The Winslow mail., 1926-07-30
OLD HOPI INDIAN MUSIC TO BE SAVED
FOR FUTURE DAYS ON PHONOGRAPH
RECORDS BY SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

strains of Hopi Indian music is to
be preserved for future generations
by Smithsonian Institute.
DR.. J. Walter Fewkes, chief OF
. he institutions ethnology bureau,
has gone to Arizona, where live
the few surviving members of the
ancient tribe of Hopi, to record the
Indian music on phonograph rec
Ords.
Fewkes is also studying music
from the chronological standpoint
which may disclose valuable lnfor-
nation as to the relationship of
the Hopis to other peoples who
have come down to the modern era
from prehistoric days before the
dawn of history.
For five years between 1890 and
1895, Fewkes lived with the Hopis,
studying their language, customs
and beliefs. The Smithsonian scien-
tist holds the distinction of having
been the first white man to be in
itiated into the famous snake dance
of the tribe.
Music is an attribute of all ma
ture, no group of men and women
from the lowest savage to the high
est civilized man being destitute OF
the musical sense and capacity
for harmonious expression, accord
ing to Fewkes. He pointed out that
music differs among the various
tribes and therefore occupies a
prominent place in the scientific
study of man and his work.
"The music of the American In
dian is worthy of the highest ap-
probation as an expression of In
dian culture" Fewkes said before
leaving for Arizona.
''No tribe of Indians sing great
er variety of songs than those OF
out southwest and none preserves
a more archaic form than the Hopi
of Arizona. When we listen to
their songs we hear the music of
the ancient cliff dwellers trans
mitted from generation to genera
ton from a remote past to the pres
ent time.
'The bureau of American ethnol-
ogy of Smithsonian has been en-
gagged for many years in rescuing
from oblivion the various survivals
of Indian life, in the course of
which it has recorded much of the
native music of aborigines.
"It also lends it's aid and SYM
Soathy to every effort to preserve
the surviving relics as we'll as the
80 t1o cliff dWo11QrC ~
According to Fewkes the Hopi
sing on every occasion where they
exhibit their natural characteris-
tics or are NOT hampered by out
side influences. The girls who
grind their corn on primitive mill
stones, sing in rythm to the primi-
tive music in so doing. The boys
have appropriate melodies when
they hunt the rabbits and other
game.
Mothers sing their lullabies as
they put their babies to sleep in the
primitive cradles of cliff dweller
FORM" Fewkes said.
''The songs of the war parties
have NOW been hushed but they
are still known to aged warriors.
= The canyons of the cliff dwellers
NO longer resound to their war
cries, although at times these war
songs are chanted in wierd rites of
ancient peoples"
Fewkes said that the Hopi relig-
ious ceremonies are marked with
beautiful and archaic melodies.
Many of their songs are prayers
for rain, since the Hopi tribe is
agricultural in pursuits, depending
for food on the production of arid
southwestern farms.
"In several of the songs by mask
ed dancers called katchinas we
listen to ancient melodies of great
antiquity, the very origin of which
is so remote that it has given them
increased power to make the rains
fall and the crops grow, according
to the Hopi belief" Fewkes said.
"They often recount ancient his
tory of the clans and deeds of the
gods, who have befriended their an
clients. Many songs believed to be
born in the neurological under
world before man came to the sur
face are on that account consid-
cred sacred and are never sung
save in reverential manner and
prayerful attitude. They may often
be so old that the meaning of their
words is unknown, and we have in
them the expression of a remote
racial antiquity"
Arizona Delegation