The Dover Quartet released their newest album “Abokkoli ' Taloowa' (Woodland Songs)” Aug. 15, which features two new suites of music by Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate in addition to a string quartet by the late 19th/early 20th century Czech composer Antonín Dvo'ák.
“Abokkoli ' Taloowa' (Woodland Songs)” contains five movements , each representing a different woodland creature. Preceding this composition on the album is Tate’s orchestral arrangement of Tuscarora/Taino singer-songwriter Pura Fé’s “Rattle Songs,” a piece in seven movements.
When Tate was first commissioned to compose “Abokkoli' Taloowa' (Woodland Songs)” — then subsequently “Rattle Songs” — for the Dover Quartet, he saw this as yet another opportunity to express his own Chickasaw identity within the context of the 21st century. This is a trend that Tate sees with many First American artists across multiple disciplines, in particular the films of Sterlin Harjo, the paintings of Dustin Mater and the literature of Joy Harjo as they all stay true to their traditional identity while also modernizing it.
“If we went back 200 years, a Chickasaw artist would be creating something using a new shell, design or tool,” Tate said. “Two conversations could be had. One would be, ‘That’s awesome.’ Then some other people would be like, ‘Well that’s not really traditional.’ The same conversations were happening thousands of years ago that are happening today because they were modern at the time. So, I feel very liberated to draw from any tools available to express my identity. I’m like a kid in a cultural candy store.”
Tate blended the past and the present in “Abokkoli' Taloowa' (Woodland Songs)” by weaving traditional Chickasaw melodies through the songs. However, there is also a distinctly modern feel to the compositions as Tate takes each of the five woodland creatures — fani' (squirrel), bakbak (woodpecker), issi' (deer), nani’ (fish) and shawi' (raccoon) — and develops their characteristics through fun, playful and impressionistic approaches. The listener can hear the fani’ running through the tree branches while the bakbak bores into the trunk. The issi' grazes peacefully in the middle of a grove while the nani’ glides and jumps through the water. The shawi' paces and explores from the cover of the riverbank, ready to pounce.
“This album focuses very specifically on five of our woodland animals as highly energetic character sketches of their personalities,” Tate said. “They are musical sonnets of our characters and are an homage to our animals.”
“Rattle Songs,” while a different project, still plays with the way in which ancient traditions progress and can be made modern. “Abokkoli' Taloowa' (Woodland Songs)” was a wholly original composition, but “Rattle Songs” was an orchestration of a previous work by Tuscarora/Taino singer-songwriter Pura Fé. Originally, this piece was performed a cappella by Pura Fé’s all-female trio, Ulali, in the 1990s. Pura Fé took her original inspiration from First American colleagues around North America. She created a suite of seven pieces that paid homage to and modernized the ancient musical traditions of her friends. Now, almost 30 years after its initial release, Tate had the opportunity to modernize it further, transforming it into a string quartet.
While the inclusion of Czech composer Dvo'ák might seem out of place on an album of Chickasaw inspired classical music, Tate not only understands, but applauds the choice, noting his own connection to the Czech composer.
“He is one of my early inspirations for what I do because he completely focuses on his own ancient folk music for the foundation of his classical composition,” Tate said.
When Dvo'ák came to North America, the folk traditions at his disposal were multiplied. The addition of Dvo'ák’s “American” string quartet highlights the composer’s own influences from the music of North America, specifically that of First American and African American musicians.
While the album “Woodland Songs” is an accomplishment, there were also other unexpected benefits to the project, the first of which was a new scene added to Tate’s opera “Shell Shaker: A Chickasaw Opera.”
As he was composing the string quartet for “Abokkoli ' Taloowa'(Woodland Songs),” first an operatic vocal line came to him and then a bass line. Out of the single commissioned work for the Dover Quartet, Tate ended up with three different versions of the same piece. Now the version for chorus and orchestra will be debuted at the Cleveland Institute of Music this fall.
Another unexpected benefit of the collaboration with the Dover Quartet positively impacted Chickasaw youth. For the fourth year in a row, Tate taught his Native Maestro Composition Academy at the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City. This year, however, the Dover Quartet joined him as his “quartet in residence,” which was a tremendous boon to his students.
“They are one of the finest quartets in history, so I knew that I could basically write anything that I wanted to, and they were going to execute it very highly,” Tate said.
By bringing the quartet to work with his composition students, they were able to take advantage of that compositional freedom, knowing that whatever they wrote would be performed at a high level.
Even though “Woodland Songs” was just released, Tate is already working on a new, groundbreaking project. For the first time in history, a work is being composed where the lyrics, or libretto, are written entirely and originally in Chickasaw. Before now, the words were written in English and translated into Chickasaw, so Tate is excited about working with a libretto that is poetry organically written in Chickasaw. Tate is collaborating with Chickasaw poet Lokosh (Joshua D. Hinson), executive officer of language preservation for the Chickasaw Nation Department of Culture and Humanities. They plan to present “Ámmo'naka' (In a Beginning),” which will premiere at Loyola University in Chicago April 22, 2026.
“I never imagined as a kid that I would be able to do something like this, but now he [Lokosh] is feeding me poetry organically and in Chickasaw. It’s fantastic, and it’s moving. This is a new evolution in Chickasaw art,” Tate said.
Tate truly appreciates the ability to make art and the sacrifices of those who have come before that made this possible.
“Our ancestors walked 800 miles in mud so that I could turn around and write operas about them. And we all get to do this. We all get to turn around and give back what we’re able to based on the work that they did,” Tate said. “They set us up for success, and we get to pay homage to them by being successful. It’s happening all over our tribe in every walk of life, every profession, every vocation and every talent.”
You can find the album “Woodland Songs” on all major streaming services. For more information, visit JerodTate.com.