Joanne Shenandoah, Orenda: Native American Songs of Life, with Lawrence Laughing, AllMusic, 1998.
This
is some beautiful music. They sing in their native language, Mohawk.
However there is included a type of written narration which gives some
idea of what is being said. These are songs for the long house. The
music and harmony are very nice. They sing alone, and then sing together
and it makes for a nice blend. There are a couple times when they have
narration under the vocal or instrumental and this I didn’t care for.
It was usually to soft to actually hear.
My
favorite song is “In Love.” It has a lively celebratory tone. You can
feel the happiness of being in love. This is the Mohawk rabbit Song, a
traditional dance in which the women select yheir partner and they
dance around the singers. An elder said the Rabbit Dance was like a
marriage ‘two steps forward, one back.”
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