The Gathering of Nations
Song; a response by Arlie to a request...
Date sent: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 00:32:30 -0400
From: Oliver Dick To: rnbowlkr@teleport.com
Subject: RAINBOW WALKERS HOME PAGE
Greetings,
It is by accident
that I stumble upon your page. I know you are a very well known singer
in regards to our traditional music. I have come across your name many
times, mainly on powwow tapes. I really admire your contributions in regards
to popularizing and preserving our music through recording.
I have been
singing now for 13 years and never had the privilege of speaking with well
known singers such as yourself. I really admire the singing styles of the
west and southwest. I, myself being a swampy Cree, there are not many who
have recorded the songs in our language, the ones wo did, did so and I
could mot make out what they were saying because it was just a bit different
dialect that i could not really understand.
I am presently
attending university here in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. I am a
first year business student and I want to specialize in Marketing. I am
also helping the local youth with an interest in drumming. They are eager
and still a bit concerned whether or not the drum is a part of their local
culture. All I can do is encourage them to learn and sing the songs of
all the other languages. Being a lover of the songs, I encourage them and
I am willing to learn their local songs. I am here helping because my wife
is from this area. She is Maliseet. I am writing to ask you if you could
assist me. I like some of the songs that you composed, particularly, the
Gathering of Nations Song at Albuquerque, NM. I am interested in learning
the words from the one who composed the song. I would like to learn how
to pronounce the words and what they mean in the english language. If you
would be so kind to interpret them for me.
In trying
to keep with the traditions I would be inclined to follow the protocol
of the your people. If you would be interested in helping us, maybe someday
we can meet and we can repay our gratitude. Maybe we can work out some
kind of arrangement. I thank you for your time and I know it is by some
mysterious force that we meet. I also found your article on authenticity
very helpful by the listing you provided. I am presently working on a presentation
that is due on Tuesday. My presentation is on Native American Music and
the different mediums used to promote our music "how big the market is
and why is the promoting so quiet????"
In closing,
Megwetch, and I hope to hear from you either way. Maybe we can shore some
thoughts and ideas, or the traditional teachings of our elders.
In Friendship,
Oliver Dick
ARLIE'S RESPONSE
Dear Oliver,
Thank you for
the kind words and I am honored by your request. I will provide the words
and translation for the Gathering of Nations Song. This song was composed
to honor the wishes of my paternal grandfather, the late Allen Neskahi,
Sr., who was a medicine man of my people and was the first peyote Dine'/Navajo
roadman, having traveled to Oklahoma in the early 1900's to obtain those
rights from the Cheyenne. He later worked for many years with the missionaries
and did some interpreting of the Bible into Navajo for them.
While interpreting,
he noticed how the songs of the Jewish King David sounded like Native prayers,
the book of Psalms. He told my father that someday it would be nice to
have some of them in our style of singing. When I was approached by the
Gathering committee to compose this song, I asked my father, the late Allan
Neskahi, Jr., what he thought. He suggested that we create a song based
on my grandfather's wishes. We looked through some of the Psalms from the
Bible that he had translated and chose this particular one.
This song has
become one of the most well-known songs in North America, and I am so very
honored to have helped it's birth.
The
Gathering of Nations Song
Click here for the song in Real Audio®
format, you need the free player to hear it, download it here.
Atah bi ch'i' da-hotaa\, da-hotaa\ ~~~~~
Grandfather to Him, sing, sing!
Sin aniidii, beh, Atah bi-ch'i'
Song, a new One, Grandfather, to him
da-hotaa\, ~~~~~
Sing!
Nahoosdzaan nda,
Earth Mother from,
hoonees-aan denh di-ne-eh,
all places, you People
da-noo\ iinii, taa noltso,
all of you...
Atah bi ch'i', da ho taa\ ~~~~~
Grandfather to Him, sing!
Pronunciation key;
~~~ are vocables, no words
\ - is one of the Dine' sounds, which
is an l, with escaping air, place your tongue behind your front teeth and
let the air escape from the sides.
Respectfully, and I hope your singers enjoy
this song,
Arlie Neskahi
P.S., there is also a Gathering of Nations
Round Dance that not too many people know. It is meant to be sung right
after this Grand Entry Song. |