First Nations music
Encyclopedia
Aboriginal music of Canada encompasses a wide variety of musical genres created by Canada
's Aboriginal people
. Before Europe
an settlers came to what is now Canada, the region was occupied by a large number of aboriginal peoples, including the West Coast Salish and Haida, the centrally located Iroquois
, Blackfoot
and Huron, the Dene
people to the North, and the Innu
and Mi'kmaq in the East. Each of the aboriginal communities had (and have) their own unique musical traditions. Chanting - singing is widely popular and most use a variety of musical instruments.
, being resourceful and creative, used the materials at hand to make their instruments for century's before Europeans immigrated to Canada. First Nations people made gourds and animal horns
into rattles
, many rattles were elaborately carved and beautifully painted. In woodland areas, they made horns of birchbark and drumsticks of carved antlers and wood. Drums were generally made of carved wood and animal hides. Drums and rattles are percussion instruments traditionally used by First Nations people. These musical instruments provide the background for songs, and songs are the background for dances. Many traditional First Nations people consider song
and dance
to be sacred. For many years after Europeans came to Canada
, First Nations people were forbidden to practice their ceremonies. That is one reason why little information about First Nations music and musical instruments is available to us.
Traditionally Inuktitut
did not have a word for what a European-influenced listener or ethnomusicologist's
understanding of music, "and ethnographic investigation seems to suggest that the concept of music as such is also absent from their culture." The closest word, nipi, includes music, the sound of speech, and noise. (Nattiez 1990:56)
Today, a revival of pride in First Nations art and music is taking and beauty of traditional First Nations art, music and musical instrument
s. Drums are closely associated with First Nations people. Some people say, “Drumming is the heartbeat of Mother Earth.” First Nations made a great variety of drums. Healers sometimes use miniature drums. There are also tambourine-shaped hand drum
s, war drums, water drum
s, and very large ceremonial drum
s. Their size and shape depends on the First
Nation’s particular culture and what the drummer wants to do with them. Many are beautifully decorated. In many First Nations cultures, the circle is important. It is the shape of the sun
and moon
, and of the path they trace across the sky. Many First Nations objects, such as tipis and wigwams, are circular in shape. Traditional village
s were place. First Nations people are recovering the knowledge, history often arranged with the dwellings placed in a circle. To this day, many
First Nations people hold meetings sitting in a circle. Meetings often begin with a prayer
, with the people standing in a circle holding hands.
Hand carved
wooden flutes and whistles
are less common than drums, but are also a part of First Nations traditional music. Ojibwe men played flutes to serenade girlfriends and to soothe themselves and others during hard times. The Cree
, Iroquois
and Maliseet made and used whistles
. Archaeologists have found evidence that both wooden whistles and flutes were used by the Beothuk
, an extinct tribe who lived in Newfoundland until the early days of European settlement. The human voice
is the primary instrument
of all First Nations. As it is in most ancient music
, singing is the heart of First Nations traditions. Every song had an original owner. Songs belonged to a society
, clan
, rite
, ceremony
or individual
. In some cultures, one could buy the right to sing a song owned by an individual. The original owner would then teach the buyer to sing the song. Many traditional songs are still sung by First Nations people who follow traditional ways.
Many artists also now combine First Nations music with mainstream popular music
genres such as country
, rock
or hip hop
.
and Canada
, Eastern Woodlands natives, according to Nettl, can be distinguished by antiphon
y (call and response
style singing), which does not occur in other areas. Their territory includes Maritime Canada, New England
, U.S. Mid-Atlantic
, Great Lakes and Southeast regions. Songs are rhythmically complex, characterized by frequent metric changes and a close relationship to ritual 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 the Mississippi river and the Atlantic. The most complex styles being that of the Southeastern Creek, Yuchi, Cherokee, Choctaw, Iroquois and their language group, the simpler style being that of the Algonquian language group including Delaware and Penobscot. The Algonquian speaking Shawnee have a relatively complex style influenced by the nearby southeastern tribes.
The characteristics of this entire area include short iterative phrases, reverting relationships, shouts before, during, and after singing, anhematonic pentatonic scales, simple rhythms and meter and, according to Nettl, antiphonal or responsorial techniques including "rudimentary imitative polyphony". Melodic movement tends to be gradually descending throughout the area and vocals include a moderate amount of tension and pulsation.
