Cherokee Gospel songs and language revitalization.Cherokee music, like other Cherokee art forms, was and continues to be an integral part of special ceremonies as well as daily life. Over the past three centuries, Cherokee music not only incorporated European American A European American (Euro-American) is a person who resides in the United States and is either the descendant of European immigrants or from Europe him/herself.[1] Overall, as the largest group, European Americans have the lowest poverty rate [2] and African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. traditions (fiddling, shape-note hymn singing, banjo banjo, stringed musical instrument, with a body resembling a tambourine. The banjo consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched; it has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine strings, which are plucked with a pick or the fingers. playing, and string-band music), but influenced these traditions in return. Cherokee men sang to lead dances (the Bear Dance, the Eagle Dance, the Quail Dance, and the Horse Dance) in various traditional ceremonies. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Other traditional uses of song included the singing of prayer formulas. In the late nineteenth century, ethnologist eth·nol·o·gy n. 1. The science that analyzes and compares human cultures, as in social structure, language, religion, and technology; cultural anthropology. 2. James Mooney James Mooney (1861-1921) was a notable anthropologist who lived for several years among the Cherokee. He was born at Richmond, Indiana. In 1885 he became connected with the Bureau of American Ethnology at Washington, D.C. He compiled a tribal list containing 3,000 titles. documented medicine formulas sung by shamans in healing rituals. Songs documented by Mooney were also associated with the going-to-water and sweat lodge sweat lodge Hut or lodge used for ritual purification. Its use originated with Native Americans—for whom it remains a significant ceremony—but it is now common among other non-Indian groups who recognize its health as well as spiritual benefits. ceremonies. By the early nineteenth century, tribal members were learning Christian hymns from Moravian, Presbyterian, and Baptist missionaries. Following the introduction of Sequoyah's syllabary (a syllabary is a set of symbols that represent sounds or syllables of a language) in 1821, one of the first books printed in the Cherokee language Cherokee (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩ; Tsalagi) is an Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people which uses a unique syllabary writing system. and orthography was a hymn book a book containing a collection of hymns, as for use in churches; a hymnal. See also: Hymn . (Duke, 2007). During the Trail of Tears Trail of Tears Forced migration of the Cherokee Indians in 1838–39. In 1835, when gold was discovered on Cherokee land in Georgia, a small minority of Cherokee ceded all tribal land east of the Mississippi for $5 million. The U.S. in 1838-39, the Cherokee sang Christian hymns "Amazing Grace "Amazing Grace" is a well-known Christian hymn. The words were written late in 1772 by Englishman John Newton. They first appeared in print in Newton's Olney Hymns, 1779 that he worked on with William Cowper. " and "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" in their native language while incarcerated incarcerated /in·car·cer·at·ed/ (in-kahr´ser-at?ed) imprisoned; constricted; subjected to incarceration. in·car·cer·at·ed adj. Confined or trapped, as a hernia. in stockades and while being marched westward. Over one third of the twelve thousand Cherokee died in the infamous Nunna dual Tsuny (Trail Where They Cried), or "Trail of Tears." During this terrible trek, families sang songs in the traditional language to locate their kin and to bring comfort to the grieving. The Cherokee language and songs held the people together. Cherokee people still sing these songs to acknowledge the experiences of their ancestors during the Trail of Tears. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (the descendants of those who remained in the mountains of western North Carolina Western North Carolina (often abbreviated as WNC) is the region of North Carolina which includes the Appalachian Mountains, thus it is often known geographically as the state's Mountain Region. ) kept alive traditions of instrumental fiddle music, of hymns in Cherokee, and of older, traditional Cherokee songs and dance music. While many Cherokee practice the traditional religion and have revived it in recent decades, hymns and gospel music are also deeply ingrained in Cherokee culture. Perhaps ironically, the hymns now serve to keep the Cherokee language alive. When linguist and cultural anthropologist Noun 1. cultural anthropologist - an anthropologist who studies such cultural