Descripción de los Instrumentos

The diatonic simple marimba (also known as the marimba sencilla or marimba

de sones) is the most common type of marimba both in Rabinal and within the Indian

population as a whole. There are about forty simple marimbas, mostly son but also a

few pieza marimbas in the municipality. Rabinal town and the larger villages have a

concentration of marimbas and the rest are scattered in the smaller villages. Some are not played publicly and others, like livestock, are kept solely to be sold in times of need. In addition, there are ten conjunto marimba ensembles (marimba de pieza, bass and drum set) all of which are located in the town and larger villages.

The simple marimba

There are two types of simple marimba: the son marimba and the pieza marimba. They are structurally similar, being distinguished by the different ranges of their keyboards, the number of musicians required to play them, the type of music played on them, and the kind of events at which they are played.

The son marimba has 40 keys or five and a half terminos (octaves) and is played by three musicians. As their name indicates, these marimbas are used to play the sones repertoire. The range of son marimba is:

à #

The pieza marimba has 42 keys and is played by a set of four musicians; the

extra player, who embellishes the main melody on the highest keys, is known as a

requinto. Although mainly used for playing piezas, sones can be played on them by

three musicians. The pieza marimba range is:

z

The marimba de pieza is also known as a conjunto marimba because, on occasion, it may become part of a musical ensemble that includes a counter-bass and a drum set. An extensive repertoire of popular urban music can be played on the pieza marimba. Once the preserve of the Ladino population, this music is enjoyed by Rabinalense Indians for whom it is now the music of choice for weddings, dancing, and modem dance-dramas.

Simple marimbas are tuned in major keys, usually C Major, but it is common to find them set to F Major and G Major and occasionally to other Major keys. Esteban’s two son marimbas, for example, are tuned to E major and A flat Major respectively. These diatonic marimbas may also be transposed to a neighbouring tonality by

applying small amounts of black wasp wax^"^^ to the keys occupying the seventh scale degree of the major scale with the purpose of lowering the tone half a tone (semitone). For instance, if the marimba is tuned in G Major, and wax is applied to the F keys, the marimba will be transposed to C Major. The change of tonality is only practised for the four mallet sones (see below). The tones of the marimbas are not tempered in equidistant tones and semitones; the intervals vary between 1/4 to 3/4 of a tone, producing, as a result, unequal octaves of a peculiarly rich sound which is different from the tempered scale of the piano.

Marimba production, maintenance, and repair

Marimba production (both diatonic and chromatic) is an almost exclusively Indian craft. According to Camposeco (1992), workshops producing marimbas in Guatemala are chiefly found in San Juan Ostuncalco in Quetzaltenango province; San Marcos, San Marcos province; Santa Eulalia, San Miguel Acatan and Jacaltenango in Huehuetenango province; in various places in other provinces such as Totonicapan, Chimaltenango, Tecpan, Villa Canales, Salama and Guatemala City. I visited two marimba workshops in Coban and Carcha in Alta Verapaz which supply the whole region down to Baja Verapaz. Some Culbulco traders make a limited number of marimbas but were not producing when I visited them. I was unable to visit marimba workshops in the Western Highland towns.

There are no marimba producers in Rabinal, though Esteban Uanché remembers that in his youth there was a carpenter, Julio Sis, who used to make them. Today, Esteban is the only person in town who repairs son marimbas; he can replace broken parts but not make or tune keyboards, which he has to contract out. Esteban frequently buys broken or simply abandoned marimbas which he renovates for resale. He also receives marimbas on consignment from merchants in San Miguel Acatan and Cubulco, which he calibrates, redecorates, and resells at 30% above cost; he is the only marimba trader in town. No one travels the markets selling marimbas any more; Julian

Paulino Jerônimo boasted that his grandfather and great grandfather developed this practice: “They alone transposed,” he claimed. “They had the ability to change its voice, applying wax quickly and thus modifying it. The double marimba came later.”

For detailed descriptions o f marimba craftsmanship, see Chenoweth (1964); for photographs o f the construction process, see Camposeco (1992).

Ordonez gave up the business following the outbreak of violence in neighbouring El Quiche province in the 1970s. He explained:

We sold marimbas for about five years. It would take three days from here to Toto [Totonicapan] as we took them by foot. Nowadays you cannot trade, because if you carry money there is no way you can avoid the assaults on the road.

