Aidan Naughton
CWR4B
M Baptiste
MWF 2-3p

Native American Music: A Root of Contemporary Music Yet Explored

What is Native American Music?

As our class brainstormed ideas for research, I already knew what topic I wanted to explore. Having been a musician, closely involved with music my entire life, I directed my focus toward Native American music. Before I began to develop any sort of directed, narrowed research questions, I asked myself first, “What is Native American music?” Regarding various definitions of the so-called “genre,” I discovered that Native American music shouldn’t be typified into any genre or defined style of music. It was the perspective toward music that was unique to Native peoples, and this perspective is key in understanding the Native American influence on later creations of music.
Definition and Philosophy Native peoples tend to view their music in a distinctly different way from Euro-Americans. To Natives, music is thought; music appeared to be particularly inclusive into Native Americans’ way of life, and is unique in its origin, meaning, and efficacy. To ask “what is Native American music?” would be a question foreign to Native Americans, especially during the time that Native American music was first discovered. One aspect of music specific to indigenous peoples is its place in daily life. In fact, “its place in human affairs are much more significant to Indians than its mode of construction or technical character.” (Native American Music, 1980, p. 12) Unlike the Euro-American perspective toward music, cultural music itself wasn’t marginalized into any niche or complex art form. Rather, Native Americans used music as a prerequisite or compliment to ceremonies, rituals, dances, stories, narratives, warfare, hunting and gathering, and other aspects of life. Music was a vital part of life and community. For the Native person, music derives from creation and the source of human life. It is not restricted to “creation myths or the idea of traditions reaching back into the origin of society; it is possible for the individual, at any time, to get in touch with higher powers and peak experience.” (Native American Music, 1980, p. 13) Whether it was dreams, revelations, visions, or memorable experiences, such material was received in the form of songs. To create songs or compose music was never a formality to indigenous peoples.
This outlook contrasts the “tradition of Euro-American scholarship to codify, classify, and categorize” (Native American Music, 1980, p. 4) and differs from the Euro-American awareness of form, construction, and formal teaching. In the “sophisticated” Euro-American culture, music was usually written down in some form of notation, whereas songs within Native American cultures were often passed down through elders. The Euro-American emphasis on complexity of style, music theory, and musical notation led to a classification of Native American music as colloquial or folk. However this implies a lack of sophistication, being that folk music is often equated with no awareness of form or construction, or formal technique of teaching. Again, this upholds to the Euro-American tendency to categorize, and is an outlook that we must avoid. When reading this paper, it is pertinent to consider Native American music not as a style or genre, but unique in its inspiration, method of creation, and philosophy.
Refocus
After clarifying how to define Native American music, I directed my focus to discovering the scope of influence it had on the music culture we are familiar with today. Originally, I aimed to help my reader understand whether aspects of Native American music have influenced larger bodies of music or other music genres. Fortunately, the emphasis of individuality and freedom of expression in indigenous music led me to a parallel with the origins of blues music, and similarities with blues music’s definition and functional expression. Through this correlation I found the direction of my paper, proving that Native American music is deeply ingrained in modern music, and is not absent, but overlooked in its influence and involvement in blues music and the broader American music culture.