, with high pitches and frequent falsetto
s, with a terraced descent (a step-by-step descent down an octave
) in an unblended monophony
. Strophe
s use incomplete 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 solo end-blown flute
s (flageolet) are also common.
Nettl describes the central Plains tribes, 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 frequence of tetratonic scale
s. The musics of the Arapaho and Cheyenne intensify these characteristics, while the northern tribes, especially Blackfoot music
, feature simpler material, smaller melodic ranges, and fewer scale tones.
Nettl Arapaho music
includes ceremonial and secular songs, such as the ritualistic Sun 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 the men's initiations into a society for his age group. Secular songs include a number of social dances, such as the triple meter round dance
s and songs to inspire warriors or recent exploits. There are also songs said to be taught by a guardian spirit, which should only be sung when the recipient is near death.
are common in the Pacific Northwest
and British Columbia
, though polyphony
also occurs (this 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 the Kwakwaka'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
, and Sliammon, 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, 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.
are well-known for Inuit throat singing
or katajjaq, an unusual method of vocalizing found only in a few cultures worldwide. 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 a tambourine
-like hand drum
.
or Iron Buffalo born in Vancouver
, British Columbia
. He is a drummer, poet, native nations champion, motorcyclist, author and peace activist. He is interested in Tibet and supports Greenpeace
. He appeared many times at George's Spaghetti House
, a Toronto
jazz club that was the equivalent of New York's Birdland
. He was also known to sit in on drums at the Colonial Tavern
and other Toronto afterhours clubs and jazz venues.
is a Canadian singer-songwriter
, and guitarist
. He is best known for his membership in The Band
. He was ranked 78th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Robertson was born to a Jewish father and a Mohawk
mother and took his stepfather's last name after his mother remarried. He had his earliest exposure to music at Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, where he spent summers with his mother's family. He studied guitar
when he was a youth and has been writing songs and performing since a teenager. From 1987 onwards, Robertson released a series of four solo album
s, his first was self titled
followed by Storyville
, Music for the Native Americans
, and Contact from the Underworld of Redboy
.
helps to preserve First Nations
language
and traditions. Jerry is the Northern Tutchone (too-SHOWnee)
“Keeper of the Songs.” He lives in Pelly Crossing
, a village in central Yukon
, 300 kilometers north of Whitehorse
. He was born in the nearby community of Mayo.
Jerry managed to keep his Tutchone language despite many years spent in a residential school
. Like his father before him, Jerry was named a Song Keeper at
birth. A Song Keeper collects songs and sings them at potlatches and other First Nations ceremonial occasions. A self-taught guitarist, Jerry combines
modern guitar techniques and the traditional music of his people. His 1994 recording, “Etsi Shon” (EET-seeshown) or “Grandfather Song” helps to
keep his language and the spirit of his people alive.
, guitarist
and composer
, is the son of a Mi'kmaq mother and a Scottish
immigrant father. He is a band member of the Mi’kmaq community at Millbrook, Nova Scotia
. Don was born and raised in Montreal
and speaks both French
and English
. He earned an honors degree in fine arts (music) at York University
in Toronto
. He is one of the most respected musicians in Canada and is known as one of the top guitarists in the world. In September 1996, Don won the prestigious U.S. National Finger style Championship for the second time and is the only guitarist to have done so. In 1988, Don was the first Canadian, and first Aboriginal person, to win this prize.
Don is a master of “fingerstyle” technique, which is like the technique used for classical guitar
. His music is strongly influenced by jazz
, folk, rock, and classical music
, creating a personal style. Don calls his style “heavy wood!”
was born into the Cree
community of Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan
. She received a PhD in Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts
. She is a songwriter, performer and artist who has written huge hit songs that were performed by other famous artists including Elvis Presley
, Barbra Streisand
, and Neil Diamond
. Her song, “Up Where We Belong” won an Academy Award. Buffy has earned many other awards, including the United States award for Lifetime Musical Achievement in the Arts. She has also received a medal of recognition from Queen Elizabeth II. France
named her “Best International Artist of 1993.” Buffy continues to draw large crowds to her performances. In Denmark
, 100,000 people attended a concert! But she has never forgotten her beginnings and her people, and she regularly performs in the smallest First Nations communities. Nor does she forget other musicians. In 1993, she helped to create a special award category within the Juno Award
s competition to recognize the best recordings of Canadian Aboriginal musicians. Buffy received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Arts at the 1998 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards.
