More About Today's Music

This cover of Lead Belly's classic "Goodnight Irene" dates from 1964 (as apparently all of the cover tracks that Hendrix recorded with Little Richard long before he made is British debut).  Hendrix was one of two musicians of native ancestry to be first inducted into the brand new Native American Music Hall Of Fame in 1998 (the other being the late Buddy Red Bow, a well known country musician from Pine Ridge).  Hendrix's ancestry was Tsalagi (Cherokee)/African/Irish.  This song is just such a treat no matter who records it, but it is fun to hear some of the other Hendrix stuff, before he became the world sensation that he did, which arguably led to his tragic and very untimely death at the age of just 27 in 1970.  RIP to them both!

More About Today's Music

Even if you are familiar with Mimi Farina as a younger sister of folk legend Joan Baez, you may be unaware that their physicist father was Mexican (their mother being Scottish).  She was born Margarita Mimi Baez, she became Mimi Farina after marrying Greenwich Village folk sensation Richard Farina, who was of Cubano-Galician and Irish descent, in 1963.  Together they recorded songs from both the folk tradition and the newly emerging electric early rock style--most of which were original compositions.  This is of the later genre.  Richard was killed on Mimi's 21 birthday in 1966.

More About Today's Music

This is actually not just an Otis Taylor song, it comes from his latest release that bears the same title as the song, half of the songs on the album feature Mato Nanji, from the Native familiar blues rock band Indigenous (more from them at a later date).  It is Mato's voice that you here singing the chorus, being the preeminent guitar player that his is, he also plays on the track as well.  Of late Nanji, who is named for and descended from the great Ponca war chief Standing Bear, has been doing quite a bit of collaborative work.  In addition to this album, he appears on yet another 2013 release working with David Hidalgo of Los Lobos and Luther Dickinson, former Black Crowes guitarist and leader of the North Mississippi Allstars (more from them later on as well).  More from these two coming as well.

Otis Taylor

Mato Nanji

More About Today's Music

I am a real sucker for collecting movie soundtracks, so much so that I have to limit myself to just one per months for budgetary reasons.  I have been a lifelong fan of Ry Cooder and both a solo act and as a collaborator with all sorts of other musicians, very many of them from the Chicano and Native areas in California and Texas.  For example, he has played with the absolutely sublime Flaco Jimenez, accordion genius, since the 1970's (more about Flaco at a later date!).  So, it went without saying that when Cooder starting composing for the pictures, I went a bit ga-ga.  This the main title for the 1993 Walter Hill (one of my favorite independent directors!) film entitle Geronimo:  An American Legend, starring Wes Studi (Tsalagi) [pictured above], Jason Patric (of Lost Boys fame), Gene Hackman, Robert Duval, Matt Damon, Rodney Grant (Omaha), Steve Reevis (Blackfeet) and a whole host of other talent, both Native and non-Native.  

More About Today's Songs

Composer and pianist Peter Kater (who was born in Germany) frequently collaborates with other musicians, many of the them Native.  He he teamed up with Native Flautist extraordinaire R. Carlos Nakai (Navajo Dineh/Ute/Zuni) to produce the soundtrack for the 1993 television mini-series How The West Was Lost.  This is just one part of the original soundtrack, which went on to have a second release of extra music.  The songs heard here are listed below.

1:  How The West Was Lost

2:  Dull Knife and Little Wolf

3:  The West

4:  Crazy Horse Prayer

5:  Last Of The Buffalo

More About Today's Featured Songs

Mostly what is going to be featured here are individual tracks, but every once and while, whole albums are uploaded to YouTube; such is the case with this very, very important release from 1995.  Marlui Miranda is a well known Brazilian ethnomusicologist, music and tribal preservationists, and musician.  She is one of the most important Native female musicians out there.  This album features traditional songs of a number of Amazonian tribes (some well known, some not) with a varying number of languages (both highly endangered and not), but arranged in a modern style.  The last track, for example, is an extended jazz meditation on the most important ceremony amongst the Nambikwara people of the Mato Grosso:  the Feast of the New Girl.  Given below is full track information and language links.

Miranda in traditional Amazonian face paint.

1.  Tchori Tchori of the Jaboti or Jabutí People of the Rondonia region of the Amazon.

2.  Pame' Dawöro also Jaboti

3.  Tche Nane, again in Jaboti

4.  Naumu is in the very healthy Yanomámi language of Roraima.

5.  Awina/Ijain Je E' of the Wari people, whose language is officially listed as Pakaásnovos on ethnologue, else where it is variously spelled Pakaa Nova.

6.  Araruna in the Parakana language, which is a Tupian tongue found in the Para region of the Amazon.

7.  Mena Barsaa (Baya Barsaa) of the Tukano peoples, language variously spelled Tucano.

8.  Bep of the well known Kayapó people of the Para' region.

9.  Festa da Flauta is actually fully musical, no language.  It comes from the Festival of the Flute found amongst the Nambikwara people in the Guapore' region of the Amazon--it is an important festival, but has not set time of year to occur.  The flutes heard here are the traditional Kukuta flutes from this tribe.

