Indigenous / Undigenous II - Lenape

Part of the Indigenous/Undigenous (I/U) Series.

Indigenous/Undigenous II (I/U-2) is the second in an ongoing series of my new works, in this case composed for orchestra. For each work in the new Series, the same text is translated into a specific Indigenous language. Indigenous/Undigenous II was composed in the Unami language (Lenape). From latin roots, “indigenous” basically indicates an origin from the land and “undigenous” indicates an origin from the water (as in ‘undulate’). In our modern nomenclature, the title teases living as a Native American versus not living as one (‘undigenous’ teases not-indigenous), but it is more properly understood as a common theme of being ‘of the land’ and ‘of the water,’ respectively.

For the Series, the core text will be translated into alternate versions of Native American languages: We are of the land / We are of the water / The lands and waters are our relatives / We love them. In this way, each work of the I/U Series will forefront Indigenous languages to express a common Native American identity that values the earth and the waters as cherished kinship relations.

As the Lenape often traveled and inhabited the New York and Manhattan, the second in the I/U Series celebrates the Lenape people and auditory beauty of their language. The text was translated into Unami by Jim Rementer. Indigenous/ Undigenous II was commissioned for the Harvard-Westlake School Orchestra of Studio City, California. — BMD