Cherokee_Art&Liturature&Music_fall

Art, Liturature and Music Gillian Walker (Back to Fall)

o Speak Tsalagi a form of Iroquoian language (http://www.native-languages.org/cherokee.htm) o 22,000 people speak Tsalagi today o Polysynthetic language (written with many morphemes) (http://cherokeeindians.com/history.htm) o Written in syllabary; each “letter” represents a syllable. o Made pipes and carved them for decoration (http://www.bigorrin.org/cherokee_kids.htm) o Weaved baskets out of birch bark, cedar bark, swamp grass and spruce root. o Masks out of cedar o Pottery o Crafts like beadwork and textile arts o Today basket weaving is sold to tourists (http://www.everyculture.com/North-America/Cherokee-Economy.html) o Each tribe had different music (http://hubpages.com/hub/Music-and-the-Cherokee-Indians) o Used in religious rituals, for healing, accompanying work and games as well as social gatherings o Believe that music wasa gift from the god in order to connect the heavens with earth. o Use symbolism and usually tell a story o Use chanting o Use Flutes, drums and rattles and other instruments. o Vocals are usually solo and singing is often off key o Used to evoke spirits o Woman dance in place and men dance in a circle o Women have different dances than the men. o Music is/was the most important part to Cherokee life.



Sources:  http://www.native-languages.org/cherokee.htm http://www.bigorrin.org/cherokee_kids.htm http://cherokeeindians.com/history.htm http://www.everyculture.com/North-America/Cherokee-Economy.html http://hubpages.com/hub/Music-and-the-Cherokee-Indians  []  Pictures: http://www.tngenweb.org/tnfirst/syllabary.gif http://www.texasindians.com/chrwom.jpg http://www.visitsmokies.org/images/Qualla-Bead-Jewelry.jpg http://www.turtlemoundflutes.com/images/10inRoundWaterSpider-080814.jpg

