This album is the first attempt at introducing music of the American Indian to children. The explanations will help the children to enjoy and understand the music and adults will find it easier listening. The music of the Eastern Indians is rich in melody and varies considerably according to tribe. Those accustomed to hearing the music of the Plains and Southwestern Indians will notice the tremendous difference in musical structure. Although four Eastern tribes are represented in this album, they are tribes of completely different linguistic stocks whose great contrast in melody, languages and rhythmic content is readily ascernible to even the ear of a child.

I organized the Accabonac Indian Dancers in East Hampton, Long Island in 1944 for the purpose of presenting accurate interpretations of tribal dances to the public. Its members have represented several tribes including the Montauk, Micmac, Mohawk, Cayuga, Delaware Onondaga, Catawba, Winnebago and Carib tribes. Current members of the troupe who are heard on this album are Caribs and descendants of the proud tribesmen that Columbus met in 1493 when he landed at the island of Boriquen whose very lush atmosphere caused him to rename the island, Puerto Rico.

This album has a uniqueness and a richness all of its own. It marks the first time that songs of these so different and complex tribes have been mastered by Latin American Indians. Carib language structure is so basically different than those of the tribes represented in the collections of songs in this album.

Few ethnologists have ever heard these specimens of Eastern Woodlands, Music and none have ever heard the MICMAC FRIENDSHIP SONG. It's distinct quality has been appreciated by several Indians of other tribes who have heard me sing it upon various occasions. When once heard it is the type of song that Ceremonialists desire to add to their repertoire. Due to the difficulty of pronouncing Micmac words which are noticeably long, the song has defied other tribal singers. I feel quite rewarded whenever I have sung it to Micmac friends and noticed the look of acceptance upon their faces.

The opening number, The Micmac Friendship Song, is a rare gem of Indian music. Most of the Micmac songs were stamped out by early Canadian missionaries. The Micmacs are a mobile people and have spread out from their native habitats in Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, to localities all over the Dominion of Canada and the U.S.

Steve Barlow (Chief White Ash) a Micmac from Big Cove, New Brunswick was living with his family in a cabin in the Maine woods when I first met him in 1949. He represented a generation of Micmacs who still believed in the wonders of Glus kabe, the Creator and he had learned the Friendship Song from his parents. One evening while sitting around the stove in the cabin with his family, I sang some of our Catawba songs for them. Steve said that he would like to sing a song that he remembered from his childhood. While his wife Bella, prepared delicious Nooskinigan (Micmac Bread), Steve sang this remarkable melody. With Little Song Bird, Dancing Deer and Strong Singer furnishing the chorus, we render the Friendship Song in truly Micmac style.

If the ghosts of long dead Catawba singers such as John Taylor, Billy George, Tom Stevens, Tom Morison, Nancy Harris and John Scott could witness the Catawba Horse Dance as performed by Little Song Bird, Strong Singer and Dancing Deer, they would nod with approval, at the interpretation of this dance by these Island Caribs. The late Chief Thunderbird Blue of the Catawba Nation and I last sang this song together to a few hundred tribesmen gathered in the little stucco church on the reservation near Rock Hill, South Carolina back in 1944. With Little Song Bird and her two sons neighing and prancing like horses, the magic of the old days is recaptured.

Picture a Catawba village in the old days at night. A large dance fire of gum logs is burning brightly and the singers are tuning up their pot water drums, the dances are fastening turtle shell rattles on their legs and a dance leader runs into the circle and calls out to all who wish to join in the Rattlesnake Dance. If he is an exciting leader everyone will enter the dance ring an follow him in the ancient presentation of the Rattlesnake Dance. This selection has an interesting quality to it. Sometimes it is the voice of Strong Singer that is heard above the others in answering, later in the middle of the dance, as it becomes more exciting, Dancing Deer's voice rises above the other.

The older people have always been willing to teach me. I will always remember High Eagle, Wallace Coombs, Yellow Feather and Wild Horse (Wampanoags), Eagle Eye, White Swan, Wounded Wolf, Brown Deer, Night Hawk and Abbie Perry, (Naragansetts) Chief White Ash (Micmac), Chief Thunderbird Blue and Strong Eagle (Catawbas), Chief Charlie Butler (Montauk) and Chief Jesse Cornplanter (Seneca). The latter was a Seneca ritualistic and member of the Snipe Clan of the Cattaraugus Band of Senecas. He became a staunch friend and in 1947 taught me Seneca Canoe Song. I practiced at night in a tepee while camped with Seneca and Cayuga friends while Chief Cornplanter listened and advised me. Later, another famous Iroquois singer, and friend, Chief Red Cloud of the Wolf Clan of the Cayugas taught me the Cayuga version of this same song. Canoe Song is typical of what the Senecas call Ganeho or Show Songs. They are not to be confused with the songs that they sing in their Longhouse Religious ceremonies. With Little Song Bird joining me, the clear quality of her voice helps to make Seneca Canoe Song a pleasing selection.

