Viewers at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival are guaranteed goosebumps at the screening of the film "Smoke Signals" by award-winning filmmaker Chris Eyre (Cheyenne-Arapaho). Ulali, the a cappella singing trio comprised of Pura Fe (Tuscarora), Soni (Mayan, Apache, Yaqui), and Jennifer (Tuscarora), will perform their newest song "Wahjeeleh-Yihm," translated by Lawrence Dunmore (Saponi) as "I Carry You" in the Tutelo-Saponi language. Ulali composed the song for the new film based on Sherman Alexie's (Spokane) story "This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, AZ."

The first-ever performance of the song will be featured in a 30-minute set Ulali will perform prior to the screening of the film, one of only 16 films selected for Sundance's dramatic competition this year, which will be held Jan. 15 - 25 in Park City, Utah.

"This film will open so many doors for a lot of Indian writers, directors, actors, and producers," Soni said. "I believe it will also open a lot of minds in non-Native audiences. This is major step in the Indian movement into the mainstream film industry. "Straight off the road from the Indigo Girls' "Honor the Earth" tour, Ulali went into the studio, where they locked themselves for two days to compose the song.

"We wrote the song right there in the studio as we watched the film," Soni said of the song which is heard in the last scene of the film. "Language is such a big part of our music, we felt we must acknowledge the action and context of the film and put that into language."

Ulali's songs, accompanied by drums and rattles, draw on an eclectic mix of southeastern musical styles, Plains and northeastern Indian phrasing, Mexican Indian musical forms and tunes, as well as vocal mixes and riffs from jazz, gospel, and blues. Their music has been heard around the world as they shared the bill with Bonnie Raitt, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Floyd Westerman, John Trudell, Sting, Richie Havens, The B-52s, Jackson Browne, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Cyril Neville. Although their song "Mother" was featured in last year's Sundance entry "Follow Me Home," this marks the first time the group has made the trip to northern Utah for the festival. Soni said she is uncertain of the Sundance audience. Generally, Ulali doesn't sing from a premeditated song list, opting instead to let the audience inspire them. But an audience unfamiliar with Ulali's music or other Indigenous music might make inspiration difficult. "Chris (Eyre) said we will go in to Sundance as a posse--united nations to take a stand," Soni said. "I want to feel that unity. And going in as a posse makes me feel strong and proud."