| Indigenous music of North America | |
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| Indigenous music of North America |
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| Music of indigenous tribes and peoples |
| Types of music |
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| Awards ceremonies and awards |
Indigenous music of North America, which includesAmerican Indian music orNative American music, is the music that is used, created or performed byIndigenous peoples of North America, includingNative Americans in the United States andAboriginal peoples in Canada,Indigenous peoples of Mexico, and other North American countries—especially traditionaltribal music, such asPueblo music andInuit music. In addition to the traditional music of the Native American groups, there now existpan-Indianism and intertribalgenres as well as distinct Native Americansubgenres ofpopular music including:rock,blues,hip hop, classical,film music, andreggae, as well as unique popular styles likechicken scratch andNew Mexico music.
Singing and percussion are the most important aspects of traditional Native American music. Vocalization takes many forms, ranging from solo and choral song to responsorial, unison and multipart singing. Percussion, especially drums and rattles, are common accompaniment to keep the rhythm steady for the singers, who generally use their native language or non-lexicalvocables (syllable sounds outside of language). Traditional music usually begins with slow and steady beats that grow gradually faster and more emphatic, while various flourishes like drum and rattletremolos, shouts and accented patterns add variety and signal changes in performance for singers and dancers.[1]
Although each Native American group can be characterized by their own distinct genres and styles, certain aspects of style can be found with similarities among native groups who would have been neighboring tribes. These similarities are even further expanded upon when music and instruments are shared between each tribe, making it easy to find certain characteristics in frequent use. Melodies usually consist of a different scale than the classical eight-pitch scale of eastern culture, often finding itself in thepentatonic ortritonic scale.
The voice can range from a tense, nasal, or relaxed sound, and consist of higher timbres specifically for male vocalists where falsetto is common. Vocal vibrato, when it occurs, is a rapid pulsating of different pitches as a more ornamental effect. Rhythmic patterns often can be found in meters of two or three and account for the vocal rhythms and syncopation in order to incorporate it into the pattern. Call and response patterns are common in vocal parts andostinato may be included in the percussion part as well.
Drums consist of types ranging from single headed, double headed, and kettle drums. Other percussive instrumentation consist of rattles and shakers, and made out of things like turtle shells. In addition to percussive instruments and vocals, a common sound in Native American music is instrumentation like flutes, whistles, and other instruments that produce sound from the player's breath (horns, pipes, etc.). Instruments with strings that may be struck, plucked, or bowed include that like themusical bow which originated to the Americas, but does not appear often in contemporary indigenous music. Other stringed instruments include native guitars and fiddles whose structure and composition vary from tribe to tribe.[2]
A study made in 2016 analyzed the musical features of indigenous music in relation to social contexts and lyrical subject. Upon analyzing over 2,000 songs fromFrances Densmore's collection of native music, the study was able to find even the relation between subjects like love in songs, and pitch variety andtessitura. Love songs could be characterized with high tessituras and spacious melodies, with larger intervals and ranges. They are also, in many cases, perceived as "sad": pertaining to departure, loss or longing. This explains the relationship between the lyrical subject and relatively slow melodic movement and low dynamics. Hiding-game songs, such as those associated with "moccasin, hand and hiding-stick or hiding-bones games," were found with a significantly low average duration and small pitch range and variety. They also found that "healing songs," and their characteristic of a narrow range and comparatively increased repetition of low notes, was likely intended to create a soothing sound that would ease discomfort in the event when a healing song would be sung. Regarding the music of specific people, they found thatYuman nature songs often have a small range, a descending melodic movement, and frequent repeated musical motifs. The Densmore collection also characterizes war songs as having a wider range, higher register, and greater diversity in duration and pitch. In comparison, dance songs also have these distinctions, although they can be found in the opposite sense, as dance songs are often found with lower registers. Dance songs are also similar to animal songs in range, pitch variety, and primary register.
