged to have the flags sent via overnight delivery.

"FedEx saved my life," she said.

Just before her performance, Ellsbury approached Becenti. It was the first time the cousins had seen each other in about two years. She told him where the family was sitting. He wished her luck.

Becenti has got a voice, and is familiar with singing before small crowds, but singing before a crowd of 37,000 was a different affair altogether.

"I just wanted to make sure I was singing the right words," she said. "Even though most of the people didn't know the words, I wanted to make sure I got it right."

At the end of her performance, Ellsbury congratulated her.

"He said he hadn't heard that song before," she said.

Becenti is currently working on her first CD release, "Let's Dance," and says she sings mostly traditional Navajo songs, upbeat, social tunes.