Variation on an Achumawi theme for solo guitar
"I am a she-cloud. I come covering the sky."


Achumawi means “dwellers on the river” (ajúm:á is “river”), but it originally referred to a few families living midway up Pit River. Today this northern Californian people refer to themselves as Pit River people. "Cloud Song", on which the guitar duet "Cloud Chant" is based, was transcribed by Eleanor G. Locke from a radio broadcast on KPFA in Berkeley, California on August 17, 1989. The song was originally recorded by Jaime de Angulo in 1949 from a native singer. The five bars of sheet music for "Cloud Song" are published in They Came Singing; Songs from California's History by Karen W. Arlen, Margaret Batt, Mary Ann Benson and Nancie N. Kester, Calicanto Associates, Oakland, 2002. The guitar solo "Cloud Chant" is from volume II of my Variations on Native Californian Themes for Guitar to be published by Syukhtun Editions.

Cloud Chant



"Cloud chant"
(oil on paper)
70 x 100 cm


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