Pre-Columbian musical instruments
by Elisabeth den Otter
Objects from pre-Columbian times are exhibited in museums all over the world, and a great number of publications have appeared, describing their beauty and analysing the cultures from which they originate. Mexico and Peru are well-known, but countries like Ecuador, Colombia, and Costa Rica also have produced a great variety of objects. They are mostly made of clay, stone, jade, and gold, and intended for daily or ceremonial use. Many of them disappeared, due to natural decay or mishandling by people.
Pre-Columbian musical instruments are mostly wind instruments (aerophones). They range from the painted clay panpipes of the Nazca in Peru to the flutes of Mexico, as well as the ocarinas that have been excavated throughout the region. Some of these instruments are very intriguing, because of their beautiful shape or intricate paintings; others receive little attention because they are plain, or simply because they are not easy to recognise as musical instruments. But all arouse our curiosity: who were the people who played them, and on what occasions? One thing seems certain: music played an important role in pre-Columbian society. This can be deducted from the large number of musical instruments excavated, as well as from the numerous images (figurines, paintings) of people singing, playing music, and dancing. The instruments played their role in social life: they were used during (religious) festivals, and often buried with the dead as funeral gifts.
The chronicler Guamán Poma de Ayala illustrated his book "Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno" with numerous drawings, among which one of people dancing with jingles tied to their lower legs, accompanied by a panflute.
Pre-Columbian music and musical instruments may still be encountered today, as forms of 'cultural continuity' or 'cultural revival'. Traditional music of certain contemporary indigenous groups resembles the music of their pre-Columbian ancestors in as far as the musical instruments and the context in which they are used are concerned. And the groups of young people playing traditional music on instruments that already existed in pre-Columbian times, may be seen as a means of reaffirming cultural identity.
