An heir taps into a spiritual heritage

Deep, pounding drums underscore the chanting of tribal names as the music of an electric guitar weaves in and out.

“Shawnee, Arapahoe, Omaha,” sings Hawk Pope, chief of the United Remnant Band of the Shawnee Nation, before breaking into a haunting, prayer-like keening.

Cellist Michael Kott, shirtless and intent, sways back and forth as his thin but sinewy arms work his instrument.

So went a rehearsal of “Hidden Heritage,” one of the opening songs of “Spirit,” a multimedia show composed by Peter Buffett, a son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

It’s the story of a distressed businessman struggling to find meaning in his life and discovering it in his American Indian ancestry.

The 90-minute show will be performed in an air-conditioned, 740-seat tent beginning Tuesday in Omaha. It will run for nearly four weeks before traveling to Milwaukee in August and to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in September.

A movie projected onto two 40-foot-high video screens helps tell the story -- accompanied by a dozen dancers -- as the main character finds himself strengthened and enriched by his culture and concerned about the welfare of all around him.

The 46-year-old, long-haired son of the world’s second-richest man plays keyboards, flanked by the drummers, guitarist, cellist Kott and a bass player.

Buffett said he wants the show to help people become more aware of American Indian culture, which honors family life, nature and a spiritual discipline based on responsibility.

“It’s the idea of taking an action and thinking about seven generations into the future,” Buffett said. “If you really did that, you wouldn’t see the things going on in corporate America, you wouldn’t see things happening in the family.

“I just felt like the country today was like a 40-year-old that wishes it had listened to its grandfather when it was 10,” Buffett said.

Buffett acknowledged his own father’s role in today’s corporate landscape, with businesses from insurance and restaurants to furniture and jewelry stores. Through Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Warren Buffett is worth an estimated $42.9 billion.

The elder Buffett is widely known for honesty and ethics in his business dealings and for closing deals with a handshake.

“My dad is about as good as you can get in what he does,” Buffett said. “He has a better worldview than most people, so I think better him than somebody else owning that stuff.”

The younger Buffett said he has been drawn to music for as long as he can remember.

“I played piano pretty much as soon as I could walk over to it and start hitting it,” Buffett said.

“I remember learning ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ at piano lessons when I was 5 or 6, and then coming home and being in a bad mood and playing ‘Yankee Doodle’ in a minor key,” he said. “Looking back, I go, ‘Wow,’ I was really trying to turn this thing around to express how I was feeling.”

Buffett has turned his love of music into a career. His credits include composing the fire dance scene in Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning 1990 movie “Dances With Wolves.” Buffett scored the music for 1995’s “500 Nations,” an eight-hour CBS miniseries produced by Costner, and composed two songs for Demi Moore’s 1995 movie “The Scarlet Letter.”

Buffett’s latest venture is the $3-million production of “Spirit,” which he composed with Pope. “Spirit” is a cultural arts program for the Rudolf Steiner Foundation and proceeds from it will be used to promote American Indian culture.

Since 1999, Buffett has concentrated more heavily on his artistic efforts and moved away from commercial projects. And yes, he has to worry about paying his bills. The elder Buffett helps his three children but refuses to carry the weight for them.