50 MEETINGS OF INDIGENOUS TRADITIONAL MUSIC AND DANCE VOL. II

CENZONTLE
(MOCKINGBIRD)

INI

This series of discs that consists of four volumes, brings together a great variety of musical manifestations of indigenous cultures of Mexico. It shows music and ancient musical instruments, as well as more recent expressions. The music gathered here, was compiled and selected from recordings that were made in the “Meetings of Traditional Indigenous Music and Dance”. The National Indigenous Institute held these meetings in different regions of the country, in order to promote and encourage, among the cultures that inhabit each region, its various concepts and musical resources; Likewise, it was considered that other circumstances or media would emerge from these meetings, such as this series, which promotes these rich manifestations at a broader level, a fundamental part of Mexico’s cultural endeavor.

As can be verified by listening to the examples compiled here, indigenous music contains a rich and varied world of sounds, resources and concepts. For many years before the arrival of the Spanish, the territory that today comprises our country was inhabited by different cultures. Each one, although with some influences from the surrounding ones, outlined particular styles and music endowments, derived from their development in arts and resources (carpentry, saddlery, basketry, lapidary, goldsmithing, etc.).

During the Colony, the spectrum of musical manifestations would be expanded with the encounter of Mesoamerican cultures, first with the Spanish, and later with the African blacks, brought as slaves. Each of these cultures would influence and be influenced by the others. The Hispanic, for example, would bring to the European world countless Mesoamerican natural resources and their applications. On the other hand, indigenous cultures would be influenced, first with the arrival of the Spaniards and black Africans, and later with the arrival of other cultures, which through immigration and armed movements would invade our territory. Each of them brought with it sounds apparently not exploited by pre-Cortesian cultures, such as string instruments.⁷

The different Hispanic contributions, generated during the Colony, in the music of indigenous cultures, did not owe its variety so much to the different ethnic origins of the conquerors, but rather due to its relevant socioeconomic division, which implied a variety of uses. , genres and instruments. In a global way, these strata could be defined as: the popular class, represented by the soldiers, those who had appropriate music and instruments both for tactics and harangues in military deployments, as well as for entertainment in times of rest or celebration. ; the religious one, with two aspects: that of the missionaries, who used music as a resource for evangelization, teaching the indigenous people the execution and construction of European instruments on the one hand, and adopting, on the other hand, some indigenous instruments in Catholic events, and the ecclesiastical authorities, who created edicts to diminish the great musical movement that had been provoked among indigenous cultures, supporting European music performed by Europeans or their descendants, with rare exceptions in other strata; finally, in a similar way to the previous one, the aristocrat, the one who had no major relevance in the development of indigenous music, more than in a casual way, due to the fact that her concern to keep up to date with the manifestations that were generated in Europe, caused the constant bringing to New Spain of fashionable instruments and genres from which the indigenous cultures adopted something of their musical work.7

Regarding the influence of black Africans on indigenous cultures, it should be noted that although their first encounters were hostile, they would quickly become fraternal, which led to musical exchanges, which are more evident in the regions where there was a greater settlement of blacks. , cane fields or mines, or remote places where they remained in a wild state for a long time. Even today, in regions such as the Costa Chica, where indigenous and Afro-Mestizo groups coexist, it is common to find that they share the same type of instrumental endowment or musical and/or dance genre.

Something fascinating in the music performed by the indigenous cultures of Mexico is: that already in independent spaces, or combined in one, there are musical resources and concepts with elements of different origins; some turtle shell, “teponaztli” “huehuetl”, or some type of flute or maraca, which are related to ancestral pre-Cortesian cultures, can form an endowment with each other, or be combined with some rebec, harp, or some great variety of violin or guitar, with sizes, shapes, numbers and types of strings that immediately refer us to models brought during the Colony. Finally, the presence of a great variety of percussion instruments in indigenous musical manifestations –idiophones, membranophones, chordophones and aerophones– such as the charrasca, the devil’s boat, the tapas drawer, the pitcher, the gourd drum, the rattles , the arches, etc., also denote the impact left by African culture, which in some regions became more populous than Hispanic.

In these phonograms, something of the feeling of the cultures that inhabit Mexico can be recovered; some of the various resources that have come to accompany his world of sound; With endowments of bands, stringed instruments, and many others, indigenous cultures preserve visions of the world that are listenable.

