Sonic Creation Myths in Traditional Cultures

Myths in many traditional cultures around the world center on the belief that the world was created by a profound acoustic event, personified in the myths by sonic gods.

People in such cultures live intimately close to nature and regard natural objects and processes as having thoughts and wills just like those of humans. Therefore, the sounds of nature are widely interpreted as the voices of spirits and gods. Those voices must have originated from a powerfully creative sonic source.

Among such peoples, the "primeval abyss" was "a fount of resonance" (Burkhalter, 11), out of which issued sound, "the original substance of the world" and "the source of Creation" (Schneider, 45-46). "The essence of the first god," then, was "pure sound," and it was "by progressive materialization out of sound that the gods, the earth, and the beings who inhabit it were formed" (Collaer and Linden, 2).

Here are some examples of sonic creation myths.

Sounds from Natural Objects
In some myths, gods created by producing sounds from natural objects.

For example, in one story among the Aborigines of Australia, a god created the earth by beating the sea with a reed. The sound called forth other gods, who created humans and the rest of the world. (Schneider, 47)

The Marind, a Papuan people of New Guinea, say that a god lit a piece of bamboo to warm the first part-human, part-fish creature. At the first sound of the crackling of the fire, the creature's ears opened; at the second, the eyes; at the third, the nostrils; and so on till the first man came to life. Significantly, the creature's (man's) first organ was his ears. (Schneider, 47)

According to the Witoto of Columbia, the father god created the primeval waters by beating a hollowed-out tree drum. (Schneider, 47)

Sounds from Gods
Sometimes gods created by uttering their own sounds.

Among the Maori, a Polynesian people of New Zealand, the Supreme Being is the god Io. In the beginning were only darkness and water, where Io lived inactive. By uttering words, he created light and then the sky and the earth. (Leeming, 183)

The Netsilik (Seal People) of Greenland also believe in original darkness and in the creative power of words. In Netsilik mythology, the hare created light by speaking the word day. (Leeming, 209)

The Kato of northern California say that powerful sounds from the god Thunder created the world from chaos. (Leeming, 156)

Songs from Gods
In many versions of sonic creation myths, gods created by singing.

According to the Hopi people of the southwestern United States, in the beginning were Tawa (the sun god) and Spider Woman (the earth goddess). Tawa and the Spider Woman had a Sacred Thought-creation-which they sang into reality, thus creating the world and living things. (Leeming, 124)

The Pawnee people of the American Midwest say that the wind, the thunder, the lightning, and the clouds sang, shook rattles, and danced as Tirawa-that is, space itself-created the earth. (Leeming, 223)

In the mythology of the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles Basin, the Tongva people, also known as the Gabrielenos, a formless, genderless creation force called Quaoar sang into existence the other deities-Sky Father, Earth Mother, and Grandfather Sun. (McFarling, A17)

Natives of the Marshall Islands tell the story of Lowa, the uncreated, who was alone in water in ancient times. When he hummed, the islands emerged. When he hummed again, plants and animals arrived. (Leeming, 185)
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Burkhalter, A. Louis [pseud. of Romain Goldron]. Ancient and Oriental Music. Trans. Stella A. Sterman. N.p.: H.S. Stuttman, 1968.

Collaer, Paul, and Albert Vander Linden. Historical Atlas of Music: A Comprehensive Study of the World's Music-Past and Present. Trans. Allan Miller. Cleveland and New York: World Publishing, 1968.

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 2001.

Leeming, David Adams, with Margaret Adams Leeming. Encyclopedia of Creation Myths. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1994.

McFarling, Usha Lee. "Pluto's Not So Alone Out There, It Appears." Los Angeles Times, Oct. 8, 2002: A17.

Schneider, Marius. "Primitive Music." Ancient and Oriental Music, ed. Egon Wellesz. New Oxford History of Music, vol. 1. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1957.