The thread running throughout these 20 episodes of “Momentos Musicales” relates in one manner or another to the cultures which were born, in many cases flourished, then essentially lost their glory to the onslaught of the Europeans, primarily Spain, but in some cases, Portugal and to a lesser extent, France. Proof can be found in the declared national languages of the modern countries which make up Latin America. Spanish wins the language lottery, or lotería, if you please. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, and French is spoken in Haiti and in French Guiana. But it's the indigenous languages and cultures which concern us during this season of Momentos Musicales. The top five are Quechua, Guarani, Aymara, Nahuatl, and Mayan. According to David Bowles, who is fluent in Nahuatl, there are many variations within each language group. He uses Nahuatl as an example.
“There are, you know, more than 20 different variants of Nahuatl spoken throughout Mexico and Central America and you, as you might imagine, just logically, the farther apart those are, the less mutually intelligible they are,” Bowles says.
Carlos Chávez, for many years the dean of Mexican composers, encouraged anyone within range of his voice to learn about the pre-Columbian cultures, to listen to the non-Spanish languages in the hinterlands, and to mine this array of indigenous elements, making it their own. Manuel Ponce, who predated Chávez, was not a wholehearted subscriber to the Aztec Renaissance, which made his “Danzas de los Antiguos Mexicanos” of 1933 something of a rarity. However, as with all of Ponce’s music, there is a charm which contrasts at times with the uncompromising musical language of Chávez and his disciple, Silvestre Revueltas.
The contrast between Ponce's “Antique Miniature” and Revueltas’ “Cuauhnáhuac” is marked. That title, “Cuauhnáhuac,” by the way, is the Nahuatl name for what came to be the resort town Cuernavaca. However, Revueltas, always something of a gadfly, insisted that his “Cuauhnáhuac” was music without tourism. Nevertheless, I would gladly take the short drive from Mexico City to Cuernavaca any time the opportunity presented, just for the joy of taking a meal at Las Mañanitas. I might even pull up “Cuauhnáhuac” on my cassette deck for the drive over. And yes, I'm putting a date stamp on my 10 years of living in Mexico.
In my conversation with Dr. David Bowles, I mentioned that many musicians regard the Sala Nezahualcóyotl in Mexico City to be the best concert hall in North America. It at least ranks among the finest. Dr. Bowles responded with a little lesson about the living, breathing, Nezahualcóyotl (1402-1472), which I was glad to receive.
“I think he would be delighted to know that, given that he was the premier engineer and architect of his time as an adult, he did so many like engineering marvels, that the idea that something with such perfect acoustics would be named for him—and he was a musician himself, he was regarded as one of the greatest songwriters and composers of his time—all of that… even if it's just in our memory, he's tickled pink, I'm sure, by that,” says Bowles.
Tomorrow we visit another legendary concert hall, Argentina's Teatro Colón. I hope you can join the tour.
PLAYLIST:
Arturo Marquez: Danzon No. 5
Eduardo Garcia Barrios, Orquesta Mexicana de las Artes
El Danzon Segun Marquez
AM 01
Ponce: Canto y Danza de los Antiguos Mexicanos
Batiz, Orq. Sinfonica del Edo de Mexico
Brilliant 8771
Revueltas: Cuauhnahuac
Batiz, Orq. Filarmonica de la Ciudad de Mexico
Brilliant 8771
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 (I.)
Herrera de la Fuente, Orq. Sinfonica de Mineria
O.M. Records 60
