National Museum of the American Indian

Wood That Sings: Indian Fiddle Music of the Americas

This recording represents the first recorded anthology of Native American fiddle music, featuring performances by Indian musicians from Nova Scotia and Manitoba to North Dakota and Arizona, to Mexico, Peru, and elsewhere in Latin America.

Specifications
Copublished by NMAI
and Smithsonian/Folkways

Pricing (CD / Cassette Tape)
$12.00 / $8.00 (NMAI Members)
$13.50 / $9.00 (Smithsonian Members)
$15.00 / $10.00 (Non-Members)


	Audio Clips (mp3 format)

  1. Violín - José Enrique Benítez (Chapaco), Bolivia
  2. La Guaneña - Danubio Azul group—the Tulcán Naspirán family (Quechua), Colombia
  3. Danza a Santiago (excerpt) - Townspeople of Llacuari Pueblo (Quechua), Peru
  4. Kariso - Antonio Lorenzano (Warao), Venezuela
  5. Araku - Gervasio Martínez and Mario Silva (Mbya), Argentina
  6. Nantu ("Luna") - Pedro Nayap (Shuar), Ecuador
  7. Yan Tox - Mateo Mo Xal and Crisanto Coc (K'ekchi Maya), Guatemala
  8. Jacaltenango - Grupo Jolom Conob—Basilio Pedro and Nicolás Pedro (Kanjobal Maya), Guatemala
  9. Aires Fandango - Marcelino Poot Ek, Pedro Ek Cituk, and Esteban Caamal Dzul (Yucatecan Maya), Mexico
10. Tzacamson - Townspeople of Tancanhuitz, Ciudad Santos (Tenek), Mexico
11. Son para entregar a la novia - José Augustin Cruz and José Martín Cruz (Nahua), Mexico
12. Wiricuta - Mariano, Pablo, Rosenda, and Agustín (Wirrarica [Huichol]), Mexico
13. Melody played on the Enneg (excerpt) - Francisco Barnet Astorga (Konkaak [Seri]), Mexico
14. I'll Go with You - Chesley Goseyun Wilson (San Carlos Apache), Arizona
15. Pahko'ola Dance Song - Yaqui Pahko'ola and Deer Singers, Arizona
16. Never Alone - San Xavier Fiddle Band (Tohono O'odham), Arizona
17. Strathspey and reel medley - Lee Cremo Trio (Mi'kmaq), Cape Breton, Canada
18. Jig medley - Lee Cremo Trio (Mi'kmaq), Cape Breton, Canada
19. Finale medley - Lawrence "Teddy Boy" Houle (Ojibwe), Manitoba, Canada
20. Eagle Island Blues: Athapaskan Love Song - Bill Stevens (Gwich'in), Alaska
21. Turkey in the Straw - Georgia Wettlin-Larsen (Assiniboine Nakota), Wisconsin
22. Road to Batoche - Jimmie LaRocque (Turtle Mountain Chippewa [Métis]), North Dakota
23. Big John McNeill - Jimmie LaRocque (Turtle Mountain Chippewa [Métis]), North Dakota


	About the Recording

Wood That Sings: Indian Fiddle Music of the Americas Presented by the National Museum of the American Indian, the first-ever recorded anthology of Native American fiddle music, features performances by Indian musicians from Nova Scotia and Manitoba to North Dakota and Arizona, to Mexico, Peru, and elsewhere in Latin America. Using this most popular of instruments as a way to explore the great variety and creativity of Indian musical traditions—from chicken scratch and Santiago dances to the indigenous Apache fiddle—this recording expresses the capacity of Native cultures to adapt and synthesize non-Native influences.

The recordings were culled from many sources, including archives in the United States and Latin America; Folk Masters and NMAI presentations; Latin American festivals; and both studio and field recordings by contemporary musicians and scholars. Featured vocalists sing in Native languages, Spanish, or English.

Charlotte Heth (Cherokee), an ethnomusicologist and Assistant Director for Public Programs at NMAI, is the album’s executive producer. Daniel Sheehy, Director of Folk and Traditional Arts in the Heritage and Preservation Division of the National Endowment for the Arts and an expert in the field of Latin American music, chose the Latin American material. Terence Winch, Head of Publications at NMAI, produced the recording, and Nick Spitzer, Artistic Director, Folk Masters, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, and Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution, served as co-producer.


	CD Notes Excerpt

This recording gives me special satisfaction, the kind that comes from a project that reveals something new, that opens the door to further exploration. Although it should really be no surprise to learn that the violin—whose queenly reign extends from the classical concert hall to the bluegrass stage—should be a potent and ubiquitous force in the Native music of this hemisphere, no recording that I know of has ever before brought this knowledge to light. That situation has been happily corrected with Wood That Sings: Indian Fiddle Music of the Americas Presented by the National Museum of the American Indian, the second album produced by the National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian Folkways label.

