Exactly what are the “Dakota Death Songs?
A. To my knowledge there are no such things as “Death Songs” for the Dakota people. There are, however, memorial songs sung to honor someone who has passed on. These songs can be either all vocables or with words, most likely with words. The drum beat used is not a syncopated one, but what we call a parade beat, which is a slow beat such as in this flag song: http://files.drumhop.com/OOSongs/Flag_North_Dakota.
