Yaqui music

Last updated
Sculpture in memory of deer dancer Jorge Tyler on display on Genova Street in the "Zona Rosa" in Mexico City. JorgeTylerDF.JPG
Sculpture in memory of deer dancer Jorge Tyler on display on Genova Street in the "Zona Rosa" in Mexico City.

Yaqui music is the music of the Yaqui tribe and people of Arizona and Sonora. Their most famous music are the deer songs (Yaqui : maso bwikam) which accompany the deer dance. They are often noted for their mixture of Native American and Catholic religious thought.

Contents

Their deer song rituals resemble those of other Uto-Aztecan groups (Yaqui is an Uto-Aztecan language) though is more central to their culture. Native and Spanish instruments are used including the harp, violin or fiddle, rasp (hirukiam, also kuta), drum, and rattles. Singing forms include the deer songs as well as messenger songs (suru bwikam), corn wine songs (vachi vino bwikam), fly songs (nahi bwikam), and coyote songs (wo'i bwikam). [1]

The first recordings of Yaqui music, including thirteen deer songs, were made by Frances Densmore in 1922. [2]

A display at the Arizona State Museum depicts the deer dance and provides a rendition of a deer song. [3] Because the melody spans a modest range, it is ideally suited to instruments that have a limited pitch range, and has been transcribed for the Native American flute. [4]

The deer dance, usually held all night, thanks and honors the deer, little brother (maso, little brother deer: saila maso), for coming from its home, the flower world (seyewailo), and letting itself be killed so that people may live. Deer dancers, pahkolam (ritual clowns), wear rattles around their ankles made from butterfly cocoons, honoring the insect world, and rattles from the hooves of deer around their waist, honoring the many deer who have died. The dance is also accompanied by singing and instruments including water drum (representing the deer's heartbeat) and frame drum, rasp (representing the deer's breathing), gourd rattles held by the dancers (honoring the plant world), as well as the flute, fiddle, and frame harp. The pahkolam dance, give sermons, host (providing water, etc.), joke, and put on comedic skits, such as pretending to be coyotes.

The deer singers (masobwikamem) sing lyrics describing things from nature and which may be seen by the deer. The song lyrics use a way of talking which differs slightly from casual Yaqui and resembles Yaqui elders' speech in some ways, for example syllable repetition (reduplication) such as the use of yeyewe rather than yewe ("play"), or substituting /l/ for another phoneme. [1] Deer songs also contain important terms, such as seyewailo, which may be considered archaic. Fairly conventionalized, deer songs consist of two sections, comparable to stanzas, the first (u vat weeme) and the concluding (u tonua) parts: "the first part is sung many times and then the concluding part will fall down there." [5] The conclusion often uses antithesis.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaqui</span> Indigenous group in Mexico and the United States

The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United States. They also have communities in Chihuahua and Durango, Mexico. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe, based in Tucson, Arizona, is the only federally recognized Yaqui tribe in the United States. Individual Yaqui people live elsewhere in the United States, especially California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Indonesia</span> Music and musical traditions of Indonesia

As it is a country with many different tribes and ethnic groups, the music of Indonesia itself is also very diverse, coming in hundreds of different forms and styles. Every region have its own culture and art, and as a result traditional music from area to area also uniquely differs from one another. For example, each traditional music are often accompanied by their very own dance and theatre. Contemporary music scene have also been heavily shaped by various foreign influences, such as America, Britain, Japan, Korea, and India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous music of North America</span> Music by Indigenous peoples of North America

Indigenous music of North America, which includes American Indian music or Native American music, is the music that is used, created or performed by Indigenous peoples of North America, including Native Americans in the United States and Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Mexico, and other North American countries—especially traditional tribal music, such as Pueblo music and Inuit music. In addition to the traditional music of the Native American groups, there now exist pan-Indianism and intertribal genres as well as distinct Native American subgenres of popular music including: rock, blues, hip hop, classical, film music, and reggae, as well as unique popular styles like chicken scratch and New Mexico music.

Garifuna music is an ethnic music and dance with African, Arawak, and Kalinago elements, originating with the Afro-Indigenous Garifuna people from Central America and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. In 2001, Garifuna music, dance, and language were collectively proclaimed as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

The Indigenous peoples of Arizona are the Native American people of the state of Arizona. These include people that have lived in the region since time immemorial; tribes who entered the region centuries ago, such as the Southern Athabascan peoples; and the Pascua Yaqui who settled Arizona in mass in the early 20th century, though small communities had been in the region for hundreds of years prior.

Chicken scratch is a kind of dance music developed by the Tohono O'odham people. The genre evolved out of acoustic fiddle bands in southern Arizona, in the Sonoran desert. These bands began playing European and Mexican tunes, in styles that include the polka, schottisch and mazurka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uto-Aztecan languages</span> Language family

Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The name of the language family was created to show that it includes both the Ute language of Utah and the Nahuan languages of Mexico.

