Seminole Songs

Recording Number 11 in the Special Collections Sound Archive. Originally recorded on reel-to-reel and reformatted to digital audio in May 2004.

Harry Jumper sings traditional Seminole songs. The recording was compiled by Frances Densmore under the auspices of the University of Florida.

00:00:00-00:00:01:30 Song number 1 is the song of the bird dance.

00:01:32-00:02:43 Song number 2 is a medicine song which is sung so that the baby will get well.

00:02:46-00:04:06 Song number 3 is a snake dance song.

00:04:09-00:05:14 Song number 4 is the song of the fish dance.

00:05:17-00:06:43 Song number 5 is the song of the buffalo dance which was one of the dances that was part of the green corn dance.

00:06:46-00:08:02 Song number 6 is the song of the alligator dance which is also one of the songs of the green corn dance.

00:08:05-00:08:56 Song number 7 is a medicine song for heart trouble. Harry Jumper sings the song but speaks at the conclusion.

00:08:59-00:10:24 Song number 8 is a pleasure song which has no dancing with it as it was done just for pleasure.

00:10:27-00:11:41 Song number 9 is a fire song sung before the men went hunting.

00:11:47-00:12:52 Song number 10 is a love song.

00:12:56-00:14:11 Song number 11 is a very old song and is a pleasure song like number 8.

00:14:14-00:15:21 Number 12 is a lullaby to put the children to sleep and it closes the series of songs.

00:15:25-00:21:04 Harry Jumper tells a rabbit story in the Seminole language.