Through the experienced ear and expert guidance of renowned ethnomusicologist Charlotte Heth, NMAI's Assistant Director for Public Programs, we are taken on a compelling cultural journey in which one musical instrument seems to morph and permutate as we travel over a vast aesthetic, and literal, landscape of Native cultures. On one level, the dramatically different sounds and influences you will hear between, say, the Celtic-based music of the hemisphere's northern tier and the haunting, almost avant-garde-sounding music of Ecuador simply reflect the rich diversity of Native American cultures. At the same time, however, the eclectic nature of the music reminds us of the inspiring capacity of Native cultures to adapt and synthesize non-Native elements. Adaptation has not only been a survival strategy for Native peoples, but a testament to the inherent vitality and creativity of Indian cultures.

I want to offer the museum’s thanks to all the musicians, scholars, and others who helped us with their artistry, research, and expertise. As “compact” as these discs may be, their realization depends on an extraordinary degree of collaboration and cooperation among a sizable number of people.

I also want to single out Chesley Wilson for a special word of gratitude. It was Chesley, a National Heritage Award winner for his work in preserving traditional Apache culture, who gave us the title for this album, which comes from the Apache word for violin. “Wood that sings” seems to me the perfect metaphor for this recording: it animates and redefines our concept of the fiddle in a way that—so characteristic of the Native mind—sees life and music everywhere in creation.

W. Richard West, Jr., Director
(Southern Cheyenne and member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma)

© 1997 Smithsonian Institution. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Charlotte Heth (Cherokee)

Although I made music from the time I could talk and studied music from the time I could read, I was twelve years old before I realized that the country fiddle I heard in Oklahoma was the same instrument as the violin in the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra—their sounds, styles, and repertoires were radically different. In Wood That Sings: Indian Fiddle Music of the Americas Presented by the National Museum of the American Indian, not only do the sounds, styles, and repertoires differ, but the fiddles themselves are of different sizes, different shapes, and different numbers of strings. And the fiddlers play in different ensembles—choosing among horns, whistles, flutes, bells, voices, drums, guitars, harps, rattles, and other instruments.

The mission of the National Museum of the American Indian is . . . to recognize and affirm to Native communities and the non-Native public the historical and contemporary cultures and cultural achievements of the Natives of the Western Hemisphere. . . . In trying to fulfill this mission, we have chosen to rely not only on exhibits and books, but also on expressive cultures—music, dance, story-telling, arts demonstrations, film, video, radio, and computer technology. The museum's artifact collection numbers at least one million, 30 percent of which is from Central and South America.

Our first album of music, Creation's Journey: Native American Music Presented by the National Museum of the American Indian, surveyed Native music of the Western Hemisphere and featured a variety of musical styles. Since most indigenous music in the United States is vocal, we were struck by the variety of instruments used in Central and South America—and particularly by fiddle (violin) music. We compiled Wood That Sings to show the variety, ingenuity, and adaptive techniques of Native musicians, choosing both historic and contemporary fiddle music by Native Americans from the United States, Canada, and Latin America.

The players and singers represent ancient, living traditions along with innovations and crossovers to Euro-American music. The fiddle itself, as far as we know, has non-American origins, but the Natives of the Americas have, for centuries, manufactured their own fiddles, adapted European fiddles to their own styles, added their own ceremonial and social contexts, and combined them with other instruments, voices, and whistles in ensembles found nowhere else. The Seri and Apache one-stringed fiddles (probably based on earlier musical bows) may be truly indigenous.

For centuries in the United States and Canada, Indian people were pushed back from their borders and colonized by recurring waves of northern and western Europeans, Mediterranean Europeans, Russians, and Mexicans. These invasions and forced removals caused rapid changes to Native life and culture, introducing new technology, new economic systems, and new religions. Music, as a communal activity and necessary source of spiritual power, simultaneously perished, flowered, and remained the same, depending on the geographical area and the circumstances of colonization. New kinds of musical instruments and new musical genres offered Native Americans a variety of choices for practicing this important art form.

We are fortunate to have had the assistance of ethnomusicologist Daniel Sheehy with the Latin American portion of Wood That Sings. Dr. Sheehy, an expert in the field of Latin American music, chose the Latin American material on this album and provided insightful texts on these selections.

The recordings contained herein come from a variety of sources—archives in the United States and Latin America; the concert and public radio series Folk Masters; National Museum of the American Indian presentations; festivals in Latin America; and both studio and field recordings by contemporary scholars. Several of the artists agreed to record for the project during visits to Washington, D.C., and New York City.

Many of the selections on this album feature vocalists who sing in Native languages, Spanish, or English. All represent time-tested traditions that are tied to agricultural rituals and lifeways, or to occasions for entertainment.