Arctic Tribal Music
“For family, for survival”

"What is music?" he asked in his curious reed-like voice. "If you ask the wrong questions, you get the wrong answers”. “But I want the right questions”….

Active listening can help determine the usual characteristics of music i.e. forms, elements, and roots. But how do you know what your ears hear is music. And would you know to define it? One person’s homophonic passage is another’s minimalist rhythm. Yet one aspect is universal; it’s the fact that music plays a vital role in society. Throughout the world music is everywhere, from street corners to concert halls. It’s entertaining, stimulating, and demands an emotional response. But music can be turned off, or can it? For this group of people it can’t. As fundamental as breathing is to the human body, music is to the Native American Indian. Every facet of their existence is tied to song. And this is emphatically inherent in the Arctic Region’s Native American attitude towards song (Henceforth song is synonymous with music). As such they developed a musical identity in reference to their experiences real and perceived. The arctic region certainly one of the harshest on the planet; can sustain life albeit a difficult one. Long cold (at times totally dark) winters, and short summers (couple of months a year) meant the inhabitants had to be very flexible in lifestyle. Lite portable building materials (Tupik’s) or quick setup housing techniques (Igloo’s) were developed by the arctic tribes. And because the terrain was virtually permafrost during most of the year farming was impossible. Subsequently the tribes adopted a nomadic hunting and fishing lifestyle. Because of the severe living conditions of the extreme north it affected their, social structure, food choices, survival rates, and overall their way of life on a daily basis. For these reasons, they counted nature and the environment as core to tribal life; which translated to a central role in their songs.
Uvavnuk was a celebrated Inuit shamaness, and is considered a modern oral poet. Her tribe tells of her experience with a "glowing ball of fire in the sky" which gave her an “inner light”, that is she gained power. The shamaness newfound power, her "telepathic sensitivity" helped her know the "thoughts and hidden actions of others".3 After her visual experience with the "ball of fire", she reportedly authored this song:

The great sea frees me, moves me, as a strong river carries a weed.
Earth and her strong winds move me, take me away, and my soul is swept up in joy.4

The story of the shamaness illustrates the most important aspect of a song. The power the singer receives from singing it. For the shaman\shamaness it comes in visions and imbues one with supernatural authority over nature and man. For the common tribesman he creates it as a means to petition Nature to be kind to him, and to secure his place in society. And of his place in society, social order was essential to survival. The environment was too dangerous for an individual or single family. Community was then placed equal with the unit family. Sustenance was considered community goods, and all were expected to share in times of trouble. Also being nomadic meant there were a lot of small family groups. And as a way to prevent loss of needed community members to violence within the groups, the “song duel” was created. Where singers would engage in public “song joisting”, with the audience as the judge. The “combatants would sing insults to each other, as well as heckle the opposition during his song. While there was entertainment value in the duels; this was a serious contest where the loser could very well lose social rank. The audience would take a side; by applauding one singer longer and laughing a bit louder at his insults. Till finally only one of the singers would get applause, and then he is recognized as the winner of the song duel.
For the Arctic tribesmen having a song was tantamount with living. As everyday an experience as the feeling of a light breeze; the two were inseparable. They helped explain the difficult region the tribesmen lived in and gave them the power to conquer it. But the most enduring facet of the “song”; was its gift of a cultural identity. Contact with non-Indian people has certainly changed their traditional way of life; yet the “song” is still innately persistent in the hearts of the First Peoples.

Music is everywhere in our community if you’re a traditional person. So it’s always there and you’re just in the middle of it ... a lot of times I’ll be singing and won’t even notice it, and somebody will say,” Well, what’s that song?” and I’ll say, ”What song?” it’s so much a part of what I do and how I do things that I don’t even know. It’s just always been there.

This cultural identity is oneness with Nature, and never forgetting humanities place in it. The harshness of the Arctic was subdued; and as Modernization of the regional tribes continue, it too will learn the spirit of the “song” is eternal in the Native American heart.

“Then you must be like the chipmunk. See that little one over there? He comes out into the sun for a minute, and looks up. Then he blends back into the forest again. So it is with music. And if you want to talk about music, you have to see how it fits and what it does; both in the clearing in the sunlight, and when it blends back into the forest of life again”

Works Cited
Herndon, Marcia. Native American Music Darby: Norwood Editions Press, 1980.
Hirshfield, Jane. Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.

Hollenback, Jess Byron. Mysticism: Experience, Response, and Empowerment University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000.

Hoefnagels, Anna; Diamond, Beverley Aboriginal Music in Contemporary Canada Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2012.

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[ 1 ]. Marcia Herndon, Native American Music (Darby: Norwood Editions Press, 1980) 1.
[ 2 ]. 1,4 Jane Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995) 193
[ 3 ]. 2,3 Jess Byron Hollenback, Mysticism: Experience, Response, and Empowerment (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000) 44, 45.
[ 4 ]. Anna Hoefnagels and Beverley Diamond, Aboriginal Music in Contemporary Canada (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press,2012) 138
[ 5 ]. Marcia Herndon, Native American Music (Darby: Norwood Editions Press, 1980) 1, 2.