Jacob A. Terrell: Archaic Akha, Songs of the Akha Shaman

The World Oral Literature Project is pleased to host the collection of Jacob A. Terrell. Details of the full collection can be browsed on DSpace@Cambridge by clicking here.

This is a sample of collection of recordings, videos, and texts related to Akha Zanr, the indigenous religion of the Akha (ahk) of northern Mainland Southeast Asia. It includes over ten hours of .wav recordings of Pirma Gavq, an Akha Shaman, reciting the religious text “Buffalo Knowledge One”. This amounts 6,500 verses of religious prose; all have been transcribed using the Akha orthography, and around seventy percent of the verses are accompanied by a gloss and free translation in both modern, spoken Akha and English. Other materials include interviews, photographs, written texts and video related to the funeral rite as performed by the Akha Shaman.

Though only a sample is presented here, the full collection is archived with the Endangered Languages Archive, part of the Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project at the University of London, School of African and Oriental Studies.

Collection Details:

Collection: Archaic Akha, Songs of the Akha Shaman
Collector: Jacob A. Terrell
Date(s): July 2009 - December 2011
Language(s): Akha; Archaic Akha; English

1. Lavq khoer mr 'inner ceremony' chanted by Pirma Gavqlavq
Documentation of Archaic Akha, the register of the Akha shaman.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]

2. Gee Jm 'the ancestor alter' chanted by Pirma Gavq Lavq
The second chant performed when carrying out a funeral rite and its accompanying text translated and glossed into contemporary Akha and English.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]

3. Zer sanr 'spirit guardians' chanted by pirma Gavq Lavq
A recording of the third chant performed when carrying out a funeral rite and its accompanying text translated and glossed into contemporary Akha and English.
[Archive] [Listen to audio]

4. Photographs
Photographs related to the above recordings.
[Archive]