Peyote songs are a form of Native American music, now most often performed as part of the Native American Church. They are typically accompanied by a rattle and water drum, and are used in a ceremonial aspect during the sacramental taking of peyote. Peyote songs share characteristics of Apache music (Southern Athabascan) and Plains-Pueblo music, having been promoted among the Plains by the Apache people. Vocal style, melodic contour, and rhythm in Peyote songs is closer to Apache than Plains, featuring only two durational values, predominating thirds and fifths of Apache music with the tile-type melodic contour, incomplete repetitions, and isorhythmic tendencies of Plains-Pueblo music. The cadential formula use is also probably of Apache origin. (Nettl 1956, p.114)
In recent years, modernized peyote songs have been popularized by Verdell Primeaux, a Sioux, and Johnny Mike, a Navajo.
Source
- Nettl, Bruno (1956). Music in Primitive Culture. Harvard University Press.