SONGS OF THE CHIPPEWA

None more than a few lines long, many consisting of a few repeated phrases (in the opening ""Lullaby"" there is only one repeated syllable), these are decidedly songs to be sung rather than poems to be read as are the selections in Bierhorst's In the Trail of the Wind (KR 1971). Bierhorst, who selected these songs from the collections of Frances Densmore and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, provides simple arrangements for piano and guitar accompaniment and appends background notes and suggestions for pronunciation and execution. (Most are in English but a few in the original with English translations given below.) There are several lullabies, sacred and ceremonial songs, and direct, unelaborated observations of nature; the mood can be playful, mournful, thankful, or simply watchful, but Servello's hushed scenes in warm reddish brown emphasize the note of tranquil harmony.