Traditional Songs Archives - Ojibwe.net https://ojibwe.net/c/songs/traditional-songs/ Preserving Anishinaabemowin for future generations Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:36:44 +0000 en hourly 1 https://ojibwe.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-Favicon-Transparent-32x32.png Traditional Songs Archives - Ojibwe.net https://ojibwe.net/c/songs/traditional-songs/ 32 32 Maamakaadendaagwad (Graduation Song) https://ojibwe.net/graduation-song/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=graduation-song Tue, 21 Apr 2026 01:09:13 +0000 https://ojibwe.net/?p=14664 Maamakaadendaagwad (Graduation Song) This song was created for all the students in Cook County who study Ojibwemowin. From Preschool to High School the song is sung in the community to celebrate student success. Students of the language will notice this song contains several different types of verbs. The first two lines [...]

The post Maamakaadendaagwad (Graduation Song) appeared first on Ojibwe.net.

]]>

Traditional Songs

Maamakaadendaagwad (Graduation Song)

This song was created for all the students in Cook County who study Ojibwemowin. From Preschool to High School the song is sung in the community to celebrate student success.

Students of the language will notice this song contains several different types of verbs. The first two lines are simply the word “Maamakaadendaagwad” which means “it is amazing.” This what we call a Verb Type 1. The same word appears in the last line as a Verb Type 2 to tell the graduating group of students that they are all amazing.

There is another example of a Verb Type 2 in Line 3 when the verb “minochige” is used which means “to do good.”

There is also an example of a Verb Type 4 in Line 4 when the group of singers tells the group of graduates “gidapiitenimigoom” which means “we are all proud of all of you.”

Teachers helping students to learn to sing the song for one another might enjoy writing out the parts of the words (prefixes, root verbs, etc.,) on separate sheets of paper or cards and then helping them reconstruct the lines. One fun change students can make is to remove the one final “m” in the last 3 lines if the group is singing the song to just one person.

To learn more about the Verb Types go to: https://ojibwe.net/lessons/beginner/introduction-to-verbs/

We invite anyone that wants to celebrate a graduation to use this song and create your own version that feels right. Ojibwe language is for everyone!

Play the Song Slow to Learn the Sounds: Graduation Song – Slow
Play the Song at Regular Speed: Graduation Song – Regular

Maamakaadendaagwad!
Congratulations!

Maamakaadendaagwad!
Congratulations!

Gigii-minochigem!
You have all done well!

Gidapiitenimigoom.
We are all proud of you all.

Gimaamakaadendaagozim!
You all are amazing!

Share This Song, Choose Your Platform!

The post Maamakaadendaagwad (Graduation Song) appeared first on Ojibwe.net.

]]> Johnston Sisters Sing an Ojibwe Sweetheart Song https://ojibwe.net/sisters-sweetheart-song/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sisters-sweetheart-song Mon, 23 Feb 2026 17:17:06 +0000 https://ojibwe.net/?p=14529 Johnston Sisters Sing an Ojibwe Sweetheart Song To celebrate Women's History Month and Poetry month in 2026, Curator & Public Historian, Barbara Bair assembled an exhibit of the work of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft at the Library of Congress. Bamewawagezhikaquay (Woman of the Sound the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky) began [...]

The post Johnston Sisters Sing an Ojibwe Sweetheart Song appeared first on Ojibwe.net.

]]>

Traditional Songs

Johnston Sisters Sing an Ojibwe Sweetheart Song

To celebrate Women’s History Month and Poetry month in 2026, Curator & Public Historian, Barbara Bair assembled an exhibit of the work of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft at the Library of Congress.

Bamewawagezhikaquay (Woman of the Sound the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky) began writing poetry in English and Ojibwemowin and as Bair notes: “her poems reflect her love of nature and the songs, tales, and history of her Indigenous heritage.

They also explore hope, faith, and delight, and the pain of grief, loss, and separation.

One of the songs Jane transcribed and translated is Ojibwe Ikwezens which was sung often by both Jane and her sister Charlotte.

Project: The Ojibwe Ikwezens Song Moving Across Time

This song has traveled across generations. Here we share part of its journey in four stages. Explore each part below.

  • 1
    Part 1: In the early 1800s Jane Johnston Schoolcraft transcribes the song in her journals. These journals have been preserved by the Library of Congress, and you can see her original transcription below.
  • 2

    Part 2: Anna Jameson hears Jane and her sister Charlotte singing the song in her travels to Sault Ste. Marie in 1837. She notates the music as she heard it at the time. Her musical score appears in her book Winter Studies and Summer Rambles.

  • 3
    Part 3: Margaret Noodin converts the writing into modern-day Ojibwe orthography and provides a literal translation for students of the language.
  • 4

    Part 4: Margaret Noodin, Sheila Feay-Shaw, and Róisín Ní Raghallaigh record the song. Feay-Shaw then transcribes the recording so you can sing along.

 Part 1: The lyrics as Jane transcribed them

From 1815 until about 1830 Jane transcribed the words to Ojibwe Ikwezens, a popular song of the time. This writing was preserved in the Library of Congress collection.

1.
Aun dush ween do win ane
Gitchy Mocomaun aince
Caw awzhaw woh da modé
We yea, yea haw ha! &c

2.
Wah yaw bum maud e
Ojibway quaince un e
We maw jaw need e
We yea, yea haw ha! &c

3.
Omow e maun e
We nemoshain yun
We maw jaw need e
We yea, yea haw ha! &c

4.
Caw ween gush shá ween
Kin wainzh e we yea
O guh maw e maw seen
We yea, yea haw ha! &c

5.
Me gosh shá ween e yea
Ke bish quaw bam maud e
Tehe won ain e maud e
We yea, yea haw ha! &c

Song lyrics as written by Jane Johnston Schoolcraft online at Library of Congress:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss39115.07025/?sp=3

Part 2: Jane’s Re-telling of the Story in Prose & Anna Brownell Jameson’s Musical Score

Jane’s lovely retelling of the story in prose:

Why! What’s the matter with the young American? He crosses the river with tears in his eyes! He sees the young Ojibway Girl preparing to leave the place: he sobs for his sweetheart, because she is going away! but he will not sigh long for her, for as soon as he sees her out of sight, he will forget her.

The first known score of the song recorded by Anna Brownell Jameson in her book Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada published in 1838 in which she says Ojibwe songs ought to be compared with the Notturini of Felice Blangini (1781, Turin – 1841, Paris) due to their repetition and focus on sentiment over extensive detail.

Note: Anna Brownell Jameson, was a scholar, artist, art historian and feminist born in Dublin, Ireland in 1794. In 1837 she traveled through several Anishinaabe communities in southern Ontario. The book that established her reputation as a scholar was Characteristics of Women, Moral, Poetical and Historical (1832), later titled Shakespeare’s Heroines and still cited by researchers today.

Part 3: The song is translated in 2026

Text here about the translation process.

Translated into modern Ojibwe

1.
Aan’ dash wiin daawin ani
Gichi-mookomaanens
Gaa-aazhawaadamoode
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)

2.
Wayaabamaad e
Ojibway ikwezens e
Wii-maajaanid e
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)

3.
Omawimaan e
Wiininimosheyan
Wii-maajaanid e
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)

4.
Gaawiin gosha wiin
Giiwenaazha’aad
Ogaa-mawimaansiin
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)

5.
Mii gosha wiin ayaad
Gabe ishkwa waabamad e
De-wanenimad e
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)

The literal translation

1.
Why is he in his camp there
The young American
He has crawled across the river
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)

2.
He sees her
The Ojibway maiden
She will leave
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)

3.
He cries for her
His sweetheart
She will leave
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)

4.
It is not really
That he will dismiss her
He will not be crying for her
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)

5.
When he is there
At the end of seeing her
He will forget her
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)

Part 4: The song is revitalized and you can sing it too!

Sheila Feay-Shaw, Róisín Ní Raghallaigh and Margaret Noodin from, Milwaukee, Béal Feirste, and Gichi-Onigaming sang a
version of the song together in 2026.

In singing the original transcribed version of this song, there were several concepts that did not reflect the sense of traditional Ojibwe songs. Since the original came from a time period where Western traditional musical practice would have greatly influenced the documentation of the song, and since no recording was used to help with memory of the specific musical elements, a new transcription has been created. This one utilizes as much of the original melodic material as possible adding in more traditional rhythmic patterns and logical language alignment. The spirit of the original transcription has been maintained while creating a version that more closely aligns with the sound of Ojibwe traditional songs.

