News from Dorothy Ramon Learning Center brings you a visit with Elder Ernest Siva (Cahuilla-Serrano), president and co-founder of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center. Today he’s sharing some Native American cultural memories of gourd rattles, bird songs, and other traditional music.
Key Moments:
We’ve highlighted some moments in this 30-minute video.
0:28 mark: Ernest Siva says he’s talking today about some basics he feels need to be explained, namely, making traditional music and using the rattle.
[Editor’s Note for those who may be new to bird songs (Wiikikmalem in Cahuilla, Wichiitam in Serrano, Tucuk in Kumeyaay, and 'Ehéngmayum in Luiseño): Bird songs are not the calls of birds, but instead traditional songs that tell the history of the arrival of the ancestors to this world and their territories. For centuries the songs have been passed from generation to generation.]
Morongo Bird Singers and Dancers and others sing and dance to traditional birds at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s 2018 Dragonfly Gala. (Carlos Puma Photo)
0:50: Ernest Siva tells story about ethnologist David Barrows and others taking a traditional Native American bird song. The song was adapted and published in the early 1900s as a school song for Pomona College. [Ernest Siva, who directs the Pass Chorale, led the community chorus in performing an arrangement of the original bird song, which is in the Serrano language, during a recent concert in Banning.]
2:50: He told this story because he’s been wondering, “just how much of what we do today do people like, or are interested in, that have to do with our culture.” So he thought just a simple visit today would be handy, and he brought along some rattles to share.
3:40: “The rattle we’re talking about is the gourd rattle.”
Shows a rattle put together from parts his father, Tom Siva, had assembled. Notes that different musicians have their own personal tastes when it comes to making the gourd rattle, for example, the number of palm-tree seeds that go inside the gourd to make the sound.
4:32: 1. Mexican maraca. 2. Rattle by Arizona singer. (The sound appealed to Ernest Siva.) 3. Turtle rattle. 4. Artistic rattle that attracted him.
6:52: Explains how parts for his gourd rattle from his father were gathered by his father, including the palm-tree seeds, wood for handle, and gourd. His stepmother asked her nephew to make the rattle from the parts, and then gave him the rattle as a gift.
8:19: When he and a cousin were about 10 years old and living on the Morongo Reservation, each boy was given a rattle made by his grandfather, Pete Ramon [father of Dorothy Ramon and Katherine Howard, Ernest’s mother]. This gift of the gourd rattle was highly significant, but he doesn’t remember any explanation at the time from his mother.
10:35: Later on, Aunt Dot [Dorothy Ramon] discussed the way bird songs were traditionally sung. This included the role of the leader, who traditionally used his gourd rattle to signal the tune changes in the songs.
11:27: Discussion of traditional bird songs. Memories of attending the different wakes for funerals, and the singing.
13:29: Memories of bird-singing celebrations. Favorite singers would be asked to sing. His grandfather, Pete Ramon, was one; he went to sing at different events. He would practice before he went. “I heard him sing in the house with the rattle.”
15:35: It also seemed as though his mother knew all the songs. She would explain at different times what the songs meant. And she would have visitors, such as her friends from Rincon.
Story about Katherine Howard’s childhood friendship, which lasted for a lifetime, at Sherman Institute with Villiana Calac Hyde. [Editor’s Note: Years later, as an Elder, Villiana Hyde’s work in Luiseño with Eric Elliott, the same linguist who worked in Serrano with Dorothy Ramon, helped save and share Luiseño language and culture.] Villiana’s brothers sang, and she sang with them. Ernest Siva interviewed the older brother and learned from him in the 1970s.
Walter Holmes leads the Morongo Bird Singers and Dancers at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s 2018 Dragonfly Gala (Carlos Puma Photo).
18:50: The rattle is the instrument that accompanies music in Southern California.
20:00: It was Aunt Dot (Dorothy Ramon) who discussed the importance of the leader and the process and duties that kept the music flowing appropriately.
21:46: There came a time when the bird songs were dying out. Tells how the bird songs and their traditions were brought back.
24:52: He became one of the students learning the songs, “and we’d gather and sing.”
25:00: “So, that’s one of the reasons for needing a rattle of my own.”
25:21: Getting back to what Dorothy Ramon taught him: Those who sang in front of and for the community traditionally were chosen by the paha'. (ceremonial assistant). Certain families expected to sing. But not everyone had that opportunity. You could show desire and talent and sooner or later you might be asked to join.
26:00: Could be also that the Elders would get together. Remembers seeing how the Elders would gather in Banning every weekend.
27:04: The practice now is for everyone to play the rattle. “I’ve heard some very fine singing and playing and dancing.”
27:20: “So, it’s not going away.” The tradition of bird songs is robust. The bird songs have information; “they tell our story, and not everyone knows about that.”
28:00: “The main thing was, that we were given these songs by our Creator.” They tell our history: “To know who we are, who we were, where we came from and to never lose your language, our language, and the songs.”
28:31: Discussion of songs and how some were sung in groups for special purposes or different occasions … Looking forward to more discussions of bird songs.
“Thank you.”
Postscript
Not in the video, but when Pete Ramon, who was a paha', gave young Ernest Siva a gourd rattle, he was naming him as a Singer.
Student illustration of Ernest Siva teaching songs and stories at Morongo School some years ago.
Thank you!
News from Dorothy Ramon Learning Center is celebrating our two-year anniversary! We began sharing our free online newsletters once a week during the pandemic. Instead of being isolated at home, this enabled Elder Ernest Siva (Cahuilla-Serrano) to reach out, and continue the Learning Center’s nonprofit work to save and share Southern California Native American cultures, languages, history, and music and other traditional arts.
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