10.  Yny Maj Hyrynh (A Voce' Eu Canto) in the Karitiâna tongue which is also a Tupian language.

11.  Hrigo is sung in the Tupari language.

12.  Wine Merewá in the Suruí language (also Tupian) of Rondônia, not to be confused with the Suruí do Para language in the Para region, another closely related Tupi language.

13.  Mekô Merewâ in also in the same Suruí language.

14.  Ju Parana is sung in the Jurúna tongue on the northern part the Mato Grosso region of the Amazon, again another Tupi language.

15.  Kworo Kango is another Kayapo song.

16.  Mito-Metumji Iarén is in the Suyá language also of the northern part of Mato Grosso, is a language closely related to the Kayapo language.

17.  15 Varicöes de Hai Nai Hai is, as mentioned above, from the Nambikwara people, also spelled Nambikuára.

More About Today's Featured Video

From time to time I am likely to replace music clips with language clips, and this is the first of those types of posts.  The movie was produced by the organization that runs the Faith Comes By Hearing website for audio Bibles in all sorts of languages from around the world.  The Bibles can be had for free in iTunes store as podcasts. Although not a practicing Christian myself, I consider myself an Traditionalist, I fully support free of religion for all; I used the various podcasts on my LARGE playlist, that has just topped out at just over 3,000 items, as examples of various native languages from hear in the New World and few from the south Pacific--many of them highly endangered.  Take the language here for example, Guayabero, is a language from Colombia that belongs to the Guajiboan group.  Although there are only 1000 to 2000 people that belong the ethnic group, the language is vigorous amongst them.  Other languages from the same country are critically endangered.  A Great source of living language information can be had at the Ethnologue website (which features a "Language Of The Day" (in case you need another "of the day" feature!) on their homepage.  Here is the link for Guayabero page on Ethnologue.

More About Today's Music

The landmark album But This Isn't El Salvador was recorded with the legendary guitarist Jesse Ed Davis, who is widely reported to be Kiowa, but was also Muscogee Creek and Seminole from his father's side of the family.  Also on the album providing traditional vocals on the very old style of song known as "49 songs" is Quiltman (who is also featured on the live track below) of the tiny band of T'ygh people, one of the groups located on the Warm Springs reservation in Oregon.  The original release was on cassette, but a new box set has been released that includes all of Trudell's early work.  The live version of the song below is from 1992 and was filmed in Austin, TX.  Since this is the beginning of Shark Week on Discovery, it is worth mentioning that the guitarist on the live track is Mark Shark.

More About Today's Music

This comes from the soundtrack to the Sherman Alexis (Spokane/Coeur d'Alene) penned and Chris Erye (Cheyenne/Arapaho) directed native film Smoke Signals.  All of the incidental music was composed by B. C. Smith including this dynamic number, which is a Suite.  The core of the suite featured the song Wah Jhi Le Yihm, which is sung in the extinct Saponi language, which was/is a Southern Siouan language very closely related to Tutelo, the translation was made by Lawrence Dunmore, who is a Saponi descendant, and sung by another Native singing supergroup Ulali.  The title translates into English as "I will carry you."  In addition to the Ulali performance, they are backed up with the Northwest Sinfonia.  Like so many native songs, the is performed in the traditional round style.  

Ulali

More About Today's Music

Walela translates into English as "hummingbird" and was the name of a familial Native American supergroup from the 1990's (and would have been the name of my kid if he had been a she), consisting of the legendary Rita Coolidge, her equally famous sister Priscilla and Priscilla's daughter Laura Satterfield (who has recorded with yesterday's featured artist Robert Mirabal).  The song, which refers to the Trial Of Tears, is sung mostly in English, with a notable phrase from the Trail sung in Tsalagi (Cherokee), which roughly translates in the ball park of "when we get to the other side (both of the big river and to the afterlife), we are going to put on our Eagle wings and soar to Heaven."

More About Today's Music Video

The above live performance is from a now very rare DVD (the audio CD of the concert is still available) of one of Native music towering figures:  Robert Mirabal of Taos Pueblo, the northern most Pueblo in New Mexico.  This is one of his most important songs, and has always been deeply important to me personally (it was used by a lot of people, both Native and non-Native to help deal with the 9/11 events in 2001).  It first appeared on his native break-through multiple genre album "Mirabal:  Alter-Native" that came out, I believe, in 1997.  This concert with his Rare Tribal mob that included the likes of his brother Patrick (himself a composer and musician), his cousin Reynaldo (Ron) Lujan on custom Pueblo drums, the pipes of Star Nayea, and the great Kenny Aronoff on drums, amongst a whole host of other talented musicians and dancers, took place in the early 200's on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation in Connecticut.  It was filmed for PBS