is a singer and songwriter, born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
. She is one of the North's better known performing artists. Since her early start in music, Leela has been nominated at the Juno Awards for "Best Music of Aboriginal Canada (2003)" and has won three awards in 2002 from the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards: Best Female Artist, Best Folk Album, Best Songwriter. She won the 2007 Juno for Aboriginal Recording Of The Year
for Sedzé, her second album.
is an actor and performance artist currently residing in Los Angeles
. He has been described as "...the world's greatest exponent of the genre known as gay Christian punk". He is sometimes referred to as "Cowpunk
". working as a performance art
ist, appearing at the famed punk, avant garde, artist scenester hangout nightclub the Anti-Club where he became renowned for his outrageous performances. During this time, he met African American queer political performance artist Vaginal Davis
and the two formed the band Pedro, Muriel and Esther, also known as PME, one of the earliest queer punk
bands to emerge.
Canadian
singer-songwriter
. He is a two-time winner of the Juno Award
for Aboriginal Recording of the Year
, for his albums Lovesick Blues and The Dirty Looks. Derek has been brought to the attention of veteran and well respected musicians, such as Daniel Lanois
and Buffy St. Marie.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's Aboriginal people
Aboriginal peoples in Canada
Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....
. Before Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an settlers came to what is now Canada, the region was occupied by a large number of aboriginal peoples, including the West Coast Salish and Haida, the centrally located Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
, Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
and Huron, the Dene
Dene
The Dene are an aboriginal group of First Nations who live in the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dené speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people" . The term "Dene" has two usages...
people to the North, and the Innu
Innu
The Innu are the indigenous inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan , which comprises most of the northeastern portions of the provinces of Quebec and some western portions of Labrador...
and Mi'kmaq in the East. Each of the aboriginal communities had (and have) their own unique musical traditions. Chanting - singing is widely popular and most use a variety of musical instruments.
History
Traditionally, First Nations peopleFirst Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
, being resourceful and creative, used the materials at hand to make their instruments for century's before Europeans immigrated to Canada. First Nations people made gourds and animal horns
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
into rattles
Rattle (percussion)
A rattle is a percussion instrument. It consists of a hollow body filled with small uniform solid objects, like sand or nuts. Rhythmical shaking of this instrument produces repetitive, rather dry timbre noises. In some kinds of music, a rattle assumes the role of the metronome, as an alternative to...
, many rattles were elaborately carved and beautifully painted. In woodland areas, they made horns of birchbark and drumsticks of carved antlers and wood. Drums were generally made of carved wood and animal hides. Drums and rattles are percussion instruments traditionally used by First Nations people. These musical instruments provide the background for songs, and songs are the background for dances. Many traditional First Nations people consider song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
and dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
to be sacred. For many years after Europeans came to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, First Nations people were forbidden to practice their ceremonies. That is one reason why little information about First Nations music and musical instruments is available to us.
Traditionally Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
did not have a word for what a European-influenced listener or ethnomusicologist's
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...
understanding of music, "and ethnographic investigation seems to suggest that the concept of music as such is also absent from their culture." The closest word, nipi, includes music, the sound of speech, and noise. (Nattiez 1990:56)
Today, a revival of pride in First Nations art and music is taking and beauty of traditional First Nations art, music and musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s. Drums are closely associated with First Nations people. Some people say, “Drumming is the heartbeat of Mother Earth.” First Nations made a great variety of drums. Healers sometimes use miniature drums. There are also tambourine-shaped hand drum
Hand drum
A hand drum is any type of drum that is typically played with the bare hand rather than a stick, mallet, hammer, or other type of beater. The simplest type of hand drum is the frame drum, which consists of a shallow, cylindrical shell with a drumhead attached to one of the open ends.-Types:The...
s, war drums, water drum
Water drum
Water drums are a category of membranophone characterized by the filling of the drum chamber with some amount of water to create a unique sound. Water drums are common in Native American music, and in some forms of African and Southeast Asian music....