This study also maintains a significant view that many of these characteristics ("pitch height, tempo, dynamics, and variability") have a direct relationship with emotional response, bringing out such response regardless of culture, meaning that similar characteristics of one culture's music and its function will often be found in another culture's for the same function. This is how Shanahan, Neubarth, and Conklin were able to use Densmore's collection of over 2,000 songs to create an analysis of comparison between subject and musical characteristic.[3]
Native American song texts include both public pieces and secret songs, said to be "ancient and unchanging", which are used for only sacred and ceremonial purposes. There are also public sacred songs, as well as ritual speeches that are sometimes perceived as musical because of their use of rhythm and melody. These ritual speeches often directly describe the events of a ceremony, and the reasons and ramifications of the night.[4]
Vocables, or lexically meaningless syllables, are a common part of many kinds of Native American songs. They frequently mark the beginning and end of phrases, sections or songs themselves. Often songs make frequent use of vocables and other untranslatable elements. Songs that are translatable include historical songs, like the Navajo "Shi' naasha'", which celebrates the end of Navajo internment inFort Sumner, New Mexico in 1868. Tribal flag songs and national anthems are also a major part of the Native American musical corpus, and are a frequent starter to public ceremonies, especiallypowwows. Native American music also includes a range ofcourtship songs, dancing songs and popular American or Canadian tunes like "Amazing Grace", "Jambalaya" and "Sugar Time". Many songs celebrate harvest, planting season or other important times of year.[5]
Native American music plays a vital role in history and education, with ceremonies and stories orally passing on ancestral customs to new generations. Native American ceremonial music is traditionally said to originate from deities or spirits, or from particularly respected individuals. Rituals are shaped by every aspect of a song, dance, and costuming, and each aspect informs about the "makers, wearers and symbols important to the nation, tribe, village, clan, family, or individual".[6] Native Americans perform stories through song, music, and dance, and the historical facts thus propagated are an integral part of Native American beliefs. Epic legends and stories about cultural heroes are a part of tribal music traditions, and these tales are often an iconic part of local culture.[7] They can vary slightly from year to year, with leaders recombining and introducing slight variations. ThePueblo composes a number of new songs each year in a committee that uses dreams and visions.[8]
Some Native Americans view songs as 'property' owned by the tribe or individual who first perceived it. For example, if an individual received the song in a dream or vision, the music would belong to that individual, and that individual would have the power to give the song to another. In other cases, the music would be the property of the peoples from which it originated.
The styles and purposes of music vary greatly between and among each Native American tribe. However, a common concept amongst many indigenous groups is a conflation of music and power. For example, theAkimel O'odham feel many of their songs were given in the beginning and sung by the Creator. It was believed that some people then have more of an inclination to musical talent than others because of an individual's peculiar power.[9]
Within various Native American communities, gender plays an important role in music. Men and women play sex-specific roles in many musical activities. Instruments, songs and dances are often particular to one or the other sex, and many musical settings are strictly controlled by sex. In modern powwows, women play a vital role as backup singers and dancers.[10] TheCherokee people, for example, hold dances beforestickball games. At these pre-game events, men and women perform separate dances and follow separate regulations. Men will dance in a circle around a fire, while women dance in place. Men sing their own songs, while women have their songs sung for them by anelder. Whereas the men's songs invoke power, the women's songs draw power away from the opposing stickball team.[11] In some societies, there are customs where certain ceremonial drums are to be played by men only. For the Southern Plains Indians, it is believed that the first drum was given to a woman by the Great Spirit, who instructed her to share it with all women of native nations. However, there also exist prohibitions against women sitting at the Beg Drum.[11]
Many tribal music cultures have a relative paucity of traditional women's songs and dances, especially in the Northeast and Southeast regions. The Southeast is, however, home to a prominent women's musical tradition in the use of leg rattles for ceremonialstomp and friendship dances, and the women's singing duringHorse and Ball Game contests. The West Coast tribes of North America tend to more prominence in women's music, with special women'slove songs,medicine songs andhandgame songs; the Southwest is particularly diverse in women's musical offerings, with major ceremonial, instrumental and social roles in dances. Women also play a vital ceremonial role in theSun Dance of the Great Plains and Great Basin, and sing during social dances.Shoshone women still sang the songs of theGhost Dance into the 1980s.[10]
Music andhistory are tightly interwoven in Native American life. A tribe's history is constantly told and retold through music, which keeps alive an oral narrative of history. These historical narratives vary widely from tribe to tribe and are an integral part of tribal identity. However, their historical authenticity cannot be verified; aside from supposition and some archaeological evidence, the earliest documentation of Native American music came with the arrival of European explorers.[12] Musical instruments and pictographs depicting music and dance have been dated as far back as the 7th century.[13] However, archaeological evidence shows that musical instruments in North America date to at least the Archaic period (ca. 8000–1000 BC), which includes instruments such as turtle shell rattles.[14][15]