phenomena as kinship systems social anthropologist anthropologist - a social scientist who specializes in anthropology Margaret Bender Margaret Bender is an American anthropologist who specializes in the language and culture of the Cherokee people. She received her Ph.D. in 1996 from the University of Chicago, where she studied with the anthropologist Raymond D. Fogelson. studied the use of Sequoyah's syllabary by the Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. she found that "the Cherokee songbook or hymnal, a pocket-sized, Vowel Sounds a, as a in father, or short as a in rival e, as e in they, or short as e in met i, as i in pique or short as i in pit o, as o in note, approaching aw as in law u, as oo in fool, or short as u in pull v, as u in but, nasalized Consonant Sounds g, nearly as in English. but approaching to k d, nearly as in English, but approaching to t Syllables beginning with g except ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) ga have sometimes the power of k A (go), S (du). [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (dv) are sometimes sounded to, tu, tv and syllables written with tl, except ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) tla, sometimes vary to dl all-syllabary book [was] carried around faithfully by most of the elderly Cherokees I knew." Today, both the Eastern Band and the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma actively use hymn singing to help younger adults and children learn the language. (Bender, 2002). To present the songs, it is necessary to review the Cherokee Syllabary The Cherokee language is written in a syllabary invented by Sequoyah (also known as George Gist or George Guess). In his system, each symbol represents a syllable rather than a single phoneme. invented by the great Cherokee statesman Sequoyah. For a biography and historical background on Sequoyah, I refer readers to the Cherokee Nation website: http://www.cherokee.org. While the original syllabary consisted of 85 symbols, today's official syllabary consists of 84 symbols; the G (nah) syllable is no longer used because it is so close to [THETA] (na). The Table below lists the syllabary symbols and the English pronunciation guide as established by the Reverend Samuel Worcester Samuel Austin Worcester (January 19 1798 – April 20 1859), was a missionary to the Cherokees, translator of the Bible, printer and defender of the Cherokee's freedom. He was born in Peacham, Vermont on January 19, 1798 and died in Park Hill, Indian Territory on April 20, 1859. in the 1820s. Because of the simplicity of Sequoyah's syllabary system, many (Tsa-la-gi or Cherokee) became literate in a short time. In 1827, the Cherokee Phoenix The Cherokee Phoenix was the first newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States from New Echota. In 1828, Elias Boudinot, a Cherokee Native leader, became editor of the first Native American newspaper. (Tsa-La-Gi Tsu-Le-Hi-Sa-Nv-Hi) was established. Funded by the Cherokee Council, this first Native American newspaper was published in New Echota New Echota is one of state parks and historic sites in the State of Georgia, USA and part of a much larger area that was once the Cherokee nation. New Echota is 3.68 miles north of Calhoun, Georgia and south of Resaca, Georgia , Georgia. Elias Boudinot was the first editor and Reverend Samuel Worcester, a missionary, was director. On February 21, 1828, the first issue of the paper was printed. (Wardell, 1991). In time, other works including the Holy Bible and the Cherokee hymn book would be printed in Sequoyah's syllabary. The Cherokee people consider their traditional language and songs sacred, valued as gifts from the Creator. These sacred gifts have been threatened for decades. Although Cherokee history is filled with stories of success, resilience, and flexibility in the face of adversity, language use has been on the decline for generations. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Nation took action in 1999 by assembling a task force comprised of Cherokee speakers, elders, educators, and concerned citizens. The task force was charged with developing a comprehensive language program that would protect, preserve, and promote the Cherokee language and culture. Studies conducted in 2002 and 2006 by the Administration for Native Americans and the Kituwah Preservation and Education Program revealed that no Cherokee under the age of forty possessed mastery of the language. The government of the Cherokee Nation took a resolute stand against this threat; it would not allow the Cherokee language or songs to die. Drawing upon lessons learned from successful language revitalization programs in Hawaii, the task force worked with the tribal government's Education Division to build three preschool language immersion classrooms and implemented a system to monitor the young