Prior to Thanksgiving, I searched for Native American music via my library’s electronic resources such as Hoopla and Freegal. The Songs and Dances of the Sioux, Apache, Kiowa, Hopi, Navajo, Cree, Seminole, and Others is the most traditional album I had found. If your local library has an account with Hoopla, you can use your library card information to create an account and borrow this album as well as e-books, e-audiobooks, and e-videos of movies and television shows.
The music must be very old, because I heard clicks and pops as though the songs were originally recorded onto vinyl records or some other antiquated recording and audio device. In the Sioux’s Sun Dance song, it sounds as though there are echoes; perhaps, the song and dance were performed and recorded indoors. Also, the songs seems to be excerpts of longer songs, lasting less than three minutes each.
Many songs uses drums and vocals or are sung without percussion. At least two songs, the Sioux’s Love Song and the Winnebago’s Morning Song, uses flutes. The Slavey’s Fiddle Dance Song sounded like the musician or musicians used a fiddle to play a square dance song. Traditional and non-traditional music styles and instruments can be research topic for students. Without a video of the performers, it is hard to tell what instruments are used. In the Navajo’s Silversmith Song, it sounds like a metal tool hitting a rock to create a beat. In the Kwakiutl-Nootka’s songs, Wolf Song and Hamatsa Song, it sounds as though only a stick is used to create a beat without a drum. Also, the Kwakiutl-Nootka’s Potlatch Song sounds as though the singer is creating a beat by tapping his own leg. You will have to listen to the album and decide for yourselves, because I am not sure.
Most of the songs are sung by men. In the Kiowa’s Buffalo Dance Song, the Plains Cree’s WWII Song, the Apache’s Church Song, and Chesterfield Inlet’s His First Hunt song, a single man would began singing and then other men will join in. Many songs are sung by a single man or a single woman. In the Slavey’s Religious Song, the Cayuga-Toleto’s Corn Dance, and the Orondaga-Tuscarora’s Stomp Dance, it sounds as though only one man is singing. In the Zuni’s Lullaby song and Rain Dance song, Navajo’s Corn Grinding Song, Apache’s Children’s Song, and the Winnebago’s Song of the Unfaithful Woman, it sounds as though only one woman is singing.
Two songs by the Ojiba, Oh Mary and Catholic Hymn, may indicate from their titles that the Ojiba had been converted to Catholicism. If you are a student researching the Christianization of Native Americans, you can conduct research on the Ojiba and list this album in your bibliography of sources.
I do not know the languages used in these songs and what they mean, but these songs are valuable historic artifacts as immigrants have assimilated many Native Americans or outright kidnapped Native American children from their parents in order to destroy continuity of culture and identity, essentially committing genocide without killing the victims. Of the Native American albums I had perused on Hoopla and Freegal prior to Thanksgiving, this is the only one that I found that sounds mostly traditional or the least tainted by foreign influences. Yet, I am not an ethnomusicologist to know the exact differences in musical styles and traditional instruments. You may be able to find other traditional Native American music on Hoopla and Freegal. If you do, please share your findings in the comments section.
I highly recommend this album for students and teachers as a launch pad for library research. What instruments were used by Native Americans prior to immigration? How did immigration and foreign religions change traditional Native American musical styles and songs? The Assinboine’s Warrior Death Song for Sitting Bull begs the question as to whether this song is unique for Sitting Bull’s death or is sung for every warrior, who dies. The WWII Song by the Plains Cree begs to question as to how many Plains Cree fought in WWII in order to invent a new Native American song for that war. How did WWII impact Native Americans? The variety of songs on this album can inspire numerous research topics for students and class discussions and lectures for teachers and professors.
Reference
Native Americans. Songs and Dances of The Sioux, Apache, Kiowa, Hopi, Navajo, Cree, Seminole and Others. Unlimited Media, 2014. E-music. Web. Hoopla. 20 November 2017.
Links:
Hopi Butterfly Dance at First Mesa 2017 on YouTube
The Sundance Ceremony on YouTube
Native American-Sun Dance on YouTube
Copyright © 2018 www.landofbooksandhoney.com. All rights reserved.
Pingback: hydroxychloroquine generic names