Watching Esteban work gave me detailed knowledge of the structure of the marimba. The keyboard of the simple son marimba rests on a trapezoid frame called a

'mesa' (table) which measures 2.16m in length and 15cm and 62cm respectively on

each side, and has four legs. The railing where the resonator’s ‘ears’ rest is held in its interior. The hanging resonators are trapezoid structures whose bottom end is an inverted pyramid. Throughout the length of the table there are several slots for pegs that sustain the keyboard: a cable runs through the holes in the pegs and the keys themselves

Different types of wood are used for different parts of the marimba. The table and legs are generally made of pine. A better quality, harder wood is used to make the keys and pegs; cypress, hormigo ( Pltymiscium Dimorphandrum Donn) or granadillo (ebony; Amerimon granadillo) are ideal for the ‘pure acero ’ (pure steel) sound when struck. The resonators must be constructed from mahogany because “it allows the best resonance and does not break easily.”

Calibrating entelarlas (replacing the membranes of each resonator) is the most important and specialised aspect of Esteban’s repair and maintenance work. Each resonator has a hole at the bottom surrounded by a ring covered in black wasp wax which serves as an adhesive to attach a very fine membrane made from the interior layer of pig tripe. These waxed rings with thin membranes form the mirlitones^^ that produce the marimba’s characteristic buzzing sound (charleo). The size of the rings varies according to the size of both resonators and keys. The malleability of the wax allows the calibration of the size of the holes, achieving the appropriate aperture for the required resonance. The resonators are arranged from largest - for lower bass keys - to

A vibrating membrane that modifies a sound produced in some other way, adding a nasal or buzzing quality (Randel 1986).

smallest - for higher treble keys. Starting with the bass keys, the first thirty have resonators containing a hole; five of the remaining ten or twelve keys have resonators with no holes; the rest have no resonators. There are only five different calibres for the thirty resonators bearing holes, resulting in five different groups of six resonators each with the same calibre.

Drawing No. 2: Lower part o f a resonator with its ring hole covered with pig tripe membrane

Tripe membrane is so soft and fragile that it breaks after a few performances. To apply the membrane correctly, it is necessary to stick it with the ball of the little finger so that it adopts the curve of the fingertip and avoids stretching too much when it sticks to the wax. This allows it to vibrate without breaking when the air is pushed out of the resonator each time the key is struck. When the wax hardens, many musicians add more when replacing the tripe membrane, reducing the size of the holes. This results in the alteration of the correct diameter corresponding to the tone of the key on the top of each resonator. Consequently proper buzz is lost and with it the magnitude of sound of the instrument. Esteban complained about musicians who do not replace membranes regularly or calibrate the rings, which results in the muteness and poor appearance of

their instruments. Sneering at the marimbas brought to him for calibrating, he told me: “Look at the amount of wax, they resemble a child’s ass, full of excrement.”

The bolillos (mallets) used to play the marimba are made in different sizes of various materials. The heads of the mallets used for the lower register are the biggest and are relatively soft. Those used for the middle range are slightly smaller and hard. Both are made of local mbber. The heads of the treble player’s mallets are the smallest and hardest; they are generally manufactured from pork tripe and are only available in the capital.

The double or chromatic marimba

The double marimba comprises two chromatic marimbas, a ‘big’ marimba for four players and a tenor marimba for three. The leader of the group is the tiplista (treble) player of the ‘big’ marimba who develops the main melody; the other three musicians are the requinto, who embellishes the main melody on the higher keys of the keyboard, and the bass and centre players who together are responsible for rhythm and harmony. The tenor marimba has one bass, one centre, and one requinto player who play in counterpoint with and segundean (follow in parallel motion) the ‘big’ marimba p a r t s . L i k e the conjunto ensemble (diatonic marimba de pieza), the chromatic double marimba ensemble includes a counter bass and drum set, which add modem sounds and rhythms.

The keyboard on both marimbas is chromatic (by semitones). The ‘big’ marimba has a range of six whole octaves and a variable number of extra semitones.

The tenor marimba’s range is three whole octaves and various numbers of semitones.

