HISTORY IN- SONG.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 231, 30 September 1929, Page 9

HISTORY IN- SONG.

RED INDIANS WHO LIVE TO MUSIC. EVERY ACT RECORDED. Music to the American Indian is much more than a recreation or diversion. Both important and trivial events in the life of an Indian are recorded in song. The acts of dressing, feasting, wooing, and lighting are given expression by the red-skinned race. The history of a tribe is taught to the children by tho elders in song form. When difficulties arise with adjacent tribes the chief and his braves gather and sing the old battle songs handed down from preceding generations and new ones appropriate to the occasion at hand. The musical instruments of the Red Indian are intended solely as accompaniment and number only three—the drum, fc'a rattle-like instrument, and a crude ; flute. The tunes are carried by the singers while the instruments mark time and rhythm. The drum is by far the most important. It is difficult to persuade an Indian to sing unless accompanied on one. When groups of Indians are absent from their camp for more than a day, one of them at least carries a drunj, and at night, when the business of the day is finished, the drum is taken from ifs bag and the important events sung by the drummer, while the others sit about listening attentively and occasionally adding a suggestion or amendment. Sometimes the drum is passed around to one of. the others to play, but not every Indian is a musician, and only the musicians of the tribe would dare to carry on the narrative song.