Reviving the Music of Indigenous Mexico

When someone says "Mexican music," what kind of things pop into your mind? No doubt that for most people the image would look something like this. The conventional flamenco guitarist with their Guitarras and Guitarrons or maybe a mariachi band with violins, trumpets, and perhaps even an accordion, all underscored by a thumping baseline.

Familiar as these images are, many of the instruments used in modern Mexican music did not originate in Mexico but were transfered here from other cultures. Now, when it comes to pre-colonization, indigenous Indian instruments, most of us wouldn't know a Huehuetl (a drum made from a hollowed trunk) if it hit us in the face.

Accroding to Henrietta Yurcheno's Survival of Pre-Hispanic Music in New Mexico the indigenous music of the native peoples was outlawed during the Inquisition as a method of exterminating native ways of life. Thankfully, the knowledge of how to make and play these ancient instruments was preserved in secret and passed down from generation to generation, as a way to protect the musical heartbeat of the "true" indigenous culture.

Here's is a quick overview of some of the most popular indigenous Mexican instruments still in use today, as featured on the site yxayotl.com

For example, the Yaqui Indians adopted and modified a traditional Mayan instrument called the Bubaleks. These hollowed out gourds were played while floating in water to produce a eerily hollow, percussive sound. Another popular percussive instrument was the Ayotl, drums made from hollowed out turtle shells and played rhythmically with bone antlers.

The flute or "Tlapitzalli" in the native Nahuatl tongue, was incredible important to the native peoples and came in various shapes, sizes and materials. Some of the most impressive were the multi branched double or triple barrel flutes, an indigenous design that is still utilized in modern flute making today. Check out this video to see the modern day variation of the ancient instrument.

The only indigenous example of native stringed instruments are found outside Mexico, with the "Berimbao" of the Amazon region and the "Gualambao" of Paraguay. These instruments aside, string instrument were unknown to the indigenous populations until colonization.

Here is a video showcasing a variety of indigenous instruments, courtesy of Marco Antonio Sanchez.

Today, many of these instruments have found revived popularity, becoming symbols for the pro-indian, anti-colonization grassroots movements that have formed throughout Mexico in recent years.