To`badzistsíni, or Child of the Water, as he appears in the act of
succor described in notes 206 and 269. His body and limbs are painted
with a native red ochre; his hands are smeared with white earth;
and eight symbols are drawn in his body in white,--two on the chest,
two on the arms, two on the legs, and two on the back, partly over the
shoulder-blades. As with the bow-symbols of Nayénezgani (note 269),
two of the symbols are left open or unfinished,--that on the left
leg (painted first) and that over the left shoulder-blade (painted
last), to indicate (some say) that the labors of the god are not yet
done. Fig. 42 shows the order and direction in which each component
line of the symbol must be drawn. The symbols represent a queue, such
as the Navahoes now wear (fig. 31). Some say these figures represent
the queue of the god's mother, others say they represent the scalps
of conquered enemies; the latter is a more probable explanation. The
personator wears a mask painted also with red ochre (all except a
small triangular space over the face, which is colored black and
bordered with white); and it is decorated both in front and behind
with a number of queue-symbols (the number is never the same in two
masks, but is always a multiple of four). The mask has a fringe
of red or yellow hair, and a cockade of turkey-tail and a downy
eagle-feather. The holes for the eyes and mouth are diamond-shaped,
and have white shells attached to them. The actor carries in his left
hand a small round cylinder of cedar-wood painted red, and in his right
a cylinder of piñon painted black. With these, in the scene of succor,
he makes motions at the patient and at the lodge. Like his companion,
the personator of Nayénezgani, he wears a collar of fox-skin (Vulpes
velox); rich necklaces of shell, turquoise, and coral; a skirt or sash
of bayeta, or some other rich material; a belt adorned with plaques
of silver; and ordinary moccasins. The sacrificial cigarette which he
receives is painted red, marked with the queue-symbols, and deposited
under a cedar-tree. No dry-painting of To`badzistsíni has been seen
by the author, and he has been assured that none is made.
271. The name Has-tsél-tsi (Red God) is derived from Hastsé (God, see
par. 78) and litsí (red). The Red God, it is said, is never depicted in
dry-paintings. The author has never seen the character in masquerade;
it seldom appears,--only on the rare occasions when there is no dance
of the naakhaí on the last night of the night chant. He seems to be a
god of racing. The following account of him is from verbal description:
Red God is one of the yéi, and dwells wherever other yéi dwell (hence
there are many). His representative never appears in an act of succor
and never helps the patient. A fast runner is chosen to play the
part. He goes round among the assembled Indians and challenges men,
by signs and inarticulate cries, to race with him. If he wins, he
whips the loser with two wands of yucca leaves (culled with special
observances) which he carries. If he loses, the winner must not whip
him. If the loser begs him to whip softly he whips hard, and vice
versa. His body is painted red and has queue-symbols drawn on it,
like those of To`badzistsíni (plate VII.). His mask, which is a domino
and not a cap, is painted red and marked with circles and curves in
white. His cigarette is prepared on the fourth day, but it is not
given to him to sacrifice; it is placed by other hands. Song and
prayer accompany the preparation and sacrifice of the cigarette. The
latter is painted red, and decorated in white with queue-symbols,
either two or four; if four, two are closed or complete, and two open
or incomplete. (Note 270.)
NAVAHO MUSIC.
BY PROF. JOHN COMFORT FILLMORE.
272. The twenty-eight songs which I have transcribed from phonographic
records made by Dr. Washington Matthews have very great scientific
interest and value, inasmuch as they throw much light on the problem
of the form spontaneously assumed by natural folk-songs. Primitive man,
expressing his emotions, especially strongly excited feeling, in song,
without any rules or theories, must, of course, move spontaneously
along the lines of least resistance. This is the law under which
folk-melodies must necessarily be shaped. The farther back we can
get toward absolutely primitive expression of emotion in song, the
more valuable is our material for scientific purposes; because we
can be certain that it is both spontaneous and original, unaffected
by contact with civilized music and by any and all theories. In such
music we may study the operation of natural psychical laws correlated
with physical laws, working freely and coming to spontaneous expression
through the vocal apparatus.