s, and very large ceremonial drum
Ceremonial drum
Ceremonial drums are used in a ritual context by indigenous peoples around the world, often accompanied by singing or chanting.In the circumpolar regions the drums have been classified by traits such as the knob, frame design, size, membrane motifs, ornaments, etc. There are therefore two main...
s. Their size and shape depends on the First
Nation’s particular culture and what the drummer wants to do with them. Many are beautifully decorated. In many First Nations cultures, the circle is important. It is the shape of the sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
and moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, and of the path they trace across the sky. Many First Nations objects, such as tipis and wigwams, are circular in shape. Traditional village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
s were place. First Nations people are recovering the knowledge, history often arranged with the dwellings placed in a circle. To this day, many
First Nations people hold meetings sitting in a circle. Meetings often begin with a prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
, with the people standing in a circle holding hands.
Hand carved
Wood carving
Wood carving is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object...
wooden flutes and whistles
Whistles
Whistles is a clothing brand with 40 stores across Britain. It was founded in the early 1980s by Lucille and Richard Lewin.In January 2008, Jane Shepherdson, former Topshop director, signed a deal to purchase a 20 per cent stake in Whistles and was appointed the job of chief executive.-Style:In the...
are less common than drums, but are also a part of First Nations traditional music. Ojibwe men played flutes to serenade girlfriends and to soothe themselves and others during hard times. The Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
, Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
and Maliseet made and used whistles
Whistles
Whistles is a clothing brand with 40 stores across Britain. It was founded in the early 1980s by Lucille and Richard Lewin.In January 2008, Jane Shepherdson, former Topshop director, signed a deal to purchase a 20 per cent stake in Whistles and was appointed the job of chief executive.-Style:In the...
. Archaeologists have found evidence that both wooden whistles and flutes were used by the Beothuk
Beothuk
The Beothuk were one of the aboriginal peoples in Canada. They lived on the island of Newfoundland at the time of European contact in the 15th and 16th centuries...
, an extinct tribe who lived in Newfoundland until the early days of European settlement. The human voice
Human voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
is the primary instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
of all First Nations. As it is in most ancient music
Ancient music
Ancient music is music that developed in literate cultures, replacing prehistoric music.Ancient music refers to the various musical systems that were developed across various geographical regions such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, India, China, Greece and Rome. Ancient music is designated by the...
, singing is the heart of First Nations traditions. Every song had an original owner. Songs belonged to a society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
, clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
, rite
Rite
A rite is an established, ceremonious, usually religious act. Rites in this sense fall into three major categories:* rites of passage, generally changing an individual's social status, such as marriage, baptism, or graduation....
, ceremony
Ceremony
A ceremony is an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin.-Ceremonial occasions:A ceremony may mark a rite of passage in a human life, marking the significance of, for example:* birth...
or individual
Individual
An individual is a person or any specific object or thing in a collection. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires. Being self expressive...
. In some cultures, one could buy the right to sing a song owned by an individual. The original owner would then teach the buyer to sing the song. Many traditional songs are still sung by First Nations people who follow traditional ways.
Many artists also now combine First Nations music with mainstream popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
genres such as country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
or hip hop
Canadian hip hop
The Canadian hip hop scene was first established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it developed much more slowly than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained largely an underground phenomenon until the...
.
Music areas
Northeast Woodlands
Inhabiting a wide swath of the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Eastern Woodlands natives, according to Nettl, can be distinguished by antiphon
Antiphon
An antiphon in Christian music and ritual, is a "responsory" by a choir or congregation, usually in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or other text in a religious service or musical work....
y (call and response
Call and response (music)
In music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first...
style singing), which does not occur in other areas. Their territory includes Maritime Canada, New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, U.S. Mid-Atlantic
Mid-Atlantic States
The Mid-Atlantic states, also called middle Atlantic states or simply the mid Atlantic, form a region of the United States generally located between New England and the South...
, Great Lakes and Southeast regions. Songs are rhythmically complex, characterized by frequent metric changes and a close relationship to ritual 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 the Mississippi river and the Atlantic. The most complex styles being that of the Southeastern Creek, Yuchi, Cherokee, Choctaw, Iroquois and their language group, the simpler style being that of the Algonquian language group including Delaware and Penobscot. The Algonquian speaking Shawnee have a relatively complex style influenced by the nearby southeastern tribes.