Bruno Nettl refers to the style of the Great Basin area as the oldest style and common throughout the entire continent beforeMesoamerica but continued in only the Great Basin and in the lullaby, gambling, and tale genres around the continent. A style featuring relaxed vocal technique and the rise may have originated in Mesoamerican Mexico and spread northward, particularly into the California-Yuman and Eastern music areas. According to Nettl, these styles also feature "relative" rhythmic simplicity in drumming and percussion, with isometric material and pentatonic scales in the singing, and motives created from shorter sections into longer ones.[16]
While this process occurred, three Asian styles may have influenced North American music across the Bering Strait, all featuring pulsating vocal technique and possibly evident in recent Paleo-Siberian tribes such as Chuckchee, Yukaghir, Koryak. Also, these may have influenced the Plains-Pueblo, Athabascan, and Inuit-Northwest Coast areas. According to Nettl, the boundary between these southward and the above northward influences are the areas of greatest musical complexity: the Northwest Coast, Pueblo music, and Navajo music. Evidence of influences between the Northwest Coast and Mexico are indicated, for example, by bird-shaped whistles.[16] The Plains-Pueblo area has influenced and continues to influence the surrounding cultures, with contemporary musicians of all tribes learning Plains-Pueblo-influenced pantribal genres such as Peyote songs.[16]
During his time in the United States, composerAntonín Dvořák maintained that the future of the American voice in music lay in African American and Native American music, and supported their growth in the U.S. He had a goal to discover "American Music" and called upon American composers to look to these cultures of music for study and inspiration. (While Native American and African American musical roots are rather different, they share similar characteristics such as featured pentatonic melodies and complex rhythms.)
In this study of the American sound, he wrote:[citation needed]
The music of the people is like a rare and lovely flower growing amidst encroaching weeds. Thousands pass it, while others trample it underfoot, and thus the chances are that it will perish before it is seen by the one discriminating spirit who will prize it above all else.
During this time he also wrote hisSymphony No. 9, From the New World, which would become one of his greatest successes.
Before the symphony's performance, he made it clear the fact that 'the work was written under the direct influence of a serious study of the national music of North American Indians.' Although at this time, Dvořák was under the impression that Native American music was more similar to African American music than it truly was, due to the presence of pentatonic melodies in songs of each culture.[17]
Archaeological evidence of Native American music dates as far back as the Archaic period (ca. 8000–1000 BC).[15][14] However, the earliest written documentation comes from the arrival of European explorers on the American continent, and the earliest academic research comes from the late 19th century. During that period, early musicologists and folklorists collected and studied Native American music, and propounded theories about indigenous styles.
In the early 20th century, more systematic research began. It was led by comparative musicologists likeFrances Densmore,Natalie Curtis,George Herzog andHelen Heffron Roberts. Densmore was the most prolific of the era, publishing more than one hundred works on Native American music. As a child, Densmore gained an appreciation for indigenous music by listening to theDakota peoples, and throughout her life was able to record over a thousand songs performed by Native Americans in fifty plus years, beginning in 1907. One distinction that makes her work so valuable, is that many of her recordings were conducted with more elderly individuals with little influence from Western musical tradition, and involve an impressively large range in geographical origin. Many of the recordings she made are now held in theLibrary of Congress for researchers and tribal delegations.[18]
Most recently, since the 1950s, Native American music has been a part of ethnomusicological research, studied byBruno Nettl,William Powers andDavid McAllester, among others.[19]
Nettl uses the following music areas which approximately coincide with Wissler, Kroeber, and Driver'scultural areas: Inuit-Northwest coast, Great Basin, California-Yuman, Plains-Pueblo, Athabascan, and Eastern.[20]
Native Americans of the Southwestern United States were limited toidiophones andaerophones as mediums to sound production beginning date in the seventh century. The applicable idiophones included: plank resonators,footed drums,percussion stones,shaken idiophones,vessel rattles, and copper and claybells. The applicable aerophones includedbullroarers, decomposablewhistles and flutes, clay resonator whistles,shell trumpets and prehistoricreed instruments. The wood flute was of particular significance.
AridAmerican Southwest is home to two broad groupings of closely related cultures, thePueblo andAthabaskan. The Southern AthabaskanNavajo andApache tribes sing in Plains-stylenasal vocals with unblended monophony, while the Pueblos emphasize a relaxed, low range and highly blended monophonic style. Athabaskan songs are swift and use drums orrattles, as well as an instrument unique to this area, theApache fiddle, or "Tsii'edo'a'tl" meaning "wood that sings" in theApache language.[22]
Pueblo songs are complex and meticulously detailed, usually with five sections divided into four or more phrases characterized by detailed introductory and cadential formulas. They are much slower in tempo than Athabaskan songs, and use various percussion instruments as accompaniment.
