Kwakwaka'wakw music

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Kwakwaka'wakw music is a sacred and ancient art of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples that has been practiced for thousands of years. The Kwakwaka'wakw are a collective of twenty-five nations [1] :12-13 of the Wakashan language family who altogether form part of a larger identity comprising the Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, located in what is known today as British Columbia, Canada.

Something that is sacred is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity or considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspiring awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects, or places.

A nation is a stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, history, ethnicity, or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture. A nation is distinct from a people, and is more abstract, and more overtly political, than an ethnic group. It is a cultural-political community that has become conscious of its autonomy, unity, and particular interests.

Contents

The Kwakwaka'wakw peoples use instruments in conjunction with dance and song for the purposes of ceremony, ritual, and storytelling (see also Kwakwaka'wakw mythology). [2] :94 Certain Kwakwaka'wakw traditions include ghosts who are able to bring back the dead with their song. [3] :320-321 Love songs are also an important part of Kwakwaka'wakw music. [1] :45 [3]

Musical instrument History and classification

A musical instrument is an instrument created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates to the beginnings of human culture. Early musical instruments may have been used for ritual, such as a trumpet to signal success on the hunt, or a drum in a religious ceremony. Cultures eventually developed composition and performance of melodies for entertainment. Musical instruments evolved in step with changing applications.

Dance dance as a performing art. movement of the body

Dance is a performing art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin.

Song composition for voice(s)

A song is a single work of music that is typically intended to be sung by the human voice with distinct and fixed pitches and patterns using sound and silence and a variety of forms that often include the repetition of sections. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word "song" may refer to instrumentals.

A mixture of percussive instrumentation, especially log and stick, and box or hide drums, as well as rattles, whistles, and the clapper (musical instrument) create a beat while vocal expression establishes the rhythm. Instrument makers specifically design new musical instruments for each respective dance. [2] :94

Percussion instrument Type of musical instrument that produces a sound by being hit

A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater ; struck, scraped or rubbed by hand; or struck against another similar instrument. The percussion family is believed to include the oldest musical instruments, following the human voice.

Wood fibrous material from trees or other plants

Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin that resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, or it is defined more broadly to include the same type of tissue elsewhere such as in the roots of trees or shrubs. In a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients between the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots. Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber.

Rattle (percussion instrument) class of musical instruments

A rattle is a type of percussion instrument which produces a sound when shaken. Rattles are described in the Hornbostel–Sachs system as Shaken Idiophones or Rattles (112.1).

The Kwak'wala word for "summer song" is baquyala, and the word for "winter song" is ts’ē⁾k·ala. [4] :75 The arrival of the next winter season is celebrated each year in a four-day festival of song and dance called tsetseqa, or Winter Ceremonial. [5] :101-102Tsetseqa begins with singing the songs of those who died since the last winter season. [2] :103 The entire tsetseqa season is devoted to ceremony, including initiation of the young into various dancing societies. [2] :36

Summer one of the Earths four temperate seasons, occurring between spring and autumn

Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, falling after spring and before autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice. The date of the beginning of summer varies according to climate, tradition, and culture. When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice versa.

Winter one of the Earths four temperate seasons, occurring between autumn and spring

Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate zones. It occurs after autumn and before spring in each year. Winter is caused by the axis of the Earth in that hemisphere being oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures define different dates as the start of winter, and some use a definition based on weather. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice versa. In many regions, winter is associated with snow and freezing temperatures. The moment of winter solstice is when the Sun's elevation with respect to the North or South Pole is at its most negative value. The day on which this occurs has the shortest day and the longest night, with day length increasing and night length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice. The earliest sunset and latest sunrise dates outside the polar regions differ from the date of the winter solstice, however, and these depend on latitude, due to the variation in the solar day throughout the year caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit.

Another very important festival involving song and dance is the potlatch (Chinook: "to give"), [1] :16 a Kwakwaka'wakw tradition of sharing wealth and prestige in order to establish status and ensure witnesses remember the respective stories celebrated. [2] :33-34 Potlatches often occur during tsetseqa to announce a new initiate into one of the secret dancing societies. [1] :23-24

Potlatch gift-giving festival and economic system

A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States, among whom it is traditionally the primary economic system. This includes the Heiltsuk, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures. Potlatches are also a common feature of the peoples of the Interior and of the Subarctic adjoining the Northwest Coast, though mostly without the elaborate ritual and gift-giving economy of the coastal peoples.

Chinookan peoples

Chinookan peoples include several groups of indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak the Chinookan languages. In the early 19th century, the Chinookan-speaking peoples resided along the Lower and Middle Columbia River (Wimahl) from the river's gorge downstream to the river's mouth, and along adjacent portions of the coasts, from Tillamook Bay of present-day Oregon in the south, north to Willapa Bay in southwest Washington. In 1805 the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered the Chinook tribe on the lower Columbia. The name ″Chinook″ came from a Chehalis word Tsinúk for the inhabitants of and a particular village site on Baker Bay.

