WHEELWRIGHT (Mary C.) Introduction, &
THE SON OF BEAD CHANT SINGER Performer.
Navajo Creation Chants.
A RARE SET OF NAVAJO RECORDINGS WITH THE ORIGINAL BOOKLET
“All Navajo Ceremonies are chanted for the healing of sickness of mind or body. These records are selected from the collection, belonging to the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art of Santa Fe, New Mexico, most of which consist of chants sung on the reservation by Navajo medicine men years ago and recorded by Dr. George Herzog, Dr. Harry Hoijer, and Father Berard Haile” (Introduction). The booklet also includes translations of the lyrics of these chants, not limited to those represented on the recordings “because I desired to give enough to show the unity and beauty of the Navajo chants as literature. This beauty, however, is not the result of a self-conscious esthetic tradition. The songs are essentially magical. They frequently repeat four times in order to strengthen the force of the prayer and are directed to the East, South, West, and North, calling help from the sources of power” (ibid). The booklet also reproduces the pictographs used by the vocalist, Son of Bead Chant Singer, as a mnemonic system for the words.
The complete set of records and the booklet are rarely found together.
