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Manawan community (Quebec) alive .
Their representations are structured as follows: there are two structures, a circle male the circle where a drum and a female semicircle is placed in the center.
The Black Bear Sinters technique
The two rims alternate in a call response made of repeated litanies with a dynamically strong and managed singing for the whole performance with a falsetto typical of the songs of the America Indians. Men are technically solicited to a remarkable effort to achieve not so much the extreme of the note understood as tonal height, but the dynamic power.
Particular that comes to light by watching and listening to the video of the
Black Bear Sinters is the use of the upper limbs to tighten and move the larynx, in order to obtain a "broken" and "pungent" sound in certain stages of the responses to the main melody. In this song, the facilitator is not a person but the drum, who marks the time and the various references to the change change.
The structure of the executions of the Black Bear Sinters
The structure of their executions (refrain - verse) is characterized by a continuous passage of witness between the "guide" (the singer who first evokes the beginning of singing) and the remaining group.
In each step there are modulations or variations by the solo singer whose hook between verse and refrain and the passage of witness, is marked by a precise signal on the drum made by a succession of strong slow blows that break the rhythmic structure.
The end of the song takes place with a succession of 6 shots, to also notice the rite of the deposition of Woooza Malletti (Batacchio), on the drum as if you were to thank him.
The places where this ritual is practiced are the native gatherings called Powwow, a sort of structured ceremonial, organized more than the time with the aim of celebrating a special occasion.
I therefore leave you to the vision and listening to this fantastic video where you can savor the sounds of the Black Bear Sinters.
Read also the article: Joik: the traditional singing of the Lappia people
