Abstract

The article provides a description of the project ecmo and an audiovisual journey through its archive, emphasizing the musical diversity of the state of Oaxaca, its genres, repertoires and instrumental endowments, as well as its uses, contexts, musical occasions, conditions of musical practice and agents involved in its production and consumption. The purpose of this exhibition is to invite the public to consult this collection online in the media library of the national phonotheque.

Keywords: audiovisual archives, ethnomusicology, music

an audiovisual journey through the ethnography of musical cultures in oaxaca (ecmo)

This article provides a description of the ecmo project and an audiovisual journey through its archive. It emphasizes the musical diversity of the state of Oaxaca, including its genres, repertoires, instrumental ensembles, as well as the uses, contexts, occasions for music performance, conditions of musical practice, and the agents involved in the production and consumption of music. The purpose is to encourage the public to access the online media library of Mexico's Fonoteca Nacional (National Sound Archive).

Keywords: music, audiovisual archives, ethnomusicology, Oaxaca.

The Ethnography of Musical Cultures in Oaxaca (ecmo)1 is a collaborative project of musical ethnography, that is, a description of music and about music based on fieldwork in which in-depth interviews were conducted with musical agents (all actors involved in one way or another in musical communication and in its production and consumption), musical products were recorded, among these goods a great diversity of music was recorded in their local contexts and processes through which the music currently listened to and those that have left a mark in the musical imaginary of the people in the state of Oaxaca were analyzed. At the same time, it is a project of applied anthropology because this scientific effort had the purpose of influencing the plans of the cultural sector of Oaxaca in musical matters. In spite of the popular recognition and in the legislation of the cultural diversity in the state,2 the problem we identified was the absence of a systematic body of knowledge on existing music to guide public policy strategies and actions.

The dialogue between text and audiovisual testimony in this article aims to reflect on some of the challenges of musicological research in which 27 researchers are engaged.3 The ambitious dimension of a project that set out to portray at one point in its history the musical diversity in the state of Oaxaca.

The initial workshops for the creation of a thematic and methodological guide benefited from the field experience of the researchers by allowing them to delve into several classic theoretical debates in ethnomusicology to address the influence of society on music and of music on society, to understand music as a powerfully affective symbolic system of communication (Attali, 2011; Bauman, 1992; Blacking, 1974; Feld, 1990; Lutz and Abu-Lughod, 1990; Meyer, 1956; Middleton, 1990; Schafer, 1994), as well as designing a qualitative methodology that highlighted themes and criteria for the possible identification and description of musical diversity.

We developed a thematic guide for the fieldwork that emphasized the processes of musical production-consumption with particular attention to musical and dance occasions, performativity, their communicative qualities as symbolic systems, their emotional and affective efficacy, the relationships of actors and institutions involved in these processes and the resources, media and musical products. The topics covered a wide range from repertoires, genres, styles, musical forms, instrumental endowments, musical concepts in native languages to social, political, economic and religious relations, cosmovisions and concepts related to music and dance.

Theory and method

Methodologically, we decided to start from an ethnolinguistic criterion (Barabas and Bartolomé, 1999) to determine the geographic areas of work and to transcend the conventional idea of the eight geographic-cultural regions used by the state governments to refer to the different native cultures of Oaxaca. In this way each researcher covered an area corresponding to the following ethnolinguistic groups: Afro-Mexicans, Amuzgos, Chatinos, Chinantecos, Chontales, Cuicatecos, Ikoots (Huaves), Ixcatecos, Mazatecos, Mixtecos, Ayuuk (Mixes), Nahua, Triquis, Tzotziles, Zapotecos, Zoques and we included the city of Oaxaca as an example of urban dynamics and the Oaxacan communities in Los Angeles, Fresno and Madera in California, United States, which were appearing as important migrant communities.

Twenty-two ethnographic reports and a general diagnosis on musical cultures in Oaxaca (Navarrete, 2013 A) were produced and delivered to the Secretariat of Cultures and Arts of Oaxaca to address the problems of music based on five axes of safeguarding the tangible and intangible cultural heritage (Law of Cultural Development for the State of Oaxaca, 2010). For the purposes of this article, the results of the project include the production of a collection of 10,556 technical files and audio, music, interview, soundscape, photography and video records,4 which constitute a fundamental database for a systematic understanding of the diversity of social practices surrounding music, examples of which are offered in this article in dialogue with the descriptions and reflections in the text. The sample includes identified sources of video clips, soundscapes and in some cases an edition of photos with audios of music and sequences of video clips.

Although the ethnolinguistic criterion was operationally useful at first, it was evident from field experience that the music transcended this criterion. Musical genres and their repertoires crossed ethnic boundaries and geographic regions and suggested the existence of shared musical practices in areas with differentiated ethnic populations and complex historical interethnic dynamics. We were aware that the diffusion and transformation of music obeys the influence of various historical, economic, ideological and political factors on a cultural matrix that has one of its anchors in language, but is not exclusive.

In the workshop discussions before going out into the field and in sharing the professional experiences of the participants, we drew on ethnomusicological theory and reflected on music as humanly organized sound (Blacking, 1974); we took up Alan Merriam's (1964) model of three levels of analysis of music, the conceptualization of music, the behavior in relation to music, and the musical sound itself as a product of the behavior that produces it. Anthony Seeger asks: what is music for a given culture, and states

[...] is the ability to formulate chains of sounds accepted by the members of a given group [...] Music is the construction and use of instruments that produce sounds. It is the use of the body to produce and accompany sounds [...] it is the emotion that accompanies the production, appreciation and participation in the performance. Music is sound but it is also intention and realization; it is both emotion and value as well as structure and form. Music is composed, studied, performed and received by members of societies [...] Therefore music is a communication system that encompasses sounds structured and produced by members of a community when they communicate (Reynoso, 2012: 8; Seeger, 1991: 343-6).

The emphasis on performance The idea of music as a communicative event in which instruments, musical form and structure, bodily expression, emotions between performers and audience play, understood as an "affective language", led us to the challenge of considering the ways in which each culture manifests itself musically. At the same time, we were interested in recording resources, products, identifying actors and processes of music, and learning about musical diversity and the dynamics of production and material and symbolic circulation of and about music. This anthropological dimension of music led us to conceive of musical practice as a "total social fact" (Mauss, 1971), as a "..." (Mauss, 1971), as a "..." (Mauss, 1971), as a "..." (Mauss, 1971).performance cultural" in which a musical occasion (Herndon and Mc Leod, 1990) encapsulates the totality of a culture in the act of constant interpretation and reinterpretation (Singer, 1958: 347-388; Bauman, 1992: 41-49; Basso Ellen, 1981: 271-291). In this sense, Gonzalo Camacho defines a musical culture as

[...] the set of musical facts in socially structured contexts and processes, historically transmitted and appropriated by groups of individuals, constituting an identity device. Musical facts are symbolic forms configured in systems of relationships that help the construction, resignification and organization of meaning in a given community. The different musical cultures are expressions of the sensitivity, richness and creativity of the human condition. In this sense, there are no superior or inferior musical cultures, only diverse ones (Gonzalo Camacho, 2009: 26).

The richness of our reflections brought us closer to the object of study in a systemic way, but at the same time our objectives and tasks became more complex and elusive. The thematic diversity that appeared at the working tables during the workshops was very broad and complex for the practical purposes of a research that would serve as a guide in public policies for the promotion of music and the systematic recognition of its diversity.

With these considerations and once the ethnographic field phase was concluded, we set ourselves the challenge of finding out if the music recorded in the ethnographies of the ethnolinguistic groups had elements in common that would allow us to regroup these expressions into musically identifiable cultural areas. We imagined a cartography of cultural areas under ethnomusical criteria (musical and extramusical) in order to generate a map of musical cultures.

Recognizing the political nature of social interaction, we think of the power dynamics surrounding musical production; we apply the Gramscian conception of hegemony and subalternity (Roux, 2020); Thus, we chose to use as the main criterion of a musical culture the dominant musical genre or genres in articulation with other musical genres that play a subordinate role, and in whose dynamics the hegemony of a genre over other genres is exercised in the repertoires of musical groups, in the social practices of music, in the demand of the public, as well as in its affective and identity value.

In those areas where this dynamic between genres was not evident from our sources, we chose to define the musical culture by its dominant instrumental endowments, leaving open the possibility of delving into these later.

We define the existence of five musical cultures within the state of Oaxaca and parts of neighboring states: the musical culture of the chilena, the musical culture of the son istmeño, the musical culture of sones and jarabes, the musical culture of harp, jarana and marimba, and the musical culture of orchestra. This last one has more of a historical character, as it suggests the important presence of the typical orchestra in the north of the state until a recent period.

The musical culture of the Chilean5 includes the territories of the Mixtec, high, low and coast, the Triqui, Amuzgo, Chatino and Zapoteco territories of the southern highlands, as well as the Afro-Mexican coast, which includes a good part of the Guerrero coast up to the Chontal territory to the south, near Salina Cruz (video 1): https://youtu.be/0eje5cNIG-w ; video 2: https://youtu.be/W79_dooSVYU ; video 3: https://youtu.be/MeU0cgT-RRc).

From a strictly musical perspective, the chilena genre is characterized by its dactylic rhythms with an accent of dynamic emphasis, exemplified in strictly musical terms as a 6/8 or 12/8 time signature. There are also sesquiálteros rhythms that combine the rhythmic feet in a 2:3 ratio, this presence is accentuated towards the coastal zone. This rhythmic characteristic is common in the Mexican son in both melody and harmony. The chilena may or may not be sung. On the coast the compositions are sung in couplets of four consonant octosyllabic verses in the even-numbered verses and the themes are directed to the woman or to the landscape of the terroir.

Among the emblematic composers we can mention Leonides Rojas (Metlatónoc Guerrero), Mateo Reyes (San Martín Peras), Álvaro Carrillo (Cacahuatepec, Oaxaca), Higinio Peláez Ramos (Cacahuatepec, Oaxaca); however, the repertoire of the oral tradition is much wider and more present than that of identified authors. The main groups and endowments are the orchestra conceived as a combination of instrumental families of idiophones, membranophones, aerophones and chordophones; string ensembles, which include violin, jarana mixteca, bajo quinto, banjo, guitars sextas, requinto, double bass, mandolin and psaltery, as well as small wind bands.

In the southern highlands string groups, consisting of violins, guitars, cantaro, cajón, are a group that is present from Sola de Vega with groups like "Alma Solteca", Miahuatlán with the string group "El Maizal" of the López Vera family, and up to the coastal area of Juquila with the chatinos in Panixtlahuaca, as the string group "Serpiente de Siete Cabezas" (Serpent of Seven Heads). Very present are the groups of Chilean bands with emphasis on the saxophone section such as the band "Villa de Sola".

The musical culture of the Chilean also has several historical floors, such as the trade of the instruments of Coicoyán de las Flores, Oaxaca. It was a commercial model of instrument construction, distribution and commercialization through the Lenten celebration circuits among the mentioned districts, where the ethnic groups that make up this musical culture participate (Stanford, 1984: 40). A similar dynamic existed in Miahuatlán with its lute makers. Today some of these historical trade circuits continue to be used for music; today they are the sales channels for recorded music by Mixteco, Triqui, Amuzgo, Mestizo and Afromestizo "keyboard players" who make chilena with electronic keyboards, in addition to the trade of recorded music and with the ease of transportation by new highways and passenger services. The consumption of music is a dynamic movement in this zone, and it crosses the natural zones, Mountain, Coast and Lowlands, this demonstrates the intelligibility of music in different ecological levels and among different ethnic groups, who consume the music of other native peoples.

On the coast the chilena alternates with the son, it is danced in couples and the man dances with force. Peteneras and malagueñas, cumbia, merequetengue and corrido are subaltern genres present and orchestras or musical groups should include them in their repertoires.

The musical culture of the Son istmeño encompasses the entire Isthmus of Tehuantepec from the Chontal coast and the port of Salina Cruz, the Zapotec, Huave, Mixe Bajo and Zoque territory to the port of Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz (video 4): https://youtu.be/GSsoSvWoqVw ; video 5: https://youtu.be/6SJIfjO6n28 ; video 6: https://youtu.be/leKjSh9Mk5E ).

The dominant genre shared among the localities as well as among the ethnic groups that make up this musical culture is the native musical category called son istmeño. This genre is widely cultivated by the musical agents that cohabit the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; the son istmeño is an important feature of identity, of processes of resistance and even of "musical colonizations" that have been detected among the Mixe populations of the Baja, where there is talk of the "zapotequización" of music. Son istmeño is the music with the greatest presence in the zone, it is shared and intelligible through its consumption, economy and internal movement.

The dominant musical groups that perform the son istmeño are the wind band, the Pitu nisiaaba (flute, tortoise shell and drum music), the marimba and marimba orchestra and, in string formats, the trios and troubadours, who reproduce the son identity through their singing in Zapotec.

Among the most representative bands in the area are: "Regional" of Carlos Robles, "Princesa Donaxhii", "Bele Xhiaa" of don Pepe Morales, "Cheguigo" of Vicente Guerra, "Ada". The marimba orchestras: "Hermanos Angulo", "Orquesta Lira San Vicente", "El Güero Meño", "Roy Luis", "Perla Istmeña" of Cirilo Martínez in Reforma de Pineda, "Los Hermanos Ríos" in Zanatepec and, among the troubadours, the trio "Xiavizende" or the same trio "Monte Albán", originally from Ixtaltepec.

The son istmeño is complemented by the dance. It is danced in pairs and eight-beat evolutions are marked. It is a dance for "courting" in which the couple should not stop seeing each other's eyes and should not turn their backs to the dancing partner while dancing. When a musical group performs the son approach (A) as a waltz, the couple dances alone with a light cadence of displacement and little body movement. When it comes to the zapateado (B, C, D), it is the male who accentuates more, jumping and combining a crossing of legs to the front. In the zapateado, the woman does not jump, but moves with a hip movement, lifting the petticoat with her hands. It is important to note that there are at least five different forms of zapateado.

The musical form of the son istmeño is constituted by an introduction, the son or estribillo-preparation to the zapateado (x3-zapateado x3) and the end of the son. The introduction is commonly played by a trumpet, the carrizo flute -in the case of the grouping Pitu nisiaaba- and even the keyboard, when it is a grouping with electric instruments. In the son's approach, the following are included tutti all the instruments (A), as well as the preparation to the zapateado; in the zapateado (B), the zapateado (C) and the zapateado (D) there is an instrumental or a voice that sings the lyrics. At the end of the son some traditional musicians record in their scores "va muriendo"; (F): Tutti ad libitumwhich in the case of the Zapotec people of the isthmus is called regulidxi.

The time signature is a play between 3/4 and 6/8 to separate sections. In the approach of the son (A) we hear a rhythmic base "accompaniment" made by the percussions (tarola, bass drum and cymbals) and a response to the phrases of the theme through a heterophony of voices made by the horns (trumpets, clarinets, baritone, tenor and alto saxophones) in a combination of responses to phrases of the main melodic themes. In the zapateados, whether B, C or D, the harmony is supported in counter time by the baritone saxophone, which plays the bass and is complemented in unison by the tenor and alto saxophones making the "pepes", so called in onomatopoeic allusion by the musicians. It is important to point out that the bands of the musical culture of the son istmeño have used the baritone saxophone as a support for the bass.

Among the various musical occasions, weddings, candles, xv years and wax carvings stand out; there are centers for the preservation of traditional forms that watch over the performance and conservation of the son in an orthodox way, such as those called xhuanas in Tehuantepec.

Another dominant genre that is cultivated is the bolero, as it has served, like the son, for the poetic creation in the Zapotec language. With this same linguistic identity function, rap appears with hip hop groups such as "Juchirap". Funeral marches continue to have an important presence to accompany the deceased and in this genre we remember the important work of maestro Atilano Morales from San Blas Atempa. In the candles, the musical repertoire extends to various genres, particularly the cumbia that came after the chachacha and mambo to be part of the so-called tropical music from the Caribbean.

The musical culture of sones and jarabes extends throughout the central valleys of the state of Oaxaca and the northern highlands, and includes communities of Zapotecs, Mixes from the high, middle and lowlands, as well as Chinantecs (video 7): https://youtu.be/3bZ25CpA-fg ).

The son is a musical form constructed as follows: intro-tutti (A), (B solos), (A tutti) (B clarinet), (A), (C trumpet), (A), (D saxophone), (A), (E trombone), (A tutti, final), rhythm: 6/8 and/or 3/4 hemiola or sesquialtera. On the other hand, the syrup contains specific musical components. The syrup form: intro-tutti (A), (B solos), (A tutti) (B clarinet), (A), (C trumpet), (A), (D saxophone), (A), (E trombone), (A tutti, final) register, rhythm: 3/4. It is fundamental to point out that the dominant genres of the musical culture of the sones and jarabes are executed mainly from the practice of the oral tradition of music.

Among the ballroom dances inherited from the xix polka stands out as a dominant genre that has become a favorite with the Sinaloan influence and the use of the tuba for melodic ornamentation. Other subaltern musical genres that have presence in the special occasions of this musical culture are marches, dances, fandangos, religious music and funeral marches among others.

The sones and jarabes are the dominant forms, omnipresent in the most formal musical occasions of the fiesta, among which we can mention convites, calendas, audition, the jaripeo, dance, the burning of castles, in burials and other celebrations of the civic calendar, as well as in meetings of political authorities and musical festivals.

The gozona is a model of music exchange that occurs mainly among the Zapotec, Mixe and Chinantec peoples. It is a kind of musical barter or reciprocity between communities.

The dominant musical group is undoubtedly the wind band. It is made up of instruments from three families: aerophones, membranophones and idiophones. Within this endowment, breath, woodwind and brass instruments are represented, with a wide range of timbres, flutes, requinto clarinets, bb clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, saxhores, trombones, baritones, bombardinos and tuba. In the context of the state of Oaxaca, the philharmonic bands of the sones and jarabes musical culture are the most complete and musically solvent bands. The shawm group formed by the shawm (double reed aerophone), which alternates with the reed flute (beaked aerophone), with the clarinet (circular mouthpiece aerophone) and a drum (cup bimembranophone) is also important and complementary in the main festivities, as it serves to mark the different ceremonial moments from the convite to the mass. In the Mixe villages of the highlands, there are still groups of typical string ensembles that appear in family celebrations, such as the typical ensemble of Yacochi. The scene of the electronic grupera music groups from rock and ska among the youth of Tamazulapam and towns of the Mixe Alta, as well as in the area of Ocotlán in the central valleys, has visibly spread among the youth who inherit the tradition of the community bands.

The musical culture of son and jarabe has two of the most emblematic and important musical training centers in the state of Oaxaca, the cecam in Santa María Tlahuitoltepec and the cis No. 8 (Social Integration Center), in San Bartolomé Zoogocho. These musical training centers have based their forms of transmission of musical knowledge through the tradition of written music coming from the European school. Both the cecam as the cis found a fertile ground in this area from ancient community structures focused on music, first the wind chapels and later the escoletas. However, we also find in this musical culture the adherence to the transfer of musical knowledge from the oral tradition, the community as a schoolThe musical occasions such as the dance, the funeral, the gozona, the audition, etc., are the scenarios where the musical practice of the dominant musical genres, the son and the jarabe, is based on the musical practice by oral tradition.

This is an unprecedented event that has generated a virtuous circle where the combination of the musical practice of the written tradition provided by community institutions such as the school, the cis and the cecamThe combination of oral tradition and musical practice in scenarios such as festivals, jaripeo, dance, etc., have created solvent and competent musicians, renowned in the regional, state and national context. We find that the combination of the forms of transfer and decoding of the oral tradition, together with the written tradition, detonate virtuous processes and products. The schooling of these projects has encouraged the participation of women in the bands, which has been echoed in the municipal bands of many towns.

The prolificness of this musical culture is also reflected in the great production and generation of composers. The following are some of the most recognized composers in this musical culture: Rito Marcelino Rovirosa, Otilio Contreras, Antonio Romero Jacob (Zacatepec), Ezequiel Guzmán Alcántara (Totontepec), Joel Wilfrido Flores (Totontepec), José Ventura Gil (Betaza), José Quijano Hernández (Betaza), Alberto Montellano (Yalalag), Atilano Montellano (Yalalag), José Heredia (Taléa de Castro) Narciso Lico Carrillo (Betaza), Gilberto Baltazar Aguilar (Betaza), Honorio Cano Totontepec (Totontepec), Isaías Vargas (Tlahuitoltepec), Florentino Martínez (Macuilxóchitl), Romualdo Blas (Tlacochahuaya), Cripiano Pérez Serna (Zaachila), Amador Pérez Torres Dimas (Zaachila), Jesús Chú Rasgado (Ixtaltepec).

The musical culture of harp, jarana and marimba in the gulf slope includes Mazateco Alto, Bajo, Chinanteco Mixe Bajo and Zapotec territory of the isthmus (video 8): https://youtu.be/ZaEl7IyVXEg Video 9: https://youtu.be/_7AusTdoogI).

The harp and the jarana as a whole are part of a widely popular endowment in the state of Veracruz, known as "jarocha". It is a variable generic grouping, in which jaranas (guitarrillos with five orders of strings) and other instruments such as the harp, marimbol, requinto and/or violin take part.

The Mazatecos of the lowlands perform genres such as jarabe, sones jarochos, rancheras and fashion songs, their basic equipment is jarana, violin and harp.

On the other hand, the mestizo sector of Tuxtepec also shares this instrumental endowment directed to the "son jarocho" as such and to the practice of the "décima" as a verse. Among the Chinantecos of the Baja, this endowment is of common use, as well as among the Mixes of the Baja in the municipality of San Juan Guichicovi. In all these places and cultures jarana is a common denominator and, at least among Mazatecos, Chinantecos, mestizos and Afromestizos of Tuxtepec, the "son" genre (jarocho style) is shared. Among the Mixes or Ayuuk of the Guichicovi lowlands it is used specifically for ritual purposes, during the death of infants, known as "angelitos", and also incorporates other musical genres such as son istmeño and ranchera songs.

It is possible to observe the presence of these endowments from the Papaloapan area, down through the Chinantla and to the Isthmus area with the Ayuuk of the lowlands.

Likewise, there is a marimba tradition in this same musical culture. Marimba orchestras or single marimbas are scattered and share the cultural area of son istmeño that extends from Huamelula, through Salina Cruz, Tehuantepec, Juchitán, Matías Romero, Guichicovi, and up through Chinantla, until reaching Tuxtepec and the lower Mazateca area in San Pedro Ixcatlán and Ojitlán. Some towns in the cultural area of sones and jarabes have also cultivated this musical tradition. Capulalpam de Méndez is a triune point that shared three musical cultures, the son and jarabe culture, the orchestra culture and the marimba culture. Historically the typical orchestra musical culture was also present here, as we have already mentioned, and merged with the marimba. An example has been the orchestra "La Esmeralda" that today is revitalized in the project "El rincón de la marimba", under the name of "La Nueva Esmeralda".

The presence of the marimba in this wide strip of land responds to the commercial flows caused by the coastal communication routes from Chiapas to Tabasco and Veracruz, from south to north, and through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the city of Oaxaca. There are isolated cases of the marimba orchestra within the musical culture of the orchestra in the north of the state.

The tropical music and the migration of music through the marimba ensemble gave rise to a very solvent group made up of the marimba as the main instrument, played by one to three people, double bass and then electric bass, percussions such as congas and drums. The repertoires of marimba orchestras are varied and rich in dance music and, depending on the area where it is located, there are examples of the musical cultures in which it crosses.

For example, the Chontal towns of Huamelula and Astata are a cultural border zone between the coastal chilena and the son istmeño, or that of the Mixe of the lower zone, in San Juan Guichicovi, which is a border between the musical cultures of harp, jarana and marimba, son istmeño, sones and jarabes, and, historically, orchestra.

The orchestral and conjunto típico musical culture is located in the districts of Coixtlahuaca, Teotitlán del Camino, Cuicatlán and portions of the northern part of Huajuapan, Teposcolula, Nochixtlán, Etla, Ixtlán and Mixe. The ethnic groups that make up this musical culture are Nahua, Mixtecs from the High and Lowlands, Cuicatecos, Chocholtecos, Ixcatecos, Mazatecos from the High and Lowlands, Zapotecos and Mixes. The orchestra and the typical ensemble are at serious risk of disappearing and in some localities have already disappeared; however, some increasingly disjointed orchestras survive. With the passage of time, instruments, repertoires, scores and, above all, the sharing in the collective memory of a type and style of music that people identify as their own, have somehow remained.

Some surviving orchestras that only play on very special musical occasions are the "Orquesta Santa Cecilia", from San Pedro y San Pablo Tequistepec, the "Orquesta de Suchistepec"; the "Orquesta del Barrio Escopeta", from Antonio Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón, the orchestra from Huautla de Jiménez and the one from Chilchotla, among Mazatecos. Among Chocholtecos, the following orchestras have been detected: "Capricho", from Coixtlahuaca and the "Orquesta San Cristóbal", from Suchixtlahuaca. The Nahua people have the "Orquesta Típica de don Efrén Montalvo", in Ignacio Zaragoza, San Martín Toxpalan.

The musical culture of the orchestra and the typical ensemble fits with the historic railroad corridor, the flow of modernity in the state of Oaxaca. The culture of the orchestra even reached the most remote places in this area, with influence in Huajuapam, in the Mixteca Baja and in the central valleys as far as Ejutla, where the railroad ends.

The repertoires of these orchestras are varied and are related to salon music of European origin, such as pasodoble, mazurka, chotis and polka. The Mazatecos included the music of the huehuentones (music of Todos Santos), the Chocholtecos integrated the Chilean. Adjacent to the orchestras as remnants of the "tipicas" in this zone, there are small string ensembles made up of emblematic instruments of the typical orchestras: psaltery, bajo quinto, violins, guitars and double basses. Among the Cuicatecos, there are still psaltery and guitar duets, and the last salterio player of the Mixteca is also known, precisely in the north of the district of Nochixtlán in the town of Santiago Apoala, which is located in the territory of the orchestra's musical culture.

The band endowment is a dominant model deeply rooted in Oaxacan towns, mainly because of its sound power that even allows it to compete with electric sound amplification technology, and which distinguishes it from other instrumental endowments that have ceased to be used for this reason. In addition, the bands have the centennial history of having been welcomed by the municipalities for the services of the people since the middle of the century. xixThe project was a continuation of the role that the Church had played with its musical chapels (Navarrete, 2013 B). However, the project ecmo has revealed the survival and significant presence of the string tradition in different versions of the instrumental ensemble.

The tradition of the dances has allowed the survival of the pito and percussion ensemble (membranophones and idiophones) throughout the state of Oaxaca, even when the band is gaining ground in the dance scene. The shawm ensemble (reed flute and drum, shawm and drum, trumpet and drum) is maintained thanks to its role of leading all the processions and announcing and marking moments of the town events (video 10): https://youtu.be/NAvaU-oDpOE ).

In the following I will discuss some themes common to the five musical cultures and which stand out in the general panorama obtained about a moment in the history of music in Oaxaca.

Dances and music

In societies where the transmission of knowledge is through oral tradition, such as the peoples of Oaxaca, dances are the performative vehicle of history. They are occasions conducive to sociability and the participation of young people in community events, as they represent, through performance and choreography, mythical and ancient stories, as well as humorous or tragic political and social news of daily life. Their performance fulfills a promise or devotion in addition to incorporating themselves in a playful way to the service of the people in the economy of the festival.

Music and dance are the performance of culture, embody in sound, clothing and body movement the memory and experience of society, and actualize the sense of identity and belonging. They are powerfully affective communicative systems.

The Malinches dance, which is a variant of the Conquest dances, is practiced in several of the musical cultures of the state accompanied by violin and percussions among the Huaves, Chatinos and Mixes (video 11): https://youtu.be/EEqsUQdZkrw ) and with a band as in the case of the Pluma dance among the Zapotecs of the Valles Centrales (video 12: https://youtu.be/Ct03pzK4w1U ).

Among the Huaves, the dance of the Maliens is part of a complex ritual at Corpus Christi that includes other music played by the group of the Maliens. montsünd naab (percussion musicians), with which the duality of life, the dry season and the rainy season, and the struggle between the forces of nature turned into mythical characters are manifested (Millán and García Sosa, 2002) (video 13): https://youtu.be/rGNOlgwGch0 ).

Among the Chontal people of San Pedro Huamelula, the dances of conquest are also divided into parodies and scenes of conflict between the groups of Turks, Christians, Negritos, Tamarins and Mulatas (video 14): https://youtu.be/B464ajifIB8 ).

Other dances represent the annual presence of the deceased in the villages, who come to visit and share with the living, such as the dance of Huehuentones in the Mazateca Alta and Baja or the dance of Diablos in the Afromexican coast (video 15): https://youtu.be/IdyKoUTWlPQ ; video 16: https://youtu.be/pR8L-gndW64 ).

Historically, music and dances have been a central part of the festivities of the Catholic religious calendar in honor of the saints and virgins of the towns. The musicalization of the liturgy in the mass and the office of the hours and the paraliturgy in processions, funerals and end of the year are part of the rites of the annual and life cycles in all the towns, as can be appreciated when listening to masses of the local teachers or the praises of the groups of alabanceros of Xoxocotlán in Todos Santos (video 17): https://youtu.be/9HNpe31t0Q8 ). Some genera such as the vinuetes (sic), miniature angels dedicated to deceased children, have become less important as infant mortality has declined due to medical advances (video:18 https://youtu.be/asQEgUII5PA ).

Music archives in municipalities and parishes (written history)

The topic of musical archives is very relevant because it contains the written history of musical influences in repertoires that are currently oral tradition. The tradition of musical writing in scores for voices, strings and woodwinds has been present for centuries, as shown by the parish and municipal music archives that we had the opportunity to identify in the field research for cataloguing and future preservation (video 19): https://youtu.be/AljFHW8wCQw). First, the Church, since the xvi, trained musicians and singers in the choir chapels of the churches and later, from the process of secularization during the 20th century xixThe municipalities were responsible for the creation of schools and the formation of bands that are maintained thanks to the principles of communality and their musicians perform the work equivalent to the tequio to lead the social and political events of the people (video 20): https://youtu.be/J4cf6i1Klo4 ).

The musical archives reveal the presence of sacred and secular repertoire, both masses, psalms, vespers, matins, hymns and other sacred genres, as well as secular genres including operatic overtures, fantasies and, above all, ballroom dance genres such as waltz, mazurka, march, contradanza, chotis, polka and other popular music of the moment such as swing, charleston, foxtrot, blues, pasodoble, jota, fandango, chachachá, mambo, danzón, bolero, jarabe, corrido, ranchera, chilena, son, cumbia, charanga and other genres that have nurtured the creativity of musicians in Oaxaca.

We have been particularly struck by the influence of American jazz band music since the beginning of the 20th century. xxDespite its sanction and rejection by nationalist governments who, while accepting musical modernity in the cities, were opposed to popular musical modernity in the countryside, considering it the realm of the nation's authentic culture; here is a good example of a banjo player playing a Charleston and a swing (video 21): https://youtu.be/1IIitDVq8QI).

Orality and musical writing

Regarding the transfer of musical knowledge, orality is the privileged medium in the musical cultures of the chilena, son istmeño and harp jarana and marimba; in this sense, the school as an institution is non-existent, the form of transfer of musical knowledge is a different "school" constituted by the community, dance, musical occasions, Todosantos, fandangos, dances, mayordomías, etcetera. In the musical culture of sones and jarabes, the oral-writing relationship in music occurs, as has been explained, in a complementary manner. Radio music is also a very useful source for learning popular music "by ear". The teachers of municipal or private community bands within the culture of sones and jarabes are very demanding so that young girls and boys learn to solfear and read music in order to be able to play works from the written tradition, and they criticize the learning of popular music by "ear", although they recognize that traditional sones are learned by "ear" by attending musical occasions in town since they are small. Auditory memory allows them to bring out the pieces once they learn the fingering of their instruments.

Institutional projects, the influence of the media and the marketplace

The permanence of ranchera, canción, corrido and more recently cumbia music is due to the decisive influence of radio. am with nationwide coverage for more than 50 years and from where the recording industry was promoted and, in general, music as an object of consumption in all social contexts. Very influential examples have been the ranchero duets of female voices still very popular today, and corridos continue to be the news of violence, tragedy and exploits. The four radios of the inpi in Oaxaca and one in Guerrero have managed to preserve and promote local and traditional music production both in their broadcasts and in their anniversary festivals and other celebrations, as well as in the support of local initiatives for the recording of their music. Within the musical culture of the Chilean music there are in its wide geographic area the xetla (the voice of the Mixteca, located in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca), xejam (La Voz de la Costa Chica, located in Jamiltepec, Oaxaca) and the xezv (La voz de la Montaña, located in Tlapa de Comonfort, Guerrero), these three radio stations have reach and presence in all the towns of the different ethnic groups that make up this musical culture. La xejamthe voice of the Costa Chica in Jamiltepec, covers part of the cultural area of the son istmeño. In the musical culture of sones and jarabes the xeglo (La voz de la Sierra), located in Guelatao, is a reference for the premiere and diffusion of new works as well as the programming of music of any type and genre. In the musical culture of the jarana harp and marimba, the work of the voice of Chinantla stands out. xeojn, in Ojitlán, which, according to the testimonies of the musicians of the region, strengthened the tradition of the marimba, and has as one of its headquarters the city of Tuxtepec.

The existence of funds, programs, projects and festivals to support music is significant but disjointed among the three levels of government, unrelated to each other and lacking a cultural strategy and policy aimed at music. The casas de la cultura and casas del pueblo (96) constitute a very valuable network for educational outreach and music dissemination programs, but they are underutilized and the municipalities are often unaware of the existence of funds for the promotion of music.

We observe that it is common for community radio initiatives that begin with very committed agendas to support local music to eventually end up broadcasting in their programming the popular music of the country's large radio stations, due to the lack of materials for continuous transmission and the poor preparation of their support teams.

Among the most relevant and successful state projects during the research period was "El rincón de la marimba", directed to young musicians by the Tuxtepecan-born maestro Sotero Ruiz Cid, who gave an exemplary impulse to the marimba tradition both in towns of this musical culture and in other towns where the marimba ensemble had existed or was in the process of disappearing, as in the case of the marimba Nueva Esmeralda of the Zapotec mountain town of Capulálpam de Méndez, which we had the opportunity to record for the production of a disc (video 22): https://youtu.be/8YtaM08Xq7k ).

By 2011, 120 children had been instructed and 12 marimbas had been trained in the culture of son istmeño as well as in the culture of the harp, jarana and marimba. Another success has been the program to support municipal and community cultures (pacmandc) that has boosted record production among local musicians.

The advance of popular or commercial music broadcast by the national media has a direct effect on the presence and sustainability of local music. Young musicians are interested in private music production as a business and a way of life. From the strictly sonorous point of view, electronic instruments are more popular and, by reducing the number of members in the group and lowering their costs, the musicians are able to take advantage of their popularity. DJ are becoming more and more popular and, above all, the places and occasions where the music is listened to, as it becomes more and more important in the most important celebrations and events of the towns. If a policy of promoting traditional music within local production were to be put into practice, the most effective recommendation would be to support traditional music events within the most important village festivals. Likewise, the differences in genres and repertoires among musical cultures allow guiding support policies in educational programs and the provision of instruments according to their needs.

Migration

The migration of young Oaxacans to the cities and the United States has hindered the formation and permanence of musicians in their towns in the bands supported by the municipalities and has accelerated processes of change in musical tastes. In Oaxaca City we find ska, reggae, alternative rock and rap groups, often with political and countercultural themes (video 23): https://youtu.be/3Rm2DMWA3AQ ). Among the Oaxacan migrant population living in California, United States, the formation of bands, electronic keyboard groups, and string ensembles is also a powerful cultural practice for making community and earning a living beyond work in agriculture and services (see the documentary "Making Community in California." https://youtu.be/UtqmpcMmUc8?si=dQMs30TD-NpUG9q2). We find the chilena culture in the San Joaquin Valley, with string musicians, mainly with the Mixtec population, and the son and jarabe culture with numerous bands in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, where the Zapotec population is mainly settled.

Conclution

The diagnosis of the Ethnography of Musical Cultures in Oaxaca (ecmo), delivered to the Secretaría de las Culturas y Artes de Oaxaca in 2013, offers the identification of musical cultures as a systematic proposal for the recognition and promotion of musical diversity in Oaxaca. We have had the interdisciplinary purpose of documenting musical traditions not only from a formal perspective but also to know the conditions of their production and circulation. This project had the applied purpose of identifying the main and most urgent problems of these musical cultures and to make recommendations and proposals for the short, medium and long term. In this exhibition and audiovisual display of musical diversity, the main interest has been the characterization of these musical cultures without going into detail on the set of problems and solutions raised by the diagnosis.

The project allowed us to learn about the forms of transmission of knowledge and musical practices based mainly on orality and the intergenerational challenges to give continuity to local music. Undoubtedly, the common complaint among traditional musicians was not having anyone to give continuity to their music and among the recommendations made in the diagnosis was the creation of a comprehensive educational system for music in Oaxaca, which strengthens the institution of the escoleta, expands its educational action to the network of village houses and houses of culture; create a school of higher and professional music education that offers a perspective to musicians as researchers of their own traditions and as promoters of their music. We note that music is a political resource for exchange and reciprocity between towns through the mutual service of the bands for the economic support of the festivities, that the weight of this reciprocity falls on the musicians as important agents of communality in the towns and to that extent it is important to strengthen the training and professionalization of musicians.

The general effect of the inevitable influence of the massive diffusion of commercial music and the lack of general guidelines, inter-institutional and inter-program coordination, favor the loss and transformation of musical identities; the processes of transformation of music tend to the devaluation and disappearance of the musical range, with the consequent loss of repertoires, the standardization of styles and the reduction in the diversity of types of musical groupings.

The project ecmo begins a new stage with the donation of its rich audiovisual collection to the Fonoteca Nacional and the prospect of offering the general public its online consultation through the institution's media library. The audiovisual tour suggested in this text is a systematic sample of the musical and dancing diversity of the state, of the people involved in the performance The book is also a window and an invitation to delve into its collection, which contains audios of the interviews conducted with the musical and dance agents during the fieldwork, as well as photographs, music and soundscape audios, and the conditions in which it is practiced. It is also a window and an invitation to delve into its collection that contains audios of the interviews conducted with the musical agents during the fieldwork, as well as photographs, music and soundscape audios.

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Sergio Navarrete Pellicer is a tenured research professor C at the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, (ciesas) and a member of the National System of Researchers, level ii. D. in Social Anthropology from the University of London and an M.A. in Music with an emphasis in ethnomusicology from the University of Maryland. He directed the project "Ethnography of Musical Cultures in Oaxaca" (ecmo(Conacyt-Fomix M0036-2010-02-148276), and the project "Ritual sonoro catedralicio. A multidisciplinary approach to the music of the novohispanic cathedrals" (Conacyt-CB-2008-01/103377). He received the Newton Fund grant from the British Academy to develop the project "Somos negros de la Costa/AfroMexican Musical Youth: Roots, Creativity, Community". In the field of teaching he has taught courses and seminars in the specialization in Art History at the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas of the University of Mexico. unam at its Oaxaca headquarters, as well as in the Art History degree program of the uabjo. He has formed a team of music historians with whom he has elaborated catalogs of music from the historical parish and municipal archives of Oaxaca.