Music was an essential and constant part of Aztec cultural life. Aztecs used music as a form of religious observance, as an important part of cultural events and just for enjoyment. Aztec children learned music both at home, from the elders, and in school, becoming familiar with the religious hymns, “ghost songs” (mythical epics about great Aztecs of the past) and ceremonial songs that were important in the culture. The Aztecs also valued drumming, taking care to intricately carve wooden percussion instruments for their musicians, and metaphorically rich forms of dance.
A teponaztli is a hollow slit-drum that is an important member of an Aztec drumming ensemble. The best teponsztli are works of art as much as they are instruments; the makers carve intricate designs into the sides, often portraying the deities or scenes involving animals.
COUNTRY: Mexico
KEY GENRES: Aztec
FEATURED ON: Mayan Peace Song (AATW: Latin America)
A rainstick is a thin, long, hollow tube filled with pebbles or beans. A musician lifts the rainstick vertically and lets the pebbles slide to the bottom, then turns the stick on end so the pebbles can rattle to the new bottom, making the sound of a rainstorm. The stick seems to have first appeared in Aztec communities and used to be made of catcus but today almost anything can be a tube and almost anything can be the pebbles.
COUNTRY: Mexico
KEY GENRES: Aztec, Mayan
FEATURED ON: Mayan Peace Song (AATW: Latin America)
The huehuetl is a tubular Aztec drum that is made of wood that is covered with a skin at the top and not at the bottom and stands on three legs carved out of its base. Drummers strike the huēhuētl with either hands or a mallet.
COUNTRY: Mexico
KEY GENRES: Aztec
FEATURED ON: Mayan Peace Song (AATW: Latin America)
The term “Aztec” has a number of different definitions, but in general use it refers to the Nahautl-speaking people who politically and culturally dominated much of the land now known as Mexico from the 13th to the 16th centuries. Aztec drummers often accompanied bold dances with a wide variety of percussion instruments, such as the deep, resounding huehuetl (pronounced weh-weht), the ayotl, a tortoise-shell drum, the Avacahtli, two hollowed gourds filled with beads, and the chicahuaztli, a long rainstick rattle. Another important Aztec percussion instrument was the teponaztli, a hollowed, often intricately decorated wooden cylinder placed horizontally and played with resin-tipped wooden mallets called “olmaitl” or “rubber hands.”
While Aztec rhythms can be transcribed using contemporary time signature notation, historical research indicates that the society’s drummers built their percussion lines by vocalizing them as syllables. Phil Tulga teaches us the drum syllables, which are “To” “Ko” “Ti” and “Ki.”
COUNTRY: Mexico
KEY INSTRUMENTS: Avacahtli, Ayotl, Chicahuaztli, Huehuetl, Teponaztli
SONG ON AATW: LATIN AMERICA CD: Mayan Peace Song
[mappress mapid=”16″ center=”-8, -60″ zoom=”3″]
Mayan culture is so ancient that most Mayan music has been lost, but contemporary interpretations of potentially ancient melodies like the one used in this Mayan folk song still exist. Researchers believe that music was very important in Mayan culture, especially in funeral ceremonies, during which it is believed that drummers and flute players would follow the casket of well-respected women, sealing their instruments into the burial tomb at the end of the march. Music also apparently was part of ceremonies and celebrations involving war. Archaeologists have found drums and whistles in the houses of many “lower class” Mayans, suggesting that in Mayan culture music was not just reserved for the elite.
A scratchy version of this tune, listed as “Song of Peace, Chalchuitan,” appears on the Smithsonian Folkways release, “Modern Mayan: The Indian Music of Chiapas, Mexico – Vol. 1 .
Country: Mexico
Language: (vocables)
Genre on CD: Aztec, Mayan
Instruments on CD: Huehuetl, Rain stick, Teponaztli
Enjoy some Mayam-style music performed by a family of musicians in the street in Guatamalea
Vocals: Sofia Rei
Percussion: Arturo Stable
Vocals recorded at Headgear Recording, Brooklyn, New York
Percussion engineering by Arturo Stable
Original is called "Song of Peace, Chalchiuitan" © Alpha Film Music on behalf of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, translation and arrangement by Jay Sand with permission, Vocal arrangement by Arturo Stable and Sofia Rei
Listen to the original on the Smithsonian Folkways release, "Modern Mayan: The Indian Music of Chiapas, Mexico - Vol. 1."
