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1228 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 7
Atna or Chugach Eskimo Dance Song: Spear Song
1954, 7-2-1; recorded by Maggie Harry and Jenny
on May 27.
This is called 'spear song' (tsagal' daciyi). It is
sung for a dance in which a group of men dance and
sing whUe they push around a single man with their
spears or guns. Maggie Harry believes that it was
captured from the Chugach Eskimo at the time when
her great grandfather, Cada (Shada), fought against
them at Cordova.
Possibly, however, it is the same as the Spear
Dance Song, mentioned by Harry K. Bremner, which
was used by the ancestors of the K*ackqwan at Chitina
when they danced against their rivals who had been invited
from upriver to a Chitina potlatch (pp. 898-899).
The local "Ravens" walked down to the river bank
with the points of their spears hidden in feathers, men
in front and women behind, tUting the spears from
side to side as they sang. The Atna words in the snatch
sung by Harry K. Bremner were: hayu 'e hu hu 'e.
This song (if different from 1954 Reel 7-2-1) was not
recorded.
Maggie Harry introduced her song in Tlingit,
ending: "You teU them fine-looking girls are going to
sing this song." Jenny Jack beat the drum. The song
lasted 57 seconds, although it was interrupted for one
musical phrase when Maggie Harry asked "You want
to see how we dance this?" The "words" consist only
of: 'aha 'aha 'aha 'uhu wa'e (repeated for each phrase).
The melody consists of only three notes. However,
whUe Jenny Jack and Maggie Harry sang in unison,
after the song was resumed foUowing the interruption,
Sarah WUliams joined in, foUowing in paraUel fifths.
As McAllester observes, the song does not sound Tlingit
at aU.
The structure is:
X A
A
A
A
B C
['] c
B C (sung twice)
B C/
Unrecorded Atna or Eyak "Steamboat Song"
The Tcicqedi and Galyix-Kagwantan sang a Copper
River song when coming on the steamer to the
K*ackqwan potlatch at Yakutat in 1905. The steamer's
whistle was used as a signal to start and stop the song
(p. 260). Later (1909), this song was used by Yakutat
Teqwedi when they were guests at a Tl'uknaxAdi potlatch
at Dry Bay.
The words of the song were:
ya ha . . . e
SAni sa, SAni sa,
ya ha, yu ho.
SAni sa, SAUI sa
Southern Tutchone Walking Song
1954, 3-2-B; recorded by Frank Itaho on May 7.
The song is said to be a "Coming-in Song," taken
over from the Athabaskans of the Alsek River. It may
be sung by either the CAnkuqedi or the Tluk*axAdi of
Dry Bay when they are coming into the house where
they are invited as guests to a potlatch.
Instead of using the drum, Frank Italio beat on a
cigar box with a drum stick. The song lasts 1:28
minutes, and is said to be without words.
The structure is:
A B B
A B B
A B B
C
C
c/
A
B
C
A
B
C
The vocables are:
ya 'e 'a, 'e ya 'iye, 'i ya
'e ya 'e 'a 'e ya, ye 'u 'u, (repeated)
'i ya 'eya 'a, wi ya 'e, 'i ya,
II and III
'i ya 'e ha hi ya, 'e 'e ya,
'e ya 'e 'a he ya, ye he hu hu hu, (repeated)
'i ya 'e ha, wi ya 'e 'i ya,
(• • • ^ff [grunt] at end.)
° Spoken interruption.