Nettl describes Pueblo music, includingHopi,Zuni,Taos Pueblo,San Ildefonso Pueblo,Santo Domingo Pueblo, and many others, as one of the most complex on the continent, featuring increased length and number of scale tones (hexatonic andheptatonic common), variety of form, melodic contour, and percussive accompaniment, ranges between an octave and a twelfth, with rhythmic complexity equal to the Plains sub-area. He cites theKachina dance songs as the most complex songs and Hopi and Zuni material as the most complex of the Pueblo, whileTanoan andKeresan music is simpler and intermediate between the Plains and western Pueblos. The music of theAkimel O'odham andTohono O'odham is intermediary between the Plains-Pueblo and the California-Yuman music areas, with melodic movement of the Yuman, though including therise, and the form and rhythm of the Pueblo.[23]
He describes Southern Athabascan music, that of the Apache and Navajo, as the simplest next to the Great Basin style, featuringstrophic form, tense vocals usingpulsation andfalsetto,tritonic andtetratonic scales intriad formation, simple rhythms and values of limited duration (usually only two per song), arc-type melodic contours, and large melodic intervals with a predominance ofmajor andminor thirds andperfect fourths andfifths withoctave leaps not rare.Peyote songs share characteristics of Apache music and Plains-Pueblo music having been promoted among the Plains by the Apache people.[23]
He describes the structural characteristics of California-Yuman music, including that of Pomo, Miwak, Luiseno, Catalineno, and Gabrielino, and the Yuman tribes, including, Mohave, Yuman, Havasupai, Maricopa, as using the rise in almost all songs, a relaxed nonpulsating vocal technique (like European classical music), a relatively large amount of isorhythmic material, some isorhythmic tendencies, simple rhythms, pentatonic scales without semitones, an average melodic range of an octave,sequence, andsyncopated figures such as a sixteenth-note, eight-note, sixteenth-note figure. The form of rise used varies throughout the area, usually being rhythmically related to the preceding non-rise section but differing in melodic material or pitch. The rise may be no higher than the highest pitch of the original section, but will contain a much larger number of higher pitches. In California the non-rise is usually one reiterate phrase, the rise being the phrase transposed an octave higher, the Yumans use a non-rise of long repeated sections each consisting of several phrases, the rise being three to five phrases performed only once, and in southern California the previous two and progressive forms are found.[24] A distinctively Californian instrument is theclapper stick, a percussion instrument made by splitting an elderberry branch used to accompany singers and dancers.[25]
In Southern California today, the traditional music of the Cahuilla is kept alive in the performance of the Bird songs. The Bird songs are a song cycle depicting the story of the southward migration of the Cahuilla people and also contain lessons on life as well as other topics. Altogether, they make up more than 300 pieces of music, traditionally performed in a specific sequence. Performances of the Bird songs would begin at dusk and end at dawn, each night for a week, until the song cycle was complete. As such, physical and vocal dexterity were highly sought after attributes within performers.[26]
Inhabiting a wide swath of the United States and Canada,Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands, according to Nettl, can be distinguished byantiphony (call and response style singing), which does not occur in other areas. Their territory includesMaritime Canada,New England,U.S. Mid-Atlantic,Great Lakes andSoutheast regions. Songs are rhythmically complex, characterized by frequent metric changes and a close relationship toritual dance. Flutes and whistles are solo instruments, and a wide variety of drums, rattles and striking sticks are played. Nettl describes the Eastern music area as the region between theMississippi River and theAtlantic. The most complex styles are that of the Southeastern Creek,Yuchi, Cherokee,Choctaw,Iroquois and their language group, with the simpler style being that of theAlgonquian language group includingDelaware andPenobscot. The Algonquian-speakingShawnee have a relatively complex style influenced by the nearby southeastern tribes.[27]
The characteristics of this entire area include short iterative phrases; reverting relationships; shouts before, during, and after singinganhemitonic pentatonic scales; simple rhythms and meter and, according to Nettl, antiphonal or responsorial techniques including "rudimentary imitativepolyphony". Melodic movement tends to be gradually descending throughout the area and vocals include a moderate amount of tension and pulsation.[27]
Extending across theAmerican Midwest into Canada,Plains-area music isnasal, with high pitches and frequentfalsettos, with aterraced descent (a step-by-step descent down anoctave) in an unblendedmonophony.Strophes useincomplete repetition, meaning that songs are divided into two parts, the second of which is always repeated before returning to the beginning.
