El Nuevo mexicano., 1917-10-18
Chicagoan Finds New
Mexico Indian Music
Has Peculiar Charm
(Ry karIeton Hackett In Chicago evening
p0Ati

tst~ aeoN@y V@S4A thV AA0a0A1cb 0AN law owl
tended q number OF their c~ersmcnials iis-
ltening to- their music and watching their
dances. 1t has all been Of extraordinary
Interest," cspeciaiiy out on thu Nsysjo. ant
Hobt reservations, whers tie indian Iift|
sueS on pretty 1stth ~ u did bsfcf5 tb9|
white man came, ex6tpt1 thatS NJ ii no longer
refInitteds 10 ~ 6f the WIN rathF Gktey1
lscAlp6 whenever thu notion tE8egs Num- nj
is q world X which Nv ~ nome hEve WI
feaiizSti06s ~ sfhsp ~ " 4 lone h1s WI
81 Sifdp Nv Win M oxf eysss
F0f1 6fs d6t4ff. tie Nxv45o reservation Ii
360 idileB i61ilE sHl6 40 fiiies wids, wt3chl
~ QUITE 4 61t 0f tefFitU0fy as YOU bSein f0l
f96iiAsF Wifett y0uE travel across ii BY motor
on tAe fU6db they maintain. Also the MAJ
y150gs nUznb0f s0fBtEhihx ike $4,000 self
sspp6ftlk1s 1hdia1B; ana h4d you any notion
|th6fg wSfvA ~ fn4dI54
/ heeSd, a s60ds dSM III their music and
t&ikvt kitH sev6f4f earnest sttdsnts who
havG been ifvi1f8 sfn0fg thSft IL learn their
1An9dkgg and vt down on rkper theif s6n6al
ana ceremonial chants. Tfere are now iitsl
6fdlfy ffufdfeds o. these songs swfich have
been taken down sffd rf&de avatiabi6a some
Of them IRE 0f great bsautys Just III i1fl
Sfc, ana all of them have i weird and rather
lfcanfiy charm as the fndiSns sing them
but from my ctirsofy conservation they iosel
their character the instant they are taken
from their elemental setting. III
The Indian does not appear to mix we'll
with our civilization, for he has almost no
content with our modes Of life and though,
and so it is with the music. To show how
little the Indian has in common with our
civilization it is only necessary to state
that, among them the woman ii the houss-
holder, the property owner, the worker and
the proyider. In the old days the man was
the hunter and fighter, and now that his
primary occupation is gone there is not
much left save for him to be as ornamental
as he Garland the overalls of the white
man, which he is adopting, do not lend
themselves readily to ornamental pur-
poses.
Just think, for example, of the simplicity
and psychology OF divorce among the In.
dams. This consists in the woman's plac.
ing her husbands saddle outside the door.
When he comes home and sees his saddle
outside the door he knows that for some
reason he has proved unsatisfactory, and
there Is nothing left save for him to pick
it up and 60. No wonder we find 1t diff
cult to inoculate such a people with our
ideals of civilization.
The music of the Indians is a mclodic
conception always sung as a meiSdy
whether by one voice or a chorus, and %
t rely without harmonic setting. The mo-
ment you clothe it in the white mans hai.
Ioony the result is an Homogeneous MS Isl
the Indian himself In the Write maa's gar.
ments. You see a Hopi or a Navajo In a
long used shirt and patched o~veralls. both
purchased in the distant past OF an Indian
trader and since that day innocent Of soar
end water and he looks like, the frT:rs
remnant Of a vanishing race. You see him
naked to the waist and arrayed in the cerc-
I ;onial gafbe Of one OF his religious fasii-
vsis and he becomes an impressive. p,ysi-
cal specimen. deep.chested; 1.-the, vigorous
and graceful.
SO 1t is with his music. You hear an
Indian woman grooming to her baby in a
dark nook Of her inaccessible home and the
tones Of 1t are fascinating. Or you listen
to the rising and falling of the voices Of
the men as they chant during a ~ceremonial1
dance and there is a strange and elemen-
tai force to it that is haunting. lA
But you take these melodies ana clothe
them in the white mans harmony, and IN.
the music sounds dull and drab 70.
you OF nothing SO much as thr
shirt and patched ovsralis Of the
lrdian's daily costume. We have come to
a :.titdy as only q sort III tpyt
a:,,ut which tc weave the m3,s elaborate
u harmonic figures. while for ,hs In,Iiar
tie melody Il, +ne all in all. complete in
i'self and tn which nothing can be added
" tl.out destroying it's essential character.
The two points OF view are incompatible.
II we are minded to 60 to the Indian and
listen to him singing his W songs In his
fashion, they take on a strange, ex.
Dtic beauty, like the and and cliffs OF his
desert homer But II we take him or his
from his natural habitat, clothe him
and his music in our garments Of cloth or
harmony, something vital is lost and the
evaporates, leaving but a dull and
shell.
1t may be that this should not be SO, and
in time all will be altered so that the
indian will dwell in comfort at or level
md bring his music with him wher., wei
tise II for otir purposes. But this time
s not now, nor does there appeal any
that such d time will come.
lnoSe WHO are Studying the music Oh the
Indians and seeking to use 1t as a melodic
for the development Of an "Auierican
OF music, will have, l fear, oniv
heir labor for their pains. The mode Of
hought Of the Indian that has mn;ijc his
music possible is so out of tune with .bei
ausic of the white man that the two never
an be brought into harmonious relation
hip. The moment the whre man lays his
lands on thD music OF the Indian it ceases
2 be Indian music. yet II does not become
mans mnric, but ~refiajns an %unnatu-i
al hybrid witatut force or character.
Much would be gained VI only we could
I'd the Indian d bit in sanitation and IN
he practical arts OF tending his fIocks and