Songs at the Woods’ Edge

The Earth Songs of the Seneca Nation

Bill Crouse, Sr., and Andrew A. Cashner

A small patch of woods on the south edge of Genesee Valley Park Golf Course in Rochester, NY, just east of the Genesee River, in early spring 2022

Nya:wëh sgë:nö’ (Greetings, I am thankful that you are well). This project creates a space for sharing traditional music and dance of the Onöndowa’ga:’ (Seneca) Nation, one of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. This is a collaborative effort by Bill Crouse, Sr., Seneca faithkeeper and singer (Salamanca, NY), and Andrew A. Cashner, PhD, a settler musician and musicologist (Rochester, NY), with the support of a Fellowship for Digital Publication from the US National Endowment for the Humanities.

The project features video and audio recordings of Seneca Earth Songs (yöëdza’ge:ka:’ gaë:nö’shö’) in the context of traditional teaching and historical information. The final product will be a digital book made freely available to the public in the form of this website and a PDF that can be downloaded or printed. For a full description of the project’s goals, see the proposal.

This video presentation gives a good introduction to one of the main themes of the project.

Video 1. Memory and Community in Seneca Earth Songs, a video presentation by Andrew A. Cashner, in collaboration with Bill Crouse, Sr.

Please check back as we are building this project and get in touch if you would like to offer help or feedback. You can also follow our YouTube channel, @senecasongs.

To hire a Seneca singer or performing group for your school, community center, or festival, see our list of presenters.

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