Large double-sided skin drums are characteristic of the Plains tribes, and soloend-blown flutes (flageolet) are also common.
Nettl describes the centralPlains Indians, from Canada to Texas: Blackfoot, Crow, Dakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche, as the most typical and simple sub-area of the Plains-Pueblo music area. This area's music is characterized by extreme vocal tension, pulsation, melodic preference for perfect fourths and a range averring a tenth, rhythmic complexity, and increased frequency oftetratonic scales. The musics of the Arapaho and Cheyenne intensify these characteristics, while the northern tribes, especiallyBlackfoot music, feature simpler material, smaller melodic ranges, and fewer scale tones.[31]
Arapaho music includes ceremonial and secular songs, such as the ritualisticSun Dance, performed in the summer when the various bands of the Arapaho people would come together. Arapaho traditional songs consist of two sections exhibiting terraced descent, with a range greater than an octave and scales between four and six tones. Other ceremonial songs were received in visions, or taught as part of a man's initiations into a society for his age group. Secular songs include a number of social dances, such as the triple meterround dances and songs to inspire warriors or recent exploits. There are also songs said to be taught by a guardian spirit, which should be sung only when the recipient is near death.[32]
Music of theGreat Basin is simple, discreet and ornate, characterized by short melodies with a range smaller than anoctave, moderately-blendedmonophony, relaxed and open vocals and, most unusually, paired-phrase structure, in which a melodicphrase, repeated twice, is alternated with one to two additional phrases. A song of this type might be diagrammed as follows: AA BB CC AA BB CC, etc.
Nettl describes the music of the sparsely settled Great Basin, including most of desert Utah and Nevada (Paiute, Ute, Shoshoni) and some of southern Oregon (Modoc and Klamath), as "extremely simple," featuring melodic ranges averaging just over a perfect fifth, many tetratonic scales, and short forms. The majority of songs are iterative with each phrase repeated once, though occasional songs with multiple repetitions are found. Many Modoc and Klamath songs contain only one repeated phrase and many of their scales only two to three notes (ditonic or tritonic). This style was carried to the Great Plains by theGhost Dance religion which originated among the Paiute, and very frequently features paired-phrase patterns and a relaxed nonpulsating vocal style. Herzog attributes the similarly simple lullabies, song-stories, and gambling songs found all over the continent historically to the music of the Great Basin which was preserved through relative cultural isolation and low population.[33]
Open vocals withmonophony are common in thePacific Northwest andBritish Columbia, thoughpolyphony also occurs (this is the only area of North America with native polyphony). Chromatic intervals accompanying long melodies are also characteristic, and rhythms are complex and declamatory, deriving from speech. Instrumentation is more diverse than in the rest of North America, and includes a wide variety of whistles, flutes, horns and percussion instruments.
Nettl describes the music of theKwakwaka'wakw,Nuu-chah-nulth,Tsimshian,Makah, and Quileute as some of the most complex on the continent, with the music of the Salish nations (Nlaka'pamux,Nuxálk, andSliammon, and others directly east of the Northwest tribes) as being intermediary between these Northwest Coast tribes and Inuit music. The music of the Salish tribes, and even more so the Northwest coast, intensifies the significant features of Inuit music, see below, however their melodic movement is often pendulum-type ("leaping in broad intervals from one limit of the range to the other"). The Northwest coast music also "is among the most complicated on the continent, especially in regard to rhythmic structure," featuring intricate rhythmic patterns distinct from but related to the vocal melody and rigid percussion. He also reports unrecorded use of incipient polyphony in the form of drones or parallel intervals in addition to antiphonal and responorial forms. Vocals are extremely tense, producing dynamic contrast, ornamentation, and pulsation, and also often using multiple sudden accents in one held tone.[34]
TheInuit ofAlaska,Northwest Territories,Yukon Territory,Nunavut andGreenland are well known for theirthroat-singing, an unusual method of vocalizing found only in a few cultures worldwide. The traditional Inuit form ofthroat singing usually involves two females in a face to face position, where one performer sets a rhythmic pattern with voiced or unvoiced sounds, and the other fills in the gaps of the rhythm with these sounds. These sounds are very different from that ofTuvan throat singing, which includes overtones of whistling and nasal sounds, but most prominently a low 'growling' sound. They instead produce sounds through inhalation or exhalation, most often a mixture of both in fast pace, producing an athletic musical performance. Throat-singing is used as the basis for a game among the Inuit where each performer attempts to keep up their pace and rhythm of the duet without failing. The winner of this game is the one to beat the largest number of people in these contests. Narrow-ranged melodies and declamatory effects are common, as in the Northwest. Repeated notes mark the ends of phrases.Box drums, which are found elsewhere, are common, as is atambourine-likehand drum. In addition, the peoples of the Arctic used thebull-roarer for children's toys or for a ritual which would harden snow for easier travel.