Strong Singer, an eight year old Carib has a real future as a singer. He has overcome difficulties in Catawba pronunciation that have confused trained linguists. I am very proud of Strong Singer. When I close my eyes and listen to him singing this ancient song with his clear Catawba pronunciation, it is hard to realize that he not Catawba. Catawba Women's Dance was one of the favorite Social Dances of the people. Children will love this song, adults will find it interesting and Indian singers from other tribes will appreciate the voice tricks that this young Indian has mastered.

The Oklahoma Birdlegs Song is one of the many Round Dances brought to that state by the Plains Tribes such as the Kiowas, Cheyennes, Comanches and Arapahoes. One of two western songs heard in this album, Little Song Bird and I have given it the same spirit and warmth that we feel it deserves. It is an interesting contrast to the Catawba Women's Dance which precedes it.

With the fine supporting war whoops ably rendered by Strong Singer, Dancing Deer and Little Song Bird, the listener will find this ancient Striking The Stick Dance, the most exciting number in the album. This is a Seneca dance and will take children back to the days when Seneca men took to the warpath against their enemies. By closing the eyes you can see the leaping warriors and crackling fires. Strong Singer and Dancing Deer, do their best to sound like the ancient Seneca warriors as they performed this dance in what is now New York State.

The Creek Green Corn Dance is one of the most popular in Oklahoma today. Forcibly moved to Oklahoma from Alabama and Georgia in the 1830's, the Creeks managed to keep their dances and ceremonies alive. Duke Harjo (Kubisico), or No Brains, a Creek friend from Wetumka, Oklahoma and a fine singer taught me this song in 1954. The call and answer pattern which anthropologists call antiphonal singing appears in Greek and well as in Catawba and Seneca songs. Children in camps and schools all over the east have been delighted with this song and learn it readily.

The versatility of Little Song Bird becomes apparent at this Carib Princess renders a moving and melodic interpretation of The Fast Cheyenne War Dance of the Cheyenne Tribesmen of Oklahoma. Hers is the only female voice heard in this album. It is clear, melodic and has strength.

The late Chief Percy Smoke, a Cayuga used to sing this song for my Hunter's Dance when we were on tour together. He was one of the foremost Iroquois singers and I have tried to capture the same spirit and character that he gave to it on his many appearances all over the country. Seneca Hunting Song is a Ganeho or Show song.

In the old days, Catawba dancers were always very much moved by the lively Blacksnake Dance. The Social Dances which started after dark and which always ended at midnight were never complete until a favorite Dance Leader had extorted the people to join in this strong and pulsating dance. The voices of Dancing Deer, Strong Singer and Little Song Bird with their lively responses to my calls make this one of the most exciting songs in the album.

The modern Senecas, Cayugas and Onondagas are divided into two religious groups. Those who follow Christianity and those who adhere to the faith of their forefathers. The latter are called Longhouse People after the dwelling in which their Ceremonies are held. It is the scene of both social and religious dances. Eskanye or Women's Shuffle Dance as it is called in English is one of the most melodious of present day Iroquois songs. Iroquois is another name by which the three above named tribes are known. Big Snowsnake, a Seneca of the Allegheny Reservation taught me these three Shuffle Dance Songs. They have a very high appeal to non-Indians and are immediately noticed as being different form the songs of other Indian tribes.

When I was satisfied that I could sing the Micmac Friendship Song accurately, I asked various Micmac friends to give me their honest opinions as to how it sounded. Chief Barlow who taught it to me assured me that I had it down to perfection. When Walking Star (Roderick Bernard), from Eskasoni Reserve in Nova Scotia heard it he said that all the words were not intelligible to him. when I sang it to Tom and Philip Martin, two older Micmacs from Burnt Church Reserve in New Brunswick, Canada, they said that they understood the song well and that Walking Star's people spoke a different and more modern dialect. We feel that it makes a very appropriate ending for certainly the most unusual Indian Album ever produced in High Fidelity.

Notes: Chief Red Thundercloud (May 1963)