Yaqui, locally known as Yoeme or Yoem Noki, is a Native American language of the Uto-Aztecan family. It is spoken by about 20,000 Yaqui people, in the Mexican state of Sonora and across the border in Arizona in the United States. It is partially intelligible with the Mayo language, also spoken in Sonora, and together they are called Cahitan languages.

Prehistoric music is a term in the history of music for all music produced in preliterate cultures (prehistory), beginning somewhere in very late geological history. Prehistoric music is followed by ancient music in different parts of the world, but still exists in isolated areas. However, it is more common to refer to the "prehistoric" music which still survives as folk, indigenous or traditional music. Prehistoric music is studied alongside other periods within music archaeology.

Navajo music is music made by Navajos, mostly hailing from the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States and the territory of the Navajo Nation. While it traditionally takes the shape of ceremonial chants and echoes themes found in Diné Bahaneʼ, contemporary Navajo music includes a wide range of genres, ranging from country music to rock and rap, performed in both English and Navajo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iroquois music</span>

The Iroquois are a confederacy of six Native American nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tepehuán</span>

The Tepehuán are an indigenous people of Mexico. They live in Northwestern, Western, and some parts of North-Central Mexico. The indigenous Tepehuán language has three branches: Northern Tepehuan, Southeastern Tepehuan, Southwestern Tepehuan. The heart of the Tepehuan territory is in the Valley of Guadiana in Durango, but they eventually expanded into southern Chihuahua, eastern Sinaloa, and northern Jalisco, Nayarit, and Zacatecas. By the time of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Tepehuan lands spanned a large territory along the Sierra Madre Occidental. Tepehuán groups are divided into the Ódami, Audam, and O'dam, each with their own language, culture, and beliefs.

Mayo is an Uto-Aztecan language. It is spoken by about 40,000 people, the Mexican Mayo or Yoreme Indians, who live in the South of the Mexican state of Sonora and in the North of the neighboring state of Sinaloa. Under the General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples" Law of Linguistic Rights, it is recognized as a "national language" along with 62 other indigenous languages and Spanish which all have the same validity in Mexico. The language is considered 'critically endangered' by UNESCO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Mirabal</span> Musical artist

Robert Mirabal is a Pueblo musician and Native American flute player and maker from Taos Pueblo, New Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maya music</span>

The music of the ancient Mayan courts is described throughout native and Spanish 16th-century texts and is depicted in the art of the Classic Period. The Maya played instruments such as trumpets, flutes, whistles, and drums, and used music to accompany funerals, celebrations, and other rituals. Although no written music has survived, archaeologists have excavated musical instruments and painted and carved depictions of the ancient Maya that show how music was a complex element of societal and religious structure. Most of the music itself disappeared after the dissolution of the Maya courts following the Spanish Conquest. Some Mayan music has prevailed, however, and has been fused with Spanish influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kuisi</span> Indigenous Colombian flute

A kuisi is a Native Colombian fipple flute made from a hollowed cactus stem, with a beeswax and charcoal powder mixture for the head, with a thin quill made from the feather of a large bird for the mouthpiece. Seagull, turkey and eagle feathers are among the feathers commonly used.

'Kwakwaka'wakw music is a sacred and ancient art of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples that has been practiced for thousands of years. The Kwakwaka'wakw are a collective of twenty-five nations of the Wakashan language family who altogether form part of a larger identity comprising the Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, located in what is known today as British Columbia, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mexican folk dance</span> Folk dance

Folk dance of Mexico, commonly known as baile folklorico or Mexican ballet folk dance, is a term used to collectively describe traditional Mexican folk dances. Ballet folklórico is not just one type of dance, it encompasses each region's traditional dance that has been influenced by their local folklore and has been entwined with ballet characteristics to be made into a theatrical production. Each dance represents a different region in Mexico illustrated through their different zapateado, footwork, having differing stomps or heel toe points, and choreography that imitates animals from their region such as horses, iguanas, and vultures.

Uto-Aztecan languages are divided into two groups, Northern and Southern Uto-Aztecan languages. They are spoken in the southwestern United States, north and central Mexico, and in Central America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jilala</span>

The Jilala (جيلالة), or Tariqa Jilalia is an ecstatic and music-therapeutic tariqa of Morocco of Sufi origin. It should not be confused with the folk revival group Jil Jilala.

References

  1. 1 2 Evers, Larry and Molina, Felipe S. (1987). Yaqui Deer Songs - Maso Bwikam: A Native American Poetry, p.28-9. University of Arizona: Vol. 14, Sun Tracks. ISBN   0-8165-0995-6.
  2. Evers and Molina (1987), p.22.
  3. Arizona State Museum, Robert B. K. (August 2001). "Paths of Life: American Indians of the Southwest - Self-Guided Tour Teacher Materials" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-11-01.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. Clint Goss (2011). "Yaquis Deer Dance for the Native American Flute". Flutopedia. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  5. Evers and Molina (1987), p.31.