| Indigenous music of North America |
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| Music of indigenous tribes and peoples |
| Types of music |
| Instruments |
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Dene music is music composed byNorthern Athabaskan-speakingFirst Nations peoples - theChipewyan (Denesuline),Tlicho (Dogrib),Yellowknives (T'atsaot'ine),Slavey (Deh Gah Got'ine or Deh Cho), andSahtu. The term generally refers to traditional musical compositions and dances.
Dene writer Leela Gilday states that there are four main genres: Dene love songs (Ets’ula); tea dance songs (Iliwa), handgames songs and drum dance songs.[1]
While visitingFort Liard in the 1800s, George Keith observed three kinds of Dene songs: "love songs, lamentation songs, and ceremonial songs".[2]
Dene folk music usesmelodies similar to European scales with the coloration ofblue notes. According to scholar Michael Asch, Dene music includes "a melodic scale, melody, and metric rhythm".[3] Asch states that traditional Dene music uses only one instrument—aframe drum calledegheli[4]—and thatdrum dances, also known as tea dances, are traditional to all Dene living in theMackenzie River valley.[5]
Syncopation is common, as are pulsating vocal styles. Melodies generally follow a descending pattern. Many songs, especially Drum Dances, ended with a vocalglissando and percussion break, along with a spokenthank you (mahsi).Vocables are very common.
Songs are typically composed anonymously, though there are no taboos on anyone writing most songs. In the contemporary era, Johnny Landry has become one of the best-known songwriters in this tradition, having penned "Hina Na Ho Hine", the "de facto Dene anthem", in 1980.[1] A version of the song, recorded with Dene drummers, appears onSusan Aglukark's 1995 albumThis Child.[6]
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