Native American/First Nations Music (Northwest Coast)

Native American/First Nations tribes of the Northwest U.S. and Canadian coast, such as the Tshimshian, Makah, Ouiluete, Kwakwaka’wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth, is rhythmically complex and sometimes features multiple voices singing different tones at the same time (“polyphony,”) which makes it unique among /Native American/First Nations forms. It also features more diverse instrumentation than other Native American/First Nations music,
including many kinds of drums, horns, whistles and flutes. Music of the Salish nations, who live immediately to the east of the Northwestern tribes, is a bridge between Northwestern music and the music of the Inuit, who we’ll discuss next.

Northwest Coast instrumentst: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nort/hd_nort.htm

Watch a performance of a snowbird song from the Sḵwxwú7mesh people | Listen to a “paddle song” performed by the Xwamstut dance group of the Sechelt (Salish) nation | Watch a performance of a Sechelt (Salish) honor song