Play Audio: Ojibwe Ikwezens 3

Share This Song, Choose Your Platform!

The post Johnston Sisters Sing an Ojibwe Sweetheart Song appeared first on Ojibwe.net.

]]> October Song https://ojibwe.net/october-song/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=october-song Sat, 14 Oct 2023 22:23:10 +0000 https://ojibwe.net/?p=11009 Binaakwe-giizis Nagamowin (October Song) Binaakwe-giizis is a song for the season when the wind causes more leaves to be on the ground than in the trees, moose calls are made by hunters, and pheasants end up on dinner tables. It is also the time for remembering the ones no longer in [...]

The post October Song appeared first on Ojibwe.net.

]]>

Songs for the Changing Year

Binaakwe-giizis Nagamowin (October Song)

Ruffed Grouse drumming on log taken in central MN

Binaakwe-giizis is a song for the season when the wind causes more leaves to be on the ground than in the trees, moose calls are made by hunters, and pheasants end up on dinner tables. It is also the time for remembering the ones no longer in this world by putting out a spirit plate or inviting friends and family to share a ghost supper and exchange stories and memories.

For those of you familiar with the long slow call of a moose, and the drumming sounds made by a pheasant, this song echoes the moose in the first two lines and the pheasant in the last two lines.

This song teaches several lessons with specific words. The “binaakwe” in the name of the month, the action of raking, and the specific action of the leaves are all related to one another and also to “binaakwe’o” (to comb one’s hair).

In the second stanza we have two ways to express the act of hunting: “giiwose” which is the act of tracking animals as a food source, and the prefix “nanda-” which can be added to the name of the animal a hunter searches for.

The third stanza shows the verb “mikwendan” (to remember something) contrasted with “mikwenim” (to remember someone). Part of becoming more fluent is the ability to recognize the way most actions can accommodate talking about both categories of things in the world and just a small variation is needed to say “gimikwendaamin” (we all remember a time long ago) and “mikwenimangwaa” (we remember them).

Short Version

Teachers working with younger children may want to focus on just the second stanza which has two animals and can be matches with a simple pantomime of wind rushing through leaves followed by a hunter, a moose, and a partridge.

October Song-Short

Binaakwe-giizis
It is October

gigiiwosemin noopiming
We are hunting in the woods

nandamoozweyang aho
we hunt the moose

nandabineweyang ho
we hunt the partridge.

Long Version

October Song

Binaakwe-giizis
It is October

Gibinaakwe’igemin
We are raking

binaakweg binibagaag
off the tree the leaves are falling

dakeyaag dagwaagining.
as it turns cold in autumn.

Binaakwe-giizis
It is October

gigiiwosemin noopiming
We are hunting in the woods

nandamoozweyang aho
we hunt the moose

nandabineweyang ho
we hunt the partridge.

Binaakwe-giizis
It is October

gimikwendaamin mewenzha
we are remembering long ago

mikwenimangwaa noongom
we remember them today

anishinaabebaniig
the anishinaabeg here in spirit.

Share This Song, Choose Your Platform!

The post October Song appeared first on Ojibwe.net.

]]> September Song https://ojibwe.net/september-song/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=september-song Wed, 13 Sep 2023 03:43:10 +0000 https://ojibwe.net/?p=10844 Waatebagaa-giizis Nagamowin (September Song) Aangodinong zanagad izhi-maajii-dagwaagig. Giishpin mikwendaamang waatebagaa-giizis miinawaa waawaate miinawaa waatenamoonangog da-minobimaadiziyang (Sometimes the start of autumn is difficult. If we remember this is the time of the leaves becoming bright and the northern lights and there are ones who shine light on us then we can live [...]

The post September Song appeared first on Ojibwe.net.

]]>

Songs for the Changing Year

Waatebagaa-giizis Nagamowin (September Song)

Trees in their fall colors viewed on a lake. The sky is purple and pink and it is reflected on the water.

Aangodinong zanagad izhi-maajii-dagwaagig. Giishpin mikwendaamang waatebagaa-giizis miinawaa waawaate miinawaa waatenamoonangog da-minobimaadiziyang (Sometimes the start of autumn is difficult. If we remember this is the time of the leaves becoming bright and the northern lights and there are ones who shine light on us then we can live well.)

This simple two-verse song carries several language lessons.

The “waate-” found in Waatebagaa-giizis communicates a network of ideas:

– the “waatebag” (leaves getting lighter)
– the “waawaate” (bright northern lights)
– the “waatenamaw” (light shined on someone)
– and the “waateyaa” (light of the early morning)

By connecting words, we connect ideas and learn a network of knowing.

For those who are eager to use song as a way to practice and make natural some of the beautifully complicated grammar of Ojibwe “waatenamawishinaanig” teaches us how to ask for something collectively. Any verb that involves two beings (me and you, you and them, all of us and all of you etc. . .) can take “ishin” at the end to say “please do this for me.” Adding “ishin” + “aanig” asks, “please do this for all of us.” For those using dictionaries, you will see these works marked as “vta” or verbs that are transitive and animate, meaning the action is done by one being for (or to) another being.

Here are a few example for you to practice:

waatenamaw + ishin + aanig
shine a light on us

naadamaw + ishin + aanig
help us

waabam + ishin + aanig
look at us

mikwenim + ishin + aanig
remember us

Download the Musical Score

Waatebagaa-giizis Song

Waatebagaa-giizis oh wey
September
Waatebagaa-giizis oh wey
September
Waabiziwan aniibiishan
Light-colored are the leaves
Waawaate ani mizhakwak giizhigong
Northern Lights arrive when it is clear in the sky

Waatebagaa-giizis oh wey
September
Waatebagaa-giizis oh wey
September
Waatenamawishinaanig
Provide some light for us
Waateyaa apii waategamaag omaa
Early in the morning when the water sparkles here

Share This Song, Choose Your Platform!

The post September Song appeared first on Ojibwe.net.

]]> A.I.M. Song https://ojibwe.net/songs-traditional-aim-song/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=songs-traditional-aim-song Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:43:07 +0000 http://ojibwe.net/?page_id=2250 A.I.M. Song Sung by Margaret Noodin and her daughter, Fionnan Noori The following words were written to be sung with the anthem of the American Indian Movement which is why it is now known as the A.I.M. song. This song was adopted in 1972 in Gordon, Nebraska, when the American [...]

The post A.I.M. Song appeared first on Ojibwe.net.

]]>

Traditional Songs

A.I.M. Song

AIM-Flag-Song

Sung by Margaret Noodin and her daughter, Fionnan Noori

The following words were written to be sung with the anthem of the American Indian Movement which is why it is now known as the A.I.M. song. This song was adopted in 1972 in Gordon, Nebraska, when the American Indian Movement went there to protest the traditional handling of an Indian’s death, his name was Raymond Yellowthunder. This song was originally dedicated to the Yellowthunder family, but because of the story behind it, the northern Cheyenne people gave this song to the American Indian Movement.

For many of us, this anthem of the 1970′s remains a symbol of survival the American Indian Movement accomplished. With permission from several of AIM’s current leaders, Anishinaabe words were added by the Ann Arbor language table in 2005 so that young people could carry on the message of this song in the language. The word “boochigo” is a favorite of writer, Jim Northrup, and is used in many dialects to simply say emphatically “we have to do it.”

AIM Song June 2020

Lead:

Maamwi gida-maashkozimin o hey ya hey o
Together we should be strong

Maamwi gida-maashkozimin o hey ya hey o
Together we should be strong

Verse:

Niizhwaasing ishkode gii-boodawewaad
The seventh fire has been lit by them

Boochigo Anishinaabemyang
We have to all speak Anishinaabemowin

Minobimaadziyang
We are living well

Minobimaadziyang
We are living well

O hey ya hey o

A note about singing this song: This song should be sung 4 times through and the Lead has one person begin with a second person or group coming in after “maashkozi”. You will also notice that the Verse is sung twice before the Lead begins again. If you listen carefully you will hear a few honor beats during the repeat of the Verse. Most importantly, this is a song of empowerment and all versions carefully practiced should be respected. Not every person or group sings the same and that is important to accept and understand.

Share This Song, Choose Your Platform!

The post A.I.M. Song appeared first on Ojibwe.net.

]]>