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1156 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
The second recording was made by Mrs. Maggie
Harry, accompanied by Mrs. Jenny Jack who beat
the drum. Mrs. Harry had previously told the migration
story in which the gestures used for the song are
described (pp. 239-240). When sung at a potlatch, all of
the sib members stand, men and women, swaying
back and forth as they sing. The men are supposed to
sing bass and tenor as the women sing high and low,
making four voices singing at the same time. The song in
the second version lasts 2:12 minutes, and is introduced
in Tlingit by Maggie Harry (55 seconds).
The words of the song (1954, 4-1-A) as rendered by
Katy Isaac are:
Part I (sung once)
A cikaye 'a [speaks at length]
B 'a tayi ya-na ta qa,
B' 'a ta 'i-ya ni-il 'e-e ya,
C 'e-dju-u 'uci-i ke 'a qe-a ye-a
Part II (sung once)
A cikaya 'a,
B" 'a bay ya na ta qa,
B" ' na-ay yu ni 'il 'e he ya,
C 'adjuci-i ke-a qen [tcukanatle (spoken)]
Part III (sung once)
X 'ay-ya
A cikayen 'a,
B" 'a ta yu na ta qa
B" ' na yu ni-le ni ya,
C 'adjuci-i ke na qe 'e—[sobs, exclaiming about
her grandchUdren]
It was very difficult to catch these syUables, for the
singer was on the verge of tears throughout.
The structure of the song is:
Parti: A ['] B B' C
Part II: A B" B" ' C [']
Part III: X A B" B" ' C [sobs]
Each part of this song might be considered as a
stanza that is repeated with slight variations three
times. Each can also be considered as an abbreviated
version of the two-part song as rendered by Maggie
Harry and Jenny Jack.
The words of the song (1954, 7-2-C) were dictated in
Atna, and translated into both Tlingit and English by
Maggie Harry, although I do not believe that the
song is ever sung to Tlingit words. The words are
supposed to mean: "I kiUed him. My Httle brother,
where are you? Come back to me! Why did I do it?"
Unlike Thngit songs, there is no clear division between
refrain and stanza, although the melody faUs into two
parts, hnked by X and A' (reduced), as McAUester
observes. He also notes the "unusual chromatism in
phrase B, and the unusual series of variations on C:
C, C-plus, C, and C'-plus [in Part II]." The first
part is sung once, the second part sung three times.
Here there is a rise in pitch, so that at the end of the
first repeat, McAllester notes that the song is a half-tone
higher. The percussion is off-beat on every half-note.
A
A
X
A'/
As sung, the words are:
Parti
'adjuci kine 'aya,—"My httle brother"
'adjuci kine 'aya,
cikayeya,—"Where are you?"
cikaye 'aya.
Part II (sung three times)
B mayu—"Why did I do it?"
C matay 'a,
B mayu
C+ nile 'a,—"Come back to me"?
C 'adju,-
C'+ -ci kineye,
X cikayeya [ends: cikayeyu (on 3d repeat)]
A'/ cikayeya 'aya
The first part lasts 30 seconds; the second part lasts
about 37 seconds. The structure of the song is:
Part I: A A X A /
Part I: B C B C+ C C'+ X A' / (3 times)
K'^ackqwan Lament for a Drowned Son
1954, 7-2-H; recorded by Maggie Harry and Jenny
Jack on May 27.
This song is said to have been composed at ChUkat
on Bering River, near KataUa. Mrs. Harry's mother
heard it when she was about 9 years old, at a potlatch
given by Kag^'ask, of the Eyak GanAxtedi, in memory
of his brother who had been lost in a snowslide. The
' The pitch rises at these points during the song.
melody must date therefore at least to 1875, and is
probably older. Presumably the original words were
in Eyak.
The Kwackqwan now use it as a mourning song at
potlatches given for those drowned. The Tlingit words
would appear to have been composed by a woman,
since she mourns her son, (A father could not mourn
his own son at a potlatch given by his own sib, for the
son.would belong to the sib of his mother, in the other