Essential song : three decades of northern Cree music /

Providing a thorough account of the musical culture of the Cree people--a Canadian Native society residing in much of Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba--this excellent book makes a unique contribution to ethnomusicology. Whidden (Brandon Univ., Manitoba) has devoted more than 30 years to teaching Canadian First Nations people at the college level, and she has a comprehensive knowledge of ethnomusicological literature. Though it deals largely with three decades of the author's fieldwork, the book extends beyond those studies to contemplate history and other societies. Whidden devotes chapters to music in traditional ceremony; song as history; the importance of music in cultural survival; Cree adoption and adaptation of Western-derived folk dance, country music, and church music; and Cree entry into the intertribal powwow culture. Notations and analyses of songs are included. Although unique in approach and content, the book is comparable to Judith Vander's Songprints (CH, May'89, 26-5001), in its concentration on individual singers, and Luke Lassiter's The Power of Kiowa Song (1998), in its inclusion of traditional and modern musics. The book is written in an accessible style, and the helpful CD includes 52 songs, most illustrating older ceremonial genres but a few of them hymns, folk songs, and powwow songs. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers; all levels. B. Nettl University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign