NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC
Anasazi ‘palace’ near Mesa Verde, CO built c. 11th century Cherokee women photographed by Edward Curtis c. 1927 Hopewell Exchange System spreads cultural practices and material goods via eastern waterways c. 200- 500 BC
American Indian Boarding Schools ★ 1879: Civil War vet Henry Pratt founds “Carlisle Industrial Indian School” in PA to assimilate native cultures. ★ Becomes basis for Indian Boarding Schools across country in 20th century. ★ “[We must] kill the Indian... to save the man”
The Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools
★ Cultural genocide ★ Sexual Abuse ★ Depression ★ Rampant substance abuse ★ Poverty Ghost Dance ★ Wovoka, late 19th century prophet of Paiute people, leads new religious movement throughout plains ★ Dancing/singing Ghost Dance would prepare followers for afterlife. ★ Spreads amongst numerous tribes in plains region ★ Souix ascribe militaristic visions to Ghost Dance ★ Ghost Dance movement dwindles after Wounded ★ Popularity of dance across plains brings federally Knee, but begins new precedent for inter-tribal enforced ban culture. ★ Tensions escalate, culminate in Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 Inter-Tribal Culture / Pan-Indianism ★ Pow-Wow main secular inter-tribal event ★ ‘Pow-Wow’ historically an Algonquin designation but now pan-Indian in application. ★ Disputes regarding when/where first held, but likely in Oklahoma region
Pow-Wow Music and Dance ★ Pow-Wow dance/song often descend from Great Plains regions ★ Drumming by Men ★ Gender of singing and dancing varies according to specific song/dance ★ Music, dance, gender, and regalia often specifically grouped together ★ Dancing often surrounds drummers/singers Gourd Dance ★ Simple dance characterized by slight flexing of the knees and bouncing on heels ★ More inclusive dance ★ ‘Gourd’ refers to rattles
- Oklahoma City Pow-Wow, 2011 - Grass Dance ★ Warrior dance of Northern Plains. ★ More active, traditionally danced by younger men proven in battle, but now some women join. ★ Frilled regalia evokes prairie grass ★ Sometimes danced competitively, incentivizing preservation via pride and cash prizes Fancy Dance ★ Faster dance in ornate feather regalia ★ Irregular drumming patterns ★ Likely invented during 20s- 30s when most trad. Native dancing outlawed ★ Likely influenced by ‘Wild West Shows’ as discussed in Ellis reading. ★ “Pan-Indianism [is] the process by which certain American Indian groups are losing their tribal distinctiveness and in its place are developing a generalized, nontribal ‘Indian’ culture...The result is a homogeneity in Pan-Indian pow-wows approaching that of Howard Johnson restaurants or McDonald hamburger outlets.” James H. Howard, 1983
★ “Pow-wows are indeed often compelling expressions of unity and cultural perseverance...an event that mediates the place and meaning of change.” Clyde Ellis, 1999 ★ Do cultural expressions have to be unchanging to remain expressive, powerful, and effective? ★ Must culture be defined as something rooted in the past? ★ Must culture be defined as something that stays in one place? ★ Must culture be thought of as something ‘pure’? Tohono O’odham ★ ‘Desert People’ ★ Second largest reservation in US ★ Lived in S. Arizona, N. Sonora, Mex. since pre-history
Pre-contact music ★ Songs accompanied by rattles, basket-drums, and dancing ★ Songs often perform ritual function ○ Chelkona dance summons rain ○ Songs for hunt: songs convince animals to consent to being killed ○ Songs for helping crops ★ Still performed for sacred functions and for educating youth of heritage Chelkona Dance Song Spanish Settlement ★ 1540, Spanish explore Arizona ★ 1687, Settlement in O’ odham lands begins with Father Eusabio Kino ★ San Xavier mission still stands in SW Tucson Missionary Era Music ★ Music encouraged attendance in missions, and conversion amongst natives ★ O’odham trained on violin for use in services ★ O’odham brought new instruments/skills into village for social music European Dances ★ Mid-19th century brings wave of Germans and Czech immigrants influential to music in region ★ Tohono O’odham adopt instrumental dance styles for social events ★ Utilize missionary instruments ○ 2 violins ○ Guitar ○ Bass Drum O’odham string bands often feature 2 violins that play ○ Snare Drum a doubled melody
German & Czech Influence Listen for similarity of melody at very beginning of each example
A Texas-Czech Polka A Tohono O’odham from 1920s Polka Dance Styles Two Steps in 2/4, slower Pinto Bean Two-Step
Polkas, in 2/4, Fast Hohokam Polka
Mazurkas in 3/4
Libby Bird Song Mazurka Twin Melody ★ A melody played on one instrument, accompanied by a second instrument harmonizing that melody note-for-note ○ or: two instruments playing different pitches moving in parallel motion
Libby Bird Song Mazurka
Listen again for twin melody played by two fiddles Evolution into Waila/Chicken Scratch ★ Music education included in ‘Americanization’ of Boarding Schools ★ Marching bands introduce saxophone to O’odham ★ 1950s electric guitar, drumkit ★ Old repertoire with new instrumentation becomes known as Waila or ‘Chicken Scratch’ The Joaquin Brothers play a Polka Growing influence of Norteño
★ Norteño - working class music of Mexico’s northern states ★ Modern Waila/Chicken Scratch bands now incorporate accordion and bajo sexto Summary ★ Indian Boarding Schools & Cultural Genocide ★ Ghost Dance ★ Inter-Tribal Culture & Pow-Wows ○ Dance and Song forms ○ Wild West Shows ○ Different opinions of their value ★ Tohono O’odham ○ Music before European contact ○ Influence of Spanish missions ○ Influence of German/Czech Immigrants ○ Influence of American Boarding Schools ○ Influence of Mexican Norteño music ○ Different dance forms