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Audio Recording Lost Indian

Lost Indian

About this Item

Title

  • Lost Indian

Names

  • Jabbour, Alan (Transcriber)
  • Jabbour, Alan (Collector)
  • Reed, Henry, 1884-1968 (Performer)

Created / Published

  • Reed family home, Glen Lyn, Giles County, Virginia, November 26, 1966

Headings

  • -  Instrumental music
  • -  Fiddle tunes
  • -  Folk music--Appalachian Region
  • -  Airs
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Music
  • -  Field recordings
  • -  United States -- Virginia -- Giles County -- Glen Lyn

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Music
  • Field recordings

Notes

  • -  Key: A
  • -  Meter: 4/4 (but not steady in its beat)
  • -  Strains: 3 (middle-middle-middle, 2-2-2)
  • -  Rendition: 1r-2r-3
  • -  Phrase Structure: AB QB UB (aba'c a"ra'c uva'c)
  • -  Compass: 11 (7 plus drone notes)
  • -  "Lost Indian" is not traceable as a tune, because it is not a typical British-American tune in the first place. It is imitative, and what it purports to imitate is a call of an American Indian--perhaps a communication call for use in the woods. Songs or tunes that imitate or evoke American Indians are long established in the culture of the Upper South; see, for example, "Indian War Whoop" in Knauff's Virginia Reels (1839). Various other songs or tunes titled "Lost Indian" can be encountered in both print and recorded sources in the twentieth century; see for example Ford, Traditional Music of America, p. 124. Henry Reed played this tune because he had been discussing the practice of tuning the fiddle in different tunings, and the fiddle had been placed in the tuning C#AEA. He had abandoned the practice of retuning the fiddle at some point as a young man, and though he found ways to convert most tunes to standard tuning that had been previously played in other tunings, a few specialty pieces such as "Lost Indian" seem to have been lost along the way. But when presented with this tuning, he ran his fingers over the strings to remind himself of the fingering patterns, and the tuning literally reminded him of the tune.
  • -  Performed by Henry Reed, fiddle.
  • -  Duration: 1 minute, 15 seconds
  • -  Spoken: [before tune]/HENRY REED: That, that ain't right yet./ALAN JABBOUR: The tuning?/HENRY REED: No, this is tuned wrong.[after tune]/HENRY REED: [Laughs]/ALAN JABBOUR: That's the "Lost Indian"?/HENRY REED: Yeah.
  • -  Recording chronology: 081

Medium

  • Audio tape

Call Number/Physical Location

  • AFC 1967/007: AFS 13037A11

Source Collection

  • Alan Jabbour duplication project, part 1

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress is not aware of any U.S. copyright protection (see Title 17, U.S.C.) or any other restrictions in the material in this collection, except as noted below. Users should keep in mind that the Library of Congress is providing access to these materials strictly for educational and research purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other holders of rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. See our Legal Notices for additional information and restrictions.

The Center asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here. Researchers are also reminded that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

Photographs in this collection produced by Carl Fleischhauer, Karen Singer Jabbour, and Kit Olson are reproduced here with their permission. Mr. Fleischhauer does not object to additional use of the photos he created provided he is credited as the photographer. Persons contemplating other kinds of uses or use of the other photographers' work should contact the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Credit line

Please cite the source collection title, collection number, and repository, for example:

Alan Jabbour duplication project, part 1 (AFC 1967/007), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Alan Jabbour duplication project, part 2 (AFC 1969/008), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Fiddle tunes of the old frontier: the Henry Reed collection online presentation (AFC 1999/016), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Jabbour, Alan, Alan Jabbour, and Henry Reed. Lost Indian. Reed family home, Glen Lyn, Giles County, Virginia, 1966. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/afcreed000151/.

APA citation style:

Jabbour, A., Jabbour, A. & Reed, H. (1966) Lost Indian. Reed family home, Glen Lyn, Giles County, Virginia. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afcreed000151/.

MLA citation style:

Jabbour, Alan, Alan Jabbour, and Henry Reed. Lost Indian. Reed family home, Glen Lyn, Giles County, Virginia, 1966. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afcreed000151/>.