| Show aboriginal LYRICS in 6 party of young folks chatting pleasantly on current topics last even ing incidental mention was made of the concerts to be given in the tabernacle next wednesday when english german Fren Frenc chand liand vocalists of other nationalities will wi I 1 I 1 warble songs in their own language yes yee said bald one of the party there will be one feature novel to a good many people that will be a band of indians indiana singing ringing in their native language and lancing dancing in their own peculiar fashion do indiana really siness sing inquired one 1 I never dever heard that they knew anything of music why responded another youve heard of indian war songs songe and death I 1 am sure oh yes yee many times but have always thought of them as aa a sort of whooping or wailing but I 1 co comprehend m that tb the e savages b bad ad any ideson idea of time or ar tune 10 but they lave not much of tune to be sure from our standpoint but of their precision in time there can be no complaint I 1 remember well the first time I 1 listened to indian music in a camp of about two hundred utes who had set up their wic wicki klups ups in the fifth ward west of fifth west street and just across mill creek which then ran through S alt it lake city on its way to the jordan that was more than quarter of a century ago A number of boys from 8 ato lo 10 12 years of age who found occasional employment in the dobie isoble yard 21 wandered over to the indian village one summer afternoon the body of the aborigines who had spent the greater portion of the day in begging expeditions up town ahad had returned and partaken partaker par taken of such food as aa they had bad gathered we wandered around looking at whatever aroused our curiosity and finally came up to where forty or fifty Indi indians atis were seated in a group listening to a native band of vocalists and instrumental iota for there were both A large laree well built and healthy looking young oung y warrior sat in front of the entrance to a wl calup between his knees kriech was a drum made of a sheepskin drawn tightly over overa a hoop he had one drumstick drum stick the bulb or head bead of which was of raw hide und from the sound made seemed to be hollow and to contain a few pebbles cobbles so as to form a sort of rattle next to him sat eat another bucks buck with two sticks of some hard wood about 18 inches long acdan and an inch in diameter at the thick part and tapering to a point beyond this was waa another young kanand next to him hemsat sat still another the latter having a kind of flute auto or whistle was open at both ends and had three or four holes for fingering on the other side aide of the indian with the drum and who appeared to be the leader were four or five squads squaws sp or women without in st tiong song after song was tendered rendered by this band mostly in concert sometimes one of the squaws squads would sing a verse alone and the rest would unite in the chorus occasionally accompanied by some of the spectators spectator but as a rule these refrained from joining in the tune was on three notes or four at the most meet the variations being in the volume of sound rather than the tone the choruses were regular and were sung in the highest strains of the voice the music was weird and strange sometimes low bind and plaintive and again wild and loud the indian who manipulated the whistle modulated to suit the ocOa occasion Sion the not unmusical sound sent forth the notes being sharp and shrill or low and sweet as the song demanded he of the sticks sometimes beat them on each other sometimes on the ground or on hie bla blanket while the leader tapped gently on his drum or pounded away with all his hie might accordingly as the voices were soft or loud the mens voices sounded founded somewhat harsh as aa they grunted out their notes but those of the women were rich and musical in the choruses and whenever the instruments were used all of the band joined in the song and the hi yen ah he ha ha ah ah ha iko ho oh oh oh hf 2 yen ai ah I 1 which followed every verse of every song was amuil amusing ng if not according to the strict rules of harmony as we know them the words wards sung we could not act understand but some of them seemed to be impromptu while others were familiar to all the native hearers but new or old there was no break down in any vocal effort this Is IH not however all there is of indian music jewish history in forms us that jubal was we father of all such as handle the harp and organ and he was probably the first to reduce music to rules but harmonious vocalism is as common among all the races as are the utterances of speech by the vocal organs the american indian is naturally musical between him and the races of the old world there occurs lo in the art of singing the same coincidence that is found in various other respects the rendering of psalms as a manifestation of devotion characterized the jews from the earliest period of their existence and so the like custom of singing on devotional occasions and