[LINK] "Rock 'n' rolling off the mother tongue"

[rfmcdonald]

This article about Cree musician Art Napoleon says interesting things about the translatability of popular music--popular culture as a whole--across languages. The Cree language, to provide some context, is one of the most widely spoken First Nations languages in Canada, spoken by more than one hundred thousand people, but this language--like even other vital First Nations language, like Navajo in the United States--is threatened with disappearance as intergenerational language transmission tapers off. Having Cree-language popular music could help change that.

“Certain words are not translatable,” [Art Napoleon] said. “Certain words in English take a whole sentence in Cree. The other way there are certain words in Cree for which you have to say a sentence, or phrase to describe that.”

For example, the Cree word moskomaw means singing in so powerful a fashion as to bring a listener to tears.

Some concepts simply don’t exist.

“We don’t have a word for resource. We don’t have a word for management. We don’t have a word for time."

Over time, he eased his frustrations by taking artistic license with his Cree.

“At first I found it difficult as I was trying to be a perfectionist. Once I relaxed, it got easier and then got better as the process rolled along.

“This is a first crack at it. Next time, we’ll satisfy the linguists.”

He sings in Cree Tom Petty’s Wildflowers, John Fogerty’s Long As I Can See the Light, and Neil Young’s Pocahontas, an ironic selection. His cover of the the Beatles’ Rain, originally released by the Fab Four on a single with Paperback Writer, is a killer, while two Hank Williams’ standards — Jambalaya and Weary Blues from Waiting – sound like Cree classics. The most powerful number on the disc is a stirring folk rendition of Redemption Song.