The characteristics of this entire area include short iterative phrases, reverting relationships, shouts before, during, and after singing, anhematonic pentatonic scales, simple rhythms and meter and, according to Nettl, antiphonal or responsorial techniques including "rudimentary imitative polyphony". Melodic movement tends to be gradually descending throughout the area and vocals include a moderate amount of tension and pulsation.
Plains
Extending across the American Midwest into Canada, Plains-area music is nasalNasal consonant
A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
, with high pitches and frequent falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
s, with a terraced descent (a step-by-step descent down an octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
) in an unblended monophony
Monophony
In music, monophony is the simplest of textures, consisting of melody without accompanying harmony. This may be realized as just one note at a time, or with the same note duplicated at the octave . If the entire melody is sung by two voices or a choir with an interval between the notes or in...
. Strophe
Strophe
A strophe forms the first part of the ode in Ancient Greek tragedy, followed by the antistrophe and epode. In its original Greek setting, "strophe, antistrophe and epode were a kind of stanza framed only for the music," as John Milton wrote in the preface to Samson Agonistes, with the strophe...
s use incomplete repetition
Incomplete repetition
Incomplete repetition is a musical form featuring two large sections, the second being a partial or incomplete re-presentation or repetition of the first....
, 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 solo end-blown flute
End-blown flute
The end-blown flute or rim-blown flute is a keyless woodwind instrument played by directing an airstream against the sharp edge of the upper end of a tube. Unlike a recorder or tin whistle, there isn't a ducted flue voicing, also known as a fipple. Most rim-blown flutes are "oblique" flutes, being...
s (flageolet) are also common.
Nettl describes the central Plains tribes, 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 frequence of tetratonic scale
Musical scale
In music, a scale is a sequence of musical notes in ascending and descending order. Most commonly, especially in the context of the common practice period, the notes of a scale will belong to a single key, thus providing material for or being used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical...
s. The musics of the Arapaho and Cheyenne intensify these characteristics, while the northern tribes, especially Blackfoot music
Blackfoot music
Blackfoot music is the music of the Blackfoot tribes . Singing predominates and was accompanied only by percussion. Bruno Nettl Blackfoot music is the music of the Blackfoot tribes (best translated in the Blackfoot language as nitsínixki - "I sing", from nínixksini - "song"). Singing predominates...
, feature simpler material, smaller melodic ranges, and fewer scale tones.
Nettl Arapaho music
Arapaho music
The Arapaho are a tribe of Native Americans from the western Great Plains, in the area of eastern Colorado and Wyoming. Traditional Arapaho music, described by Bruno Nettl , includes sacred and secular songs...
includes ceremonial and secular songs, such as the ritualistic Sun Dance
Sun Dance
The Sun Dance is a religious ceremony practiced by a number of Native American and First Nations peoples, primarily those of the Plains Nations. Each tribe has its own distinct practices and ceremonial protocols...
, 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 the men's initiations into a society for his age group. Secular songs include a number of social dances, such as the triple meter round dance
Round dance
There are two distinct dance categories called round dance. The specific dances belonging to the first of these categories are often considered to be ethnic, folk or country dances...
s and songs to inspire warriors or recent exploits. There are also songs said to be taught by a guardian spirit, which should only be sung when the recipient is near death.
Northwest Coast
Open vocals with monophonyMonophony
In music, monophony is the simplest of textures, consisting of melody without accompanying harmony. This may be realized as just one note at a time, or with the same note duplicated at the octave . If the entire melody is sung by two voices or a choir with an interval between the notes or in...
are common in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
and British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, though polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
also occurs (this 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 the Kwakwaka'wakw
Kwakwaka'wakw
The Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations peoples, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining mainland and islands.Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...
, Nuu-chah-nulth, Tsimshian
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000...
, Makah, and Quileute as some of the most complex on the continent, with the music of the Salish nations (Nlaka'pamux
Nlaka'pamux
The Nlaka'pamux , commonly called "the Thompson", and also Thompson River Salish, Thompson Salish, Thompson River Indians or Thompson River people) are an indigenous First Nations/Native American people of the Interior Salish language group in southern British Columbia...
