Various Artists Music Eastern Indians Medicine Spri (CD)

Songs and Dances of the Eastern Indians from Medicine Spring & Allegany is a 1985 album on New World Records that captures ritual, ceremonial and social music of Cherokee and Seneca Indians, highlighting striking stylistic similarities between Southeastern and Northeastern indigenous traditions. Recorded at non-ceremonial practice grounds to respect religious prohibitions on taping sacred events, it features Cherokee and Creek performers from Medicine Spring Ceremonial Ground in Oklahoma using crockery water drum, coconut-shell hand rattle and terrapin-shell rattles, evoking ancient stomp dances around outdoor sacred fires established after forced removals. Seneca musicians from Allegany Reservation in New York contribute indoor-style performances from Salamanca Community Center, mimicking longhouse settings with their distinct yet comparable vocal and rhythmic approaches. Though rooted in oral traditions without named composers, this collection falls outside classical music streams, preserving authentic Native American folk practices through communal singers and dancers like Archie Sam as leader with Eli Sam on drum, Eliza Sumpka leading shell shakers including Sonja Fields and Evelyn Screechowl, alongside Leslie Bowen, Herbert Dowdy Sr., Avery Jimerson and others. The album underscores cultural continuity, with Cherokee outdoor circles forming snake-like coils amid leader-led choruses and gender-paired movements, paralleled by Seneca indoor dances emphasizing group harmony. Performers include Cherokee singers Jobei L. Fields, Van Johnson, Credo Screechowl, Robert Sumpka, Luman Wildcat and Squirrel Wildcat, shell shakers Levana Harjo and Leona Wildcat, plus Seneca dancers Alvina C. Cooper, A. Eileen Jacobs, Fidelia Jimerson, Vera Jimerson, Cecil Johnny-John, Kevin Johnny-John, Lyford Johnny-John, Michael Johnny-John, Brian Mohr and Theresa R. Seltron. Spanning 45 minutes, it offers an invaluable ethnographic window into Eastern Indian musical heritage.