Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Mojave Indian Creation Songs
- Dates:
- 1998-1999, 1972, undated
- Abstract:
- This collection contains 29 audio files as well as a guide to the materials. The Mojave Creation songs, sung by Emmett Van Fleet in 1972 and recorded by Guy Tyler, describe the history of the Mojave people and the geographic features of their land in the Mojave Desert. The Bird Songs, sung by Hubert McCord (date unknown) and bestowed upon Emmett Van Fleet, are ceremonial songs adapted from the oral heritage of the Cahuilla, also inhabitants of the Mojave Desert region. The English translations to the Mojave Creation Songs were done by Llewellyn Barrackman in 1999 and recorded by Philip M. Klasky. Klasky, in turn, worked with the language laboratory at UC Berkeley to preserve the tapes and their meanings.
- Extent:
- 35 GB (29 files) and 1 folder 1 guide (8 pages : folded map ; 28 cm)
- Language:
- Collection materials including Emmett Van Fleet Songs and Bird Songs are in Mohave. and Collection materials including guide and song translations by Llewellyn Barrackman are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Mojave Indian Creation Songs, BANC CD 032, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection contains 29 audio files as well as a guide to the materials. The Mojave Creation songs, sung by Emmett Van Fleet in 1972 and recorded by Guy Tyler, describe the history of the Mojave people and the geographic features of their land in the Mojave Desert. The Bird Songs, sung by Hubert McCord (date unknown) and bestowed upon Emmett Van Fleet, are ceremonial songs adapted from the oral heritage of the Cahuilla, also inhabitants of the Mojave Desert region. The English translations to the Mojave Creation Songs were done by Llewellyn Barrackman in 1999 and recorded by Philip M. Klasky.
The Creation Songs are part of a five hundred and twenty-five song cycle and describe travels along the Colorado River from Avi Kwa Me or Spirit Mountain (Mt. Newberry, Nevada) to Avi Kwahath or Greasy Mountain (South Mountain, Arizone) investing the natural landscape with multi-layered stories. References to Spirit Mountain exist in Hualapai, Havasupai, Mohave, Diegueño, Maricopa, and Paipai lore. The revered mountain is considered a sacred place of divine habitation and the locus of human emergence. The stories in the songs begin by recounting the death of the great God Mutavilya and contain his instructions to the Mohave people for his own cremation thereby establishing Mohave death rituals. The creation stories continue to describe mythological journeys of legendary and totemic figures, hunting, fishing, and farming techniques, and the discovery of fire.
As the original Mojave Creation Songs were vanishing with those who sang them, the Mohave people adopted the lively songs of the Indigenous neighbors to the west. The Cahuilla Indians lived in the inland basin between the Colorado Plateau and the Pacific Coast. According to Llewellyn Barackman, members of the Mojave tribe brought Cahuilla Bird Songs back to his people sometime in the early twentieth century. Some researchers believe that the transfer may have actually occurred earlier.
Cahuilla Bird Songs tell of a legendary journey that happens in mythic time and in abstract space. Opinions about the true meaning of the songs differ among Cahuilla singers and range from global voyages to journeys that take place on a regional scale. According to Dr. Paul Apodaca, Professor of Social Science at Chapman University and an expert on Cahuilla Bird Songs, the songs describe a three time revolution around the world. The Bird Songs are composed of short, cryptic statements open to interpretation and include, among other things, elaborate descriptions of migration birds which aided the traveler in the timing of the journey.
In a display of cultural synchronicity, both the Cahuilla Bird Songs and traditional Mohave Creation Songs shared certain features that may have facilitated the process by which the Mohave adopted them. There was a good probability that the Mohave were attracted by the performance similarities between their songs and those of the Cahuilla. The use of the rattle, the melody structure, and presentation style made the Cahuilla Bird Songs familiar and attractive. But according to Quechan Bird Song singer Wally Atone, some singers believe that the Creator gave all the desert peoples the same songs and that the land sings them to those who are gifted to hear them. Initially, the Mohave used the adopted Bird Songs for recreation, then through time, the Bird Songs were sung at funerals and other rituals taking over the ceremonial roles of the Creation Songs.
[text adapted from "Guide to Mojave Indian Creation Songs" by Philip M. Klasky, written August 1999]
There are two spellings for "Mojave/Mohave" Indians. In 1859, when the United States government forced the tribe to submit to military rule, the Mohave people were divided into two groups. One portion of the population was relocated to the Colorado River Indian Reservation at Parker, Arizone and the other remained near Needles, California. The Mojave who remained near Needles spelled their name with a "j" after the spelling of Fort Mojave, while the Parker group spelled their name with an "h." The two groups continue to use the difference in spelling to distinguish themsleves from each other.
Emmett Van Fleet was a member of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and considered himself a "Mojave." In this guide, references to the Pakrer group, historical and linguistic references and descriptions of the group as a whole are spelled "Mohave." References to the Needles group, members of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and to the Creation Songs are spelled "Mojave."
- Biographical / historical:
-
Mojave Indian Creation songs were sung by Mojave elder Emmett Van Fleet and recorded in 1972 by Guy Tyler, a friend of Van Fleet and an amateaur ethnographer. Emmett Van Fleet was 81 years old at the time of the recordings and is reported to be the last of the Creation Song singers. In 1999, the recordings were restored and transferred from reel-to-reel tapes by Philip M. Klasky and Llewellyn and Betty Barackman with assistance from the University of California, Berkeley Language Center and the Cultural Conservancy.
As indicated in writing and as stated on the tapes, Van Fleet bequeathed these songs to his nephew, Llewellyn Barrackman and his wife, Betty. Llewellyn Barrackman was a respected elder and formed tribal chairman of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe. Betty Barackman is a respected elder and master craftswoman, named the Arizona Indian Living Treasure in 1995.
Pilip M. Klasky was the Program Director of the Storyscape Project of The Cultural Conservancy, a non-profit Indigenous rights and environmental protection organization.
- Acquisition information:
- The Mojave Indian Creation Songs were given to The Bancroft Library by Philip M. Klasky on behalf of Llewellyn Barrackman in 1999.
- Processing information:
-
The Mojave Indian Creation Songs were received on 29 compact discs (CDs) containing reformatted files originally captured on reel-to-reel audiotape. The digital files were scanned for viruses using Malwarebytes. The CDs were processed using Exact Audio Copy and access copies are available for use. There are twenty-nine files.
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged to the item level.
- Accruals:
-
No future additions are expected.
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-01-31 23:06:16 +0000 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Mojave Indian Creation Songs, BANC CD 032, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481