Listening to the Fur Trade: Sound, Music, and Dance in Northern North America 1760-1840

• Main Author: Laxer, Daniel Robert
• Other Authors: Greer, Allan, Bohaker, Heidi, History
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Dance; Encounters; Fur Trade; History; Music; Sensory; 0578; Calumet; First Nations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/77710

The fur trade in northern North America during the period of 1760-1840 introduced both Europeans and First Nations peoples to new sounds, musical forms, and dances. Permeating nearly every aspect of the fur trade's operation, from travel and transportation, cross-cultural encounters, establishing and strengthening relationships, exchanging material goods, and celebrating holidays and special occasions, a distinct soundscape and musical culture developed. First alerted to the presence of Europeans by the sounds of gunpowder, customs of saluting and signaling by firing weaponry were soon adopted and adapted by First Nations peoples in their activities and interactions with fur traders. The colonial warfare that characterized the Great Lakes for much of this period introduced military instruments such as drums, bugles, and bagpipes to the trading posts, which gradually shed their disciplinary associations and were employed instead in fur trade rituals and recreational activities. While music and dance served as a pastime for the gentlemen and servants of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and North West Company (NWC), it operated most crucially in engagements with First Nations peoples on whom they relied for their profits and livelihood. Fur traders had to navigate dances associated with the calumet pipe and war, which functioned to establish and strengthen trading relationships. Fur traders were agents of change as well as early ethnographers who described First Nations' musical traditions. They observed similarities and differences between various nations' musical traditions, while also recording instances of cultural and material adaptation. Significant locations along the trading routes elicited ritualized responses, layering meanings onto the landscape with sounds, stories, and songs. Singing regulated paddling, pushing its pace and duration while also providing a creative outlet for the expression of sensory desires. A vibrant instrumental dance music culture developed in and around the trading posts especially before the amalgamation of the HBC and NWC in 1821. After this date dances became increasingly restricted due to concerns over profitability and morality. Yet the fur trade gestated hybridized fiddle and dance styles that left a lasting legacy especially in First Nations and MĂŠtis communities. Ph.D. 2017-06-30 00:00:00