Wealth abundance of value

Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating old English word weal, which is from an Indo-European word stem. A community, region or country that possesses an abundance of such possessions or resources to the benefit of the common good is known as wealthy.

Kwakwaka'wakw dancing societies

There are four main groups of Kwakwaka'wakw dancing societies since ancient times: Hamatsa ("Cannibal"), Winalagilis ("Making War All Over the Earth"), [5] :108Atlakim ("Taken Far Away Into the Woods"), and Dluwalakha or Klasila. [2] :43 There is a house for each dancing society, and only members may enter. [6] :201 The ceremony is intended to recreate the original encounter with the ancient spirit. Each society delegates a song master to invent and memorize songs for all members of the respective society. Unlike other social positions, the song master is not an inherited position, but is chosen for his talent in creating and remembering songs. The song master is even paid for his services, creating and memorizing from one to four songs for every novice initiate. [2] :41 Children of song masters are placed inside a drum, and the father sings and beats the drum in sequences of four to try and pass down his talent. [1] :45

Society Social group involved in persistent social interaction

A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same geographical or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societies are characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions; a given society may be described as the sum total of such relationships among its constituent of members. In the social sciences, a larger society often exhibits stratification or dominance patterns in subgroups.

Ancient history Human history from the earliest records to the end of the classical period

Ancient history as a term refers to the aggregate of past events from the beginning of writing and recorded human history and extending as far as the post-classical history. The phrase may be used either to refer to the period of time or the academic discipline.

Hamatsa

Hamatsa is the name of a Kwakwaka'wakw secret society. During the winter months the Kwakwaka'wakw of British Columbia have many ceremonies practiced by different secret societies. According to the German-American anthropologist Franz Boas, who studied the Kwakwaka'wakw tribe during the late 1880s, there were four main societies: The war society (Winalagalis), the magical society (Matem), the society of the afterlife (Bakwas) and the "cannibal" society (Hamatsa).

Hamatsa ("hā`mats'a")

Hamatsa ("cannibal") [3] :414-415 [4] :57 is the most important secret society, replacing the earlier feminine dance hamshamtses of ancient times. [5] :40-45Hamatsas receive their food and gifts before any other potlatch attendee. Only the sons of chiefs are eligible to become a hamatsa. [1] :23-24 The Man Eater Spirit, Baxbakualanuxsiwae, [5] :40-45 makes a whistling sound causing the spirit to possess the novice. [2] :45-46 The novice disappears into the woods, and returns crying and biting members of the audience. The musicians change tempo to match the possessed spirit. Eventually the dancers calm the spirit. The ritual concludes when the new initiate sings his newly-acquired hamatsa song. The novice performs a trick on the final day after a potlatch is held in his honour. [6] :203-204

The Kwakwaka'wakw of Fort Rupert, the largest of the Kwakwaka'wakw villages at the time of European contact, [1] :12-13 raided a Heiltsuk canoe in 1835 and stole Hamatsa whistles. The nation subsequently adopted hamatsa dance traditions. [2] :45-46

Contemporary historians argue that hamatsa initiates were not real cannibals, rather they used fake or real flesh as props of which they did not actually consume. [7]

Winalagilis

Winalagilis ("Making War All Over the Earth") dances tell the stories of violent and possessed warriors. Ghost dancers revive the dead warrior spirits and afterward sing a song together. [2] :47 Song leaders of ghost dancers memorize two songs only. [8] :917

Atlakim

The song for the Atlakim ("Taken Far Away Into the Woods") dance introduces the dancers. Singers repeat the song for each new dancer they introduce. [2] :48

Dluwalakha

The Kwakwaka'wakw Peoples restrict Dluwalakha ceremonies to the spring season. They hold a potlatch on the last day of the ceremony to repay the mask makers and everyone else who was affected by the novice dancer. Dancers sometimes use a Dluwalakha dance to announce their intentions of one day becoming a hamatsa. [6] :205-206 Cedar whistles introduce the supernatural motivation for the Dluwalakha dance. Masks accompany the song and dance, which collectively tell the story of the novice being overtaken by a supernatural power of the family dloogwi. [2] :49

Kwakwaka'wakw ensemble

Kwakwaka'wakw ensemble includes a variety of different musical instruments depending on the purpose of the dance being performed, with vocals being the only melodic instrument in the soundscape of their ensemble.