, Nuxálk
Nuxalk
Nuxálk are an indigenous people native to Bella Coola, British Columbia in Canada. The term can refer to:* Nuxálk language, a moribund Salishan language.* Nuxalk Nation, the name of the Nuxálk group in the First Nations....
, and Sliammon, 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, 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.
Arctic - Sub-Arctic
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. they were also called the eskimos.Inuit
The InuitInuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
are well-known for Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing or katajjaq, also known as the generic term overtone singing, is a form of musical performance uniquely found among the Inuit...
or katajjaq, an unusual method of vocalizing found only in a few cultures worldwide. 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 a tambourine
Tambourine
The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
-like hand drum
Hand drum
A hand drum is any type of drum that is typically played with the bare hand rather than a stick, mallet, hammer, or other type of beater. The simplest type of hand drum is the frame drum, which consists of a shallow, cylindrical shell with a drumhead attached to one of the open ends.-Types:The...
.
Contributions of First Nations music to Canadian culture
Donald Harvey Francks
Donald Harvey FrancksDon Francks
Donald Harvey Francks or Iron Buffalo is a Canadian actor, vocalist and jazz musician.- Life and work :Francks was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is a drummer, poet, native nations champion, motorcyclist, author and peace activist...
or Iron Buffalo born in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. He is a drummer, poet, native nations champion, motorcyclist, author and peace activist. He is interested in Tibet and supports Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
. He appeared many times at George's Spaghetti House
George's Spaghetti House
George's Spaghetti House was a famous jazz club in Toronto on Sherbourne street operated by Doug Cole in which Moe Koffman led the house band. It hosted many famous musicians from Don Francks to Sonny Rollins, operating from 1956 through 1984....
, a Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
jazz club that was the equivalent of New York's Birdland
Birdland (jazz club)
Birdland is a jazz club started in New York City on December 15, 1949. The original Birdland, which was located at 1678 Broadway, just north of West 52nd Street in Manhattan, was closed in 1965 due to increased rents, but it re-opened for one night in 1979...
. He was also known to sit in on drums at the Colonial Tavern
Colonial Tavern
The Colonial Tavern was one of the most famous jazz venues in Canada from the 1950s till its closure in the late 1970s. It was located at 201 -203 Yonge Street in Toronto where a historic plaque remembered this key jazz venue. The Colonial Tavern was owned and managed by brothers-in-law Mike G...
and other Toronto afterhours clubs and jazz venues.
Robbie Robertson
Robbie RobertsonRobbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
is a Canadian singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
. He is best known for his membership in The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
. He was ranked 78th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Robertson was born to a Jewish father and a Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
mother and took his stepfather's last name after his mother remarried. He had his earliest exposure to music at Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, where he spent summers with his mother's family. He studied guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
when he was a youth and has been writing songs and performing since a teenager. From 1987 onwards, Robertson released a series of four solo album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s, his first was self titled
Robbie Robertson (album)
Robbie Robertson is the self-titled solo debut by Robbie Robertson, released in 1987. The album won the Juno Award for "Album of the Year", and producers Lanois and Robertson won the "Producer of the Year" Juno award, both in 1989 as there were no Juno Awards held in 1988.The album is notable for...
followed by Storyville
Storyville
Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1897 through 1917. Locals usually simply referred to the area as The District.-History:...
, Music for the Native Americans
Music for The Native Americans
Music for The Native Americans is a 1994 album by Robbie Robertson, compiling music written by Robertson and other colleagues for the television documentary film The Native Americans....
, and Contact from the Underworld of Redboy
Contact from the Underworld of Redboy
Contact from the Underworld of Redboy is an album by Robbie Robertson that was released in 1998 by Capitol Records. The album is composed of music inspired by Native American music as well as modern rock, trip-hop, and electronica, often integrated together, and features many guest artists.-Track...
.
