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Book Review
| Singing the Songs of My Ancestors: The Life and Music of Helma Swan, Makah Elder. By Linda J. Goodman and Helma Swan. Foreword by Bill Holm. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003. xvii + 339 pp. Illustrations, maps, tables, glossary, appendixes, notes, bibliography, index. $44.95.)
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As the first monograph devoted to Makah music, this well-written and informative book represents a landmark in Native American studies. The Makah, a Nootkan people, live on a small reservation at the tip of the Olympic Peninsula. Helma Swan (1918–2002), whose father was a Makah chief, performed Makah music and dance until the late 1930s; years later, she helped her community recover and renew this cultural heritage. Swan collaborated with Linda Goodman, an ethnomusicologist who dedicated nearly thirty years to the project. Swan tells her life story with remarkable detail, honesty, and humor; Goodman corroborates the narrative through archival evidence and frames it with musical, historical, and cultural analysis. Together, they offer a rich account of Makah musical life during a century of dramatic social and cultural change. |
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