Hopi Indian Lullaby: "Puwuch Tawis"

WHITECLOUD, Princess Neioma

Published by The H. W. Gray Co., Inc., Agents for Novello & Co., Ltd, New York, 1941

First edition. English text by Princess Neioma Whitecloud. Harmonized and arranged for a chorus of women's voices by Boris Levenson. Small quarto. Two nested bifolia making 6, [2 ads] pp. Lyrics in English and Hopi. Publisher's "Complimentary" stamp on the cover. Cover with a tiny stain and a very short split at the base of the outer leaf, near fine. Neioma Whitecloud s father, George Whitecloud, was council chief of the Oglala Sioux. Her mother was a French-German singer and a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Neioma Whitecloud was awarded the title of Princess in recognition of her efforts to obtain a water supply system on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota. A noted organist, she traveled widely, including playing stints with the Glenn Miller Band as well as with various circuses and traveling shows. From the introduction: "This lullaby is one of the oldest Hopi songs. Sung in many Hopi villages, there is perhaps scarcely a Hopi who has not been lulled to sleep with its refrain. The song tells of the beetles asleep on the trail. In Hopi land, the beetles carry one another on their backs in the hot sun. The Hopis say, 'The beetles are blind, the beetles are sleeping.' So the child upon its mother's back must close its eyes, like the beetle and see no more." *OCLC* locates four copies (Carnegie Library, Southern Illinois University, Los Angeles Public Library, British Museum). Seller Inventory # 519148

Bibliographic Details

Title: Hopi Indian Lullaby: "Puwuch Tawis"
Publisher: The H. W. Gray Co., Inc., Agents for Novello & Co., Ltd, New York
Publication Date: 1941
Binding: Unbound
Condition: Near Fine
Edition: 1st Edition