Music Education in the Caribbean and Latin America by Torres-Santos Raymond;

Author:Torres-Santos, Raymond;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Unlimited Model
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Early Days

Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, the foremost Spanish chronicle writer, witnessed a celebration with songs and dances accompanied by drums and atabales (kettledrums), which took place in what today is known as Chinandega, previously known as Tezoatega, a village of the Nahuatl people. Even though information regarding the music from Nicaragua is scarce, all those informed coincide in that the feeling and musical style of Nicaraguan music is nostalgic and sad (Barrera, 2009).

In a visit to the Tenderi Museum of Archaeology located in the city of Nindiri, a few kilometers from Managua, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic ocarinas can be found, which have been found to be from the years 500 to 700 of our era and are unique to the museums of Nicaragua. They are made of a black ceramic, unknown to the area, since that type of ceramic is only found in the northern part of Nicaragua. It is believed that invading tribes left these instruments buried. This museum just celebrated its one hundred years of existence and its founder, José María Gutierrez Arancibia, who was the person to discover these artifacts.

It is a pity that musical instruments used in the pre-Colombian period have not been preserved. However, it is known that the following instruments were used in Nicaragua: the chirimía, a kind of oboe made of clay; the quijongo, a percussion instrument; and an instrument similar to the guitar (Peña Hernández, 1968). Today, some examples of these instruments could be seen at the Nindiri Museum. The emergence of the marimba, quite known in Nicaragua, came much later after the Spanish arrival.

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