The rattle is the most important instrument in the ceremony of the Kwakwaka'wakw rituals. In his book Crooked Beak of Heaven, Bill Holm describes the sound of the rattle as being a "direct contact with the supernatural." [9] :26

The box drum is another instrument central to Kwakwaka'wakw music. It is usually made from cedar, which has a spiritual significance for the Kwakwaka'wakw Peoples (see Kwakwaka'wakw mythology). A large number of people collectively beat the drum and sing the song that they are drumming to. [9] :25

Whistle

The Kwakwaka'wakw Peoples use a variety of whistles each containing its own unique pitch. Sometimes they combine several chambers together so the player is able to produce up to three combined pitches without switching instruments. Whistles announce the presence of supernatural spirits. [9] :23-24 Whistles also represent voices of the spirits in the stories being told. [6] :203-204

Drum ("mEnā'tsē")

A Kwakwaka'wakw bride poses for a photograph with her father, the father of the groom, dancers and musician. A man sitting on the far right carries a traditional box drum. Edward S. Curtis, Kwakiutl bridal group, British Columbia, 1914.jpg
A Kwakwaka'wakw bride poses for a photograph with her father, the father of the groom, dancers and musician. A man sitting on the far right carries a traditional box drum.

A singer's baton, or rhythm instrument, is the main form of percussion in Kwakwaka'wakw music. [4] :50 The baton is typically one foot in length and made of a variety of wood depending on whether for temporary or long-term use. [9] :23-24 Simple firewood comprises the temporary batons, which every guest receives so they can drum along with, and be part of, the beat. [2] :41 Song leaders, or baton masters, use elaborately carved sticks they use more than once [2] :41 made from hardwood or cedar. The carving is typically a sea lion because they have a similar shape comparable to the singer's baton, however the significance of the design is unclear. The box drum is also a form of percussion used for thousands of years by the Kwakwaka'wakw Peoples. [9] :23-24

Rattle ("ia'tEn")

Wooden rattles are used in Kwakwaka'wakw music for ceremonial purposes to establish contact with the supernatural world. [4] :69 The rattle is an ancient icon intended to keep the dancer calm and free of spiritual possession. [9] :26 Rattles also reportedly bring back the dead. [10] :465

Clapper

Kwakwaka'wakw music clappers are a combination of the rattle and singing baton, and are traditionally made of leather and wood. The clapper is a one-handed instrument that produces sharp and sudden sounds when the two pieces of wood clap together. [9] :26

Related Research Articles

This article is about the spiritual beliefs, histories and practices in Kwakwaka'wakw mythology. The Kwakwaka'wakw are a group of Indigenous nations, numbering about 5,500, who live in the central coast of British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the mainland. Kwakwaka'wakw translates into "Kwak'wala speaking tribes." However, the tribes are single autonomous nations and do not view themselves collectively as one group.

Kwakwakaʼwakw ethnic group

The Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw, also known as the Kwakiutl are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their current population, according to a 2016 census, is 3,665. Most live in their traditional territory on northern Vancouver Island, nearby smaller islands including the Discovery Islands, and the adjacent British Columbia mainland. Some also live outside their homelands in urban areas such as Victoria and Vancouver. They are politically organized into 13 band governments.

Indigenous music of Canada encompasses a wide variety of musical genres created by Canada's Indigenous people. Before European settlers came to what is now Canada, the region was occupied by a large number of First Nations, including the West Coast Salish and Haida, the centrally located Iroquois, Blackfoot and Huron, the Dene to the North, and the Innu and Mi'kmaq in the East and the Cree in the North. Each of the indigenous communities had their own unique musical traditions. Chanting – singing is widely popular and most use a variety of musical instruments.

Bill Holm (art historian) American art historian

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Northwest Coast art

Northwest Coast art is the term commonly applied to a style of art created primarily by artists from Tlingit, Haida, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and other First Nations and Native American tribes of the Northwest Coast of North America, from pre-European-contact times up to the present.

Mungo Martin Canadian artist

Chief Mungo Martin or Nakapenkem, Datsa, was an important figure in Northwest Coast style art, specifically that of the Kwakwaka'wakw Aboriginal people who live in the area of British Columbia and Vancouver Island. He was a major contributor to Kwakwaka'wakw art, especially in the realm of wood sculpture and painting. He was also known as a singer and songwriter.

Bakwas is one of the supernatural spirits of the Kwakwaka'wakw people of coastal British Columbia. He is often called "wild man of the woods." He eats ghost food out of cockle shells and tries to offer this to living humans who are stranded in the woods, in order to bring them over to the ghost world. If the human were to eat this food, it would turn them into a being like the bakwas. He lives in an invisible house in the forest and the spirits of the drowned congregate there. In some myths he is described as the consort of dzunukwa, and the father of her children.

Tlugwe, in the Kwak'wala language of the Kwakwaka'wakw people in British Columbia, means 'supernatural treasure'. Tlugwe are one of the most important features of Kwakwaka'wakw religious practices.

