Minto Songs Project

1. Minto Songs Project Siri G. Tuttle Alaska Native Language Center University of Alaska Fairbanks

2. The Minto Songs Project • Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities • Digital Humanities Program, “We The People” initiative • Sponsored by the University of Alaska Fairbanks • 18 Months – May 2008 to October 2009 • $50,000

3. Project Goals • Organize recordings of Minto songs at: • Alaska Native Language Center • Ethnographic Center in Lund, Sweden • Private collections • Document the origin of all songs • Who composed them • What was their purpose • Translate song lyrics as directed by elders • Present organized collection to the Village of Minto • Publish a book and recording for use in school

4. Types of songs • Songs that honor people • Songs for dancing and fun • Love songs • Lullabyes

5. Songs to honor people • Ta’a

6. Songs for dancing and fun • “Squirrel” • Yusi, yusi • Dlektoniyo • Oh, ho oh (etc.) • Dlekdlekdlekdlek • K’wda

7. Love songs • Love Song by Little Peter • “Menhtixwts’e’ niłdhot, iłguse’ot, iłguse’ot • Menhtixwts’e’ niłdhot!” • “Far from Minto, there is my wife, there is my wife. • Far from Minto!”

8. Lullabyes • “Naxbenibeghwudahdelik!” Naxbeni, yeganechoyanek’atrex Naxbeni, yeganechoyanek’atrex Naxbeni, yeganechoyanek’atrex Lo, lo lo lo, lo lo lo lo. • Amen!

9. What we’d like to do • Talk to people about songs they know about, and learn their history • Write down song lyrics in MenhtiKenaga’ and translate them when appropriate • Make a song book for the community • Provide good quality digital recordings of all the songs we work with • Organize the materials into .html format so that web-based applications will be easy to set up

10. What would you like to do?

11. Thank you for listening.