The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians will host Singing the Birds: Bird Song and Dance Festival on January 30, 2027, at Palm Springs High School. Bird singing and a Native American market are set to run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the day is open to the public.
Tribal Chairman Jeff Grubbe cast the gathering as a way to keep a living tradition in public earshot. In a statement reported by MyNewsLA, he said the festival “provides an opportunity to share these traditions with the community, honor the generations who have sung the songs and have preserved them, and ensure that our songs and cultural teachings continue to be heard and carried forward.”
A Full Day At The High School
MyNewsLA places the festival at 2401 E. Baristo Road. The tribe’s events page lists Palm Springs High School at 2401 E Baristo Rd, Palm Springs, CA 92262, and that is where festival information is posted.
The 2027 reporting names bird singing and a Native American market. Earlier editions of the same annual gathering have filled those hours with a wider public program. KESQ described the 2026 festival as an annual event at the high school, again from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. A News from Native California listing for that year scheduled bird singing and dancing throughout the day, along with a Native American market and food vendors.
The Coachella Valley Independent reported that the 2025 festival was open to the public and free of charge with registration, and that it included a Native American market and food vendors. Those are details of prior years, not a 2027 price, lineup, or vendor list.
Songs That Carry A Migration
Officials told MyNewsLA that bird songs carry stories, teachings, history, and cultural knowledge from generation to generation. The festival, in the tribe’s framing, celebrates that heritage rather than staging it as a one-off concert.
Palm Springs Life has described Cahuilla bird songs as recounting the tribe’s migration story and the lessons learned along the way. Traditionally, that body of song numbers more than 300. A market can sit beside the singing; the songs are the through-line.
A Practice That Nearly Went Quiet
Palm Springs Life reports that bird singing nearly disappeared in the mid-20th century, then saw a resurgence in the 1980s led by elders mentoring younger singers. The festival’s public pitch sits on that recovery: songs preserved by earlier generations, taught forward, and heard outside the circle that kept them.
A LAist profile described bird singing as having come close to extinction. Michael Mirelez told LAist, “On my reservation there was none of the culture that was left. There were no cultural events.” The same profile reported that he was mentoring younger bird singers, including Daniel Vega, who was eight at the time.
An Annual Gathering, And A Tourism Nod
Organizers told MyNewsLA that Singing the Birds was nationally recognized as the best musical experience of the year by the American Indigenous Tourism Association. The report attributes that recognition to organizers and does not attach it to a named award year.
What the current announcement does fix is the next date on a calendar the tribe has already been keeping at the same school. On January 30, 2027, Singing the Birds is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Palm Springs High School, open to the public, with bird singing and a Native American market.