George Hunt (ethnologist) Canadian anthropologist

George Hunt (Tlingit) was a consultant to the American anthropologist Franz Boas; through his contributions he is considered a linguist and ethnologist in his own right. He was Tlingit-English by birth and learned both those languages. Growing up with his parents at Fort Rupert, British Columbia in Kwakwaka'wakw territory, he learned their language and culture as well. Through marriage and adoption he became an expert on the traditions of the Kwakwaka'wakw of coastal British Columbia.

Helen Frances Codere was an American cultural anthropologist who received her BA from the University of Minnesota in 1939 and her PhD in anthropology from Columbia University where she studied with Ruth Benedict. She is best known for her work with the Kwakwaka'wakw people of coastal British Columbia, Canada, known formerly as the "Kwakiutl."

Sisiutl

The sisiutl is a legendary creature found in many of the cultures of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. It is typically depicted as a double-headed serpent with fish qualities, sometimes with an additional central face of a supernatural being. The sisuitl features prominently in Pacific Northwest art, dances and songs. The sisuitl is closely associated with shamans because both are seen as mediators between the natural and supernatural worlds.

Willie Seaweed (1873–1967) was a Kwakwaka'wakw chief and wood carver from Canada. He was considered a master Northwest Coast Indian artist who is remembered for his technical artistic style and protection of traditional native ceremonies during the Canadian potlatch ceremony ban. Today, Seaweed's work can be found in cultural centers and corporations, art museums, natural history museums, and private collections. Some pieces are still in use by the Nak'waxda'xw tribe.

Kwakwakaʼwakw art

Kwakwaka'wakw art describes the art of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of British Columbia. It encompasses a wide variety of woodcarving, sculpture, painting, weaving and dance. Kwakwaka'wakw arts are exemplified in totem poles, masks, wooden carvings, jewelry and woven blankets. Visual arts are defined by simplicity, realism, and artistic emphasis. Dances are observed in the many rituals and ceremonies in Kwakwaka'wakw culture. Much of what is known about Kwakwaka'wakw art comes from oral history, archeological finds in the 19th century, inherited objects, and devoted artists educated in Kwakwaka'wakw traditions.

Dantsikw

Dantsikw are dance props of the first nations Kwakwaka'wakwa people of British Columbia, Canada. These boards were employed in during the Winter Ceremonials (Tseka). In the Tuxwid warrior ceremony, the initiates would demonstrate supernatural powers granted by Winalagilis by summoning Dantsikw power boards from underground, and making them disappear again. This act commemorates Winalagalis' supernatural canoe that could travel underground.

Winalagalis

Winalagalis is a war god of the Kwakwaka'wakw native people of British Columbia. He travels the world, making war. Winalagilis comes from North (underworld) to winter with the Kwakwaka'wakw. Winalagalis is the bringer and ruler of Tseka, and imbues red cedar bark with supernatural power.

Potlatch ban

The potlatch ban was legislation forbidding the practice of the potlatch passed by the Government of Canada, begun in 1885 and lasting until 1951.

Julia Pavlovna Petrova-Averkieva was a Soviet anthropologist and string figure collector. A student of Franz Boas, and influenced by Lewis Henry Morgan, she went on to serve as the director of North American Studies at the Institute of Ethnography in Moscow. She compiled the Kwakwaka'wakw, which is recognized as "the most comprehensive Native American string figure collection ever assembled from a single tribe [or nation]."

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ford, Clellan S. (1941). Smoke from Their Fires: The life of a Kwakiutl Chief. Hamden, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN   0-208-00336-3.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Hawthorn, Audrey (1967). Kwakiutl Art. United States of America: Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN   0-88894-239-7.
  3. 1 2 3 Boas, Franz (1910). Kwakiutl Tales. II. New York: Columbia University Press.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Boas, Franz and the American Philosophical Society (1893). Vocabulary of the Kwakiutl Language. CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series: No. 14309.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Goldman, Irving (1975). The Mouth of Heaven. United States of America: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN   0-471-31140-5.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Drucker, Philip (1938). Kwakiutl Dancing Societies. London, England: Cambridge University Press.
  7. ↑ Glass, Aaron (2009). "A Cannibal in the Archive: Performance, Materiality, and (In)Visibility in Unpublished Edward Curtis Photographs of the Kwakwaka'wakw Hamat'sa". Visual Anthropology Review. 25(2): 132. doi:10.1111/j.1548-7458.2009.01038.x – via Anthrosource.
  8. ↑ Boas, Franz (1921). Ethnology of the Kwakiutl, based on data collected by George Hunt. Washington: Government Printing Office. p. 917.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Holm, Bill (1972). Crooked Beak of Heaven. United States of America: University of Washington Press. ISBN   0-295-95172-9.
  10. ↑ Boas, Franz (1910). Kwakiutl Tales. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 302–303.
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