NON MUSICAL NOTES ON THE NOTES
MUSIC
inspired by the indigenous
breath,
string
percussion instruments
poems,
chants,
and
songs of the indigenous people's of Mesoamerica and Mexico
which continue to resonate,
albeit in a different,
ever-changing inflection,
much like a single facet of a well cut jade........
while we are blessed to still have many of the
instruments of Mesoamerica in our linear time frame,
along with 530 historical documents from the 16th century,
we do not have any recordings of the music or documentation on
how the music was constructed
how instruments were played,
or how the music "sounded"
etc.
other than through words
"writing about music is like dancing about architecture"
comedian Martin Mull
should also be mentioned that neither does any other culture
have audio recordings of music from the 16th Century
while most countries in the world have been invaded by another country
most did not lose 90% of their indigenous populations,
some 80 to 120 million people in THE AMERICAS,
genocide on a scale the world has never experienced,
before or since,
and it has taken quite some time for the descendants of the
people of Mexico/Mesoamerica to acknowledge,
embrace and celebrate their indigenous past...
inspired by the indigenous
breath,
string
percussion instruments
poems,
chants,
and
songs of the indigenous people's of Mesoamerica and Mexico
which continue to resonate,
albeit in a different,
ever-changing inflection,
much like a single facet of a well cut jade........
while we are blessed to still have many of the
instruments of Mesoamerica in our linear time frame,
along with 530 historical documents from the 16th century,
we do not have any recordings of the music or documentation on
how the music was constructed
how instruments were played,
or how the music "sounded"
etc.
other than through words
"writing about music is like dancing about architecture"
comedian Martin Mull
should also be mentioned that neither does any other culture
have audio recordings of music from the 16th Century
while most countries in the world have been invaded by another country
most did not lose 90% of their indigenous populations,
some 80 to 120 million people in THE AMERICAS,
genocide on a scale the world has never experienced,
before or since,
and it has taken quite some time for the descendants of the
people of Mexico/Mesoamerica to acknowledge,
embrace and celebrate their indigenous past...
“Drums which they play with the hand, and another drum made of hollow wood with a heavy and sad sound. They beat it with rather a long stick with a certain gum from a tree at the end of it, and they have long thin trumpets of hollow wood with long twisted gourds at the ends. And they have another instruments made of a whole tortoise with its shells, and having taken out the flesh, they strike it with the palm of the hand. The sound is doleful and sad. They have whistles made of leg bones of deer; great conch shells and flutes made of reeds, and with these instruments they make music for the dancers” RELACION DE LAS COSAS DE YUCATAN DIEGO DE LANDA (Published 1566) “The Mexicans offered great sacrifice and celebrated festivals every night and sounded their cursed drum, trumpets, kettle drums and shells, and uttered yells and howls, Then they sacrificed our comrades……. THE CONQUEST OF NEW SPAIN BERNAL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO (Published 1576) “The music of the Aztecs was unworthy of so cultivated a people. They were not acquainted with stringed instruments; those they used were confined to the “huehuetle”, the “teponastle,” trumpets, sea-shells, and flutes - generally made of terra-cotta - which produced shrill sounds....the sound they produced can be imagined; it certainly lacked harmony Drums, flutes, even conch shells accompanied the hymns sung in the temples, which were chanted in a sing-song manner, in a rude, monotonous tune, fatiguing to European ears. But the Aztecs took so much pleasure in them that they frequently sang during entire days. In spite of this taste music is the only art that remained in infancy among them. Bad musicians, the Mexicans. On the other hand, were very skillful in the art of dancing, in which they exercised themselves under the direction of priests from childhood. Their dances, which were of great variety, had different names. They danced in circles, or arranged in files, between which a dancer executed fancy steps. The women often took part in this amusement. For this recreation the nobles put on their most costly clothes, and decked themselves with jewels of gold, of silver, or of feathers.” THE AZTECS Their History, Manners, and Customs FROM THE FRENCH OF LUCIEN BIART (Published 1887) “From the remaining exemplars of Aztec instruments preserved in the National Museum of Mexico, we may infer that the music the people during the pre-Conquest era was as barbarous and harsh as were the ceremonies at which their music was heard…The conch shell, the Mixtecan tun, the teponaztli, the chicahuaztli, the sonaja, the Zapotec chirimia and the Yaqui tambor, are not instruments capable of producing either alone, or in conjunction with each other, a grateful harmony: nor can the sound of any of them induce a spiritual response that is in harmony with presently accepted standards of behavior" EL ARTE MUSICAL EN MEXICO Published under the official Direction in General de las Bellas Arte Alba Herrera y Ogazon (Published 1917) |
even today,
some people resonate more with their
ancestral indigenous ethnicity and culture,
than with their European one,
even though they may have never
EXPERIENCED
LIVED
or
BREATHED
the air
the culture
the desert
the food
the land
the mountains
the rivers
and streams of their ancestral lands,
on either continent
i.e.,
ethnicity is not culture,
but there is something to be said about cellular memory..........
there are drumming traditions that are currently used in Mexica (Aztec???)
dance traditions which were kept alive thru the conchero traditions and eventually brought and taught in the United States.
