Record of the Day: Various Artists, “Fiestas of Chiapas & Oaxaca”
Various artists
“Mexico. Fiestas of Chiapas & Oaxaca” (Cd Nonesuch 7558520202)
In his Oaxaca Diary, the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks, returning from an excursion to the wonderful mountains
del Llano del Las Flores, notes a walk he took after returning to the city: “We saw open sewers, children with sores and eye infections, a frightening poverty and filth. We were almost suffocated by exhaust fumes… perhaps it did me good to see the other side of the coin, before forming too romantic an idea of this otherwise enchanting place.”
From the same strident social contradictions observed by Sacks was born the popular music of Mexico, faithfully recorded in 1976 by the musicologist David Lewiston who went directly to the regions of southern Mexico documenting first-hand musicians, songs, voices and sounds coming from the streets of Chiapas and Oaxaca.
Magnificent brass and percussion groups are heard playing during the celebration of the Feast of the Mother of Guadalupe in the village of Nabenchauc; around them women carry flowers while fireworks explode in the sky that serve to attract the god of rain.
In the city of Carranza we listen to a marimba ensemble with a very particular sound, due to a pig skin placed along the resonators of the instrument to make it vibrate; the notes of the Valse Chiapañecas and the unbridled Jota acquire an absolutely unusual sound dimension thanks to these instruments. The peak is reached during the Christmas holidays, here
extremely important and heartfelt. During this month, over 500 brass bands from all over Mexico descend on Oaxaca’s great square, called the Zocalo; each band represents a different village, and as children sing during the long processions, the atmosphere is charged with a contagious energy.
This unmissable album also includes two very sweet acoustic interludes: “Ñuoco” is a ballad popular in Pinotepa Nacional and here magnificently interpreted by the singer and guitarist Vielma Chavel, while “Cantares De Mi Tierra”, with a melancholic flavour reminiscent of a lullaby, comes from the village of Tehuantepec and travels through the guitar and nostalgic voice of Ismael Salud Gonzalez, who with the delicate figurations of a waltz in counter-tempo embodies the yearning for love in his notes.
Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical subjects.
This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: Un disco per ogni giorno dell’anno” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.
