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Codona was a jazz super group that consisted of the late great jazz trumpeter and woodwind artist Don Cherry, who many don't know was of Choctaw descent as well as African-American, the late super talented string specialist Colin Walcott, and Afro-Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelas.  Together they released 3 albums on the ECM label between 1978 and 1982.  This is a flute track from their first release in 1978.

(From Left to Right) Don Cherry, Colin Walcott & Nana Vasconcelas

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It might seem strange that I would post a video of white guys from Australia on a Native American music post, but actually it makes a great deal of sense, especially my take on Native music.  First and foremost, I enjoy seeing traditions that native of the New World and those of the South Pacific have in common--I often approach native meal planning with this in mind.  Secondly, Midnight Oil has not only stood as activists for the Australian Aboriginal people, but they have also, from time to time, done the same here in the US.  In fact, on one of the tours not long after this album was released, they had John Trudell and his band open for them here domestically.  So enjoy this with all the beauty of the Outback is presented against a song that was long over due for it time--standing with the people who were there first and for thousands and thousands of years.

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Considered by many as the "Father Of Delta Blues," and, in fact, that is one of his nicknames, Charley Patton was of Tsalagi/African/Caucasian ancestry (just like Jimi Hendrix).  Howlin' Wolf, through, thought and insisted throughout his entire lifetime that Patton was actually a full-blooded Cherokee, something that seemed to bother him to some degree, despite that it clearly wasn't true--he could never be convinced otherwise.  This is not the classic "Oh Death" that most people know; it is actually a track that Patton pinned himself and was recorded with frequent collaborator and wife Bertha Lee (he was often her accompanist for her own solo work, more about this later).  It can be found on several recordings.  One of the most recent releases to contain a complete catalog of his recordings from 1929 through to 1934, the year he died of a heart ailment--pictured below, it contains not just Patton's own work, and that of Bertha Lee, but everyone of his sessions during that time, some of which were recorded with the legendary Son House.  For more about Patton, click here.

Album issue showing a photo of Patton with Bertha Lee

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I've mentioned before that I will sometimes include videos that feature various Native American languages that are reading the Bible in their language.  Such is the case with the video featuring the Warao language of Venezuela seen here.  The language is considered a language isolate, which, considering it's status for being unrelated to any surrounding language of the northern Amazon is actually well documented and is taught at levels as high as University; it origins seem to have been along the upper parts of the Rio Orinoco . It is also spoken in parts of Suriname and French Guiana.   It is also famous amongst people who study Native American languages as being the most probable link to another language isolate from my home in Florida, the Timucua language.  

I do have to say that it does bother me that a Christian organization is doing more than translating a very foreign religious text into a fairly  language--that is their right (more or less, since after all we are talking about Venezuela here)--but to produce video of the area of the Levant, which is so foreign to people of the Amazon or any rain forest, or for most of the rest of the world for that matter, it's pretty difficult to deal with if you happen to be a Traditionalist like myself.  So to kind of counter this, I have embedded two videos below of a song from a different region of the Amazon from the important Brazilian ethnomusicologist Marlui Miranda, who I have written about before.  The language featured here is a Tupian tongue called Suruí.  The video with the children is a big favorite of mine!!

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So it may a bit confusing as to why a 1/2 Finnish, 1/2 Swedish folk band would show up on a site that talks about Native American food and music.  The reason lies, in part, with the post I wrote yesterday about music from the top of the world.  I love juxtaposing these two tracks!  The reason that this is hear is the style of singing is so similar to Inuit throat singing--and yet it is from Finland, not Inuit territories--still--that's the top of the Mother Earth!  I've posted the song from yesterday below for comparison's sake.  BTW:  if you are interested in traditional music from Scandinavia, I suggest that you start with the Nordic Roots series.

This is the first in the series from Northside music.

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This is from a wonderful album that explores the songs of top of the world.  At the northern most regions of human habitation, communities tend to have a closer to tie to each other, even though in concept, they would appear to be completely different societies, from different continents and completely different ethnicities.  The fact is, that at the top of the world (at least for now, since climate change is really challenging all of the communities) humans all have to share similar lifestyles in order to survive in such conditions.  I love this track! It features Inuit throat singing (see video below) in a highly stylized, but still traditional way.  For more about the late French composer and musician Hector Zazou, please click here.  RIP Bro!!

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As I mentioned yesterday, guitarist and composer Robbie Robertson's serious exploration of Native American music started when he was tapped to produce the music for the 5 part documentary The Native Americans, which premiered on Turner Broadcasting in 1994.  When they say "Red Road Ensemble"--they mean it!  He brought together a true all star native cast for this recording.  They range from Rita Coolidge and family, to traditional drum groups, to the Saponi singing trio Ulali and member of his own family.  This particular track served as the main theme for the entire series, which was broken up by regions within what is now the United States.  Here is the IMDb link for the title.  Famed poet and musician in her own right Joy Harjo (Muscogee Creek) served as the narrator for the documentary.

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Older readers who are serious fans of The Band will likely remember that guitarist (and self-appointed band leader) Robbie Robertson is 1/2 Mohawk, whose mother was from the Six Nations Reserve in Canada.  As a solo artist, he became deeply involved in modern Native American music--a tendency that started in baby steps on his first solo albums in the early 1990's and took off with a passion with his being hired to produce the soundtrack for the mini-series The Native Americans, produced by TBS (more about that later, in fact tomorrow!) There are several version of this iconic Band song, this is from their 1970 studio release Stage Fright.  Happy listening and welcome to September!

The Band 1970 (Robertson second from left).  Photo Source: unknown