There have only ever been very few double marimbas in Rabinal [municipality], largely because chromatic keyboard playing techniques are vastly different from those possessed by local musicians. Only a few ladinoized Indians, essentially the Caballero and Jeronimo families plus one or two other individuals, have learned the

There are two chromatic tenor marimbas in Rabinal which are dedicated solely to playing hymns and prayers for the Catholic parish services.

For more technical information about the double marimba, see Chenoweth (1964).

The Caballeros family has produced several generations o f musicians. Fifty years ago they formed a brass band and an ensemble o f string instruments (violin and counter-bass).

necessary skills to play the chromatic or double marimba. The popular pieza repertoire can be played in its original key and by modulating to minor and other keys if required without having to adapt the pieces as simple marimba players have to do. The repertoire includes corridas, cumbias, guarachas, mambas, baieras, pasillas, fox trots, 6/8, blues and especially waltzes such as the old ‘Carmela’ or the famous ‘Flar del

C afé’ composed by Herman Alcantara and other waltzes inspired by the Rabinal

landscape such as ’Naranjales de Rabinal’ by Julio Antonio Perez (musical example number 10 in cassette).

Musicians’ precarious domestic economy limits the spread of double marimba ownership as this ensemble is expensive to buy and it is difficult to keep such a large number of musicians together in a very limited and uncertain market. Today Rabinal’s only double marimba in town belongs to the municipality and is played by members of the two families mentioned above at Ladino festivities such as weddings, fifteenth birthday celebrations, baptisms, school events, and other weekend events financed by the municipality. Demand is scarce in Rabinal and it is generally necessary to look for contracts outside the municipality in places such as Salama, San Jeronimo, Purulha, Granados and El Choi. With the exception of Purulha, these are Ladino municipalities able to pay 1000-1500 quetzales (up to US$250) for a night of double marimba music.

SON MUSIC

Bartolomé de las Casas and his close companions, the friars Rodrigo de Ladrada and Pedro Angulo, began to penetrate K’iche’ territory and the adjacent Verapaz in 1537. They composed songs in the K’iche’ language based on the life of Christ and taught them to four Indian merchants who became cantares de traças (troubadours). These merchants carried the Christian message to Indian towns through sung stories, accompanying themselves with rattles and turn. In 1540, King Charles V of Spain ordered the Franciscan provincial authorities in Mexico to send Indian singers and musicians, trained in their monasteries, to assist de las Casas in the evangelisation of Guatemala (Lehnoff 1986:77-78). They arrived in 1542, when Father Luis de Cancer

brought Indian musicians to Verapaz; they were most probably from the Franciscan convent of Tlatelolco (ibid: 69-71)/"*^

Music, dance and drama became the vehicles of Christian education. Tocotines

(villancicos, poems set to son music) were composed for the autosacramentales (a type

o f religious comedy) to the Virgin. Comedies, nativity scenes, loas or alabanzas (short dramatic poems and praises with musical interludes), dance-dramas such the Dance of the Conquest and the Dance of the Conversion as well as the processional music for the

cofradias were composed for performance during the fiestas of the Catholic annual

calendar. The discovery of late sixteenth century musical codices in Huehuetenango in Northwest Guatemala illustrates the rich repertoire of polyphonic music sung and played in remote Indian towns during that time. The codices include diverse musical genres from plainsong, antiphons, masses, and villancicos to instrumental dances composed by renowned European maestros. Sixteenth-century Indian chapel masters, such as Thomas Pascual and Francisco de Leon, also composed, copied, and gathered similar musical collections. Many of these compositions were also found in the Archivo

Historico del Arzobispado (Archives of the Archbishopric) in Guatemala City, which

suggests the performance of a common repertoire in both the cathedral and its smaller parishes (Lehnoff 1986:78-82).

Whilst introducing European music for religious services to the Indian population, the friars discovered a rich vernacular musical and dramatic tradition*"^^ and adapted it to the needs of the Christian religion. The theatre of evangelisation* created a rich cultural legacy that is still enjoyed today. Verapaz, and especially Rabinal, has a rich repertoire of music and dance-drama owing to the control and isolation imposed on the region by the Dominicans (Mace 1966,1967).*^*

Franciscans were the first friars to arrive in New Spain following the conquest of 1521. In 1536, they established the first secondary school for Indian nobles at their convent of Tlatelolco and this became the most important centre for the religious indoctrination and musical training of the indigenous nobility. The syllabus included reading, writing, Latin, rhetoric, logic, philosophy, and indigenous medicine (Ricard [1947] 1992:336).

