A Note to Accompany The First Horse Song and The First Horse Song of Frank Mitchell

note-on-and-first-horse-song-of-frank-mitchell-pages_from_alcheringa_1-1.pdf

See also audio of various performances and discussion of the Horse Songs and Total Translation on the Jerome Rothenberg page at Penn Sound

This piece is a translation of the first of seventeen horse-songs originally by Frank Mitchell, a Navajo singer from Chinle, Arizona. The first horse-song involves Enemy Slayer imagining the future and the bounty he will pursue and come into possession of during his journeys.

This piece was collected, translated, and transcribed for Alcheringa by Jerome Rothenberg. Rothenberg's notes on the First Horse-Song of Frank Mitchell include commentary on the complications and conflicts of translating a Navajo song to English. He upheld the goal of creating an entirely new, morphed work that gave the same impressions of the Navajo songs, but in English, a process which he called "total translation." This goal of letting a new piece of literature evolve from the Navajo song was paramount. The effects, meanings, and significance would be distorted in a direct translation from the original Navajo to English.

The Navajo, or Diné, are Native Americans who historically settled in the Southwestern United States. They now occupy areas in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico and are the largest federally recognized tribe with the largest reservation. Most Navajo people now speak English alongside their mother tongue of the Navajo language, called “Diné bizaad” or “Naabeehó bizaad.”

The collection of the seventeen horse-songs is used in blessingway ceremonies of the Navajo, intended for the purposes of blessing and curing. The story told within the horse-songs is the Navajo Nation's origin myth of horses, though horses were originally introduced by the Spanish. The blessingway ceremonies are religious spiritual ceremonies. They are not intended to heal disease or injury, but are focused more toward protection from misfortunes and to invoke blessings. It was also believed that blessingway ceremonies restored natural order, fostered positive feelings and events, and reduced any negative feelings like jealousy, fear, hate, or anger.

A recording of an extra from Jerome Rothenberg's documentary called 'Vot Em I Doink Here?' of Rothenberg reading the 13th Horse-Song can be found here.

A recording of Jerome Rothenberg reading his “totally translated” Horse-Songs can be found here.

“7707A - Horse Songs, Jerome Rothenberg.” Charlie Morrow, https://audiographics.bandcamp.com/album/7707a-horse-songs.

“Blessingway.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 July 1998, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Blessingway.

Davis, Patricia Anne. “The Blessing Way.” Native American Concepts, 3 July 2011, https://nativeamericanconcepts.wordpress.com/the-blessing-way/.

“Jerome Rothenberg: 13th Horse Song of Frank Mitchell (White).” YouTube, YouTube, 29 Nov. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wk1XoFYDe4&ab_channel=OpticNerveLtd. Accessed 17 Mar. 2022.

Lyuba. “The 17 Horse Songs of Frank Mitchell.” J. Willard Marriott Library Blog |, 23 Nov. 2021, https://blog.lib.utah.edu/book-of-the-week-the-17-horse-songs-of-frank-mitchell/.

“Navajo Language.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Mar. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_language.

“Navajo.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Mar. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo#Territory_of_New_Mexico_1846%E2%80%931863.

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