Many people who read this hook and listen to the words and music captured on the CDs will have little or no knowledge of the lives and cultures of the peoples which inspired them. Perhaps some listeners may have watched a documentary or traveled to a country where traditional dances and sons are part of a larger programme of sun and sea and good food - a hard earned rest for a year or a lifetime of work. You may think that these indigenous cultures are disappearing, eroded by the force of our own dynamic, hungry, all-encompassing global view of the future. We might feel sympathy and we might experience sadness. We should not. The peoples who tell their stories here are among the most resilient. They have endured despite the unwelcome experience of colonization and a continuing dispossession of their lands and resources. They need not our sympathy, but our understanding, respect and solidarity.

The World's indigenous peoples are enjoying a cultural and political renaissance. Increasingly, their distinctive ways of life are recognized and celebrated and their contributions to the history, cultures and sciences of the countries in which they live are being acknowledged. This is in marked contrast to twenty or thirty years ago, when most State policies were based on the premise that indigenous people would eventually be assimilated into mainstream societies. The demands by indigenous people for recognition of their right to determine their own development and futures and for land are at long last being heard if not always realized. At the United Nations there is progress also. Governments have before them a draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples which, when it is reviewed and adopted by the General Assembly, will set a framework for relations between States and indigenous people. In 1993, the World Body celebrated the international Year of the World's Indigenous People. Recently, the World Body proclaimed an international Decade of the World's Indigenous People for the years 1995 to 2004 as part of a challenge to the international community - to put an end to the disadvantage that indigenous people often face in areas such as health, housing, education and development.

As we move towards the new millennium, one welcome development is the new respect which is being accorded the voice of indigenous peoples. Their message is at long last reaching out to more people. It calls for our understanding that we are temporary guardians of the earth which we inherit from our lives. It challenges notions of homogeneity and acclaims cultural diversity. It argues above all for the right of all peoples to enjoy the freedom to choose their own future for themselves and their children.

The health of the indigenous peoples and their society is a core concern. The statistics for life expectancy, child morbidity and preventable diseases are almost universally below the average of the populations in the countries in which they live. The reasons are complex enough: bad nutrition, poverty, and the vulnerability that accompanies the breakdown of once proud and independent peoples. Modern medicine has been welcomed and indigenous people have been, on the whole, its beneficiaries. But Western drugs, medical technology and expertise have not solved the deeper problems of indigenous society nor fully restored the health of its people. As one distinguished Australian Aboriginal person has commented, "Health cannot be brought into an indigenous community on the back of a truck."

The health of indigenous peoples cannot be separated from the health of the environment or the recognition of indigenous peoples to take back control of their fixtures. Nor can health be considered apart from the wider context of indigenous culture. Sheila Watt-Cloutier of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference has stated: "Health, we can safely say, is not just the absence of disease. It is in fact a delicate balance of one's physical, emotional and spiritual well-being."

We should be grateful for the work carried out by the author and producer of "Shaman, Jhankri and Nele: Music Healers of Indigenous Cultures." She present an extraordinary World to us. The texts, the music and the words of the healers help us to comprehend the "delicate balance" that characterizes the indigenous concept of health. They are showing that there are other sciences, other ways of understanding and other ways of knowing. They are recording an important treasure and helping us to open our minds and hearts. Indigenous healers have other ways of seeing and of curing.

There is a cautionary footnote to add. As we listen and learn about the approaches to health that are taken by the different indigenous healers whose practices are reviewed in this book and CD, we would do well to recall that we are being introduced to sciences and religions often older than our own, not simply hearing folkloric tales. We are privileged listeners, for much of what is being shared is sacred and if traditional healers reveal this knowledge it is in the form of a trust.

We have often dismissed what we do not understand. In health matters, many of us have an almost blind faith in modern high-tech medicine. But the course of Western medicine is fairly well littered with quack cures which obtained comprehensive approval from the medical establishment. There is nothing sacrosanct about our modern health sciences. Nor should we forget the enormous debt which modern medicine owes to traditional healers and cures. Many of modern medical successes owe something to so-called traditional health practices. Unfortunately, and to our discredit , too often that debt goes unrecognized.

As we read and listen, we can perhaps allow our minds and hearts to open and wonder about some of the mysteries of the world and of the knowledge and visions which give its richness and diversity.

Julian Burger Ph.D. is responsible for the Indigenous Programme within the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Center for Human Rights. The Programme focuses on facilitating indigenous peoples' access to the United Nations and deepening public understanding of indigenous cultures and aspirations as well as on ensuring that their human rights are respected. He is also the secretary of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations and the Commission on Human Rights working group on the draft declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples. Julian Burger is the author of several books and many articles about indigenous peoples.