About Apache Music
Music has always been a major part of Apache tribal life, particularly for their dance rituals and spiritual ceremonies. Many different types of dances serve different functions for the tribe.
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Identification
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The main musical instrument used by the Apache tribe is the drum, made of wood and animal skins.
In a Powwow ceremony, which is a gathering of tribal members for a particular purpose, a drum circle or a drum group provides music for the dancers. A Powwow with many tribes attending will have many representative drums. Singers perform songs for the opening of the Powwow, the grand entry, ceremonial songs and closing songs. The ritual costumes have metal ornaments that jingle with the dance steps.
Sometimes these ceremonies are open to non-tribal members. For instance, the general public is welcome to attend Mescal Roast, a four-day event put on by the Mescalero tribe in Carlsbad, New Mexico, each year in May. This ceremony includes gathering and roasting mescal in the traditional manner, along with presentation of the Apache War Dance and the Mountain Spirit Dances, among others. The dances are true blessing ceremonies and not simply re-enactments.
Considerations
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The Apache tribe is a very spiritual people as a group, and considers much of their music to have sacred power. Their rituals emphasize dances, and even their symbol is a dancer in ceremonial dress, wearing a black mask made of buckskin and a symbolic headdress.
Apache shamans historically served a long apprenticeship and memorized nearly 100 chants, each with several dozen verses. Performances required perfection and forceful delivery, through a highly demanding variety of pitch, tempo and tones.
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Geography
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The Apache tribes mainly live in Arizona and New Mexico, along with small populations in surrounding states and Mexico. Because of the often-harsh high desert climate, it is logical that many of their ritual dances are performed to increase food production. These rituals include the rain dance, the plentiful crop dance and the harvest dance.
Significance
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The most important ritual of the Apache tribe is the Sunrise Dance, a rite of passage for young women, marking when a girl enters puberty. The four day ceremony teaches the tribal values of love, prayer, respect, appreciation, wisdom, culture, cooperation, language and endurance. It is a way for the community to celebrate the value of womanhood and to build confidence and self-esteem in the honored participant.
The ritual tests the girl's discipline and endurance. Traditionally, she dances almost continuously throughout the ceremony to more than 100 songs and prayers in a meticulously choreographed ceremony. Her costume is made of buckskin, feathers, beads, fringe and jingles.
Theories/Speculation
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The Apache also had war chants. One type was a religious ceremonial song chanted in preparation for battle. Another was sometimes described by white settlers and the military as wild wailing cries. Cavalry members called this the death song or death chant. Non-native Americans speculated that the war chants were a mix of despair and exultation.
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