students' progress. The Cherokee leadership knew that, while essential, these interventions were not enough. They needed to find a mechanism for getting young Cherokee citizens interested in learning the language in the first place-a challenge faced by many Native Nations today. (Hinton, 2001). In October 2000, the Cherokee nation discovered a powerful source of inspiration-singing. So it launched the Cherokee National Youth Choir. As a critical component of the Nation's comprehensive language program, the Choir sings songs and hymns in the Cherokee language. Now comprised of forty Cherokee youth between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, the Choir seeks to interest the youth in learning their Native tongue, assist in the first steps toward proficiency, and promote language use through ceremonies and performance. Besides exposing young people to Cherokee history, language, and culture, the choir embraces a long-term goal: to inspire them to one day teach their children and grandchildren the language and the traditions. The choir's first album, Voices of the Creator's Children, was an instant success and won a prestigious Nammy for Best Gospel/Christian Recording at the Native American Music Awards The Native American Music Awards, commonly known as the Nammys, are annual awards given out since 1998 for outstanding musical performance by Native Americans . NAMA also awards music inspired by and/or played on Native instruments (Native Heart). (NAMA Na·ma n. pl. Nama or Na·mas 1. A member of a people of southwest Africa. 2. The Khoikhoin language of the Nama. ) in 2002. The album includes songs from the historic Trail of Tears and hymns translated into Cherokee. The Choir's second album, Building One Fire, won another Nammy for Best Gospel/Christian Recording in 2003 and was one of NAMA's five nominees for Album of the Year. These awards, while a source of tremendous pride for the choir and the tribal government, are secondary to the impact the choir is having as a source of community pride. The choir's songs are heard regularly on the radio, on home stereos, at community gatherings, in church services, and at public ceremonies across the Cherokee Nation. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Songs The Cherokee, like most Native nations, express cultural notions in their music. Cherokee hymns today embody a rich musical tradition that reflects their own particular blending of Christian teaching and traditional Spiritual views. The tradition of singing Gospel songs in the native language continues in both the Eastern and Western Bands of the Cherokee Nation. I have been studying Gospel songs with a Cherokee elder, Sallie Arch of Cherokee, NC. This presentation of Gospel Hymns examines four popular hymns, such as Christ's Second Coming (to the tune of Amazing Grace). From the teachings I have received, I have attempted to give a Cherokee perspective and highlight some of the culturally relevant meanings of the songs. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Bibliography Administration for Native Americans (U.S. Dept. Of Health and Human Services Noun 1. Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Department of Health and Human Services, HHS ) Language Report. (2002). "Ga-du-gi: Working Together to Preserve the Cherokee Language." Online at http://www.cherokee.org/services/education/langReport.asp Bender, Margaret. (2002). Signs of Cherokee Culture: Sequoyah's Syllabary in Eastern Cherokee Life. University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina. External link
Duke University Libraries online library. Retrieved April 2007. hppt://www.scriptorium scrip·to·ri·um n. pl. scrip·to·ri·ums or scrip·to·ri·a A room in a monastery set aside for the copying, writing, or illuminating of manuscripts and records. .lib.duke.edu/pathfinders/religious/cherokee.html Hinton, Leanne and Kenneth Hale (ed). (2001). The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice. San Diego, Ca. Academic Press. Kituwah Preservation and Education Program. (2006). "The Cherokee Language Comprehensive Study." Summary online at http://cpfdn.org/languagerevitalization.html. Mooney, James. (1992). History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. Asheville, NC.: Historical Images. Cherokee Master Artist Doroth Sullivan can be contacted at Memory Circle Studio dorothyart@mail.icnet.net. By Bernard "Shiloh" Parresol, Ph.D. Illustrations by Dorothy Tidwell Sullivan, Cherokee Master Artist To download the Cerokee font for your computer visit: http:/www.cherokee.org/Extras/downloads/font/CherokeeFont.htm "It is said that in ancient times, when writing first began, a man named Moses made marks an a stone. I can agree with you by what name to call those marks and that will be writing and can be understood." --Sequoyah |
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