Mayan musical traditions are characterized by a intercrossed nature of pre and station Encounter traditions. instrumentality. beliefs. pattern and public presentation. Today person can analyze modern-day Mayan music to place these European and autochthonal features. This paper is about the scholarly literature and musical choices of Mayan music to corroborate the premiss of hybridisation. The societal context of Mayan music today references the civilization of pre and station Encounter. The music of the Maya “is a map of the Maya belief system. in which the antediluvian Mayan faith has accommodated a considerable sheathing of Christian beliefs. symbols. and practices” ( Olsen & A ; Sheehy. 2008. p. 226 ) . For illustration. musical events tend to co-occur with Roman Catholic festivals and the Mayan agricultural calendar. reflecting the integrating of both civilizations. While official events might concentrate on European traditions. more intimate events. such as those affecting matrimony. unwellness. and birth. mention more traditional Mayan imposts ( Olsen & A ; Sheehy. 2008 ) .
The music at these events is more likely to hold instrumentality and public presentation qualities similar to those of ancient Mayan tradition. such as the usage of a priest-doctor singing a ritual chant. This chant departs significantly from station Encounter musical theory. affecting the vocalizing of a individual tone that drops to a lower pitch when the priest-doctor pauses briefly to take a breath ( Olsen & A ; Sheehy. 2008 ) . Other shamanic musical public presentations include dancing and certain types of frock. such as a rainmaking shirt. In many instances. these ritualistic events besides use instrumentality from the station Encounter influence. For illustration. the rain doing public presentation includes concomitant from a guitar. even though the text of the vocal is hereditary instead than Christian-European. Besides. the rain-making public presentation includes text that references the Mayan position of the existence and its divinities.
The melodious expressions rely on the chord agreement of I. IV and V. which references Spanish beginnings ( Olsen & A ; Sheehy. 2008 ) . Besides at the same clip Mayan music today can non be conceptualized without its station Encounter influences. The xylophone is the most popular instrument in Mayan music today. and it is believed to hold originated in Central Africa in the sixteenth Century. geting in Guatemala in the seventeenth Century ( Oxford Music Online. 2012 ) . Possibly the most profound illustration of pre and station Encounter loanblend is the fact that. in some Mayan folks. the marimba maps as both a musical instrument and a signifier of communicating ( Pellicer. 2005 ) . The xylophone reveals the indirect influence of Africa through European contact. The intercrossed nature of Mayan music is apparent in the vocal choices from Olsen and Sheehy ( 2008 ) . The marimba’s influence on Mayan musical tradition is apparent in “Los Novios. ” The instrumentality reflects the influence of indirect African contact. and the capable affair of the piece reflects Roman Catholic influence.
In “Los Trece. ” Mayan capable affair is integrated into sones that Ladino instrumentalists have created from a assortment of pre- and post-Encounter traditions. In “Amalihani. ” the more traditional Mayan influences in music and public presentation. viz. dance. are more apparent without hints of post-Encounter influence. In decision. one must gestate this intercrossed non as the amount of different parts but instead the merchandise of different elements that have been synthesized to make something greater than the amount of their parts. By uniting pre and station Encounter elements. the music of the Maya shows the alone nature of cultural experience manifested in originative look. So. this tradition will go on to germinate and make new manners that will go on to incorporate multicultural elements in a manner that best captures the look of the instrumentalist.
Mentions
Marimba. ( 2012 ) . Oxford Music Online. Retrieved November 10. 2012 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. oxfordmusiconline. com. ezproxy. lib. umb. edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/40082? q=marimba & A ; search=quick & A ; pos=1 & A ; _start=1 # firsthit Olsen. D. & A ; Sheehy. D. ( 2008 ) . The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music. New York: Routledge.
Pellicer. S. ( 2005 ) . Maya achi xylophone music in Guatemala. Atlanta: Temple University Press.