These Navaho songs are especially valuable because they carry us well
back toward the beginnings of music-making. One only needs to hear
them sung, or listen to them in the admirable phonographic records
of Dr. Matthews, to be convinced of this from the very quality of
tone in which they are sung. In all of them the sounds resemble
howling more than singing, yet they are unmistakably musical in two
very important particulars: (1) In their strongly marked rhythm; (2)
In the unquestionably harmonic relations of the successive tones. I
shall deal with them, therefore, under the two heads of Rhythm and
Harmonic Melody.
1. Rhythm.--Mr. Richard Wallascheck, the distinguished author of
"Primitive Music," has lately called attention to the importance of
sonant rhythm. Not only does the rhythmic impulse precede the other
musical elements, but the superiority of sonant rhythm is such as to
serve as an incitement to tone-production. Rhythm tends to set the
voice going; and of course vocal sounds, which constitute the first
music, do not become music until they are rhythmically ordered. They
tend to become so ordered by a natural law of pulsation which need not
be discussed here. The regularly recurring pulsations, which specially
show themselves in all prolonged emissions of vocal sounds, tend also
to form themselves in metrical groups; speaking broadly, these metrical
groups are usually twos or threes, or simple multiples of twos or
threes. This is so, for the most part, in savage folk-music, in our
most advanced culture-music, and in all the development which comes
between. The metrical grouping into fives or sevens is comparatively
rare; but I have found it more frequently by far in savage folk-music
than in our music of civilization.
The most striking characteristic of the metrical grouping of tones
in the Navaho songs here given is the freedom with which the singer
changes from one elementary metre to the other; i.e. from twos to
threes and vice versa. So in the compound metres: two twos and three
twos, or two threes and three threes, are intermingled with the utmost
freedom, so that few of them can be marked in the notation with a
single-time signature. Or, if they are, there is almost sure to be
an exceptional measure or two here and there which varies from the
fundamental metrical type. Thus, the first song on cylinder No. 38 has
metrical groupings of three threes and of two threes; i.e. 9/8 and 6/8
time. The two songs on cylinder No. 41 have three twos and two twos,
treating the eighth note as a unit; or, better, 2/4 and 3/4 metre,
mingled at the pleasure of the singer. Nearly all the songs vary the
metre in this way. The one on cylinder No. 62 has an exceptionally
rich variety of metrical arrangement; while the second one, on cylinder
No. 38, is exceptionally simple and monotonous in metre and rhythm. A
few of them, like No. 25, recorded on cylinder No. 143, are singularly
irregular. This song would seem to be based on a grouping of simple
twos (2/4 time, equal to 4/8) as its fundamental metrical conception;
yet a great many measures contain only three eighth notes, and some
contain five or even six. The song numbered 28, on cylinder No. 144,
has a 8/8 metre as its foundation, but varied by 2/4, equal to 4/8. In
respect of metrical grouping, these Navaho songs do not differ in any
essential characteristic from the songs of the Omahas, the Kwakiutls,
the Pawnees, the Otoes, the Sioux, and other aboriginal folk-music, nor
from that of other nations and races, including our own. The complexity
of metrical arrangement has been carried much farther by some other
tribes, notably the Omahas and the Kwakiutls, than by the Navahoes,
so far as appears from the present collection of songs. There is no
record here of an accompanying drum-beat, so that, if the combinations
of dissimilar rhythms which are so common in the two above-named tribes
exist among the Navahoes, they are yet to be recorded and transcribed.
