Musical Traditions

Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse)

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy — comprising the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora nations — has one of the richest musical traditions in North America. Music permeates social, ceremonial, and political life within the longhouse tradition. The water drum — a small wooden or clay vessel partially filled with water, covered with a wet hide — produces a distinctive resonant sound unique to Haudenosaunee music. It is played alongside the horn (or cow horn) rattle in social dance songs. The water drum's pitch changes with the amount of water inside, allowing subtle tonal variation. Social dances — including the Stomp Dance, Smoke Dance, and various animal dances — use song to build community cohesion. The Condolence Ceremony uses specific songs to mourn leaders and raise new ones. The Green Corn Ceremony and Midwinter Ceremony both feature extensive musical components. NOTE: Many Haudenosaunee ceremonial songs are restricted and are not documented here. This entry covers the publicly shared social dance and recorded musical traditions.

Various (Haida, Tlingit, Kwakwaka'wakw, Coast Salish)

The nations of the Pacific Northwest Coast — including the Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Coast Salish peoples — share a coastal environment that shaped musical traditions closely tied to the cedar tree, the salmon, and the ocean. Music in these traditions is typically owned: songs are property, passed down within clans or families, displayed publicly at potlatches alongside the distribution of wealth. A potlatch song sung by the wrong person is a serious cultural offence. The big house (longhouse) is the principal performance space; large painted drums are beaten while masked dancers re-enact ancestral stories and spirit encounters. Instruments include large cedar plank drums, hand drums, rattles of various materials (puffin beaks, deer hooves, shells), and whistles that represent supernatural voices. Choral singing by groups of singers accompanies most ceremonies. The revival of these traditions in the late 20th century — after decades of suppression under the Canadian potlatch ban (1885–1951) — is one of the most significant cultural stories in North America.

Diné (The People — Navajo Nation)

Diné (Navajo) music is deeply integrated with the Diné spiritual worldview expressed in Hózhó — the concept of balance, beauty, and harmony that permeates all aspects of life. The Navajo Nation (Dinétah), spanning parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, is the largest land area of any nation in the United States. Ceremonial music is central to the Navajo tradition. Healing ceremonies (Sings or Chantways), including the Blessingway, Nightway (Yéii Bicheii), and Enemyway, involve extended multi-night sequences of songs performed by trained Hataalii (singers/medicine men). Each ceremony has hundreds of songs that must be sung in precise order — errors can invalidate the ceremony. The Apache fiddle (tsii' edo'a'tl — 'wood that sings'), a unique bowed chordophone made from agave stalk, is used in the related Apache tradition and shares some features with Navajo musical practice. Secular musical traditions include Squaw Dance songs, social round dances, and contemporary expressions by artists like Sharon Burch and Radmilla Cody who blend traditional Navajo songs with country and folk genres. NOTE: Ceremonial chantway songs are sacred and restricted. This entry focuses on publicly documented secular and contemporary music.

Oyate Olowan (Lakota: Songs of the People)

The musical traditions of the Plains Nations — including the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Crow, Comanche, and Kiowa peoples — centre on the human voice and the drum. Song is understood as a living entity: songs are received in dreams, inherited through family lines, or owned by ceremonial societies, and each carries specific protocols for when and how it may be sung. The large communal drum — typically a bass drum struck by four or more singers in unison — is considered the heartbeat of the people. Singing style uses a high-pitched, open-throated delivery with characteristic descending phrases, often employing vocables (non-lexical syllables such as 'hey-ya-hey') rather than literal text. Song categories include honour songs, war songs, love songs, lullabies, healing songs, and the sacred songs of specific ceremonial societies. NOTE: Many Plains ceremonial songs are sacred and are not documented here. This entry focuses on the publicly shared repertoire including powwow music, honour songs, and recorded contemporary expressions of the tradition.

Anishinaabe (Ojibwe / Chippewa)

The Anishinaabe peoples — including the Ojibwe (Chippewa), Odawa, and Potawatomi nations of the Great Lakes region — share a musical tradition centred on the drum as a living, sacred being. The Anishinaabe origin story describes the world emerging from sound. The Midewiwin (Grand Medicine Society) is the principal ceremonial institution, and its songs — documented on birchbark scrolls, one of the few instances of Indigenous North American music notation — form a body of healing and initiation music passed through generations of members. The Dream Dance (or Drum Dance) tradition involves a large ceremonial drum given specific protocol and treated as a sacred being. Songs in the Dream Dance tradition are received in visions and used specifically with that drum. Secular music includes love songs (nagamonan), war songs (nakamowi), lullabies, and the jingle dress dance songs of the modern powwow circuit — the jingle dress dance originated among the Ojibwe in the early 20th century as a healing dance.

Katajjaq / Inuit throat singing

The Inuit peoples of the Arctic — including Inuit of Canada and Greenland and the related Yup'ik of Alaska — have a distinct musical tradition shaped by the extremes of Arctic life. The most distinctive practice is katajjaq — Inuit throat singing — performed traditionally by two women facing each other, sharing breath, and interlocking rhythmic vocal patterns of animal sounds, environmental sounds, and abstract vocables into a kind of musical game. The first person to laugh or run out of breath loses. The Inuit frame drum (qilaut or qilaun) — a large, thin drum made of animal hide stretched over a hoop of driftwood or bone — is beaten while a single performer dances and sings, with communal groups responding in chorus. Drum dances are associated with celebrations, hunting success, and conflict resolution through competitive performance. Contemporary artists like Tanya Tagaq (Kivalliq Inuit) have taken katajjaq into entirely new contexts — solo experimental performance, collaboration with rock and electronic musicians — while maintaining deep connection to its Arctic origins.

Pan-Indian / Intertribal

The powwow is a modern Pan-Indian tradition — a gathering that brings together members of many different nations for singing, dancing, and community. Though its roots lie in Plains Nations ceremony, the contemporary powwow circuit developed across North America through the 20th century as a form of cultural affirmation and intertribal connection, especially in urban areas with relocatee populations. Powwow music is performed by drum groups — typically 4 to 10 or more men seated around a large bass drum, singing in unison. The repertoire includes Grand Entry songs, Honor songs, Intertribal songs (open to all dancers), Veterans songs, Round Dance songs, and competition dance songs for specific categories: Men's Traditional, Men's Fancy, Women's Jingle, Women's Fancy Shawl, Grass Dance, and others. Major drum groups — including Blacklodge Singers, Northern Cree, Drum Royale, and many others — have achieved wide followings through recordings and the powwow circuit. The Native American Music Awards (Nammys) were established in 1998 to recognise achievements across powwow, traditional, and contemporary Indigenous music.