Wow I am hooked on this one. Fascinating stuff found here - Udeghe Songs and Stories travel to Canada

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"For Canadian and American First Nations people, especially in the west, public performance involves complex issues of song and story ownership by individuals and clans. Outsiders (including native people from other clans or nations) do not have the right to record or perform them and can cause grave offense by doing so."

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One Yukon elder expressed her contempt for those who sing in public describing private events and feelings outside the song's proper context. She said, "It's just like radio," meaning the singer was foolish to sing without knowing where the song was going, who would hear it, and how they would accept it. Such things should stay within their own circles. .......

Because words and musical sounds are so powerful, we need to be very careful and aware about how we use them. My Udeghe friends agree that it is dangerous to speak in broad circles about certain spiritual matters although this does not affect their public storytelling and singing since they choose their material accordingly. In my experience, the peoples of the Amur are most cautious with personal life stories about shamans, and about the use of plants and other methods of spiritual healing. In Chukotka and other areas where people have personal songs often given to them at birth, singers I've heard have asked permission before singing someone else's song out of respect for the composer.

A song is perceived as having greater truth than the spoken word, probably because of its greater emotional power and connection with spirit.....