video 04 - drawings (Zeichnungen)
Published by admin on Monday, August 15, 2022
–> USE OF HEADPHONES IS ADVISED!
Find the video QR-code in Fulda
Schlosspark Fulda
Concept
This video puts together material from historical buildings in Oshkosh and Fulda. The material is reduced to black and white. The material reminds the viewer of old drawings, while technically there are only zeroes and ones left. For one who is not familiar with the architecture in the two cities, it might be hard to tell which building belongs where…
Used Video Material/Sites
Oshkosh: Trinity Episcopal Church / Fulda: cathedral, castle, orangerie
Sound
The underlying music was created using audio convolutions of a Menominee song called “war bundle song”.
The use of packets commonly called bundles is widespread, especially in the Mississippi Valley region. These packets contain substances believed to give success in hunting or war and are distinct from the small packets of medicine carried by individuals for personal protection or other use. The origin of both the hunting and war bundles is attributed to the owl and it is said that every hunting bundle contains medicine revealed by the owl and four sticks representing the legs of the deer, which was the animal chiefly hunted by the Menominee. Such a bundle also contains medicine revealed to its owner in a dream. Certain songs belong to each bundle and are sung when the bundle is opened to renew or exert its power. When on a hunting expedition the hunter opens his bundle, spreads the contents on a white buckskin, places a dish of food beside it and sings his hunting songs, accompanying them by striking together two short sticks.
The contents of a war bundle differed from the contents of a hunting bundle though the general characteristics were the same. The writer’s informants said that a war bundle always contained the skins of two sorts of owls and that other bird skins might be included according to the dream instructions received by the owner. The herbs and roots placed in a war bundle were believed to have particularly strong medicine power. The articles and herbs were wrapped in the soft tanned hide of a deer and around this was placed a wrapping of plaited rushes secured by a thong. The war bundle; like the hunting bundle, was distinct from the charms carried by individuals. A war bundle was carried by its owner when on the warpath and he might at any time give a feast to it in order to increase its power.
This song was sung at a feast to the war bundles and was intended to make its power effective. It was accompanied by a water drum and three gourd rattles.
(Frances Densmore - ethnomusicologist who recorded the music in the early 1900s)