2. Harmonic Melody.--These songs seem to be a real connecting
link between excited shouting and excited singing. In quality
of tone they are shouts or howls. In pitch-relations they are
unmistakably harmonic. Some of them manifest this characteristic most
strikingly. For example, the two songs on cylinder No. 41 contain
all the tones which compose the chord of C major, and no others. The
second one on cylinder No. 38 has the tones D and F sharp and no
others, except in the little preliminary flourish at the beginning,
and here there is only a passing E, which fills up the gap between
the two chord-tones. D is evidently the key-note, and the whole
melody is made up of the Tonic chord incomplete. The first song on
the same cylinder is similarly made up of the incomplete Tonic chord
in C minor; only the opening phrase has the incomplete chord of E
flat, the relative major. Cylinder No. 49 has nothing but the Tonic
chord in C major, and the chord is complete. No. 61 has the complete
chord of B flat minor and nothing else. No. 62 is made up mainly
of the chord of F major complete. It has two by-tones occasionally
used, G and D, the former belonging to the Dominant and the other
to both the Sub-dominant and Relative minor chords. Song No. 9 on
cylinder No. 100 has the incomplete chord of D sharp minor, with G
sharp, the Sub-dominant in the key, as an occasional by-tone. The
last tone of each period, the lowest tone of the song, sounds in
the phonograph as if the singer could not reach it easily, and the
pitch is rather uncertain. It was probably meant for G sharp; but a
personal interview with the singer would be necessary to settle the
point conclusively. Song No. 10, on the same cylinder, has the complete
Tonic chord in D sharp minor and nothing else except the tone C sharp,
which is here not a melodic by-tone, but a harmonic tone, a minor
seventh added to the Tonic chord. This is curiously analogous to some
of the melodies I heard in the Dahomey village at the World's Fair, and
also to some of the melodies of our own Southern negroes. Song No. 11,
on the same cylinder, has the same characteristics as No. 9. Nos. 12
and 13, on cylinder No. 135, contain the complete chord of D flat and
nothing else. The two songs on cylinder No. 138 contain the complete
chord of C major and nothing else, except at the beginning, where A,
the relative minor tone, comes in, in the opening phrase. As a rule,
whatever by-tones there are in these songs are used in the preliminary
phrase or flourish of the song, and then the singer settles down
steadily to the line of the Tonic chord. The two songs recorded on
No. 139 have the complete major chord of B flat, with G, the relative
minor, as a by-tone. The two songs on No. 143 are in C sharp minor
and embody the Tonic chord, with F sharp, the Sub-dominant, as a
by-tone. Only the first of the two begins with the tone B, which
does not occur again. Song No. 27, on cylinder No. 144, embodies
only the complete chord of C sharp minor. No. 28 has the same chord,
with F sharp as a by-tone. The two songs on No. 145 are in D minor and
are made up mainly of the Tonic chord. The by-tones used are G and B
flat, which make up two thirds of the Sub-dominant chord, and C, which
belongs to the relative major. No. 32, on cylinder No. 146, has more
of diatonic melody. It is in G major, and embodies the chord of the
Tonic with by-tones belonging to both the Dominant and Sub-dominant
chords, one from each chord. No. 33, on the same cylinder, is less
melodious, but has the same harmonic elements. Cylinder 147 has two
songs in D major which embody the Tonic chord complete, with slight
use of a single by-tone, B, the relative minor. The same is true of
song No. 36, on cylinder No. 148. Song No. 37, on the same cylinder,
has the major chord of C and nothing else.
There are two striking facts in all this: (1) When these Navahoes make
music spontaneously,--make melodies by singing tones in rhythmically
ordered succession,--there is always a tone which forces itself on
our consciousness as a key-note, or Tonic, and this tone, together
with the tones which make up its chord (whether major or minor),
invariably predominates overwhelmingly; (2) Whenever by-tones are
employed, they invariably belong to the chords which stand in the
nearest relation to the Tonic.
I do not care at present to go into any speculations as to why this
is so. No matter now what may be the influence of sonant rhythm; what
may be the relations of the psychical, physiological, and physical
elements; how sound is related to music; how men come to the conception
of a minor Tonic when only the major chord is given in the physical
constitution of tone. All these questions I wish to waive at this
time and only to insist on this one fact, viz.: That, so far as these
Navaho songs are concerned, the line of least resistance is always a
harmonic line. If we find the same true of all other folk-melodies,
I can see no possible escape from the conclusion that harmonic
perception is the formative principle in folk-melody. This perception
may be sub-conscious, if you please; the savage never heard a chord
sung or played as a simultaneous combination of tones in his life;
he has no notion whatever of the harmonic relations of tones. But
it is not an accident that he sings, or shouts, or howls, straight
along the line of a chord, and never departs from it except now and
then to touch on some of the nearest related chord-tones, using them
mainly as passing-tones to fill up the gap between the tones of his
Tonic chord. Such things do not happen by accident, but by law.
