'Oh say, can you see' in Navajo?

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

Katherine Duncum has created an album of patriotic songs which she translated into Navajo and recorded. (Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent)

GALLUP — Katherine Duncum knew from the beginning that it would not be an easy task recording popular patriotic songs in Navajo.

But in the mid-1980s, she decided to try it and as a result recorded "American National Songs in Navajo and English," which has sold out its run of 3,000 tapes.

This year she has updated her selections and has come with "American Patriotic Songs," also in English and Navajo and this time in a CD format.

With Americans, including many Native Americans, now fighting a war in Iraq, Duncum thought this would be a good time to record patriotic songs in Navajo.

Among the tunes on the album are "Amazing Grace," "The Marine Corps Hymn," "Yankee Doodle," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," America the Beautiful," "The Star Spangled Banner," and "God Bless America."

"It was a challenge," she said, of her efforts to convert some of the best-known song in the English language into the Navajo language.

The problem, as anyone who knows Navajo is aware, that many words in the English language are converted into Navajo by use of a phase that describes what the word means.

For example, the Navajo word for telephone would be translated as "something in steel that you talk with it."

The challenge then is to convert the English into Navajo and keep the sense of what the English means and at the same time keep to the number of notes in the song.

"You just have to fit it in," she said.

The 1988 tape received a lot of praise from Navajos and others who praised her for doing something no one else had ever done before.

Born in 1940 in a traditional hogan in the Black Mesa area, Duncum received her G.E.D. certificate at the age of 30. She then spent the next 12 years of her life getting a college degree and then her doctorate in religious and philosophical studies from the School of Theology at Claremont, CA.

Since then she has taught Navajo culture and language courses at a number of area colleges, including Din College, Northland Pioneer College, Prescott College and Northern Arizona University.

She has also taught elementary students at several schools in the Kayenta, Dennehotso and Shonto areas.

It's there that she began getting interested in the idea of translating popular English songs into Navajo.

"When I first started, the dominant language among the students was Navajo." she said. "Now the dominant language is English."

Learning a song in Navajo, she said, is one of the best ways to preserve the Navajo language.

She said that she's now in the process of finishing up two more CD collections that will be available this summer. The albums will feature popular Christmas songs such as "Santa Claus is coming to Town" into Navajo.

The album of patriotic songs can only be purchased at the present time by contacting Duncum by writing to P.O. Box 1394, Kayenta, AZ 86033. Persons can also call either (928) 697-8268 or 672-2371.

The album costs $15. Persons who want it mailed will also be charged a $3.50 fee for postage and handling.