Traditional Inuit Songs from the Thule Area - Hardcover

Hauser, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 8763525895 ISBN 13: 9788763525893

Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2010

Synopsis

2 books & a CD. This study provides a comprehensive description of the rich song culture of the people in the Thule area in Greenland, the Inughuit. In 1937 the archaeologist and folklorist Erik Holtved recorded 134 traditional songs in Thule. Transcriptions and scientific processing of this collection constitute the nucleus of the work. Another collection of Inughuit songs was recorded in 1962 for The Danish Folklore Archives by Bent Jensen and the author. The songs from both collections are presented and notated in full length and also with analyses of a representative stanza from each song. Descriptions are given of performing habits, singing methods, drum construction and handling, as well as historical and recent data. Searching for resemblances among other Inuit groups produced transcriptions and analyses of many traditional Inuit Songs from different localities in Canada. It was discovered that characteristic traits of the form and melody types of the Inughuit are linked to Canadian Inuit groups in southern Baffin Island and among the Copper Inuit in northern Canada, documenting particular areas of origin, and also giving information about migration routes. Many of the songs are presented on the enclosed CD

About this title

Review:

This superb work is the product of several lifetimes of research, distilled for future students and for the descendants of the Inuit singers.- Reference & Research Book News, May 2010.

These volumes are marvelously researched, and Hauser s passion and excitement for the Inughuit people, their culture, and their music are evident with every word. He speaks in the first person and shares stories and experiences of his relationship with the musicians behind his recordings. ... In many cases, he includes a photograph of the musician along with a biography a case in point of Hauser s genuine devotion to his subject.This book is an excellent reference for anyone studying ethnomusicology particularly of Canadian Inuit communities. It is an intense look at the musical form of Inughuit music and in that respect is primarily targeted toward ethnomusicologists. However, it also has a lot of relevant information for linguists and anthropologists in terms of the historical, scientific, and cultural data. Hauser s inside perspective on Inuit culture, the photographic images he includes, and the CD of his and Holtved s recordings make these volumes a fascinating study for both the average Arctic enthusiast and the serious scholar of Arctic culture.- Kate Schutz, ARCTIC, September 2010."

Michael Hauser s two-volume publication offers an immensely rich study of the traditional drum-song of the Inuit, primarily the Inughuit from the Thule area, and from other arctic areas, e.g. Baffin Island. ... a monumental piece of work in more than one sense: by its sheer physical proportions, by the huge number of transcriptions and analyses, by the effort put into it Hauser has worked on more than 800 hours of recordings and by the meticulous and thorough processing of the data. It is a veritable must-have for future researchers in the field of Inuit songs as well as for those who care to know what to listen for, or is looking for something specific, when venturing into the recording collections.- Tore Tvarno Lind, Danish Yearbook of Musicology 38, 2010/11."

About the Author:

Michael Hauser is an ethnomusicologist. He has taught in both senior school and in the Royal Danish Music Conservatory. He received the Jacob Gade Prize in 1970 and the Greenland Medal for Meritorious Service "Nersornaat" in 2005.

About this edition

• Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 8763525895
• ISBN 13: 9788763525893
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 1560