Jerry Alfred
First Nations singer and storyteller Jerry AlfredJerry Alfred
Jerry Alfred is a Northern Tutchone musician living in Pelly Crossing, Yukon. He was named "Keeper of the Songs" at birth, an honorary title which he has made into a career, updating traditional Tutchone music by adding twentieth century Western influences.Alfred was born in the community of...
helps to preserve First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
and traditions. Jerry is the Northern Tutchone (too-SHOWnee)
“Keeper of the Songs.” He lives in Pelly Crossing
Pelly Crossing, Yukon
Pelly Crossing is community in the Yukon, Canada. It lies where the Klondike Highway crosses the Pelly River. Population in 2008 was 291.It is the home of the Selkirk First Nation, and home to the Northern Tutchone culture. Cultural displays and artifacts are housed in a replica of Big Jonathan House...
, a village in central Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
, 300 kilometers north of Whitehorse
Whitehorse, Yukon
Whitehorse is Yukon's capital and largest city . It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1476 on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas occupy both shores of the Yukon River, which originates in British Columbia and meets the Bering Sea in...
. He was born in the nearby community of Mayo.
Jerry managed to keep his Tutchone language despite many years spent in a residential school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
. Like his father before him, Jerry was named a Song Keeper at
birth. A Song Keeper collects songs and sings them at potlatches and other First Nations ceremonial occasions. A self-taught guitarist, Jerry combines
modern guitar techniques and the traditional music of his people. His 1994 recording, “Etsi Shon” (EET-seeshown) or “Grandfather Song” helps to
keep his language and the spirit of his people alive.
Don Ross
Don RossDon Ross (guitarist)
Donald James Ross , commonly known as Don Ross, is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist noted for the emotion and intensity of his playing as well as his use of extended technique....
, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, is the son of a Mi'kmaq mother and a Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
immigrant father. He is a band member of the Mi’kmaq community at Millbrook, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. Don was born and raised in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and speaks both French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. He earned an honors degree in fine arts (music) at York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. He is one of the most respected musicians in Canada and is known as one of the top guitarists in the world. In September 1996, Don won the prestigious U.S. National Finger style Championship for the second time and is the only guitarist to have done so. In 1988, Don was the first Canadian, and first Aboriginal person, to win this prize.
Don is a master of “fingerstyle” technique, which is like the technique used for classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
. His music is strongly influenced by jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, folk, rock, and classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, creating a personal style. Don calls his style “heavy wood!”
Buffy Sainte- Marie
Buffy Sainte-MarieBuffy Sainte-Marie
Buffy Sainte-Marie, OC is a Canadian Cree singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. Throughout her career in all of these areas, her work has focused on issues of Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Her singing and writing repertoire includes...
was born into the Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
community of Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
. She received a PhD in Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
. She is a songwriter, performer and artist who has written huge hit songs that were performed by other famous artists including Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, and Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
. Her song, “Up Where We Belong” won an Academy Award. Buffy has earned many other awards, including the United States award for Lifetime Musical Achievement in the Arts. She has also received a medal of recognition from Queen Elizabeth II. France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
named her “Best International Artist of 1993.” Buffy continues to draw large crowds to her performances. In Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, 100,000 people attended a concert! But she has never forgotten her beginnings and her people, and she regularly performs in the smallest First Nations communities. Nor does she forget other musicians. In 1993, she helped to create a special award category within the Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
s competition to recognize the best recordings of Canadian Aboriginal musicians. Buffy received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Arts at the 1998 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards.
Kashtin
The duo quickly became popular regionally in Quebec, and in 1988 they were featured in a documentary on the Innu for a Quebec television station. They were soon brought to Montreal to record, and released their self-titled debut album in 1989. Although that album was recorded in their native Innu-aimun language, spoken by just 12,000 people in the world, the album quickly became a major hit in Quebec, and soon in English Canada as well, eventually being certified double platinum. The singles "E Uassiuian" and "Tshinanu" were popular hits for the band.Leela Gilday
Leela GildayLeela Gilday
Leela Gilday is a Dene/Canadian singer and songwriter born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. From a very young age, Leela was immersed in music, and by the age of 8 had already begun her singing career. Today she is one of the North's better known performing artists.-Career:Ms....
is a singer and songwriter, born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Yellowknife is the capital and largest city of the Northwest Territories , Canada. It is located on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, approximately south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of the Yellowknife River...