See pre-Hispanic dances in Mace (1966, 1967); Tedlock (1985: 45, 149-150); Acufla (1978); Breton (1994).

For the theatre o f evangelisation in Guatemala, see Correa and Cannon (1958).

My investigations revealed that Rabinal has twenty-six distinct dance-dramas (appendix 4) some o f which are still performed as an offering and entertainment for the saints and the

By the early seventeenth century, ‘son ’ was a general term referring to popular songs and dances which was also commonly used to refer to the instrumental part of the music as well (Saldivar 1987 [1943]: 249; Stanford 1984a: 19). Nowadays Ladinos use the term to refer to whatever Indians play preserving the low class strata connotation of the colonial term. For Indians, ‘son ' refers to all ancestral genres of music.

Analytically speaking, son music can be divided into two main groups: the Indian son and the non-Indian son (O’Brien 1980; Stanford 1984b). The Indian son, whilst influenced by European and Afncan music, obeys forms and patterns alien to European music and is exclusively played by indigenous people in all Indian regions of Meso-America (Kurath and Marti 1964:177-8,197; Boiles 1966:71-73; O’Brien 1980; Horspool 1982: 267-269; Navarrete 1994:90-91). The non-Indian son, known as the Mestizo (Mexican) son or the Chapin (Guatemalan) son, despite its noticeable Afncan and Indian influences, basically obeys the forms and rules of European (and especially Spanish) music. It proceeds from models of European dances which have been developed and practised in particular ritual contexts and conditions within indigenous society, adopting forms, styles, and sonority which gave it a distinctive style of its own.

The Mexican son

Stanford (1984a: 10-11) argues that in Mexico the term has three aspects: musical, literary, and choreographic. From a musical point of view, the son rhythm is based in the proportion 3:2 or sesquialtera (that alternates with six; the metre sign is C3); in other words, the rhythm is played in alternating measures of three 1/4 notes with measures of two groups of three octaves as:

0 é * 0 i

public during cofradîa festivities. Teletor (1955) describes eighteen dances that existed during the first half o f the 20^ century.

This proportion also appears in contemporary writing as the alternating of simple triple metre 3/4 and compound duple metre 6/8. With respect to the musical form, it has a strophic structure, with a refrain and an introduction that can be played between verses of the song. The literary component is the copia (stanza), usually consisting of four octosyllabic verses or lines with a love and picaresque theme. The choreographic aspect is a couples’ dance with zapateo (foot stamping).

An analysis of the structures and rhythms of the string instruments and music of the Zinacanteco Maya and Chamula Indians of Chiapas indicates that in sixteenth and seventeenth century Mexico harps, guitars, and violins were very sim ile to the instruments, musical groups, tuning techniques, and rhythms common to Spain and other Western European regions (Harrison and Harrison 1968). The Harrisons claim that the zarabanda (as dance and music) originates in the sixteenth century in the fusion of Spanish instruments and musical structures with the structure of the pre- Hispanic erotic tickle or itch dance (cuecuecheuvcatl). F r o m this they extrapolate that both the San Sebastian son and the Bolonchon Zinacanteco and Chamula (secular- themed songs among the Chamulas, accompanied by string instruments) are chaconas (a sixteenth-century dance originating in New Spain) and that their basic rhythms correspond to that of the zarabanda (as son music) with its characteristic sesquialtera proportion 3:2 (op.cit.). Stevenson (1986:28) also argues that zarabanda and chacona dances appeared first in Mexico in the middle of the sixteenth century, later gaining popularity in Spain (cf. Van der Lee 1995:216). To close the circle, Stanford (1984a: 10-11) believes that the zarabanda^ j arabe, pavana, and other dance pieces are variations of the son type.

In early colonial times, people danced to songs of one or more verses. The most common form was the seguidilla (a stanza of four or seven lines) which was widespread throughout Spain. The seguidilla had a strong influence on some types of