Mexico’s sonorous past on display in Rome

by times news cr

2024-08-01 11:42:40

Accompanied by the Mexican flutist Horacio Francohe Museum of the Quirinale Stablesin Rome Italy, received the largest exhibition dedicated to the sound world of Mesoamericanever presented in Europa: “Tlapitzalli, rites and sounds of ancient Mexico“.

The exhibition was inaugurated in an official ceremony on Monday night in Italy and will be open to the public starting today and until September 14, 2024within the framework of the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between both nations.

“The best way to celebrate 150 years of official diplomatic relations between Italy and Mexico is with this resounding demonstration of friendship,” said the exhibition coordinator, Frida Montes de Oca Fiolat a press conference with the Italian media, hours before the opening ceremony.

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“Until now we do not know what music was like in pre-Hispanic Mexico, we do not know what its rhythm, beats, musical scales, harmonies or even melodies were, because no scores have been found like those we have in other cultures and today.

“However, we have a large number of objects, such as figurines, ceramic models, sound and/or musical instruments and codices that, when analyzed, can help us imagine what it was like and, possibly, get us very close to what it really was like,” said the specialist.

In seven thematic axes, the exhibition presents 163 archaeological pieces, from 13 museums from the Network of INAHamong other sites, and most of them are unpublished and little studied, so Montes de Oca Fiol invited the spectators to pay attention, because “they could find some secret kept for centuries.”

Furthermore, he said, by listening to the sounds that several of these instruments emit, they will be able to enter a new world, because thanks to the mastery of the work of the Scuderie del Quirinale team, it has been possible, for the first time, for the public to see their catalogue, listen to them and delve into the latest research on the subject.

The curator of “Rites and sounds of ancient Mexico“He explained that tlapitzalli is the Nahuatl term used to designate wind instruments; however, the museographic discourse is not limited to wind instruments, but addresses the various meanings of music in pre-Hispanic Mexico, a manifestation that was considered to be of divine origin.

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One of the objectives of the exhibition is to address the technology behind the instruments, such as a quadruple flute of Teotihuacan origin, unique in its kind.

Some of the sounds he makes have been recorded and can be heard by the public; in addition, together with ethnomusicologists, Several recordings were made of the sounds still produced by many of the pieces in the cellars of the National Museum of Anthropology, which can also be heard.

In addition to the archaeological pieces, there will be photographs of current sound ensembles, the product of ethnographic research; images of codices from before contact with Europeans; and x-rays and infographics on the materiality and technology of some instruments.

LEO


2024-08-01 11:42:40

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