Ana Cecilia Angüis Dumas
Researcher at the Department of Ethnomusicology, INI

A SIDE 

1. CHELITE
   Easter dance……….3:35
   Performers: 2 violins, harp, strings of butterfly cocoons, belt with bells.* Representative: Francisco Villegas Valencia. Tehueco Ceremonial Center, El Fuerte, Sinaloa.
   Ethnic group: Mayo.
   Recorded at the “L” meeting in Oaxtepec, Morelos, on April 19, 1982.

The dance of the pascola is a particular manifestation of the cultures of the Northwest; between the culture mayo is executed during Holy Week, and patron saint festivals of the community.
In the representations around four pascolas dance, which between participation and participation give away cigarettes, sweets, liquor and talk about funny situations to the audience. The office of pascola is for life and represents, for the Mayos, the intermediate between the superior powers and human beings.27
The instruments that accompany this dance are a pair of violins that carry the melody and the harp that carries the harmony, and the dancer, the one who rhythmically accompanies by means of shaking idiophones that are part of his costumes, like a rattle to which It is called in May “se’enasom” and it consists “…of a rectangular wooden frame with a handle that has two rows of metal discs…”7, a belt with bells, which they call “coyol ” and strings of butterfly cocoons that in May are called “Tenabari”.

2. DANCING JARANA
   Jarana……….1:46
   Performers: Sixth guitar, 2 “Tunkul” harmonicas.* Representative; Adolfo Coboa Vargas. Calkiní, Campeche.
   Ethnic group: Maya.
   Recorded at the “L” meeting in Oaxtepec, Morelos, on April 19, 1982.

The jarana is a genre that developed during the Colony in the Yucatan peninsula, with Spanish music being its main influence, although later, during the time of Independence, Caribbean music influenced its development, thus becoming a particular manifestation of the peninsula.
As for the various forms of musical group that interpret the jarana, this is very peculiar; a conventional sixth guitar; a pair of harmonicas, which have been spread in our country since the end of the last century, and finally, an instrument of pre-Hispanic origin called “tunkul” in Mayan, and which consists of a hollowed-out wooden trunk with on the back two reeds through an “H” shaped slit, which are struck by a drumstick.

3. GREETING
   Dance of the red king……….2:34
   Performers: Violin, “tzentzen” jaranita of four strings, sixth guitar, maraca and voice.* Representative: Daniel Hernández Orta. Lejem de Santos, San Luis Potosi.
   Ethnic group: Huastec
   Recorded at the “L” meeting in Oaxtepec, Morelos, on April 19, 1982.

Among the indigenous communities, it is customary that before beginning the dance, a greeting to the patron saint is reverently sung and/or danced.
The instruments that accompany this dance are: a violin, which carries the melody; a jaranita with four strings which is called “tzetzen” in Huastec, which harmonically accompanies: a sixth guitar that carries the bass of the melody; the singing and the measured rhythm of the maracas that the dancers carry with them. However, it should be noted that in some communities the accompanying instruments vary.

4. THIS IS HOW IT IS SOWN IN MY LAND
   Tap dance……….2:41
   Performers: Reed flute and two drums.* Representative: Fernando Hernández. Nacajuca, Tabasco.
   Ethnic group: Chontal.
   Rayón, Chiapas, on February 17, 1979.

The music of “drummers”, as they call it, participates in all the social and religious events that take place in their community. Accompanying the processions of a patron saint, parties and vigils, as well as various ceremonial dances or popular dances; It is common to find in the Chontalpa region, the presence of this type of endowment.
The zapateado is a danceable genre that is executed in pairs, in which the agility of the dancers is flaunted.
This musical group is made up of a reed flute with six holes in the front and one in the back; and a pair of cylindrical bimembranophone drums, one large and one small. The large or serious drum performs rhythmic variants; and the small or acute, has the harmonic base, based on redoubles; All of the above suggests an African influence generated during the Colony.7

5. ORANGE BLOSSOM
   Son……….1:48
   Performers: Breath band, Representative: Librado Zaragoza Rojas. Huautla de Jimenez, Oaxaca.
   Ethnic group: Mazatec.
   Recorded at the “L” meeting in Oaxtepec, Morelos, on April 19, 1982.