for the purposes of praises and fidelity to the Great Spirit prevailed among theamer loan indian tribes their prayers and praises at all religious feasts and ceremonies were addressed to superior beings in songs As with civilized people now this singing flinging was ascom accompanied palled with the utterance of words set to peculiar in music I 1 there were songs for feasts aad dances for festive or solemn occasions of the latter class Is the noted death song which every indian sings when warned of approaching ng death or when oon convinced vinced that the end and of his mortal career to Is at band so bo also there are stated songs for each important undertaking in war or peace these effa eione whatever purpose they are adapted to usually consist of ft a few short hort phra phrases es which are many times repeated xua thus dwelling long and frequently on tho the same idea indian poetry I 1 to is the language of excitement and the expression of passion rhyme and measure are lacking jacking but the utterance of i ibe he words is accompanied compa compan nied led by modulations of the voice which constitute singing in his celebrated song of hiawatha longfellow f gives ives perfect expression to the style 0 of indian poetry this is the peculiar pecullar feature of this masterly production of the famous poet as can be readily seen by comparison with translations of indian examples says bays he should you yon ask me whence these stories whence these legends and traditions with the odors of the forest with the dew and damp of meadows with the curling smoke of wigwams with the rustling of great rivers with their frequent repetitions and their wild reverberations As of thunder thinder in the mountains I 1 should answer I 1 should tell yon vou etc here isa la a literal translation of part of the song of an indian woman of the blackfoot tribe to the spirit of her son who was killed on his first war party 0 my son farewell I 1 you have gone beyond the great river your spirit Is on the other side of the sand buttes I 1 will not see you for a hundred bundred winters you will scalp the enemy in the green prairie beyond the great river when the warriors of the meet when they smoke the medicine pipe and dance the war dance they will ask 11 where where is lathum aka where is the bravest bravest of the mississippi he fell on the war path many scalps will be taken for your death the grows crowe will lose many horses their women weep for their braves etc this dirge a plaintive minor key and aed la in wild irregular rhyme is even more impressive than a war song full happy am I 1 to be slain and to lie on the side of the line to lie I 1 full happy am I 1 full happy am 1 I out on haegy the side of the line to lie etc in singing the most exact time to is is IP kept and where the syllables of the words use are insufficient for the measure short intersections interjections interject ions iotis as ha ha ho ho bo yen etc having no particular meaning supply the deficiency the war angs particularly are highly figurative and confined to a certain class of music even the dreaded war whoop is musical and limited to well defined and clearly articulated notes various musical instruments have been met with among diffie different rent tribes of Ind indians lans there is a variety of drums from the one already described to the sacred drum which to is made of the hollow trunk of a tree about two feet long one end being headed with a board and the other with dressed deer skin rattles battles of diff different bereut kinds are used one of a peculiar form being constructed of deer hoofs A number of these hoofs are strung together a small hole being bored in the narrow end ot of each and tied on a short stick the music or rat rattling aling Is produced by jerking them up and down the sound la Is about as pleasing its as drawing a file across a saw baw though of a different another kind of rattle is made of a gourd shell wherein beans or pebbles are placed to produce the le sound then there is the mystery whistle which is common to many tribes and which is so ingeniously made as to baffle all efforts to lear how the sound is produced though it be played for hours in the presence of white men eager to learn the secret but bat this is never ascertained except by getting an explanation from one who understands the method of performing this whistle has a peculiarly sweet and liquid sound in their music and dances the indians indiana show a good perception of time and measure it with much exactness in their music there is one prevailing and constantly recurring sound from which the other sounds vary by all manner of irregular intervals but the tune as we comprehend it to is sadly deficient as the indians indiano have no knowledge of natural intervals of tones and semi tones but they can sing in their way and there is music governed by certain well defined rules as to time quantity of sound and modulations of the voice it is novel interesting sometimes Bome timea amusing amu eine sometimes sowe times sorrow ful but nearly always impressive |
