Eddie Benton-Benai describes the roles that instruments such as the shaker, flute and drum play in Ojibwe life. Tribal members perform traditional music. Also shown are the Spirit Bird Singers, a group of younger musicians carrying on and extending the traditions.
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Ojibwe Music
[Edward Benton-Banai speaking Ojibwe]
Edward Benton-Banai: Indian music is the first music of this part of the world. It is the original folk music of America. The sound of the music is the sound of creation itself.
[Indian shaker playing and man singing in Ojibwe]
My real name in Ojibwe and Anishinaabe language is “baw dway wi dun.” I’m also known as Eddie Benton-Banai. I’m a full-blood Ojibwe Anishinaabe of the La Courte Oreilles reservation which is near Hayward, wisconsin.
I was born and raised in the traditional manner. I participated in all the traditional ceremonies– traditional ways of my people. I’ve used that in my professional capacity to teach that all people have a culture, all people have a history.
The Anishinaabe people, like other people also have a creation story. Our creation story has to do with one creator that created all things. In that creation story, there is a sound that is associated with the first known action. And that sound is the sound of the shaker honorly called “jishigwan” in our language. The first music using this original instrument sounded like this.
[singing in Ojibwe, shaker sound continues]
[traditional music]
shakers come in different forms. The original shaker was probably of this nature. This is a gourd that is planted. It has seeds in it. When picked and cured and then with the proper handle attached to it it makes this sound.
[medium-tone rattling]
In modern-day times, people make beautiful shakers from silver looking for a different sound.
[traditional music]
Another shaker that you’d begin with an infant– it becomes part of their toys part of their tools very early on. But again, the shaker, the noise, the movement is very essential.
[higher-tone rattling]
that would make a noise like this. So, this is an infant one. This is probably for a 12, 13, 14-year-old when they begin to realize and are told through the teachings the importance of this instrument. Indian people have these shakers to keep time, to keep rhythm and to make a sound in accompaniment with other instruments or just simply with a voice.
As a shaker moves through our learning and through our evolvement then it’s a people’s choice how to hear it. And so, a person whose inner ear and whose hearing is attuned to the music and the sound of the lodge which is nature, which is the creation seeks to balance. And that melody is what creates the beautiful sound of the Midewiwin lodge the original belief system of our people the original religion.
[traditional music]
The shaker, as opposed to the word “rattle”– it’s not a rattle, it’s a shaker. And it’s a necessary part of the instruments of the faith. The word “Midewiwin” refers to the heart. Our spiritual inspiration comes directly from the loving heart of the creator and is embodied in all of these things that represent those spiritual teachings. And so, the shaker is the first instrument of the Anishinaabe people.
[traditional music]
[quiet forest sounds, birds singing]
To hear the universe is to hear, feel, sense and be in tune with the creator and creation itself. One must have that kind of hearing that kind of sensitivity. The songs come from the sounds the sound of the animals, the birds the eagle in flight, the hawk in flight. And those things inspire Indian music.
[eagle whistle]
The story of the eagle whistle is the story of the eagle itself the eagle being the intercessor between the human beings and the spirit world. And for that reason and because the eagle is revered and very highly respected among all indigenous people of this part of the world the eagle whistle is very, very important. It is a very, very important instrument and it’s not to be used casually and without meaning.
Dancers who have earned the right carry this eagle whistle. This one is decorated according to the likes and vision of its carrier. And when this is blown by the dancer it has very special meaning. And there are very important, very strict rules to its use. The eagle whistle sounds like this.
[high-pitched, two-tone whistling]
[sounds of wind and crashing waves]
[Indian flute playing]
All of these original instruments– the eagle whistle and now the flute, are very, very ancient. No one knows, really when the flute might have come to the people. But be assured that it was well before the arrival of the light-skinned race to this part of the world.
[traditional music]
[traditional music]
This is usually associated as a love flute. It has evolved to that because of the thought that goes into the music you can produce with this instrument. But the sound of the flute is the sound of the wind the mournful wind. This is a wind instrument.
[traditional music]
different tribal groups, different nations have their own story of the origin of the flute. With us, the Algonquin people this instrument came as a result of mourning. It comes from a sad, tragic story that has to do with the loss and the wind and other elements. A young woman who was mourning the death of her young husband– and in her sadness, a spirit comes a spirit borne by the wind blowing through the reeds comes and produces this sound. And the spirit shows her, in a vision this instrument by which she can console her grief over the loss of her young husband. That’s basically the story of how the flute came to us.
[traditional music]
[drum beating]
[man singing in Ojibwe, drumming continues]
this particular song has to do with a young man who wishes to be a hunter and has petitioned the hunting society for apprenticeship. In the history of native people, the drum is very important. It’s very integral to us because all drums represent the heartbeat of the people.
