Big Blog II: The Final One :')

 Hey everybody... *sheds a tear* it's our last blog together. It has been so fun reading everyone's blogs and I will certainly miss the funny commentary and stories. So, to honor our last hoorah, I have decided to send us out with the Inuit peoples of Alaska. 

Now I know what you're thinking, what kind of send-off is that? And honestly, I don't have an answer, I just thought it was cool. So grab a blanket, steal a snack, and get ready for some serious throat-singing. 

The Inuit people, or stereotypically known as the Eskimo people, are a group of Native Americans that live along the coldest regions of the Alaskan coast. Their culture is primarily based around hunting (there's not much gathering/farming because IT'S TOO FREAKING COLD TO GROW ANYTHING) whales, caribou, and other Arctic animals. The music of the Inuit is fairly simplistic, contrary to their southern neighbors in the Northern United States region (tribes that we studied in class). They have two drums that are the most common in much of the music they perform: the round drum and the rectangle drum. I know, very hard to remember. 

The round drum is made with whale or caribou stomach for the head, and wood for the frame. This type of drum does not have a bottom, and is waved up and down while playing to produce a whooshy-like sound. As you can see in the video I have attached below, the round drum is played by hitting a mallet on the frame instead of the head as we have seen in many other cultures. 

Now, onto the rectangle drum. The rectangle drum goes against the traditional grain of our society and has a rectangular shape instead of the typical circle or oval shape you see everywhere else. Instead of being held by the player, the rectangle drum is hung from the ceiling and is hit from the bottom. It is decorated with feathers, mostly eagle feathers, and used mostly in ceremonies and rituals held by the Inuit people. It represents the eagle during these ceremonies and plays a huge role in the Inuit belief system. I wasn't able to find any videos of this drum being played since it is a sacred instrument and rituals are not filmed out of respect, but I was able to find this very simple image of a rectangle drum from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (it is very old and does not typically look like this from what I have read but here is an idea). 

Onto the main event: Inuit Throat-singing! I don't know if any of you have seen that girl on tiktok that sings with her mom, but her username is @shinanova and she posts some really good stuff. Her mom is her vocal coach and they are both professional Inuit throat-singers, and I am just obsessed with them. Shina inspired me to make this my blog topic because her content is just sooooo beautiful and I highly suggest you take a look. (I have also put in a video below because I love her)

But anyways, back to what I was saying... 

Throat-singing does not sound like what you think it would; singers use their throats to make sounds instead of their vocal cords. This technique produces a much raspier sound with intense emotion from the singers themselves and instrumentalists that accompany them. Usually drummers and background vocalists will join in for support and it totally changes the vibe of the performance. Here is a compilation of Shina and her mom practicing, singing, and using other techniques of throat-singing. There's even some captions to help you understand what's happening. 

As you can see in the video, throat-singing is used for more than rituals and performances within the culture, it is used to tell stories. These songs are passed down from generation to generation without written music, much like a lot of the other traditional music we have studied in this class. The sounds the singers make imitate the sounds of nature, like geese or the wind. Isn't that like the coolest thing ever????

Now that we've talked about some of the musical aspects of the Inuit culture, let's talk about traditional dress used in the ceremonies and rituals we've talked about. Since the Inuit people live in the very cold temperatures of Alaska, the clothing seen there is almost always made from very thick and heavy animal pelt or fur. The Inuit get most of their food from hunting, and in an effort/necessity to use all parts of the animal, the pelt or fur is made into jackets, pants, boots, etc. 

In the picture above, you can see the two women wearing parkas most likely made from reindeer, caribou, and/or bear pelt. Now this is just everyday dress, the fancy stuff is much more appealing. 

In this image, you can see more colors, beading, embroidery happening. These parkas and dresses are worn on special occasions or performances. Natural dyes and beads are used to give these garments their colorful personalities, but they also hold stories within their designs. Each pattern means something different to the individual or their tribe. The woman on the left has small yellow fish on her coat, signifying a name or story that is special to her or her people. 

You can read more about all of this from the blog I found here, the author has some really cool sources that I also ventured into for fun. 

Thank you for joining me on the journey of Spring semester 2022, it's been real guys. Hope to see you around.