Native Blues: A Cloudy History, A Clear Connection

Time and Place Similar to the obscurity in the origins of Native American music, the precise origins of blues music are ambiguous and difficult to define as well. Before the genre was documented, this style of music had existed and had been evolving over time, before the term blues had even been coined. However, the first traces and documentation of the style came at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. It is said that the blues began as a type of African American folk music, originating around the plantations of the “deep south.” Mentioned in an article written in 2011, titled The Origins of the Blues, it was in Northwestern Mississippi, in an area known as the Delta, the flat plains between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, which is predicted to be the home of the style. Geographically speaking, around this time in history was the emergence of the tenant farmer system. A sort of economic replacement for slavery, the tenant farmer system employed unskilled laborers and newly freed African Americans, giving them housing, tools, seed, fuel, and low wages in exchange for planting and picking a set acreage. This would play an integral role in the origins of the Mississippi Delta Blues. On these plantations, because of this agricultural economic system, cultures were able to mesh under the labor quarters provided. Not only did plantations round together large numbers of African Americans as servants and workers, but Native American slaves were included as well. At the time, both of these cultures underwent slavery, servitude, and oppression, adversities that would likely serve as muses within Native American music culture. Similarly, the muse of hardship a key characteristic in blues music; this was likely related between cultures, in life and thus, in music.
Deeper Roots
According to the an article written 2009 by American Indian News and published by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, in addition to a cross-cultural exchange between African Americans and Native Americans on plantations, many runaway slaves found refuge in Native Nations in the South, and eventually up the Underground Railroad to the Six Nations in Canada. It is imperative to note the interaction between these two cultures at the time in delineating the assumption that the blues only stemmed from African American cultures. Before the genre was recognized, this cultural exchange had long since begun. Native peoples, tribes, and nations either interacted or adopted African Americans and their cultures, and inevitably left their mark on the race supposedly responsible for creating the style of music we know as the blues.
Similarities in Sound and Structure The history and influence of Native Americans have been overlooked and are often products of biased perspectives; in regards to the blues, this plays a factor as well. Written in 2013, in the article Native American Music: Then and Now, the blues has commonly been attributed to the influence of African American folk songs and gospel music, however it shares similarities with Native American tribal music as well. From a structural and technical standpoint, these commonalities include a four-beat measure in early blues music, specific rhythms and phrasing of lyrics that mirror aspects of Native American powwows, stomp songs, and other forms of tribal music. Like the four beats per measure associated with early blues songs, “powwow drumming is four beats to a measure.” (Moving Within the Cirlce, 1993, p. 33) The blues’ call-and-response song structure, said to be rooted in African American folk music, have older roots in Native American music. In Native American tribal music, “tribes kept their history through long ritual chants, with repetition and louds calls and wails” (Miller, 2002). These are characteristics observed when defining early accounts of blues, especially noting the lack of notation and proper teaching techniques. Early blues songs were passed down and communicated orally, contributing to the ambiguity in regard to blues’ origin but likewise upholding to a Native American practice. Similarities in Influence and Inspiration
Just how Native American music combines an individual’s expression and experience, so does the blues. This key aspect the blues may have adopted from Native Americans; both forms of music are derived from the heart, the earth, and the spirit of the individual. In Native American music, African American folk and gospel music, and in turn, blues music, lyrical contents delve into themes of love, location, people, and events, most often expressing feelings of rootlessness and misery, a sort of tell-it-like-it-is philosophy. This creative outlook towards music, emphasizing individuality and freedom of both inspiration and expression, contrasts the Euro-American musical style and sophistication. Rather, it is a characteristic of Native American music, and became a defining aspect of blues music.
Rooted in Blood and Blues
Escaping parallels in structure, form, or philosophy; from a testimonial standpoint even a large number of early blues performers who identified as Native American, indicate that Native American music is as much an influence of the blues as African American folk and gospel, and African tribal music. Explained earlier how the blues is said to have originated in the Mississippi Delta, Charley Patton, who is called the father of the Mississippi Delta blues, was Choctaw. Additionally, Scrapper Blackwell, a pioneer of early blues and an inspiration to future southern blues musicians, was Eastern Band Cherokee. Even Jimi Hendrix, an iconic instrumentalist of rock music who was first musically inspired by the blues, is of Cherokee ancestry. The Native American influence is rooted even deeper than the music itself,
Both Native American music and African American folk music have vocal and percussive traditions that are similar to early blues music; they represent cultures that came to encounter one another in old and new settlements in Mississippi, the Deep South, and in northern Indian nations. To assume that only the African American culture dominated the evolution of music and the creation of the blues, and that the counter–parting Native American culture had no influence whatsoever, defies the idea of utilizing other influences in the creation of new ideas that’s strongly associated with music culture.

