The riveting biography of an amazing Lakota musician,
                   August 9, 2006, by Carol Volk

"Hidden Heritage: The Story of Paul LaRoche" is the riveting biography of an amazing Lakota musician who only discovered his native American origin as an adult. Paul LaRoche (whose adoptive surname was Summers) has founded an entire identity and successful career as a musician partly as a result of finding and embracing his Lakota roots. For those readers who are familiar with the award winning New-Age Native American band 'Brule', the story of Paul's adoption and upbringing in southwestern Minnesota with the subsequent discovery at age 38 that he was born to a woman of the Lakota tribe from South Dakota may be familiar. Brule is a famous band whose sound has literally paved the way for other Native American/New Age bands to find a listening audience and succeed. What "Hidden Heritage" accomplishes in addition to tracing the fascinating discovery of one man's ethnic identity and how knowledge of it changed his life is it traces the evolution of the family band, Brule. The moving moment in the book when Paul receives his Lakota name, sponsored by tribal chairman Mike Jandreau is pivotal: ""Paul has been away since he was very little. He sought and found his way back home to Lower Brule, through God's mercy. He is therefore named Advocate of the Burnt thigh.' Mike paused between sentences, relaxed and unhurried, a noticeable speech characteristic in the Native dialect. 'Put the eagle feather on... become a sacred man of God's creation. Carry the feather proudly among your people, your tribe. Represent a man of dignity, like our forefathers,' he said (p. 215)." This is exactly what follows in Paul's momentous rise with his family band Brule. He develops a new synthesis of healing music to bring two diverse cultures together so there can be peace and harmonious thinking between them, and so they may lend strength to each other. In addition to being a fine spiritual biography, "Hidden Heritage" presents a choice amount of Native American history and cultural lore to further educate the reader. Author Barbara Marshak has achieved a notable balance between perspectives, both Lakota and white, with a feeling of the reader's sharing experiences on both sides of the dialogue.