INDIAN MUSIC of MEXICO Assembled, While the Dancers Beat out the Rhythm Seri with Their Feet, Kroeber, A

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AWS LIBRARY FE 4413 NDIAN MUSIC OF MEXICO ri/Cora/Yaqui/Huichol/Tzotzil corded by Henrietta UrchenkKo

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HUICHOL--PEYOTE TZOTZIL--FIESTA

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SERI - DESEMBOQUE, SONORA MEX!IGO INDIAN MUSIC OF MEXICO assembled, while the dancers beat out the rhythm Seri with their feet, Kroeber, A. L. The Seri. Southwest Museum Papers, SIDE II, BAND 4: HUICHOL--SQUASH DANCE. An No. 6, Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, 1931. important fiesta for the Huichol is that to celebrate the ripening of the first fruits, McGee, W. J. The Seri Indians. 17th Annual Report, occurring toward the end of the wet season in Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, 1898. November. Singing and dancing, accompanied by PP. 1-344«. the drum, may go on for a number of days.

SIDE II, BAND 5: SERI--RELIGIOUS SONG. The Yaqui song in this recording was said to be religious in nature, but information as to its use or Beals, Ralph L. The Aboriginal Culture of the significance is lacking. Cahita Indians. Ibero Americana: 19, University of California Press, 1943. SIDE II, BANDS 6 and 7: CORA--HARVEST CHANTS. These two chants are part of a large repertory Beals, Ralph L. The Contemporary Culture of the of songs sung during the harvest fiestas. They Cahita Indians. Bulletin 142, Bureau of American are sung during the preparations of the feast Ethnology, Washington, 1945. and for the dancing which goes on all night. The singer, a native priest or shaman, accom- panies himself on an instrument called the Huichol and Cora mitote, a word which also signifies dancing. The mitote consists of a long hunting bow with Lumholtz, Carl. Unknown Mexico. 2 Vols., Charles a gourd resonator. The taughtly strong bow is Scribner's Sons, New York, 1902. set on a gourd which rests on the ground, the performer holding the two together with his Preuss, K. T. Die Religion der Cora-Indianer. foot while striking the string with two wooden Vol. 1 of Die Nayarit Expedition. B. G. Treubner, sticks. Leipzig, 1912.

Zingg, Robert Mowry. The Huichols, Primitive Artists. Contributions to Ethnology I, Univer- sity of Denver. G. E. Steckert and Co., New York, READING LIST 1938.

Tzotzil General Barbachano, F. C. Monografia de los Tzotziles de Spinden, Herbert J. Ancient Civilizations of San Miguel Mitontik, Chiapas, Mexico. Microfilm Mexico and Central America. American Museum of collection of manuscripts on Middle American Natural History, Handbook Series No. 3. New York, Cultural Anthropology, Manuscript No. 6. Univer- 1928. sity of Chicago Library, 1945. Tax, Sol and others. Heritage of the Conquest. The Free Press, Glencoe, Illinois, 1952. Photographs by Henrietta Yurchenco

Vaillant, George C. The Aztecs of Mexico. Double- General Editor, Harold -Courlander day Doran, New York, 1941. Also Penguin Books, Production Director, Moses Asch 1950.

