Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-01-12

dams love to sing white they are at
work, and many of their best songs
were those sung by young girls, who
do much of the work about the lodge.
According to old Indians, 1t was a
familiar sight to see girls sitting ct
the slabs of stone grinding grain and
singing, sometimes loud and gay, again
low and plaintively. The most com
mon song of work was of a peculiar
sort. a shrill, high note, varied and vi
bratory, that suggested the song of
the priestess in the opera of Aida
The singing went on in a monotonouS
way, filling the surrounding air with
it's weirdness, until one was apt TO
think they were deniZens of another
world.
Songs of Sun Dance.
Perhaps the most tuneful airs of tht
Indians were those used at the famous
sun dance. These songs were always
to the accompaniment of about the
only musical instruments which the
Indians know. Surrounding the tom
toms, shutting about and weighing
their bodies, the Indians sang these
songs TO quick time. Most of the sing
ers carried small wooden whistles
which they footed Justify while the
drums were beating, breaking out in
song at intervals. Such music has not
bCCli .iit1lu III SNitH' "a -
]membered by some of the Oldest In
dams in South Dakota. Indians be-
lieve that a revival of these old songs
might mean q revival of the sun dance,
one of the most solemn and terrible
ceremonies of the American Indians.
In striking contrast with the relig-
ious songs Of the Indians and their gay
hunting airs are the funeral dirges.
Nowhere in the world are to be found
such songs, suggestive Of sorrow and
d~esolation, as those which the Indians
even yet sing over their dead. An eX-
cellent exhibition of Indian funeral mu-
sic was given at the dedication of the
monument on the Wounded Knee batT
tleield a year go. This is probably
the last time the dirges nave been
heard on the Pine Ridge reservation.
The Mournful Dirges.
Standing at the foot of the graves
of the deceased Indians the mourners
would throw their arms from side to
side. shrieking out a wild funeral song.
Here and there other voices would,
join I'm for a moment n then cease.
as though afraid. Then others would
AXE part, until the whole group would
break into the most weird, blood cur
ding song Imaginable. And through
the whole awful noise the sobbing of.
the women could be heard distinctly
No one who has no heard an Indian.
woman wailing beside a grave can APP
preciate the discord and harmony Of
her song.
Gradually the song dies u into 8
grooming, and as the Indians cover their
heads and bodies with their blankets,
the grooming sinks into a soft sobbing,
while the last rites are performed and,
bright colorcd clothes tossed over the.
grave.
Though not a natural musician in.
the common acceptance Of h term,
the American Indian is a lover Of mu-
sic. He loves the American ragtime,.
as Eva Tanguay would say, as well as.
the sacred songs in the English lam
guage, but it is said by agents and
teachers that the old Indian songs viii.
stir the dormant instincts in the
youngsters and their emotions and trt-,
bunal patriotism will be aroused by
them as a Yankee boy would feel like.
fighting at sound Of the first strains of
star Spangled Banner"