Music of Acoma, Isleta, Cochiti, and Zuñi Pueblos - Flutopedia.com

DbnsmorbJ pueblo music 41
Translation
(With period A)
Up from the fish-lake I came out,
When I had come I roamed around,
Then I went away and arrived at Kawai'ik (a Laguna village),
There I arrived, then again I left there.
Then I arrived at Kwiisti village.
There I arrived, and then again I left there and arrived at Tama'ya,
There I spent two nights.
When I left there I came to a cliflF and looked down on a village beside a river,
I descended the cliff and arrived at that village—Wi'lapa'ti,
I went up and down the village looking around.
(With period B)
Then my parents [clan relatives] there invited me to a meal.
They invited me to a meal of all kinds of fruit, and I counted mutton, matchini
[thin bread baked on a rock] and a soup made of venison and chili.
Then my parents [clan relatives] there invited me to a meal,
They invited me to a meal of all kinds of fruit, and I counted mutton, matchini,
and a soup made of venison and onions.
Analysis.—In the rhythm of this song we find variations of 1 or 2 simple
patterns but no phrase that can be regarded as a rhythmic unit. The tempo is
much slower than in the preceding song and the drumbeat is similar to that in
other Flower dance songs. Ascending and descending intervals are almost equal
in number, the melody containing 38 of the former and 43 of the latter progressions.
The song has a compass of 11 tones and is based on the fourth 5-tone
scale.
This song is continued until the party reaches the plaza. Everything
is then done the same as in the morning, the girl singing her song
alone and the boys taking up the singing and beginning to dance at
the prescribed signal.
At evening, when the dance is finished, the boys "go and jump in
the river to bathe," thus ending the day.
Another Flower dance called the Zuni Gaspirdih is danced the same
as at Zuni, but the Acoma make their own songs. The action of this
dance is like that of the Acoma Winter dance and it is danced in midwinter,
in the plaza. Any number of young people, boys and girls,
take part in it, the formation consisting of two men followed by two
girls who, in turn, are followed by two men, and so on. One drummer
and about 20 singers walk beside the dancers who move forward a
distance of several hundred feet, then return, with the drummer and
singers beside them.
SITUI DANCE SONG
Similar to the raingod dance is the Situi, danced by men who belong
to a certain society. This dance is imderstood only by members
of this society but is a source of pleasure to the people. It may be