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Basic Aztec Facts: AZTEC MUSIC

30th Apr 2018

Mexica/Aztec musicians and dancers, Florentine Codex

Music, song, poetry and dance were all at the HEART of Mexica (Aztec) life. Music was a gift from the gods. So playing music was giving a gift back TO the gods. Each instrument was a precious object and looked after very carefully*. In fact, two Aztec gods had come down to earth in the form of sacred drums... (Written by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

The two most important sacred drums were the vertical huehuetl, a large war drum, and the horizontal teponaztli or tongue/slit/gong drum (pic 1). Both wooden, they were often finely decorated with carvings linked to gods and war (see pic 2).

The materials used to make these instruments were often special, rare, expensive, fine woods from distant lowland forests, and jaguar skins to top them. The drums were stored in temple sanctuaries...

Music was part of Mexica ritual and religion - at the centre of daily life. In pic 3 a musician blows a conch shell trumpet during a ritual for channelling fresh water to the city. Nature gods, farming and music were all closely related.

The Mexica only played two types of instruments: wind and percussion. So people call the Aztecs ‘blowers and beaters’! In pic 4 you can see drums, shakers, nut shell rattles, bells, flutes, whistles, rain sticks, conch trumpets, ocarinas, whistling jugs...**

Most instruments had their own special use. Whistles (pic 5), for example, could be blown to give signals in battle, to imitate and attract birds, in funerals to accompany mourning, to direct the movement of dancers...

In the special case of the so-called death whistle (pic 6), this instrument was buried with you to remind you of the scary and powerful sound of wind (think hurricane!). The Mexica believed your soul would face razor-sharp winds as a challenge on your way down to the underworld...

Music was usually a group thing: a performance for the gods, for the royal court, for the local community, for hundreds of people taking part in ceremonies - often acting out historical events. Temple musicians had privileges (no taxes to pay, nice houses...) but rules were strict: one drum beat out of place and... uh uh! (You’d offended the gods...)

All Mexica children went to (different) schools for boys and girls, but every afternoon they met up at the House of Song (pic 8), where they learned games, music, dance and especially to chant (the Aztecs LOVED to chant).

Aztec chants tended to build up gradually over several hours, getting louder, faster and stronger, backed by steady, driving rhythms. The Spanish were amazed at how perfectly coordinated and choreographed the (circular) dances were. They always went round ANTI-CLOCKWISE (pic 9).

You can see dancers (holding flowers, BTW) going in the same direction in pic 10. Look who’s in the middle: a drummer playing a sacred tongue drum and, yes, it’s a woman. Women performed in particular festivals dedicated to goddesses.

In Mexico sounds come naturally from natural materials: stones*** (pic 11), sea shells, gourds, nuts, tortoise****/turtle shells, seed pods, bones, even from...

... human skulls! The god ‘impersonator’ (pic 12) is scraping a bone rasp along the top of a skull, which rests on a woven ring. The skull acts as a ‘resonator’ to amplify the sound. Cool!

*A very few original Aztec instruments have been kept so carefully within their communities over centuries that their whereabouts today are SECRET! One was kept permanently with a lead round its neck (’to prevent it [its soul] flying away...’) They’re sacred objects of worship, believed to hold spiritual powers to this day. SUPER cool!

Guess...

...what the Aztecs called music and dance?

Find out

****The Spanish asked Aztec children how they learned to play strange musical instruments so well. The kids replied ‘Our mum and dad tortoise really well’! (You can see an upside-down tortoise-shell drum by clicking on pic 4...)

Visit our main Aztec Music section...‘How Music Came to the World’**Learn about our ‘crying boy’ whistling jug...***SEE singing stones being played...