Category: Books

Visions of Sound by Beverly Diamond, M. Sam Cronk, and Franziska von Rosen explores the traditional musical instruments of various Indigenous groups. This book provides photographs of artifacts from many museums across North America along with the history of the pieces. Visions of Sound also examines authenticity and the complications that arise when trying to prove the authenticity of Indigenous music and culture.

 

Diamond, Beverley, M. Sam Cronk, and Franziska Von Rosen. Visions of Sound: Musical Instruments of First Nations Communities in Northeastern America. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1994. Print.

As you can probably tell, Powwow is about powwows. Powwow gives a history of the powwow, highlighting the cultural significance in the practice and examining powwow traditions. As well, Clyde et al. explore how powwow practices have changed over the last few decades, from influences from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

 

Ellis, Clyde, Luke E. Lassiter, and Gary H. Dunham. Powwow. Lincoln, Neb.: U of Nebraska, 2006. Print.

Native American Music in Eastern North America by Beverly Diamond is a small, textbook like book which includes information about several traditional styles of Indigenous music, based off of the region they came from. Below is part of the description from the back of the book:

“Native American Music in Eastern North America is one of the first books to explore the contemporary musical landscape of indigenous North Americans in the north and east. It shows how performance traditions of Native North Americans have been influenced by traditional social values an cultural histories, as well as by encounters and exchanges with other indigenous groups and with newcomers from Europe and Africa.”

This book also comes with a CD containing 18 tracks that are referenced throughout the text.

Diamond, Beverly. Native American Music in Eastern North America: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York, NY: Oxford U, 2008. Print.

Songs of the Indians Volumes 1 & 2 were edited by John Robert Colombo. These two books are a collection of traditional Indigenous songs from various regions throughout Canada. The first volume contains songs from six main linguistic groups, the Beothukan, Algonkian, Iroquoian, Athapaskan, Siouan, and Kootenayan. The second volume contains songs from the Salishan, Wakashan, Tsimshian, Haidan, Koluschan, and Chinkookan.

The full citation and ISBN is included below:

 

Colombo, John Robert. Songs of the Indians. Vol. 1-2. Ottawa: Oberon, 1983. Print.

ISBN 0 88750 492 2 (Hardcover)

ISBN 0 88750 493 0 (Softcover)