This example, which might seem bucolic or simply romantic, consists of a piece of great symbolism in the Mazatec region. It is performed instrumentally and/or vocally by the people of the region at various events. However, the isolation of the region, is common in the Mazatecan sierra the music of breath band, and it is that the bands have been widely disseminated since the beginning of this century, with the appearance in Mexico of German companies importing instruments and music of this guy.

6. NAMELESS
   Easter dance……….2:51
   Performers: Harp, violin, strings of butterfly cocoons, rattle and belt with bells.* Representative: Ramón Alvarez Flores. Belem, Vicam, Sonora.
   Ethnic group: Yaqui.
   Recorded at the “L” meeting, in Oaxtepec, Morelos, on April 19, 1982.

The first pascola that participates during the dance, is the one with the highest hierarchy and teacher within the group; he is identified as “pascola mayor”; followed by the second, the third and finally the fourth or “wolf” who is called according to legend the “son of the devil”, because according to what is said, “…he was sent by the devil to sow tares, to that the first three pascolas stopped praising God, but when his intention was discovered he was severely punished and pardoned on the condition that he dance along with them…”³¹ The musical instruments that accompany the dance are the same ones mentioned in the example corresponding to the dance of the pascolas mayos.

7. ACUYO WARAME
   The old gunner
   Song……….1:58
   Performers: Maraca and voice: Antonia Fernández. Representative: Maria Emes. San Antonio Necua, Ensenada, Baja California Norte.
   Ethnic group: Cochimí.
   Recorded at the “L” meeting in Oaxtepec, Morelos, on April 19, 1982.

Among the functions that music has in the Cochimí community is to heal through songs that are accompanied by a maraca; likewise, from September 2 to 5 and October 4, ritual ceremonies are held in the Cochimí community in which men and women dance in rows such as: “La pajarita” and “El gato”.¹⁶
The instrument that accompanies the song is a maraca that is built with a bule, which has been planted previously, by the performer himself.

B SIDE

1. NAMELESS
   Easter dance……….2:30 
   Performers: Maracas, strings of butterfly cocoons, rattle and voices. Representatives: Adolfo Burgos, Amalia Asturga, Francisco Barnet and Sergio Jiménez. Kino Bay, Sonora.
   Ethnic group: Seri.
   Recorded at the “L” meeting in Oaxtepec, Morelos, on April 19, 1982.

The Seris carry out ritual ceremonies and special celebrations with various reasons such as: the arrival of the seasons, fruits and seeds; when loggerheads, sardines and oysters appear, as well as at births, weddings and deaths; These festivities are celebrated with dances, instrumental music and/or songs, which allude to marine and terrestrial animals, vegetables, stars, etc., elements with which they are related on a daily basis.

The instruments used, apart from singing, are: a rattle, strings of butterfly cocoons and the tap dance that is normally performed on the stage.

2. THE COCONO
   Easter dance……….2:03
   Performers: Violin, Guadalupe Rosas Torres; violin, Blas Cruz Vega; sixth guitar, Ramón Cruz Morales and tenabaris, Rogelio Maximino Torres. Huetosacachi, Carichi, Chihuahua. Ethnic group: Tarahumara.
   Recorded at the “L” meeting in Oaxtepec, Morelos, on April 19, 1982.

One of the purposes for which the pascola dance is danced among the Tarahumaras is to request or give thanks to the deities or philosophical concepts (father sun and mother moon) for favors received.
They consider that the animals were the ones who taught them to dance, so the pascola imitates their movements.
The Tarahumara generally accompany this dance with a violin or “rabel” that carries the melody, and a sixth guitar, which accompanies harmonically, unlike the Yaqui, Mayo and Guarijío cultures; where the harmonic accompaniment is performed by a harp. The idiophone shaking instruments carried by the dancer are the same ones described in the previous examples (rattle, strings of butterfly cocoons and belt with bells).

3. THE SEVEN FLOWERS
   Son……….2:11
   Performers: Violin, jarana and fifth guitar. Representative: Cuahuitzil Trio. Cuahuitzil, Chicontepec, Veracruz.
   Ethnic group: Nahua.
   Recorded at the “XXIII” meeting in Huayacocotla, Veracruz, on July 21, 1979.

