Sidney Toppah Sr. brings generations of Kiowa songs to Ceremonial
Special to the Times | Sharon Chischilly
Sidney Toppah Jr., left, Sidney Toppah Sr., center, and Skylar Toppah sing and drum during the powwow Saturday night at Red Rock Park.
CHURCH ROCK, N.M.
The songs Sidney Toppah Sr. sang at the 104th annual Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial were not written for the occasion.
Some of them, he said, reach back to the beginning of Kiowa memory, and at least one belonged to a chief who led his people in the 1800s.
“We come from a man, Lone Wolf,” Toppah said, seated at the drum with his sons and relatives. “That’s how far back it goes.”
Toppah, a Kiowa citizen who was born and raised in Carnegie, Oklahoma, and now lives in Wichita, Kansas, was at the Ceremonial for only the second time. He recently became a headsman and vice president of the Kiowa Gourd Clan, the society that brought its singers to lead the gourd dance portion of the event.
He stepped into the role after the death of his uncle, Joe Fish DuPont, a singer and mentor who held the vice presidency and cared for the drums before him.
To read the full article, please see the Aug. 13, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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