That these Navahoes do precisely this thing, no listener can doubt
who knows a chord when he hears it. But the same thing is true of all
the folk-music I have ever studied. Hundreds of Omaha, Kwakiutl, Otoe,
Pawnee, Sioux, Winnebago, Iroquois, Mexican Indian, Zuñi, Australian,
African, Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Hindoo, Arab, Turkish, and European
folk-songs which I have carefully studied, taking down many of them
from the lips of the native singers, all tell the same story. They are
all built on simple harmonic lines, all imply harmony, are all equally
intelligible to peoples the most diverse in race, and consequently owe
their origin and shaping to the same underlying formative principles.
Mr. Wallascheck has called attention to the fact that the rhythmic
impulse precedes the musical tones, and also to the part played by
sonant rhythm in setting tone-production going. The rhythmic impulse
is doubtless the fundamental one in the origination of music. But when
the tone-production is once started by the rhythmic impulse, it takes
a direction in accordance with the laws of harmonic perception. I was
long ago forced to this conclusion in my study of the Omaha music; and
these Navaho songs furnish the most striking corroboration of it. How
else can we possibly account for the fact that so many of these songs
contain absolutely nothing but chord tones? How can we escape the
conclusion that the line of least resistance is a harmonic line? Is
it not plain that, in the light of this principle, every phenomenon
of folk-music becomes clear and intelligible? Is there any other
hypothesis which will account for the most striking characteristics of
folk-music? Every student must answer these questions for himself. But
I, for my part, am wholly unable to resist the conviction that the
harmonic sense is the shaping, formative principle in folk-melody.
[In the numbers of The Land of Sunshine (Los Angeles, Cal.), for
October and November, 1896, under the title of "Songs of the Navajos,"
the poetry and music of this tribe have already been discussed by
Professor Fillmore and the author. All the music which follows (see
pp. 258, 279-290), except that of the "Dove Song," was written by
Professor Fillmore.]
273. DOVE SONG.
(See par. 50.) Music by Christian Barthelmess.
Slow.
Wos wos nai-di-la a a, Wos wos nai-di-lo o o,
Wos wos nai-di-la a a, Tsi-nol-ka-zi nai-di-la a a,
Ke-li-tsi-tsi nai-di-la a a, Wos wos nai-di-lo o o.
TEXTS AND INTERLINEAR TRANSLATIONS.
274. ASSEVERATION OF TORLINO (IN PART).
Naestsán bayántsin.
Earth (Woman Horizontal), for it I am ashamed.
Yádilyil bayántsin.
Sky (dark above), for it I am ashamed.
Hayolkál bayántsin.
Dawn, for it I am ashamed.
Nahotsói bayántsin.
Evening (Land of Horizontal Yellow), for it I am ashamed.
Nahodotli'zi bayántsin.
Blue sky (Land or Place of Horizontal Blue), for it I am ashamed.
Tsalyél bayántsin.
Darkness, for it I am ashamed.
Tsóhanoai bayántsin.
Sun, for it I am ashamed.
Si sizíni beyastí`yi bayántsin.
In me it stands, with me it talks, for it I am ashamed.
275. BEGINNING OF ORIGIN LEGEND.
To`bilhaski'digi haádze lakaígo ta`i'ndilto; tsin
Water with Hill Central in to the east white up rose; day
dzilínla tsi'ni. Sadaádze dotli'zgo ta`i'ndilto;
they thought it they say. To the south blue up rose;
tábitsin indzilté tsi'ni. Inádze litsógo
still their day they went around they say. To the west yellow
ta`i'ndilto; ininála á`le tsi'ni. Akógo náhokosdze
up rose; evening always it showed they say. Then to the north
dilyi'lgo ta`i'ndilto; akógo dazintsá dádzilkos tsi'ni.
dark up rose; then they lay down they slept they say.