[35] Nettl describes "Eskimo" music as some of the simplest on the continent, listing characteristics including recitative-like singing, complex rhythmic organization, relatively small melodic range averaging about a sixth, prominence of major thirds and minor seconds melodically, with undulating melodic movement.[34]
Many styles of music existed amongst the indigenous people of the Caribbean islands, and the Taíno are a noteworthy example. In terms of vocals, Taíno songs typically took strophic form, where lyrics change over a constant melody for each verse. Additionally, when singing in large groups, Taíno songs often involved one vocal soloist and an entire indigenous choir singing melodic lines back and forth in a form of call and response. Additionally, like most indigenous music of North America, Taíno songs were based around the 5-pitch, pentatonic scale.[36]
As for Taíno instrumentation, both the guiro and maracas were believed to have originated from the Taíno in modern-day Puerto Rico. The guiro is a percussion instrument made by carving shells of certain fruits and leaving parallel notch marks on the surface. It is typically played with an accompanying stick or wire fork calledpua. By rubbing thepua on the carved shell, a ratchety and rasping sound is elicited and like most percussive instruments, the purpose of the guiro is providing a feeling of beat to the music. Maracas are another percussive instrument. They are made from the edible figs of the Higuera tree, which cannot be too big nor small. Once the pulp is removed from the fruit. pebbles are added to the inside of the fruit shell through two holes bored into its surface. A handle is then added to finish the crafting of the instrument. Maracas are played by shaking the tiny pebble-containing fruit husks with the handles.[37] Another instrument includes the Fotuto, which was made via the seashells of marine species such as Charonia variegata, a species of sea snail. Indigenous Taíno blew through the small orifices located on the shells, which produced certain bass tones. Fotuto not only had its uses in musical festivities, but also acted as an effective tool for alerting Taíno fisherman of bad weather.[38]
A prominent aspect of Taíno music is that ofAreitos. Described by Spanish conquistadors as musical events ranging from rituals, celebrations, work songs, funeral observances, and drunken parties,Areito may have simply meant "group" or "activity" in the native Taíno language. Ultimately,Areitos became more than socioreligious musical events. As Spanish colonists began exploiting the Taíno and imposing Spanish culture,Areitos became a symbol of indigenous defiance and resistance. Reports exist of a Taíno female chief named Anacona, who ruled Xaragua (modern day Port-au-Prince) and led native revolts after the death of her brother at the hands of Spanish colonists. She also heldAreito performances with many of her serving maidens which included songs that described the cruelty and malice of the Spanish colonists in their treatment of the Taíno as well as the blissfulness of life before the Spanish made first contact with the natives.[39] In fact,19th century Cuban Composer Antonio Bachiller y Morales's "poem-song" is dedicated to Anacona and her heroic story.[40]Areito dances varied widely in style with typical performances including line dances, dances that did not move more than one or two steps in either direction, and call-response styles akin to country dancing.[39]
A primary style of indigenous music inNorthern Mexico is that of the Huastec/Huaxtec indigenous group (otherwise known as Huapango style). Instruments that are emblematic of Huapango style include three-holed flutes made from sugar cane wood, small ocarinas (known asKokowilotl), bronze bells, and a wide array of percussion instruments such as turtle shells and slit-drums known asnukup or teponaxtli.[41]
All instruments listed above have origins that predate the arrival of any settler colonialists or foreign presence in modern-day Mexico. Many of the instruments are deeply entrenched with Huastec beliefs and culture. For example, when making ateponaxtli, Huastec belief dictates that the maker must craft the drum beside the roots of the tree that the drum's wood originated from. Additionally, the crafter must make offerings to the drum, leaving food, drinks, candles, and prayers to ensure that it maintains a good sound.[41]
