Cool Stuff No. 1: Talking Drum, Native American Music and Gender, Night Way Ceremony

Talking Drum/Luna Drum:

I was really intrigued by the story Dr. Weeks told in his presentation about the musicians who recited tribal genealogy with their drums alone. I looked more into it, and it's done with the Luna drum that we learned about in class. It is also know as a talking drum, and the music is used for storytelling and other forms of communication. The drum "talks" by combining pitch and rhythm to match the tonal nature of many West African languages. In reading, I found out that the wood for the drum is only taken from trees that grow along roads. This is because these trees have grown up to the sounds of passerby conversation, and thus are better suited to be made into talking drums. Sometimes music is referred to as a "language," and I'd say this is the most overt instance I've seen of music really exhibiting language-like properties. The video below does a good job of showing how talking drum players use their instruments to convey what other cultures use oral or written tradition to do.

Video: https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/01/04/inside-africa-yoruba-culture-spc-c.cnn

Additional talking drum reading: https://www.culturesofwestafrica.com/talking-drum/

Gender Roles in Native American Song and Dance:

In studying Native American music, we learned that the dances men and women do at powwows are highly determined by one's gender. If you are a woman you do one dance, and if you are a man you do another. Prior to this class, though, I was aware of a pre-colonial Native American concept of gender that does not follow the Western binary. Across North America, it was acceptable and even respected for members of tribes to occupy a space that is best described as both male and female. Today, the term "two spirit" is used to describe this way of living. Traditionally, two spirit Native Americans occupied roles within the tribe that others of their sex did not. Two spirit males may gather and weave, while two spirit females may hunt. These individuals also often took a spiritual role in the tribe, serving as religious leaders and healers. They also could take partners of the same sex. When Europeans arrived, this alternative way of viewing gender and sexuality was foreign, and it became dangerous for two spirit Native Americans to live openly. So, how were two spirit individuals involved in these dances that seem to be so segregated by gender? Information on this is limited, but I did find some about the reemergence of openly two spirit Native Americans. This has occurred alongside the gay liberation movement in the US. As two spirit identities become a part of Native American culture again, two spirit specific powwows have been held. They are, in many ways, similar to modern Pride celebrations. The video below is of a young two spirit individual doing a hoop dance. It is described as, "a prayer in motion."

Further reading on two spirits in traditional Native American culture: https://www.ihs.gov/lgbt/health/twospirit/

Music, Dance, and Culture of Night Way Ceremony

I just wanted to do some further reading on the Night Way ceremony after hearing the accompanying music in class and in the textbook. It is a traditional Navajo ceremony that was used both to heal the ailments of individuals and to restore balance and harmony to the relationship of humans and the universe. It lasts for nine days and nine nights, and is only performed in the winter. We speak today of music as "healing," and in the mainstream it is considered a pretty new age idea. I think it is so interesting that song and dance were the primary tools in an ancient healing ceremony; how human progress is not always so linear as we imagine it to be. Thousands of years ago, Native Americans were practicing a concept so similar to what we are just now beginning to understand as Westerners.
Performance of Yeibichai/Night Way dance:

Further reading on Night Way ceremony: http://ehillerman.unm.edu/node/1705#sthash.pCtQ0olM.gMcxKmj4.dpbs