Mohawk Chief Oskenonton made it his job to describe and perform American Indian ceremonies and dances, and in the early 20s he recorded a total of five sides for Columbia. He had made some sides for Victor in 1915 but those
were never issued. This is one of the Columbia sides, made on June 6 of 1920, and it is the first of the two he made that year. Besides the unusual unaccompanied Indian voice, remarkably well done for someone with so little
experience making records, this is one of the few acoustic records you will hear that features a drum prominantly. Drums would easily overwhelm other instruments and so they weren't put on wax in many cases. The record from
which this sample came had been played a few times, so there was some surface noise to deal with, and a de-crackle made a nice difference.
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