Eventually, with the arrival of Spanish colonialists into Huastec territory, Huapango style evolved into what is known asSon Huasteco, a style more indicative of the original indigenous music infused with Spanish musical forms and instruments. While African populations were present in some areas of the Huasteca region, their influence on the musical structure and instrumentation of Son Huasteco appears to have been limited and indirect, especially when compared to other Mexican regional styles such as Son Jarocho. With Spanish influence came the introduction of new instruments such as theJarana (a smaller five-stringed guitar), Huapanguera (an eight-stringed baroque guitar), and the violin. In fact, theSon Huasteco style of violin playing is notably unique in comparison to other modern-day styles in Mexico. Songs are most often written with a6
8 time signature (which some attribute to West-African influences), and the violinist (along with aJarana andHuapanguera player to form a trio) has flexibility in manipulating the tempo, slowing and speeding the music as they see fit, which is very akin to a tempo rubato, although to a slightly larger degree. in fact one could say thatSon Huasteco is rather improvisatory, both in speed and pitch.[41]
Son Huasteco music frequently involves singing too. Songs are often about natural environment, elements of daily life, strong emotions, and stories. The singer will typically sing poetic verses in a strophic or verse-repeating form. Then, the singer may give the spotlight to the musicians, where a violin orJarana may improvise for a verse or two. Then, the singer will continue singing their verses again in an A-B-A format.[42] In some songs, the singer and instrumentalists may continue taking turns being the focus of the music, switching places until the song ends.[43]
MostSon Huasteco music typically has a secular basis. However, there does exist indigeous styles of music in Mexico more centered around ritualistic and religious purposes. These styles are known asSon Costumbre or perhaps more simply,Son Indígena. This branch of Huastec music only involves music and dance as opposed to the key feature of singing in mostSon Huasteco styles. One instance whereSon Costumbre is used for rituals is for corn harvesting, an essential food sources for the Huastec region. Sets ofCanarios, or small pieces, are played during important ceremonies such as weddings to pray to the gods for a successful corn harvest. These rituals are known asTlamanes.[41] Interestingly, the Harp is regarded in a particularly sacred position by Huastec culture, to the point where Harp music can only be played for religious ceremonies. For example, harps like thekuarsono (a 22 or 24-stringed harp) were played to pray to the gods for rain when water was scarce or for Day of the Dead celebrations (which are known asXantolo).[44]
Many music genres span multiple tribes. Pan-tribalism is the syncretic adoption of traditions from foreign communities. Since the rise of the United States and Canada, Native Americans have forged a common identity, and invented pan-Indian music, most famously includingpowwows,peyote songs, and honor or victory songs.
Apache-derived peyote songs, prayers in theNative American Church, use a descending melody and monophony.Rattles andwater drums are used, in a swift tempo. Ceremonial songs from the Great Plains provide the foundation for intertribal powwows, which feature music withterraced descent and nasal vocals, both Plains characteristic features.
An example of an intertribal song is theAIM Song, which usesvocables to make it accessible to people of all tribes. However, because of its origins from the Lakota and Ojibwe people, it still retains some Northern Plains and Great Lakes characteristics, called "Northern" style, as opposed to the slower "Southern" style.
John Trudell (Santee Dakota) launched a new genre ofspoken word poetry in the 1980s, beginning withAka Graffiti Man (1986). The next decade saw further innovations in Native American popular music, includingRobbie Robertson (ofThe Band) releasing a soundtrack for a documentary,Music for the Native Americans, that saw limited mainstream success, as well asVerdell Primeaux andJohnny Mike's modernizedpeyote songs, which they began experimenting with onSacred Path: Healing Songs of the Native American Church.
Waila (or chicken scratch music of theTohono O'odham) has gained multiple musicians fame across Native American communities, whilehip hop crews likeWithOut Rezervation andRobby Bee & the Boyz From the Rez (Reservation of Education) have a distinctively Native American flourish to hip hop. Meanwhile, young Native musicians such asRed Earth,Derek Miller andCasper have produced more 'underground' music
American Indian opera is an intertribal music tradition, created whenGertrude Bonnin, aYankton Dakota activist collaborated with a classical composer William Hanson to create the opera,Sun Dance in 1913.[45]Cherokee Nationmezzo-soprano opera singer,Barbara McAlister has performed in many opera troupes and has sung at New York'sMetropolitan Opera House.[46]Brulé Lakota bandBrulé and the American IndianRock Opera create fullscale contemporary musical performances, including "Concert for Reconciliation of the Cultures."[47]
The Native American flute has achieved some measure of fame for its distinctive sound, used in a variety ofnew age andworld music recordings. Its music was used incourtship,healing, meditation, and spiritual rituals.