To`bilhaski'di to`altsáhazlin;
Water with Hill Central water flowed from in different directions;
haádze la ilín, sadaágo la ilín, la inádze ilín
to the east one flowed, at the south one flowed, one to the west flowed
tsi'ni. Haádze ilínigi ban kéhodziti;
they say. To the east where it flowed its border place where they
dwelt;
sadaádze eltó`; inádze eltó` ban kéhodziti
to the south also; to the west also its border place where they dwelt
tsi'ni.
they say.
Haádze Tan holgé; sadaádze Nahodoóla holgé;
To the east Corn a place called; to the south Nahodoóla a place called;
inádze Lókatsosakád holgé. Haádze Asalái
to the west Reed Great Standing a place called. To the east Pot One
holgé; sadaádze To`hádzitil holgé;
a place called; to the south Water They Come for Often a place called;
inádze Dsillitsíbehogán holgé. Haádze
to the west Mountain Red Made of House a place called. To the east
Léyahogan holgé; sadaádze Tsiltsi'ntha
Earth under House a place called; to the south Aromatic Sumac among
holgé; inádze Tse`litsíbehogán holgé.
a place called; to the west Rock Red Made of House a place called.
Holatsí Dilyi'le kéhati inté. Holatsí Litsí kéhati inté. Tanilaí
Ants Dark lived there. Ants Red lived there. Dragon-flies
kéhati inté. Tsaltsá kéhati inté. Wointli'zi kéhati
lived there. (Yellow beetles) lived there. Beetles (?) hard lived
inté. Tse`yoáli kéhati inté. Kinli'zin
there. Stone carriers (beetles) lived there. Bugs black (beetles)
kéhati inté. Maitsán kéhati inté. Andi'ta Tsápani
kéhati
lived there. Coyote-dung (beetles) lived there. Besides Bats lived
inté. Totsó` kéhati inté. Wonistsídi kéhati inté.
there. (White-faced beetles) lived there. Locusts lived there.
Wonistsídi Kaí kéhati inté. Nakidátago diné` aísi
Locusts White lived there. Twelve people these
dezdél.
started (in life).
Haádze hahóse to`sigi'n tsi'ni; Sadaádze to`sigi'n
To the east extended ocean they say; to the south ocean
tsi'ni; inádze to`sigi'n tsi'ni; náhokosdze to`sigi'n
they say; to the west ocean they say; to the north ocean
tsi'ni. Haádze to`sigi'n bígi Tiéholtsodi sitín tsi'ni.
they say. To the east ocean within Tiéholtsodi lay they say.
Natáni inlíngo; hanantáï tsi'ni. Sadaádze to`sigi'n
Chief he was; Chief of the people they say. To the south ocean
bígi Thaltláhale sitín tsi'ni. Natáni inlin'go; hanantáï
within Blue Heron lay they say. Chief he was; chief of the people
tsi'ni. Inádze to`sigi'n bígi Tsal sitín tsi'ni. Natáni
they say. To the west ocean within Frog lay they say. Chief
inlíngo; hanantáï tsi'ni. Náhokosdze to`sigi'n bígi
he was; chief of the people they say. To the north ocean within
Idní`dsilkai sitín tsi'ni; hanantáï tsi'ni.
Thunder Mountain White lay they say; chief of the people they say.
Tígi itégo hazágo kédahatsitigo; e'hyidelnago
In this way they quarrelled around where they lived; with one another
ahádaztilge tsi'ni. E'hyidelnago estsáni altsan
they committed adultery they say. With one another women several
tatsikíd tsi'ni. Yúwe tséhalni tsi'ni. Tiéholtsodi
committed crime they say. To banish it they failed they say. Tiéholtsodi
haádze "Hatégola doléla? Hwehéya
to the east "In what way shall we act? Their land
holdá`odaka`la." Sadaádze Thaltláhale halní
the place they dislike." To the south Blue Heron spoke to them
tsi'ni. Inádze "Kat si dokoné kehadzitídolel," Tsal
they say. To the west "Now I (say) not here shall they dwell," Frog
hatsí Natáni inli'ni, hatsí tsi'ni. Náhokosdze
he said Chief he was, he said they say. To the north
Idní`dsilkai "Ta`kadá` hádzeta dahízdinolidi" tsi'ni.
