Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Cristobal, Juan G. Francisco

Titel

Laja’b’kanal yet’ ko’ q’in, the Lasting Dances of Our Fiestas: Music Embodiment as a Collective Memory of the Maya Diaspora

Ist Teil von

• Maya America, 2019-01, Vol.1 (1), p.114-136

Ort / Verlag

Maya Heritage Community Project

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Music embodiment, or dance, has long been practiced by the ancient Mayas for religious purposes and, since the Spanish Inquisition, their descendants have maintained and reinvented their dances during the patron saint fiestas. Yet, little is mentioned about the collective, music embodiment of the Maya Diaspora. The purpose of this article is to shed light on the music embodiment and collective memory of the Maya Diaspora, focusing on the Maya Q’anjob’al communities in the United States. Such participant-observations have, however, been largely derived from research conducted in rural Alamosa, Colorado and urban Los Angeles, California along with attending the annual National Pastoral Maya Conferences for the past decade. This research reveals that the Maya Q’anjob’al Diaspora often manifest their social dances at the latter-part of their fiestas, which embodies the collective memory of the homeland. The sustainability of the marimba’s music embodiment as a collective memory demonstrates perseverance, and nostalgia for the Maya Q’anjob’al Homeland. I give special thanks to Virves Garcia for his interviews, collaborations, and lessons on cultural, religious, musical, historical, and dance issues in diaspora.