Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Although Native American communities may lose their ancestral language or other aspects of their traditional culture, music seems to be more resistant to the continual onslaught of the dominant Euro-American culture. Even today, traditional music remains a vital part of Native American communities throughout the United States. In this article I examine one aspect of the musical traditions of the Western Mono, specifically the different types of songs, and their functions within Western Mono society. First, I give a short synopsis of aboriginal Mono culture and society. Next, I discuss what little data have been published dealing with Mono music in the ethnographic literature. And finally, I present the data that I have collected.