Thunder Mountain White "Quickly elsewhere they must depart" they say.
Haádze Tiéholtsodi ahánadazdeyago
To the east Tiéholtsodi when again they committed adultery
alkinatsidzé tohatsí tsi'ni. Sadaádze
among themselves again fought nothing he said they say. To the south
Thaltláhale tatohanantsída tsi'ni. Inádze Tsal natáni
Blue Heron again said nothing to them they say. To the west Frog chief
inlinéni tatohanantsída tsi'ni. Náhokosdze
he formerly was again said nothing to them they say. To the north
Idní`dsilkai tatohanantsída tsi'ni.
Thunder Mountain White again said nothing to them they say.
Tóbiltahozondala tsi'ni.
Not with pleasant ways, one they say.
Tin naikálago takonáhotsa tsi'ni. Sadaádze
Four again ends of nights again the same happened they say. To the south
kéhodzitini takonátsidza tsi'ni; kinatsidzé tsi'ni.
the dwellers did the same again they say; again they fought they say.
Haádze la estsánigo la dinégo yahatsaáz inté;
To the east one woman one man tried to enter two together there;
tsehodineltsa, tsi'ni. Sadaádze Thaltláhale sitínedze
they were driven they say. To the south Blue Heron to where he lay
yahanátsataz inté; tsenáhodineltsa
again they tried to enter two together there; again they were driven out
tsi'ni. Inádze Tsal natáni inli'nedze
they say. To the west Frog chief to where he was
yahanátsataz inté; tsenáhodineltsa
again they tried to enter two together there; again they were driven out
tsi'ni. Náhokosdze tsenáhodineltsa "Tóta ní`yila.
they say. To the north again they were driven out. "Not one of you.
Dainoká` hádzeta," ho`doní tsi'ni. Andi'ta aibitlé
Keep on going elsewhere," thus he spoke they say. Besides the same night
Nahodoóla bai'ndadzitigo iská' tatoastetsáda
Nahodoóla they discussed it the end of the night they did not decide
tsi'ni. Na`déyayilkágo Tiéholtsodi hayálti tsi'ni.
they say. After dawn Tiéholtsodi began to talk they say.
"Todadotsáda tsiní`yitsinyasti hádis tadidotsíl
"You pay no attention all I said to you anywhere you will disobey;
ní`yila` hádzeta tanelída; koné tóta ti` ni dasakádgi kat
all of you elsewhere must go; here not this earth upon stand in now
tóta;" hodoní tsi'ni.
not;" thus he said they say.
Estsánigo tin iskágo basahatsilágo tsi'ni.
Among the women four ends of nights, till they talked about it they say.
Tín iská` api'nigo názditse inté tsi'ni,
Four ends of nights in the morning as they were rising there they say,
haádze hatísi lakáigo taigánil tsi'ni; andi'ta sadaádze
to the east something white it appeared they say; besides to the south
eltó` taigánil tsi'ni; naakoné inádze eltó` taigánil
also it appeared they say; again here to the west also it appeared
tsi'ni; andi'ta náhokosdze eltó` taigánil tsi'ni. Dsil
they say; besides to the north also it appeared they say. Mountains
ahyéna`a` náhalini silín tsi'ni; tatobitá`hazani.
rising up around like it stretched they say; without opening.
To`ahyéintsil tsi'ni; to`tobityió, tatódizaatego
Water all around they say; water not to be crossed, not to be climbed
ahyéintsilin tsi'ni. Táako tahadiltél tsi'ni.
flowed all around they say. At once they started they say.
Ahyéiltégo nihiziilté tsi'ni;
They went around in circles thus they went they say;
yabiilté tsi'ni. Dilkógo. Táado tan indazdéti
they went to the sky they say. It was smooth. Thence down they looked