“The Tuning Fire” video, filmed by Whidden in 1998, features one song sung by the “Dene Warriors” from Lac Brochet, Manitoba. Although they have learned from hearing the elders it is not surprising that they describe their music style as different; the young people all speak English as well as the Athapascan language; they travel widely in the South; and they have regular contact with the mass media. For example, there are two local shops in a population of 700 which rent video cassettes of latest films.
The Song
The origin of the song is unknown, but the occasions for performance are memorable events such as New Year, Christmas, Easter celebrations and perhaps when special guests come to the community. Before beginning the songs thanks is given to the creator in Dene, and the drumming begins immediately.
Most songs are sung with syllables, although a few words may be included. This song has no words: one elder said, “They have no words, they are like the fiddle songs”.
The song has enormous rhythmic energy built around a driving pulse of strong beats set up by the drum. Each strong beat is introduced by a lighter drumstroke and followed by the buzz of the snare set in motion by the drumstroke. You will find too, that the tune, built on European tonality, is readily sung and memorable. The constant repetition of the highly organized melodic-rhythmic patterns is ended by the lead singer with a strongly accented beat on the drum.
Rankin Inlet is the setting for Aullaarumannarmaat. The words, in Inuktitut, tell about the longing for spring when one can be on the land hunting. The slow introduction with harmonica and an ay ya ya song drummer is a perfect setting to show the Arctic landscape and the traditional lifeways. The present townsite was not inhabited because of lack of game, but the mouth of the nearby Meliadine River shows intensive use by the Inuit. Here they built stone weits to channel fish, mainly Arctic char, into shallow water where they could be speared. They hunted seals in the area and trapped waterfowl, but caribou was the mainstay of life for the majority of the Inuit in the area.
With a sudden change of tempo, the video thrusts us into Rankin Inlet of the 1990’s. Now we see a bustling business and service community of over 2,000Inuit and non-native persons. The business roots of Rankin Inlet were laid in the 1950s when the North Rankin Nickel Mine began operation.
Many Inuit, such as our lead singer’s father, John Tiktak, came to work in the mine, which was eventually closed in 1962. In the 1950’s other inland Inuit, hard pressed by the unstable caribou numbers, moved to Rankin Inlet, and other coastal communities such as Arviat and Chesterfield Inlet, to take jobs and be closer to government services.
Now the music changes to vocals, where the singers express their longing for spring when they feel the sun on their faces and prepare their tea outside. Their desire to be on the land hunting and fishing is an overwhelming felling and eloquently expressed in this video as you will hear.
Do You Hear That?:
Ohiya akuni akuni ohiya
They won, they’re coming back
Akisa-akuwi-do
They’re making their war cries
While they’re coming back
Dakota ohiya-aku-wido
The young warriors won
And are coming back
Mike Hotain, Sioux Valley, Manitoba
Synopsis
In this short video, Dakota musician Mike Hotain, shows us a music which is rooted in the natural beauty of the northern plains.
Mike’s grandparents taught him to listen to the sounds around him: the varying seasonal sounds of leaves; water which may “cry”; even manmade sounds such as a door banging in the wind. They would say to him “Do you hear that?”
Mike was taught to listen within himself too, and to connect his heartbeat to the sounds of Mother Earth. As a musician, Mike is able to realize this listening (and feeling) in his drumming and singing.
The video shows us how Mike passes on his musical wisdom and knowledge to four Dakota youths. You will follow the progress of the youths as they learn to drum and sing a sneak-up dance and you may be inspired to try this musical art yourself. Certainly, it is because of the musical integrity of Dakota song and the spiritual integrity of teachers such as Mike, that this plains music has been able to endure over the centuries.
Mike Hotain, working with R. Murray Schafer and Lynn Whidden, also completed a fine recording (2004) of his songs. On the recording, Every Song Comes with the Wind, Mike talks about his Dakota songs before singing them.
Nanabush, the trickster, is always hungry. When he sees some juicy ducks for dinner, he hoists his bundle of songs onto his back, hoping to arouse their curiosity. Sure enough, the ducks want to know what’s in the bundle.
Nanabush tells them there are songs for dancing in his bundle. The foolish ducks jump at the opportunity to dance, even after Nanabush warns them that they must dance with their eyes closed.
Nanabush drums and sings and also prepares to wring some duck necks for dinner. One wise little duck opens its eyes to see what is happening and cries out to the others to fly away.
Nanabush is so angry he puts red circles around the eyes of the wise little duck who will now be a loon and the laughing-stock of all the birds forever and ever.
The Song
Ke-ko i-nap-pik-kek….Don’t look
Ke-ka ma-me-ska-wac….Or you will all take
Ki-ka ci-kew-mi-kom….Your turn at getting your neck wrung
We-ha-he-he We-ha-he-he
Background
The “Dancing Ducks” video, sung by Charles Beauchamp on the shore of Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba, captures a favourite Ojibwe song and story. Many Ojibwe speak their own language, Algonquian, and with it, the stories live on. The most enduring story is a loosely connected series of vignettes about the trickster, a character who appears in stories around the world. Nanabush, the Ojibwe trickster, can transform to any corporeal being wished.
For example, in one story, he wishes to eat the brain of a dead bear so he becomes an ant and enters the skull. The trickster embodies all the opposing forces and actions available to humankind such as moderation versus excess, and wise versus bungling behaviour. While not a comic character, the trickster’s misdeeds often result in very funny situation which are a great source of humour and even more stories. Nanabush teaches us, while making us laugh.
Many Ojibwe live in the North American boreal forest: theirs is a land of lakes, and forests of pine and spruce trees which are green all year round. Deep snow and icy rivers made walking or water travel in the birchbark canoes difficult for much of the year. Traditionally, the Ojibwe lived by gathering wild rice and hunting the animals which also served as the basis for their clans or social organization: the crane, catfish, loon, bear, marten and wolf. After contact with non-natives they became trappers and traded furs for their livelihood. Peguis Reserve, the site for this video, is named after the great Odjibwe leader, Chief Peguis (1774-1864). Watching the stream of Scottish farmers to his area, he realized that his people would have to adapt to some of the white man’s ways. This they have done; the Peguis Band has excelled in keeping apace with change and is a prosperous modern community.
In many areas, wildfowl remains a substantial part of Ojibwe diet and it is not surprising that one of their favourite song-stories is about the dancing ducks.