But these rhythms and traditions are truncated/performance
versions and not ceremonial versions of these danzas.
The dances, and performance practices used since the 1970's
have been well documented by the danzantes themselves in oral
documented interviews
i.e.,
where they came from,
how they were taught,
how they were learned,
who taught them and why.
You can see a Mexica/Azteca drummer and tell who he studied
with by the stickings they are using,
(should also point out that there are no images of people
playing the Zacatan or Tlapan Huehuetl with sticks,
although that is how they are primarily played today)
We must remember that the earliest images of these instruments
that have been found, as of today, come from the BONAMPAK MURALS
from 790 A.D., some 82 kilometers and 300 years BEFORE The Valley
of Mexico is first settled by migrating tribes 1100 CE - 1200 CE
e.g.,
(Chichimecs, Tepanecs, Mexica and Acolhua)
and the founding of Tenochtitlan by the Mexica is 6/30/1325
some 500 years later than the BONAMPAK MURALS were painted
(imagine if you will that we only had images of a guitar
painted on a wall
and never heard a guitar actually played)
would be think that the music
played by
Paco de Lucia
Woody Guthrie
John McLaughlin
Andres Segovia
would be possible on the same instrument with the same tuning?
and while there is documentation of “songs” being sung
and documentation on the types of songs sung
e.g.,
XOPANCUICATL
(songs of springtime)
XOCHICHICATL
(flowery songs)
TOTOCUICATL
(songs of birds)
MICHCUICALTL
(songs of fish)
ICNOCUICATL
(songs of orphanhood)
COZCACUICATL
(necklace songs)
TEUCCUICATL
(songs of the lords)
TLAOCOLCUICATL
(songs of suffering)
CUAUHCUICATL
(songs of eagles)
YAOCUICATL
(songs of war)
ATEQUILIZCUICATL
(songs of pouring water)
CIHUACUICATL
(songs of women)
COCOCUICATL
(songs of doves)
CUECUEHCUICATL
(provocative songs)
and
HUEHUETHCUICATL
(old songs, songs of old people)
and other indications tell us about the manner
in which the songs were entered and accompanied:
OTOMICAYOTL
(in the Otomi manner)
CHALCAYOTL
(as those of Chalco),
HUAXTECAYOTL
(in the manner of the Huaxtecs)
and so forth in these moods:
MECICAYOTL
TLAXCALTECAYOTL
MATLAZINCAYOTL
HUEXOTZINCAYOTL
and
CHICHIMECAYOTL
*
Info from MIGUEL LEON PORTILLA
there is no aural/oral documentation on the structures employed
e.g.,
intro,
verse,
chorus,
bridge,
outro,
reprise etc.,
which is definitely a Eurocentric template,
and not a Mesoamerican indigenous one
very fortunate in my life experience to be a musician since 1973,
with concerts in 28 countries on 5 continents,
and immersed in the music and performance practices
and vernaculars of working with very different types
of music and musicians
in very different settings
e.g.,
Avant-garde
dance
jazz
rock
Chinese
classical and folkloric
Indian music
- Hindustani or Carnatic folkloric, classical and light classical
Japanese
classical and folkloric
Mexican
- folkloric, indigenous, contemporary
Sicilian and Salentese folkloric
theatrical
Western avant-garde, chamber, and symphonic music
and able to experience the differences and similarities in music from
very different parts of the world
and while
every instrument,
every person,
every place,
every thing
has a resonance
whether alone,
or in conjunction with another,
a new resonance is created using these instruments
of very different cultures from the same continent
e.g.,
Mayan, Mexica, Raramuri, Yaqui etc.,
side by side In the same space at the same time
of with
western "classical" European instrument
The ancestral sounds on this recording harken
back to a time before time was recorded
before THE RED AND BLACK was committed
to paper by the Tlacuilos
(scribes and painters)
when tlamatinis (wise people) traveled throughout
Mesoamerica and propagated and perpetuated the aural/oral tradition
RESONANCIA
is a musical OFRENDA made with primal
(not primitive) instruments from my familias ancestral experiences
MUSIC
inspired by our collective ancestral heritage
and invitations to work with musicians from Mexico
LUIS PEREZ IXONEZTLI
and
RAMIRO RAMIREZ DUARTE
the
Chichimeca of San Miguel de Allende
There are several times when listening back to a recording
where rhythms are played that have little to nothing to do with
the drumming traditions I have studied
they "magically" appeared seemingly out of nowhere
and cannot be traced back to my 47 years
of being a musicians
whenever I share that with an elder
they always smile an incredible smile,
and tap the crook of their arm and tell me
“it’s in the blood ....
It’s in the blood....”
Blessed to have my wife
Yolanda Evelia Delgado Garcia
and our youngest daughter,
Alegria Garcia
to be a part of this OFRENDA
It means a lot for us to share with the world
VIVA LA VIDA
some people resonate more with their
ancestral indigenous ethnicity and culture,
than with their European one,
even though they may have never
EXPERIENCED
LIVED
or
BREATHED
the air
the culture
the desert
the food
the land
the mountains
the rivers
and streams of their ancestral lands,
on either continent
i.e.,
ethnicity is not culture,
but there is something to be said about cellular memory..........
there are drumming traditions that are currently used in Mexica (Aztec???)
dance traditions which were kept alive thru the conchero traditions and eventually brought and taught in the United States.
