S2, E10: Shell Shaker: A Chickasaw Opera, Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate, Chickasaw Composer

2022-03-10

“Chickasaw legend tells of a girl who is teased by other children and named Loksi’—Turtle—for her slowness. Upon the counsel of a river, she goes to live in the forest. There, she finds hospitality among the turtle people. One day, the god of the turtles asks her to tell her fellow humans to treat turtles with respect and kindness, and gives her a gift of turtle shells filled with pebbles and seeds to bring back with her. The rattles were adopted by the people of Loksi’ and used to accompany dances and ceremonies, a reminder to treat the natural world with care.”* (from inter...

As a former opera singer with a music degree, I’m ecstatic about today’s Native ChocTalk episode! Here we have something unprecedented - an opera in an American Indian language (Chickasaw), by an American Indian Composer (Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate), and we all should be celebrating this enormous breakthrough in Native arts!

In this episode, Jerod discusses with me (like the music nerds we are):

How there aren’t rules set up yet around how spoken and sung Chickasaw may differ. (In traditional operas with languages such as French and Italian, etc., there are often rules about the differences between spoken and sung.)
The challenges around composing in a difficult language, paired with an extremely demanding genre such as opera, to complete a work that has never been attempted before. This requires a modern Chickasaw speaker (Joshua Hinson) who interprets and translates the words into text, as well as a Dramateur/Librettest (libretto = the wording in an opera), Lyla Palmer, partnering with a Composer such as Jerod who has vision and determination to see this opera to fruition. And voila – you now have something unique and beautiful.

Stay tuned for upcoming announcements, as this opera is most likely going live November of 2022 at UMass Amherst!

Three cheers for these talented folks, as well as the singers!