Fascinating Topics

The Jingle Dress and the Jingle Dance

I thought I would write about something to do with the costumes used in powwows. I ended up deciding to tell you about the jingle dress and jingle dance. We briefly discussed them in class, but here is a bit of history on this beautiful tradition.

     There are different versions of the story of how the jingle dress came to be. In the Ojibwa tribe, there was a young girl that was mortally ill. In a dream, the medicine man (sometimes said to be her father or grandfather) was told to make a jingle dress, which would heal her. The dress was made, and the healing ceremony was performed. Supposedly the jingle dance saved her and she lived to be old. The tradition of the healing jingle dance became very popular, and other tribes began doing them.

     In the dance, each person must always have one foot touching the ground. Traditionally, the feet are also not to cross, and there is to be no walking backwards or creating full circles. It is a very light, graceful dance.

The jingle dresses are very beautiful. They can be brightly colored, have beadwork, and, most importantly, have metal cones sewn on that make noise as the wearer moves. The metal cones were originally made from the lids of tobacco cans, but they are made from other materials nowadays. They are unique and beautiful costumes.

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The “Talking Drum”

     On the African side of things, I thought I would talk about some different African instruments. That topic proved to be rather large, so I narrowed it down to talking about the “luna” or the “talking drum,” which was something I really enjoyed learning about. I will later tell you about the kora, the African harp.

     This instrument is so interesting and unique. There are two membranes around an hourglass shaped frame, held on by strings. It is tucked under the arm when it is played, which puts tension on the strings. This changes the pitch to be whatever the player or “lunsi” wants it to be. The tighter the strings are pressed, the higher the pitches. These pitches can be used to sound like words, and they can send messages in the rhythms.

     This was a very effective means of communication. The drum could be heard 4-5 miles and away and warn of impending danger much faster than a human messenger.

Here is a video that explains the way the “talking drum” works:

     The messages were often poetic, and the lunsi generally had a signature that he/she started and finished with.
    This is such a fascinating instrument. I think it is so cool how there is speech inside of  the rhythm!

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The Kora

     Also on the African side of things, I am going to tell you about the kora. The kora is a 21 stringed African double harp/lute. It is a very beautiful instrument. When we listened to a snippet the the kora music in class, I fell in love with the warm, guitarlike tone.

The kora has a long neck, which has 21 strings attached vertically to a bridge. The instrument is held in the player’s laps and plucked with the index finger and thumb.

The African music was not originally written down, so there was not written music for the kora until the 20th century. Koras were typical instruments for griots (basically African bards) and they orally passed down their art throughout the generations.

Here is a video of the kora:

This is a really neat video that has the African kora being played with a Celtic harp. It is quite beautiful.