Photo from the concert

Old World Meets New World: Mashed Butternut Squash & Turnips

Every month I try to have some sort of month long focus on different aspects of Native cooking from here in the New World.  This month it is a focus on Abenaki food, and in modern times, one cannot mention food and the Abenaki people without mentioning food writer Dale Carson, who is a member of the Abenaki Nation, Republic of Missisquoi.  She has not only authored books on Native cuisine, she is also the principle food writer and editor of the online Native newspaper Indian Country Today.  In her landmark, and important cookbook Native New England Cooking, she lists and elaborate mid-18th century Thanksgiving menu.  Among the various mash ups, such as the traditional mashed potatoes, she lists Mashed Butternut and Turnips.  I happened to have a butternut that needed using, so I got some turnips and did a mixed mash to go with a southern meal that I was making, that also included the native Fried Green Tomatoes, along with some recipes from the late, great Mr. Buster Holmes of New Orleans:  his Pork Chop Casserole (one of my all time favorites!) and his Tangy Salad Dressing (a tomato base) to slather on a green salad.  If you are interested in Ms. Carson's writing, check out her her latest entries over at Indian Country.

Ms. Dale Carson

Mashed Butternut And Turnips

1 Butternut squash, split, seeded* and peeled

2 Turnips, peeled

Boiled water

Pinch salt

1 tsp sugar (or native sweeteners, like Maple or Honey)

4 tbsp. butter

1/4 tsp. powdered allspice

Fresh black pepper to taste

1.  Cube the squash and the turnips.  

2.  Add salt to boiling water, add the cubed vegetable and cook until soft and mashable (around 10 to 15 minutes).  Drain well and mash.

3.  Add the rest of the ingredients, taste to correct seasoning and serve.  Really good with roasts, and, of course, stuffed roasted turkey.

Variations:

Roast the vegetables instead of boiling.

Substitute the butter with a nut butter or a native oil, like Walnut.

*always save the seeds from hard squash.  They can be washed dried and roasted or frozen for future use in Moles.  Or at least composted or thrown into the vegetable or herb garden.  Birds love them as well.  

More About Today's Video

Today's track features the Taino language in a prayer dedication--it is a dialect of the same Arawak language that was spoken by the Lucayo people of what is now The Bahamas, the first peoples that Columbus and crews stumbled upon in late 1492.  It comes from the only powwow group that had a majority of native people from the Caribbean, the now defunct Arawak Mountain Singers, headed by Al Bold Eagle (of both Taino and Mexica (Aztec) descent).  The managed to record two full albums, before Bold Eagle found the group Otter Trail, which recorded one album (more about them at a later date).  An abbreviated version of this track can be found on their debut album, pictured below, "Honoring The Ancient Ones."

Belated Condolences: Edward B. Anderson, Jr.

Edward B. Anderson, Jr. passed away on July 20, 2014--he was 89.  He was a Navajo Code Talker with the US First Marine Unit and served in the Pacific Theater during World War II.  I currently have two uncles that are still with us who also served in Pacific during the same period and know how precious our suriving World War II vets are.  Sympathies to everyone in the Anderson family

More About Today's Featured Music

This may, on the surface, be a bit confusing.  This is obviously not from Native America or even Hawaii--it is, in fact, from Sweden.  So why is it featured here?  Because the singing style has connections to the singing style of both indigenous Inuit singers and Scandinavian native populations to the North:  The Saami (often called Laplanders, which they don't like).  The Saami populations of the great white North have forged a connection on a couple of levels with Inuits in modern times, if not before then.  The singing styles have migrated south.  Hedningarna, in the lineup featured here, featured both Finnish and Swedish singers,, with the Finnish girls having the most connection to Saami singing styles.  The subject matter of the song is also very familiar to songs of honour by native people's of the New World.  On my list, I love to feature contrasts of these types of similar vocal styles.  The are at the top of world offers the most connected forms of musical expression; it has become a bit of an obsession with me to explore that.  If you have an interest in exploring native musical traditions of Scandinavia, the "Nordic Roots" compilations are a great place to start.  More about this in months to come.

More About Today's Featured Music

This is is the second version of this track that Xavier has recorded, the first being on the album Codex with his America Indigena act.  This actually appears on the CD pictured above:  Singing Earth; not the Aztec Dances cover shown in the video.  But speaking of "Aztec" or the Nahua ("the people"), in classical times they were known for their poetry--not necessarily human sacrifice.  A great deal of poetry written in the Nahuatl language survives and is often used in language courses for "Classical Aztec," or the Nahuatl spoken in the capital of Tenochtitlan.  Here is a link to Soundcloud where you can here one of these love poems in both Nahuatl and then in Spanish.

More About Today's Featured Video

This is a traditional song (canto) sung in the Nahuatl ("Aztec") language.  It is sung in a traditional "round" style (meaning it repeats).  The featured version is by Tonana (aka Claudia Martinez) of Mexico City, and can be found in the above pictured CD.  An alternative version can be heard below.  Nimiztlazotla is "I Love You" in the language, also mentioned over and over again is No Yollo or My Heart.  Enjoy.