. She is one of the North's better known performing artists. Since her early start in music, Leela has been nominated at the Juno Awards for "Best Music of Aboriginal Canada (2003)" and has won three awards in 2002 from the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards: Best Female Artist, Best Folk Album, Best Songwriter. She won the 2007 Juno for Aboriginal Recording Of The Year
Juno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year
The Juno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year, formerly known as Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording, is an annual award presented by Canada's Juno Awards for the best album by a Aboriginal peoples in Canada....
for Sedzé, her second album.
Glen Meadmore
Glen MeadmoreGlen Meadmore
Glen Meadmore is a Canadian musician, actor and performance artist currently residing in Los Angeles. He has been described as "...the world's greatest exponent of the genre known as gay Christian punk". He is sometimes referred to as "Cowpunk".-Biography:...
is an actor and performance artist currently residing in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. He has been described as "...the world's greatest exponent of the genre known as gay Christian punk". He is sometimes referred to as "Cowpunk
Cowpunk
Cowpunk or Country punk is a subgenre of punk rock and New Wave that began in the UK and California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New Wave with country music, folk music, and blues in sound, subject matter, attitude, and style...
". working as a performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
ist, appearing at the famed punk, avant garde, artist scenester hangout nightclub the Anti-Club where he became renowned for his outrageous performances. During this time, he met African American queer political performance artist Vaginal Davis
Vaginal Davis
Vaginal Davis is an American genderqueer performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, and writer. Davis's name is a homage to activist Angela Davis.-Life and career:Davis is often associated with the formation of the Queer-Core Zine Movement...
and the two formed the band Pedro, Muriel and Esther, also known as PME, one of the earliest queer punk
Queercore
Queercore is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk. It is distinguished by being discontent with society in general and its rejection of the disapproval of the gay, bisexual, and lesbian communities and their "oppressive agenda"...
bands to emerge.
Derek Miller
Derek Miller was born in Six Nations on October 29, 1974) is an aboriginalAboriginal peoples in Canada
Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....
Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
. He is a two-time winner of the Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
for Aboriginal Recording of the Year
Juno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year
The Juno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year, formerly known as Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording, is an annual award presented by Canada's Juno Awards for the best album by a Aboriginal peoples in Canada....
, for his albums Lovesick Blues and The Dirty Looks. Derek has been brought to the attention of veteran and well respected musicians, such as Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
and Buffy St. Marie.
See also
- Aboriginal rockAboriginal rockAboriginal rock refers to a style of music which mixes rock music with the instrumentation and singing styles of Aboriginal people. Two countries with prominent Aboriginal rock scenes are Australia and Canada.-Australia:...
- Blackfoot musicBlackfoot musicBlackfoot music is the music of the Blackfoot tribes . Singing predominates and was accompanied only by percussion. Bruno Nettl Blackfoot music is the music of the Blackfoot tribes (best translated in the Blackfoot language as nitsínixki - "I sing", from nínixksini - "song"). Singing predominates...
- Iroquois musicIroquois musicThe Iroquois is a confederacy of six Native American tribes.Traditional social gatherings among the Iroquois feature music and dance as central components. These gatherings are led by an individual who finds lead dancers and singers and introduces them to the audience, also providing dancing...
- Kwakwaka'wakw musicKwakwaka'wakw musicKwakwaka'wakw music is the ancient art of the Indigenous or Aboriginal Kwakwaka'wakw peoples.. The music is an ancient art form, stretching back thousands of years. The music is used primarily for ceremony and ritual, and is based around percussive instrumentation, especially log, box, and hide...
- Music of CanadaMusic of CanadaThe music of Canada has influences that have shaped the country. Aboriginals, the British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The music has subsequently been heavily influenced by American culture because of its proximity and migration between...
- Notable Aboriginal people of CanadaNotable Aboriginal people of CanadaOver the course of centuries, many Aboriginal Canadians have played a critical role in shaping the history of Canada. From art and music, to law and government, to sports and war; Aboriginal customs and culture have had a strong influences on defining Canadian culture...
External links
- First Nations Music in Canada - Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
- Aboriginal Sound Recordings: Music and Song - Library and Archives Canada
- Songs and Music: Aboriginal - Aboriginal Canada Portal
- Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards - The Canadian Aboriginal Festival
- Aboriginalmusic.ca