The late 1960s saw aroots revival centered around the flute, with a new wave of flautists and artisans likeDoc Tate Nevaquaya (Comanche) andCarl Running Deer. Notable and award-winning Native American flautists include:Mary Youngblood,Kevin Locke,Charles Littleleaf,Jay Red Eagle,Robert Tree Cody,Robert Mirabal,Joseph Firecrow, andJeff Ball.Tommy Wildcat is a contemporary flautist, who makes traditional Cherokeeriver cane flutes.[49] Of special importance isR. Carlos Nakai (Changes, 1983), who has achieved Gold record status and mainstream credibility for his mixture of the flute with other contemporary genres.
The Native American flute is the only flute in the world constructed with two air chambers – there is a wall inside the flute between the top (slow) air chamber and the bottom chamber which has the whistle and finger holes. The top chamber also serves as a secondary resonator, which gives the flute its distinctive sound. There is a hole at the bottom of the "slow" air chamber and a (generally) square hole at the top of the playing chamber. A block (or "bird") with a spacer is tied on top of the flute to form a thin, flat airstream for the whistle hole (or "window"). Some more modern flutes use an undercut either in the block or the flute to eliminate the need for a spacer.[50]
The "traditional" Native American flute was constructed using measurements based on the body – the length of the flute would be the distance from armpit to wrist, the length of the top air chamber would be one fist-width, the distance from the whistle to the first hole also a fist-width, the distance between holes would be one thumb-width, and the distance from the last hole to the end would generally be one fist-width. Unlike Western music, traditional American Indian music had no standard pitch reference such asA440, so flutes were not standardized for pitch.
Historic Native American flutes are generally tuned to a variation of the minor pentatonic scale (such as you would get playing the black keys on a piano), which gives the instrument its distinctive plaintive sound.[51] Recently some makers have begun experimenting with different scales, giving players new melodic options.[52] Also, modern flutes are generally tuned in concert keys (such as A or D) so that they can be easily played with other instruments. The root keys of modern Native American flutes span a range of about three and a half octaves, from C2 to A5.
Native American flutes most commonly have either 5 or 6 holes, but instruments can have anything from no holes to seven (including a thumb hole). Various makers employ different scales and fingerings for their flutes.
Some modern Native American flutes are called "drone" flutes, and are two (or more) flutes built together. Generally, the drone chamber plays a fixed note which the other flute can play against in harmony.
Drums are highly influential in American Indian music. Different tribes have different traditions about their drums and how to play them. For larger dance or powwow type drums, the basic construction is very similar in most tribes: a wooden frame or a carved and hollowed-out log, with rawhide buckskin or elk skin stretched out across the opening by sinew thongs. Traditionally American Indian drums are large, two to three feet in diameter, and they are played communally by groups of singers who sit around them in a circle. For smaller single-sided hand drums, a thinner frame or shell is used, and a rawhide surface is strung onto only one side, with lacing across the other. Other types include two basic styles of water drums: the Iroquois type and the Yaqui type. The Iroquois water drum is a small cup-shaped wooden vessel, with water inside it, and a moistened tanned hide stretched across the top opening; the wetness and tightness of the tanned hide produce changes in pitch as the water drum is played over time. The Yaqui type of water drum is actually a half gourd, large in size, that floats in a tub of water like a bubble on the surface; the outer round surface of the gourd is struck with a drum stick, and the vibrations are amplified using the tub of water as a resonator.
Another type of drum called afoot drum have been found in several southwestern and central-Californian Native American archaeological sites inhabited, or formally inhabited, by theMiwok,Maidu,Nahua, andHopi Indian tribes. These drums were often semicircle cross-sectioned hollow logs laid over wood covered 'resonating' pits positioned according to custom inkivas or dance houses. The foot drums were played by stomping on top of the hollow log with the structure's poles used for steadying.
The dedicatedNative American Music Awards, which successfully proposed the Grammy Award for Best Native American Music Album, was launched in 1998 and continues to be held annually. The Native American Music Awards or N.A.M.A. was the first national awards program for Native American music in North America. The awards were born out of a need for greater recognition for Native American music initiatives and remains the largest professional membership based organization in the world.
From 2001 to 2011, the AmericanGrammy Awards presented an annual award forBest Native American Music Album, and the CanadianJuno Awards present an annual award forAboriginal Recording of the Year. On April 6, 2011, it was announced that the Grammy Award for Best Native American Music Album would be merged with theBest Hawaiian Music Album andBest Zydeco or Cajun Music Album categories into a new category,Best Regional Roots Music Album. This change was part of a massive restructuring of Grammy categories.[53][54]
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