| Volume 1 : Native American Music |
| Chapter 14. First Nations Music
of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Kwakwaka'wkw |
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Love Song
Love songs are included in the general category of Social Songs which are not part of the Potlatch musical complex. The melodic contour is descending. There is a typical opening interval, the ascending large 2nd. Patterns of formal organization in the Social Songs are significantly less intricate than in the Hamatsa genre and less extended than in the pattern-based Potlatch genre. Performed by Billy Assu and recorded by Ida Halpern in 1947 at Cape Mudge, British Columbia. (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings album #04122 track #5) |
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Potlatch Song In the Potlatch song genre, it is important to note the functional nature of the songs. Their musical form and content was rigidly controlled; these songs were logically bound not only by circumstance of ceremony and tradition but also by content, words and syllables. Performed by Billy Assu and recorded by Ida Halpern in 1947 at Cape Mudge, British Columbia. (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings album #04122 track #6) |
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Notes for these examples were written by Ida Halpern and published as liner notes in the 1981 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings album titled Kwakiutl – Indian Music of the Pacific Northwest. |
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