UTHO IN U.S.A. Sipe TARAHUMARA, ~ GUACHOCHI, CHIHUAHUA MEXICO were without agriculture and lived the precari- appearance and in customs to the other Maya groups Each saint has his own special song. Al though INDIAN MUSIC OF MEXICO ous life of hunters and fishers and gatherers of which extend from Chiapas through the highlands these are familiar to everyone it is the fiscal, wild foods. All of these groups, except the Seri, of Guatemala. Tzotzil culture preserves many Pre- the Catholic priest's assistant, who knows them have disappeared, as usually happens when the Conquest elements, but the music is clearly de- best of all. In this recording the fiscal of the Introduction and Notes on the Recordings more primitive peoples come in contact with rived from early European sources. This is par- town of Chamula sings assisted by his wife, a by Gordon F, Ekholm European civilization. Probably it is due only ticularly true of their processional music used Yare occurrence as women seldom sing in this and Henrietta yYurchenco to the isolated position of Tiburon Island which during religious ceremonials. region for any formal occasion. It is sung as a has allowed the Seri to exist up to the present canon, one voice alternating with the other, the time. style typical of this region. The Indians or Mexico were conquered by Spaniards in the 16th century and have now been Little is known of seri music. It is reported SIDE I, BANDS 5 and 6: YAQUI--PASCOLA DANCE. living and mixing with these "alien" people for that dancing consisted of a solo performance on This 1s music to accompany the Pascola dance, over 400 years. Because they originally existed a plank laid over a shallow pit, while several done by a specially-trained group of dancers in very large numbers, they were not submerged singers sat by beating or rattling anything con- who perform at all-Yaqui fiestas. It 1s a simple and destroyed as were many of the Indian tribes venient. It is also reported that rattles were dance performed by masked men dancing one after of the United States, and Indian blood exists in made of gourds and of cocoons. The latter is a the other and alternately to two bands of musi- large proportion in the present Mexican popula- custom found among various tribes of northwestern Clans, one band playing the harp and violins, as tion. Indian culture, on the other hand, has Mexico. Certain large cocoons, with a pebble in in this selection, the other the drum and flute. largely disappeared. In religion, social organi- each, are tied in long strfngs about the legs The violins are locally made and are of European zation, and in most technological fields European and give a dry, rattling sound during the dance. style, while the harp appears to be of an early traditions have over-powered those of the Spanish form which has been retained since early Indians and have in most cases replaced them. The Yaqui are the northernmost of a group of times. related tribes known collectively as the Cahita, Although this is the general picture, the formerly living along the coastal lands of racial and cultural intermingling of European southern Senora and northern Sinaloa in north- SIDE II, BAND 1: YAQUI-- PASCOLA DANCE. This and Indian has not proceeded everywhere in western Mexico. They are a farming people occupy- is the flute and drum combination as played in Mexico at quite the same rate, and it has been ing for the most part the extremely rich river the other portion of the Pascola dance. Both relatively slow in those more mountainous, arid, bottom lands along the lower reaches of the Yaqui instruments are simultaneously employed by one or remote regions less attractive to the dominant River. Even at the time of the first Spanish performer, the drum struck by a stick held in culture. It is in such areas that we now find entradas in the 1530's they were known as partic-— the right hand while the flute is held in the those communities we can refer to as Indian-- ularly effective warriors and they have added to left and played in a different rhythm from that Indian, that is, because Indian blood predomin- this reputation in many bloody encounters with of the drum. The rhythm gains speed as the dance aves, Indian languages are still spoken, and the Spanish and Mexican authorities lasting up proceeds and periodically drops down to a slower their ways of life include some components of to quite recent times. Despite this opposition, tempo. aboriginal custom. A recent study has shown that however, the original Yaqui cultural pattern has approximately 27 per cent of the total Mexican largely disappeared with very few either material HUICHOL — HUILOTITA, JALISCO MEXICO SIDE II, BAND 2: YAQUI--DEER DANCE. The Deer population belongs to Indian communities who or spiritual elements remaining. dancers perform along with the Pascola dancers think of themselves and are thought of by others SIDE I, BAND 1: TZOTZIL--FIESTA MUSIC. The at all Yaqui fiestas. They have a varied reper- toire of dances, both serious and comic, in as being communities apart from those of the The dances of the yaqui are among the best harp music of the Tzotzil is among the most charming of Indian Mexico. The harp, like other which a dancer mimics a hunted deer. Deer antlers Mexicans. known and spectacular of those of any Mexican are fastened to his head and he has large gourd Indian group. Dancing occurs at all of their stringed instruments, is made by local artisans. rattles in his hands which he shakes continuous- It is tuned according to our major scale except For parts of Mexico we have some knowledge of fiestas, most of which are on Christian holidays ly. The movements of the deer are realistically that the seventh tone is generally tuned a half the nature of Indian music as it existed previ- and occur in connection with Christian rites. imitated as he grazes and then throws up his ous to the Spanish Conquest. We know from the The accompanying music is largely of European or step lower. Most harps have thirteen melody head and looks about or violently leaps away, 46th century accounts that music played an im- Mexican origin as are, of course, the harp and Strings and four, five, or six base strings. always with the tense nervousness of a frightened portant role in all kinds of religious ceremon- violin which are among the instruments most Although these instruments are well made and animal. 