The “Chicomexóchitl” the “Xochipitzahuatl”, among other sones, are pieces that are executed in important ceremonies celebrated during the life cycle of the community (the corn festival, weddings, baptisms, etc.).
“They are customary” is the way they have been called to identify this musical expression; Its main characteristics are: that it is performed at relevant moments of the ceremonies and that it is sometimes danced, and that within the community they are perfectly differentiated from other musical genres.
The instruments used are the violin, the five-string jarana and the fifth or huapanguera guitar with eight strings arranged in five orders; This musical group, which has been called the “Huasteco trio”, has been very popular among the Nahuas and Huastecos of the region.

4. NAMELESS
   March……….2:48
   Performers: breath band. Representative: Victorio Cantú Gálvez. Cruztomahuac, Malinaltepec, Metepec, Guerrero.
   Ethnic group: Tlapaneco.
   Recorded at the “L” meeting in Oaxtepec, Morelos, on April 19, 1982.

The bands, in the military spheres of our country, were in vogue, since the French expeditionary army of Marshal Bazaine and the imperial guard of Maximilian of Austria, had one, respectively; which brought as a consequence that each of the battalions had one.
The march was the most widespread musical genre among the military, given its martial rhythm, appropriate to accompany the passage of soldiers during military deployments and parades at that time.
Although the function today is not the same among the country’s indigenous and mestizo communities, this genre has survived, invariably being performed both in events of a civic and religious nature.

5. CARMEN DE JUVENTINO ROSAS
   Waltz……….3:34
   Performers: breath band. Representative: Esteban Gómez Torres. San Felipe, Tepeji de Rodriguez, Puebla.
   Ethnic group: Popoluca.
   Recorded at the “XXV” meeting in Tehuacán, Puebla, on September 22, 1979.

This waltz was composed for the wife of Porfirio Díaz, being widely distributed during that time in the country. It should be noted that even today most of the bands have a sheet music file, which is jealously guarded either by the director himself or by the political or religious authorities of the community, considering it a valuable heritage of the community. In these archives, scores have been compiled through generations, which correspond to the fashion of each era, so its contents, musical genres and composers are rich and varied.

6. NAMELESS
   Dance of the zacamsom……….2:33
   Performers: Harp, “rabel”, “cardonal”, maracas and rattles.* Representative: Francisco Márquez. San Rafael, Aquismon, San Luis Potosi. Ethnic group: Huasteco. Recorded at the “XXVI” meeting in Santa María Acapulco, San Luis Potosí.