But these rhythms and traditions are truncated/performance
versions and not ceremonial versions of these danzas.
The dances, and performance practices used since the 1970's
have been well documented by the danzantes themselves in oral
documented interviews
i.e.,
where they came from,
how they were taught,
how they were learned,
who taught them and why.
You can see a Mexica/Azteca drummer and tell who he studied
with by the stickings they are using,
(should also point out that there are no images of people
playing the Zacatan or Tlapan Huehuetl with sticks,
although that is how they are primarily played today)
We must remember that the earliest images of these instruments
that have been found, as of today, come from the BONAMPAK MURALS
from 790 A.D., some 82 kilometers and 300 years BEFORE The Valley
of Mexico is first settled by migrating tribes 1100 CE - 1200 CE
e.g.,
(Chichimecs, Tepanecs, Mexica and Acolhua)
and the founding of Tenochtitlan by the Mexica is 6/30/1325
some 500 years later than the BONAMPAK MURALS were painted
(imagine if you will that we only had images of a guitar
painted on a wall
and never heard a guitar actually played)
would be think that the music
played by
Paco de Lucia
Woody Guthrie
John McLaughlin
Andres Segovia
would be possible on the same instrument with the same tuning?
and while there is documentation of “songs” being sung
and documentation on the types of songs sung
e.g.,
XOPANCUICATL
(songs of springtime)
XOCHICHICATL
(flowery songs)
TOTOCUICATL
(songs of birds)
MICHCUICALTL
(songs of fish)
ICNOCUICATL
(songs of orphanhood)
COZCACUICATL
(necklace songs)
TEUCCUICATL
(songs of the lords)
TLAOCOLCUICATL
(songs of suffering)
CUAUHCUICATL
(songs of eagles)
YAOCUICATL
(songs of war)
ATEQUILIZCUICATL
(songs of pouring water)
CIHUACUICATL
(songs of women)
COCOCUICATL
(songs of doves)
CUECUEHCUICATL
(provocative songs)
and
HUEHUETHCUICATL
(old songs, songs of old people)
and other indications tell us about the manner
in which the songs were entered and accompanied:
OTOMICAYOTL
(in the Otomi manner)
CHALCAYOTL
(as those of Chalco),
HUAXTECAYOTL
(in the manner of the Huaxtecs)
and so forth in these moods:
MECICAYOTL
TLAXCALTECAYOTL
MATLAZINCAYOTL
HUEXOTZINCAYOTL
and
CHICHIMECAYOTL
*
Info from MIGUEL LEON PORTILLA
there is no aural/oral documentation on the structures employed
e.g.,
intro,
verse,
chorus,
bridge,
outro,
reprise etc.,
which is definitely a Eurocentric template,
and not a Mesoamerican indigenous one
very fortunate in my life experience to be a musician since 1973,
with concerts in 28 countries on 5 continents,
and immersed in the music and performance practices
and vernaculars of working with very different types
of music and musicians
in very different settings
e.g.,
Avant-garde
dance
jazz
rock
Chinese
classical and folkloric
Indian music
- Hindustani or Carnatic folkloric, classical and light classical
Japanese
classical and folkloric
Mexican
- folkloric, indigenous, contemporary
Sicilian and Salentese folkloric
theatrical
Western avant-garde, chamber, and symphonic music
and able to experience the differences and similarities in music from
very different parts of the world
and while
every instrument,
every person,
every place,
every thing
has a resonance
whether alone,
or in conjunction with another,
a new resonance is created using these instruments
of very different cultures from the same continent
e.g.,
Mayan, Mexica, Raramuri, Yaqui etc.,
side by side In the same space at the same time
of with
western "classical" European instrument
The ancestral sounds on this recording harken
back to a time before time was recorded
before THE RED AND BLACK was committed
to paper by the Tlacuilos
(scribes and painters)
when tlamatinis (wise people) traveled throughout
Mesoamerica and propagated and perpetuated the aural/oral tradition
RESONANCIA
is a musical OFRENDA made with primal
(not primitive) instruments from my familias ancestral experiences
MUSIC
inspired by our collective ancestral heritage
and invitations to work with musicians from Mexico
LUIS PEREZ IXONEZTLI
and
RAMIRO RAMIREZ DUARTE
the
Chichimeca of San Miguel de Allende
There are several times when listening back to a recording
where rhythms are played that have little to nothing to do with
the drumming traditions I have studied
they "magically" appeared seemingly out of nowhere
and cannot be traced back to my 47 years
of being a musicians
whenever I share that with an elder
they always smile an incredible smile,
and tap the crook of their arm and tell me
“it’s in the blood ....
It’s in the blood....”
Blessed to have my wife
Yolanda Evelia Delgado Garcia
and our youngest daughter,
Alegria Garcia
to be a part of this OFRENDA
It means a lot for us to share with the world
VIVA LA VIDA