Fire Song for the Bighead Dance

• Item number: 24-156.2
• Date: 1963
• Contributors: Jim Brown (consultant), Lawrence E. Dawson (researcher), Frank Norick (researcher)
• Language: Southeastern Pomo (pom)
• Availability: Restricted. (Access only by depositor permission. Email scoil-ling@berkeley.edu to inquire.)
• Description: The Fire Song would be accompanied by the cocoon rattle in actual context. Also, such a dance song would normally be sung by two singers who spell on another as they tire and by a group of (4-6) shouters who sing the rhythm chorus and add "how ha!" at the end of each song. The dance songs are usually accompanied by a log foot drum mounted in the dance house floor (here substituted by pounding on the kitchen table at Brown's house) as well as split-stick clappers held by the two singers. While singing this, the performer would slowly make a circle around the fire and center pole carrying and using his cocoon rattle (from collectors' notes). Meighan and Riddell (1972) is the best single source on the Bole-Maru cult, even though its focus is on more westerly versions of it. Distributed on California Indian Music Project, North-central region, tape 16, side A.
• Collection: The Lawrence E. Dawson and Frank Norick collection of Southeastern Pomo sound recordings
• Repository: Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
• Preferred citation: Fire Song for the Bighead Dance, 24-156.2, in "The Lawrence E. Dawson and Frank Norick collection of Southeastern Pomo sound recordings", Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/11219.