1als and from the same sources and from archaeo- commonly used. have a most delicate tone, they do not keep logical finds, we know what kinds of musical their pitch for long. Tzotzil musicians spend a Three or four musicians accompany the Deer instruments were used. These included drums of The Huichol and Cora live in the remote moun- good deal of time tuning up, for they are most dancer, playing on notched rasping sticks and several types, the two-toned wooden gong tain districts of the State of Nayarit in the sensitive in this regard. the water drum and all singing the deer songs (teponaztli) and the upright drum with skin head western highlands of Mexico. The two groups are in unison in rather low-pitched voices. The (huehuetl), as well as clay whistles and flutes, related linguistically and culturally, but the SIDE I, BAND 2: TZOTZIL--BOLONCHON (Tiger-man, rasping stick is a notched strip of wood played rasping bones, and conch shell trumpets. These Huichol have taken on less of Mexican custom what a long beard you have!) This song is one by placing one end on an inverted half gourd and would indicate that native music was overwhelming- than the Cora and retain considerably more of of the most popular in the region, and though rubbing it with another stick. The water drum is a curious instrument, consisting of a half ly rhythmic in character with little tonal vari- their aboriginal culture. Both groups are originating from the town of Zinacantan is sung gourd floated with the open side downward in a ation. Stringed instruments were unknown except agriculturists and also have cattle. The Huichol everywhere. This is unusual because the Tzatzil do not readily accept things from outsiders, even wooden bowl of water and beaten in time to the for the single-stringed musical bow which had a are especially noted for the picturesque costumes rasping sticks. limited distribution among the more primitive worn by the men; these include elaborately em- from neighboring villages. Bolonchon is performed here by several men's voices, accompanied by tribes. broidered girdles and bags and a tri-cornered Free translations of two fragments of Deer flat straw hat decorated with flowers and a guitar and harp. The falsetto heard here is Dance songs are as follows: It is not strange that native Mexican music feathers. Embroidered bags are also worn as orn- only rarely encountered in Indian Mexico. has so largely disappeared when we consider how aments, with one or more strings of them--too The mountain grass systematically and successfully the Spaniards of small to be of any use--tied about the waist. SIDE I, BAND 3: TZOTZIL--FIESTA SONG. This is Moved:'with the gently blowing breeze the Colonial period proceeded to eradicate the unusual processional music played on a trumpet, And whistled softly. pagan religions with which it was so closely reed flute and drum, and reminds one of Spanish The grass grows on the mountain top processional music. Each instrument has great And blows with the wind. connected. At the present time most Indians are Huichol religion and ritual are an elaborate independence and follows its own improvisational Catholics and their ritual as well as their complex of aboriginal and derived custom, in Deer, deer, deer, pattern even though all three adhere to the same secular music 1s the same as that of their Mexi- which dancing and music play an important role. Coyote is hunting you. basic melody and rhyth. The style is contrapuntal can neighbors. It is only among a few groups, Singing by a shaman is most common, either with- Place yourself in the water, in character, as is the vocal music of this such as those included in these selections, where out accompaniment or with a drum, the latter a No harm will he do to you. region. one can find some retention of aboriginal ele- large instrument of the huehuetl type very simi- ments. lar to that used in pre-conquest times in Mexico. SIDE I, BAND 4: TZOTZIL--SONG FOR ST. PETER. SIDE II, BAND 3: HUICHOL--PEYOTE DANCE. The Other instruments are gourd rattles and notched eating of the narcotic peyote root is an important feature of Huichol religion and an expedi- The Seri are one of the most primitive groups deer scapulae and the violin and guitar, the Father San Pedro tion far to the north is made every year during latter two being important in certain ceremonials Do me three favors of Mexico. Numbering at present not more than the dry season to obtain it. The peyote cult but more commonly used for purely secular music And give me three blessings about 200 individuals, they are the remnants of has its special fiestas when singing and dancing Don't abandon me on the road several related tribes native to Tiburon Island as they are by Mexicans in general. may continue for many hours. The chant heard For now I go to my house to sleep and the shores of the nearby mainland of Sonora. here recounts one of the many myths of the tribe Like a number of other native groups who formerly The Tzotzil are a Maya speaking people, living So please i and is sung without instrumental accompaniment. lived in this arid coastal area and on the Pen- in the highlands of the state of Chiapas in Don't let anything happen to me A shaman performs assisted by two singers and insula of Lower California across the Gulf, they southern Mexico and are generally similar in And if I wake tomorrow with the occasional participation of all those I will thank Gi. ETHNIC FOLKWAYS LIBRARY Long Playing Non-Breakable Micro Groove 33/3 RPM

INDIAN MUSIC OF MEXICO Recorded by Henrietta Yurchenco SIDE | . 2 FEA4I3 A

Band 1: TZOTZIL Fiesta Music (Harp) Band 2: TZOTZIL Bolonchon (Harp and Voices) Band 3: TZOTZIL Fiesta Song (Flute, Drum, Trumpet) Band 4: TZOTZIL Song for St. Peter (Male and Female Voices) Band 5: YAQUI Pascola Dance (Harp and Violins) Band 6: YAQUI Pascola Dance (Harp and Violins) ETHNIC FOLKWAYS LIBRARY Long Playing Non-Breakable Micro Groove 33/3 RPM

SIDE Il s FE 4413 B

Band 1: YAQUI Pascola Dance (Flute and Drum) Band 2: YAQUI Deer Dance (Voice, Drum, Scraper) Band 3: HUICHOL Peyote Dance (Male Voices) Band 4: HUICHOL Squash Dance (Voices and Drum) Band 5: SERI Religious Song Band 6: CORA Harvest Chant (Voice and MITOTE) Band 7: CORA Harvest Chant (Voice and MITOTE)