Works » Concert Music » Oktibihah
Oktibihah
for Solo Timpani, Strings and Piano
by Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate [15:00]
The music of Oktibihah is based on a Chickasaw Snake Dance song (directly quoted at the beginning) and follows the story line of the creation of Lake Oktibihah in the old Chickasaw Nation, Mississippi. The story is as follows:
In the old tribal ways, Chickasaw families would travel outside the city walls as a group to hunt and gather food. One day, a family with two children left to do just that. After camp was set up, the parents left the two children behind while they went to look for food. Soon after the parents left, the earth began to tremble and swallowed up the two children.
When the parents returned, they found that a beautiful and mysterious lake had replaced the campsite. Desperately searching for their children, they heard a noise and saw two giant water serpents coming at them from across the lake. The two children had been transformed into the water serpents and they chased the parents away. It is the duty of the serpents to forever guard Lake Oktibihah, for it is now a resting place for the spirits of Chickasaw people.
Oktibihah premiered in 1994 at The Cleveland Institute of Music with Carol Nelson Colwell, timpani soloist.