[singing and drumming]
I’m going to add the shaker. I’m going to hold it with my drumstick. And as I strike the drum it will make, simultaneously, the sound. I’m just combining the drum, the shaker and the voice.
[traditional music]
it is generally thought that the big drum is the one and only drum of the original people of this part of the world. But it’s not the only drum and certainly was not the first drum. In fact, the big drum is very recent in accordance with oral history. This is called a hand drum. It’s about 16 inches in diameter. This one happens to be a one-side hand drum with the back side of it being how it’s tied together. The reason it’s constructed this way is that the singer can control the pitch, the sound and the timbre of the drum with his hand by putting pressure upon the backside of it as he sings.
[traditional music]
[traditional music]
Indian music continues to develop. More young people today are singing the old songs but also making new songs. One of the most popular forms is the social dance songs the love songs. Here’s a love song of the great lakes.
[traditional music]
[traditional music]
[traditional music]
[traditional music]
boy: …where the foot goes, and all his toes. Man: that’s his front paw.
[indistinct talking]
child: oh ! Yes, yes ! Woman: that’s a bear. Woman: that’s a bear. Man: yeah. Child: he’s so little. Woman: he’s zooming up. Child: mommy, he’s going– oh ! Woman: the other ones went across and they left, eh ?
[traditional music]
Edward Benton-Banai: I have been very fortunate to have been born into a traditional family and very, very fortunate to be a father of children who are very close to their culture. I have sons who are singers. I had a daughter who was renowned as a young contest dancer.
But there was a son, a very particular son spirit bird– spirit bird Benton-Banai– to whom music was a great experience music of all sorts, of all different sounds of different cultures. He loved the blues very, very much. He was entranced by Beethoven. His sister was a very, very great fan of Pavarotti. But along with that, there was a great, beautiful healthy, wealthy mix of music– music in their lives. There wasn’t a day in their life that I can remember that they were not singing.
[traditional music]
But with spirit bird there was a very special gift for hearing music. Spirit bird could hear a melody that he’d never heard before whether it was Beethoven or whether it was a Lakota singing group out at South Dakota he could come home and sing that song note for note and beat for beat. By the age of 12 he was composing, especially pow wow music. He loved the new sound, the new sound of young singers with their high-pitched voice.
[traditional music]
As a 16-year-old boy he brought some young boys together who were problem kids in his school. They created a drum called “the pipe stone creek singers.” and he taught them how to sing, how to be together how to be supportive of one another, to be a group. And their activity improved their school performance not only academic performance but their attendance and their attitude.
Those young men are mostly grown up now. But spirit bird tragically was killed in an auto accident in 1991, at the Albuquerque pow wow. The pipe stone creek singers in honor and in memory of spirit bird renamed the drum group, “the spirit bird singers.” they’re here to sing his song in memory of him.
[traditional music]
[man speaking Ojibwe]
It’s saying, “Hello, all my relations.”
[speaking Ojibwe]
[continues speaking Ojibwe]
“That’s who I am…”
[speaking Ojibwe]
“This very beautiful day.”
[speaking Ojibwe]
“Entering this great Midewiwin lodge.”
[drumming]
[drumming and singing]
[traditional music]
Edward Benton-Banai: different people have their own stories their own versions of the coming of the drum. But according to the Anishinaabe people it’s sort of a long story but it has to do with very hard times. The people were in strife and they were in, actually, a great deal of conflict.
The drum was given to a young woman who went out seeking a vision and was given this vision as a means of creating peace. And along with the drum was given this instrument which is a partner or part of this instrument. This is called a beater. And it’s used to accompany, keep time keep rhythm with the singing.
[traditional music]
but the big drum is not the original drum. The water drum is the original drum and is referred to as the drum of drums. That represents the heartbeat of the creator the heartbeat of the universe the heartbeat of creation the heartbeat of the people. And this is a replica of the water drum. The real drum of the Midewiwin lodge will not and does not appear in public. But for educational purposes, we have made this replica. This drumstick is what is used as the instrument that produces the sound. This looks like a drumstick, but it’s not a real drumstick. The water drum incorporates all the elements of creation. The wood is taken from the tree “representing the plant life, or our mother the earth. The covering is of the deer skin. The deer animal is a very peaceful animal representing peace and brotherhood and love and sharing. The water that’s inside of this vessel in the real drum represents the water that is necessary for all life. This drum represents those teachings. That’s the meaning of the water drum and of the Midewiwin lodge.
[traditional music]
And so, the sound of this drum, that spiritual thought and Indian music the first music of this part of the world continues to be the beautiful sound that it has always been.
[traditional music]
Captioning services provided by Wisconsin Public Television.
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