|
I have visited the coast of Oaxaca
in Mexico for over 30 years. My
fascination with the area, although
garnished with physical and climatic
beauty, centers in it's indigenous
culture.
The regional music revealed itself to me
as an oral history of specific events and
general feelings. The songs are timeless,
embraced today by grandmother and
granddaughter alike, loved in church and
sung around bottles of mescal. They serve
as a window into the soul of the people of
Oaxaca.
I first moved towards this music in an
attempt to improve my Spanish language
skills, the hypothesis being that in
translating these lyrics into English I
could learn phrases that I could
incorporate into conversations with these
people who I wanted to know.
The language learning motive was overtaken
by the music itself. I had long been
entertained with the guitar. A logical
step was to try to learn how to play my
list of favorite Mexican tunes on the
instrument. With the help of a bilingual
friend I looked towards the ever present
street musicians for a teacher; a member
of a roving trio appeared to be the one.
We approached Alejandro Vazque Gutierez as
his group was traveling from restaurant to
restaurant playing tunes for pesos. The
concept of teaching me for money was
foreign to him but he agreed to try. A
laborer in this area who picks tomatoes in
the hot sun all day can expect to earn the
equivalent of 5 US. dollars for that 10
hours work. I was offering him double that
amount to come to my house once a week and
teach me guitar for an hour. The first
lesson day he brought someone with him,
another member of his trio. Alejandro
spoke no English and my Spanish has much
room for improvement. He was shy - almost
subservient - but by the end of our first
meeting we had found a place to start and
a relationship that is into it's fifth
year had begun.
|
We
approached Alejandro Vazque
Gutierez as his group was
traveling from restaurant to
restaurant playing tunes for
pesos.
|
|
|
|
Alejandro
Vazque Gutierez
|
That which I had first interpreted as
shyness and subservience began to reveal
itself as elegance. Every gesture this man
made was dance like. He was totally
respectful of me and I was awed by him. We
did not speak the same language, neither
one of us read music. In Mexico, the
chords and notes C F G are referred to as
DO, FA, SOL etc. Alejandro played all over
the neck but labeled the chords by their
first position Spanish names. All this was
tough enough but what was most taxing on
me in trying to follow him was that he
capoed his guitar at the first fret but
tuned it at that point as if there were no
capo. At the end of an hour lesson, I was
exhausted.
This man knew thousands of Mexican and
Spanish Language songs. His voicing was
deeply textured and he sang in soulful
baritone . My previous belief in
importance of the quality of the guitar to
the result of the music quickly
evaporated. His strings were tied in
square knots above the nut. It was a
guitar but it was very rough. Together the
man and the instrument made beautiful
music.
I asked my teacher if we could video him
playing a few tunes he agreed. Watching
that tape, I understood why he capoed the
guitar as I described. In the duration of
the tune, his instrument went out of tune
a step and a half. As these gaps appeared
he followed the tuning with his voice but
at appropriate points he would slide the
capo down a fret to re-tune all the
strings.
On lesson days I would tell Alejandro what
tune I wanted to work on. He would play
it, than play it slower. I would write
what he was playing in notation and tape
record it. We would do the rhythm and the
melody of the tune as different parts and
we would play them together. The process
took time, he was patient, I was
entertained. I was careful in picking my
tunes. I could write them down in one
lesson but it took me weeks to learn them.
As we developed our relationship, we would
have about three songs working at a time:
a new one, a "figuring out" one, and one
that was almost music. The next tune in
line would be festering in me until we got
it on paper.
One day, while relaxing on my porch, I
heard a guitar being played. It was
offering a local dance song, one that I
had worked on with my teacher, one that I
had tracked down and had listened to every
version that I could find, a dance that I
had seen a hundred times in small local
villages. It was a chilena titled
"Pinotepa". The tune coming from this
guitar was different. It was deeper, it
was fantastic. A new neighbor was sitting
in the shade playing his instrument and I
was blown away. We began a conversation
that focused on the Mexican music that we
shared a love of. I told him of Alejandro
and he was eager to meet him. That week,
for the first time, my teacher did not
show, the next week he did not show again.
I went looking for him and was told that
he was ill and had to go to Mexico City
for an operation, he would be gone for a
few months. I now looked at this man as a
friend and the thought of his illness was
upsetting. Quite secondarily, I was
marooned with this tune in me. I had
anticipated it as our next lesson and I
could not get it out.
Talk about when the student is ready, the
teacher appears! My new neighbor was Tim
Sparks. I played him a recording of
Alejandro singing and playing this tune
and he too was captured by it. Tim stepped
into my void and in his manner transcribed
"Cancion Mixteca". Alejandro is now
recovering and I have a tune that will
entertain me for a long time.
I often ask these people of Oaxaca what is
their favorite song. A large percentage
respond "Cancion Mixteca". I asked how old
is this song. They see it as old as time.
The lyrical message of "Cancion Mixteca"
was in the heart of the Mexican people
long before the song was penned. The
feeling of this song is probably repeated
in all cultures that have known both song
and absence from home. "Cancion Mixteca"
was authored in 1934 by José
López Alavés, a Mixtec
Indian from Oaxaca. He studied at the
National Conservatory in Mexico City.
How far I am from the land where I was
born
Immense sadness fills my thoughts
I see myself so alone and so sad
Like a leaf in the wind
I would like to cry I would like to
die
From the feeling
Land of the sun
I long to see you
Now that I live so far from your light,
without love
I see myself so alone and so sad
Like a leaf in the wind.
|
|
|
Sunset
|
Tim Sparks is sharing this tune with the
world community via his web page. Should
you be so fortunate as to spend some time
with it, please take a moment to think of
the poem and think of the thousands of
Mexican people who have left their land of
the sun, Left their families to venture
north out of economic necessity. When you
play this song, think of their lives. I
believe that if those who embrace "Cancion
Mixteca" respect it in such a way it would
please Tim Sparks. Tim Sparks deserves
pleasing, he has given you as well as me a
gift.
Canción Mixteca
Autor: José López
Alavés
¡Qué lejos estoy del suelo
donde he nacido!
inmensa nostalgia invade mi
pensamiento
y al verme tan solo y triste cual hoja al
viento
quisiera llorar, quisiera morir
de sentimiento.
¡Oh tierra del sol,
suspiro por verte!
ahora que lejos
yo vivo sin luz, sin amor
y al verme tan solo y triste cual hoja al
viento
quisiera llorar, quisiera morir
de sentimiento.
|
|