This dance is performed for a full day in the Holy Week celebrations; In it, the movements of animals such as: vulture, bull, grasshopper, squirrel, duck, badger, etc. are imitated, the same names that are used to name the parts or sounds that comprise this dance.
The instruments they use are the “rabel” a 3-string violin, a 3-string “cardonal” or jarana that is played with a plectrum and a harp with 29 strings, all of them small. These instruments appear during the Renaissance in Europe, and were brought by the Spanish during the Conquest, being widely accepted by indigenous cultures (as chroniclers have pointed out: Sahagún, Torquemada, etc. In this particular case, it has been faithfully preserved its original morphology.⁷
The dancers carry a maraca that they decorate with pink painted feathers, and to which they place a large rattle hanging from the handle; the cries they emit are the imitating voices of animals. These last two elements of evident pre-Hispanic reminiscence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Altamirano Ematus Esquivel and Sodi Pallares. Costumes and Dances of Mexico. Mexico Porrua. 1984.
2. Alvarez Boada Manuel. The Popular Music of the Huasteca Veracruzana. Mexico. Editor Award. 1985.
3. Basauri, Carlos. Indigenous Population of Mexico, Mexico, S.E.P. 1940.
4. Bannet Wendell C. and Zingg Robert M. Tarahumaras, A North Indian tribe. Mexico, I.N.I., 1986.
5. Caballero, Ma. del Socorro. Regional Dances of the State of Mexico. Mexico, S. ed. 1985.
6. Campos, Rubén M. The folklore of the cities. Mexico, S.E.P. 1930.
7. Contreras Arias J. Guillermo. Cultural Atlas of Mexico. Music Mexico. INAH. PLANET. 1988.
8. –. particular notes.
9. –. Large Harp Ensembles. (to be published)
10. Covarrubias, Eugenio. Regional Dances of Mexico. Mexico. Posted by Eugenio Covarrubias. 1979.
11. Covarrubias, Miguel. The South of Mexico. Mexico INI 1980.
12. Chamorro, Arturo ed. Popular Wisdom, Mexico, Col. Mich. CONACYT 1982.
13. Dominguez, Francisco, edt. Folkloric Investigation Mexico, Mexico, Sep. 1945.
14. Fabila, Alfonso. The Yaqui tribes of Sonora. Mexico, INI 1978.
15. Galinier, Jacques. Peoples of the Sierra Madre Mexico, INI 1987.
16. Ethnic groups. INI Monographs s.f.
17. Guerrero, Guerrero Raúl. The Otomi of the Mezquital Valley. Mexico 1973.
18. Hinton, Monsoon, Grimes, Jordan. VonRiley, Nahmad. Coras, Huicholes and Tepehuanos, Mexico, 1972.
19. Lumholtz, Carl. Unknown Mexico. Mexico INI 1981.
20. Mayer Serra, Otto. Panorama of Mexican Music from Independence to the present. Mexico. COLMEX. 1941.
21. Mompradé, Electra and Tonatiuh Gutiérrez, General History of Mexican Art. Dances or Popular Dances. Spain. Ed. Hermes. 1976.
22. Program Notes of the IV National Festival of Autochthonous Music and Dance. Held from April 25 to May 2, 1982.
23. Eight Moses fields, La Chilena Guerrerense. Mexico. Guerrero Institute of Culture. 1987.
24. Olivera Mercedes. The Dances and Festivals of Chiapas Mexico. FONADAN. 1974.
25. Reed, Karen Barbara. The Huichols. Mexico INI 1972.
26. Reuter, Jas. Popular Music of Mexico. Mexico, ed. Panorama, 1982.
27. Rodriguez, Mariangela. To decipher the day Monograph of the Mayos. Mexico, DIFOCUR. s.f.
28. SEP. Monographs and Dance Music and Regional Dances in the National Sports and Cultures Days carried out in 1953 to 1958. Mexico SEP. 1958.
29. Saldivar Gabriel. History of Music in Mexico. Mexico, Sept. 1934.
30. Sanchez Olmedo Jose Guadalupe. Ethnographies of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Tepehuanos and Mexicaneros. Mexico S.E.P. -INAH 1980.
31. Varelera Leticia, Music in the life of the Yaquis, government of the state of Sonora, Mexico, 1986.
32. Warman, Arturo, Dance of Moors and Christians. Mexico, Sept. 1972.

Music and dance are inextricably linked in the worldview of the indigenous peoples who have inhabited our country since time immemorial. His current presence constitutes one of the most important artistic manifestations of our contemporary musical world. Knowing this richness is recognizing ourselves as a multicultural nation. It is the interest of the National Indigenous Institute to offer the public this collection as a contribution to the Study, Promotion and Diffusion of the Autochthonous Musical Art of our country.

■ NATIONAL INDIGENIST INSTITUTE AUDIOVISUAL ETHNOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

■ COVER PHOTOGRAPH
Nacho López 

■ DESIGN
Isabel Naranjo

A-SIDE

■ CHELITE…………3:35
Easter dance

■ DANCING JARANA…………1:46
Revelry

■ GREETINGS…………2:34
Dance of the Colorado King

■ THIS IS HOW IT IS SOWN IN MY LAND…………2:41
Tap dance

■ ORANGE BLOSSOM…………1:48
Son

■ NAMELESS…………2:51
Easter dance

■ ACUYO WARAME…………1:58
(The old gunner)
Song

B-SIDE

■ WITHOUT A NAME…………2:30
Easter dance

■ THE COCONO…………2:03
Easter dance

■ THE SEVEN FLOWERS…………2:11
Son

■ NO NAME…………2:48
March

■ CARMEN, BY JUVENTINO ROSAS…………3:34
Waltz

■ NAMELESS………… 2:33
Zacamsom dance

The CENZONTLE brand is the result of the collaboration of the following institutions:

SEP, Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, INAH, INI, DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE CULTURAS POPULARES

For the revaluation and diffusion of the authentic musical traditions of the country.

Gallery: