Kaqchikel: Marimba Festival

Kaqchikel: Marimba Fiesta

music
ambience: sound of “son” music in town square on fiesta day

The town square of the Guatemalan village of San Juan Comolapa bustles with activity and music every June 24th. That’s the Saint’s day for San Juan, the patron of this town of mostly indigenous people. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont.

“We celebrate the fiesta because it is the day of San Juan. We have celebrated this day for a long time. We have the processions but we also have music, dances, games and rides in the center of town. Marimba is the old instrument, but we have modernized it. People love to listen to marimba, especially the music we call “son”, our traditional music. We also have a big dance in the municipal building. It is important for our town because people are very happy to celebrate San Juan Day.”

We’re listening to some of the popular “son” tunes the villager was speaking about, performed on the marimba. It’s a xylophone like instrument played in many parts of the world, but the Guatemalan people have developed their own style.

The marimba is a very old instrument, some people say it comes from Africa, but here our people have improved it, so it is now considered indigenous to Guatemala. Even though some people say it’s from Africa, we don’t really know if that true. It is now a national symbol for us. The government passed a decree to declare it a patriotic symbol.”

If you’d like to hear about our new Pulse of the Planet CD, please visit our website at pulseplanet.com. Pulse of the Planet is presented with support provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

music

Kaqchikel: Marimba Festival

For the indigenous people of Guatemala, the marimba is more than a musical instrument - it's a patriotic symbol!
Air Date:07/04/2002
Scientist:
Transcript:


Kaqchikel: Marimba Fiesta

music
ambience: sound of "son" music in town square on fiesta day

The town square of the Guatemalan village of San Juan Comolapa bustles with activity and music every June 24th. That's the Saint's day for San Juan, the patron of this town of mostly indigenous people. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont.

"We celebrate the fiesta because it is the day of San Juan. We have celebrated this day for a long time. We have the processions but we also have music, dances, games and rides in the center of town. Marimba is the old instrument, but we have modernized it. People love to listen to marimba, especially the music we call "son", our traditional music. We also have a big dance in the municipal building. It is important for our town because people are very happy to celebrate San Juan Day."

We're listening to some of the popular "son" tunes the villager was speaking about, performed on the marimba. It's a xylophone like instrument played in many parts of the world, but the Guatemalan people have developed their own style.

The marimba is a very old instrument, some people say it comes from Africa, but here our people have improved it, so it is now considered indigenous to Guatemala. Even though some people say it's from Africa, we don't really know if that true. It is now a national symbol for us. The government passed a decree to declare it a patriotic symbol."

If you'd like to hear about our new Pulse of the Planet CD, please visit our website at pulseplanet.com. Pulse of the Planet is presented with support provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.

music