University of Wisconsin - Extension

Music is more than just sound to the people of the Ojibwe nation, and the tradition and its meaning are spotlighted in Ojibwe Music, a new special from Wisconsin Public Television (WPT).

Ojibwe Music, a half-hour documentary, premieres at 7 p.m. Thursday, September 28. In the program, traditionalist Eddie Benton-Benai details the cultural and spiritual significance of music to the Ojibwe people.

Viewers learn the roles that instruments such as the shaker, the flute and the drum play in Ojibwe life, and tribal members perform traditional music in the program, shot in the north woods along the shores of Lake Superior.

Benton-Benai tells the stories behind the songs and instruments as he and other native musicians play "the first music in this part of the world."

Viewers discover that the Native American flute, according to Algonquin legend, was the result of mourning. A woman was missing her dead husband, and a spirit, borne on the wind, blew through the reeds to console her. Master musician Frank Montano is featured playing the flute.

As for the drum, Benton-Benai relates that "the drum is very integral to us, because all drums represent the heartbeat of the people." He goes on to say that, contrary to a popular belief, the "big drum" is not the original drum.

That honor properly rests with the water drum, so sacred that it cannot be seen in public. Ojibwe Music shows a facsimile of the "drum of drums," which signifies the heartbeat of the creator, of the universe, of creation and of the people.

Seen throughout the special are the Spirit Bird Singers, a group of younger musicians carrying on and extending the traditions.

"Indian music continues to develop," Benton-Benai says. "More young people today are singing the old songs but also making new songs."

WPT is a service of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin-Extension.

Wisconsin Public Television celebrates and connects the diverse people of Wisconsin through shows like Ojibwe Music on WHA-TV/Madison, WPNE-TV/Green Bay, WHRM-TV/Wausau, WLEF-TV/Park Falls, WHLA-TV/La Crosse and WHWC-TV/Menomonie-Eau Claire.