Trends of Misrepresentation: What “History” Failed to Mention

One must understand that this argument isn’t looking to replace the cultural origins of the blues, but rather add to blues music’s dynamic evolution over time. However, discovering the Native American influence came with extensive research. By no means was this correlation of cultures and music explained, or even introduced, at a mainstream level. Only after finding a parallel in the definitions of Native American music and blues music, did I direct my research toward finding concrete correlations and modes of influence. Initially, I found weak and vague descriptions of the origins of the blues, providing a window for the potential Native American influence. But then I dug up similarities in form, structure, composition, philosophy, and creative influence. Next, I read testimonials from blues musicians supporting this argument. So then I finally asked myself, “Why was this connection never mentioned before?” I was astounded reading the multiple connections of cultures and influences, but I was appalled in realizing how the Native American impact on the blues was most often left out. Mainstream Interpretations In relating one music culture to another, I found it necessary to learn a history of both; however, many of the sources providing an insight and history of the blues failed to recognize a Native American impact completely. A first, obvious step in researching the blues was to search “history of the blues” on an Internet search engine. Analyzing the first few results, the top three in particular, each page failed to mention anything about Native Americans. The top result was an article written in 2005 titled A Brief History of the Blues, which stated that “the blues has deep roots, particularly in African American history” adding that its inventors were “African American sharecroppers who sang in the cotton and vegetable fields.” This article continued to state how it is generally accepted that “the music evolved from African spirituals, African chants” (Kopp, 2005). The second result that came up was from Shmoop.com, a student-assistant website renowned in educating countless modern-day students online. Shmoop.com’s reference to blues’ history, a section titled Blues Music History Introduction, states that the blues emerged “as a distinct African American art from, rooted in the southern U.S. and drawing on work songs, folk tradition, and black spirituals,” also noting the “African influence in the musical structure of the blues as it grew from slave culture and the memory of slavery” (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008). Lastly, the third most popular result was Wikipedia.org’s page entitled Blues. Last edited in May, 2015, the page states that the blues “originated in African American communities in the ‘Deep South’ of the U.S.,” following that the “genre is a fusion of traditional African music and European folk music” and “can be traced back to the music of Africa.” The page states, clearly, how blues particularly “relates to the religious music of the Afro-American community, the spirituals.” Notice that the top 3 resulting pages to a broad search, “history of the blues,” fail to recognize a single hint toward Native American influence and involvement. Instead these pages indicate, almost solely, the African American cultural inclusion. This created a cause for concern.
Not only are these sources the top three most popular results (out of an estimated 157 million), but also Shmoop and Wikipedia are some of the most popular information databases known to students, researchers, and people in general. These sites, which intend to provide a “history” of the blues, are visited by countless amounts of people and thus, inform the masses of a partially inauthentic history. For many who use the Internet to find information, the quick search and analysis of the top resulting links serve as a sufficient amount of research and evidence. Although, some of the most mainstream websites and most visited pages related to blues’ history fail to recognize Native American involvement. It is no wonder that this topic isn’t often considered or mentioned; who knows how long the African American-centered outlooks toward blues music have been accessible and readily available to the public? One can only guess how many times this popular view has been supported and cited without a true sense of authenticity. As if a teacher were to teach from biased history books, people have been educated, and are still taught from biased information on the history of the blues.
Unfortunately, this scenario presents yet another way the culture of Native Americans were not readily mentioned, where the lack of consideration consequentially covers up a piece Native American, and American history. This form of exclusion perpetuates the idea of a marginalized, stolen Native American history and culture. Upholding to concepts covered in Rethinking Columbus, history must be re-examined, but with accounts from all perspectives. We must revisit the origins and history of the blues in particular, with a greater sense of person, place, and perspective. To leave Native American influence out of the conversation for almost a century seems uncanny. Perhaps this is another area in which Native Americans must find a way to rewrite history. Fortunately, there has been a spark within the Native American community to expand upon this argument, and increase the awareness of Native American influence on blues music in particular.

Rez Blues: A Native American Revival and Surge in Interest

Discovering Native American roots in blues has been a considerably recent topic of research, and is still very much in-the-process of compiling enough concrete evidence that one can consider proof. However, this claim, that Native Americans were undoubtedly involved in the creation of blues music, has evolved from an orally passed-down theory, to a legitimate subject of research within and outside of Native American communities. On August 22, 2009, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. held a seminar focused on the roots of the blues and similarities between Native and African/African American music and styles. This seminar was named The Blues: Roots, Branches, and Beyond, and was led by producer and Aboriginal arts activist Elaine Bomberry (Ojibwe/Cayuga, from Six Nations, Ontario). Essentially, this seminar explored the Native connection to the blues, and highlighted Bomberry’s award-winning Canadian television show, Rez Blues TV—a series that showcases Aboriginal blues music. The seminar chronicled the successes of the show, of research, and further verified that the roots of blues music extend deep into Native American musical tradition. At a professional and educational level, there are others exploring the Native connection to the blues like myself. The show Rez Blues, the seminar itself, and that which the seminar was educating and celebrating all indicate a growing interest in the topic. In other words, today there exists an increasing involvement in the culture of Native American music, and established efforts to decipher the connection of Native American music styles to other forms of music.

Conclusion

Throughout my own research and discovery came a new appreciation for music, blues music, and Native and African American cultures. What was truly interesting was the glimpse at how history has been recorded and documented. For better and for worse, much of the information I filtered through was compounded on the documentation of biased perspectives. But the more I looked to dig, the more information I found about rich, complex cultures. What seems to be of most relevance in this research is the fact that blues music is not native to Native or African Americans, but it is native to the Americas as a whole. The story of the blues adds to a rich, complex American culture that’s historically significant to American citizens in addition to only music lovers. Blues music is distinctly American, and was a creation of this land that went on to inspire jazz, rock and roll, hip-hop, country, and many other styles of music. To understand the roots and branches associated with blues music is to understand a commentary of colored Americans. The blues is a part of the American identity, and symbolizes the history, the mystery, and the cultural mesh that’s associated with American people, music, and cultures.

References

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Diamond, B., & Cronk, M. (1994). Visions of sound: Musical instruments of First Nations communities in Northeastern America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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Native American Influence in the History of the Blues. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2015, from http://www.utne.com/arts/history-of-the-blues-ze0z1306zpit.aspx?PageId=3