Indigenous Language Music
A new website is in the works to house this project. Stay tuned for ICCLBTM (Indigenous Cross-Cultural Language Building Through Music)
Language is a fundamental part of culture and identity.
There is a wave of creative Indigenous artists proudly claiming their culture, talking about important issues, and bringing language use into communities and everyday life!
You can learn about your world and self through music and language.
Indigenous languages
belong in our world.
It's been more than 4 years of searching for music in Indigenous languages each Sunday. 💜
The goal has been to consistently learn, and there is so much to learn! The hope is to share this learning as a seed of hope in someone else learning their language, finding personal, cultural, or global connections, or growing understandings between culture, language, and our natural world.
Language holds more than words can express, and music is a global connection point. You can learn about your world and self through music and language.
This idea started as a dream from travelling, was turned into a school project 4+ years ago, has continued each week and become a Facebook group, a blog category, this sample page, and a separate website was built recently as part of different school project.
There is a Forest Forum category dedicated to this topic where you can share Indigenous language songs, instruments, genres, vocabulary, specific language needs or general information. You're also welcome to join the Facebook group to share anything respectful and related, just search for Indigenous Cross-Cultural Community Building (ICCCB).
I may not have a perfect way to describe it, but Indigenous languages are part of nature from my view. They belong in our world, are needed in our world, are connected to our world. Learning about these connections creates a path forward for our world; so here is a spot to discover new music and artists, resources, learnings, language, and connections.
~ Find the full website project here: https://icclbtm.wixsite.com/icclbtm
Each Sunday, a new language song is found, along with information about the artist and language.
This Week's Song
Past Songs
Artist: Sara Curruchich
Language: Kaqchikel
Artist's Link: Sara Curruchich | Sara Curruchich en Guatemala
First Entry Bonus:
Language Song
AND
Artist Overview Video
Guatemala recently had an election where Bernardo Arevala was sworn in. This is the son of Juan José Arévalo, Guatemala's first democratically elected president in 1945 who survived 25 coup attempts.
A few months ago, I discovered Sara Curruchich; a Guatemalan signer using her music to bring awareness of the challenges for Indigenous women and to promote her Mayan language of Kaqchikel. This 2.5-minute overview video shows some of Sara’s story and how she has been fighting and contributing to making change.
Language:
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In 1986 the Academy of the Mayan Languages of Guatemala standardized an alphabet for the Mayan languages.
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Literacy rates in Kaqchikel are low. Literacy campaigns are usually conducted in Spanish, and promote Spanish. In fact, most Mayan people are more literate in Spanish than they are in their native tongue. This is changing though due to the movement to promote Mayan language literacy.
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Kaqchikel is being taught in some public schools such as Guatemala's intercultural bilingual education programs. There are even a few U.S. universities that offer programs to learn Kaqchikel.
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The glottal stop plays an important role in Kaqchikel; since words can not begin with a vowel and dipthongs do not exist in the language. The glottal stop serves to separate vowels and start words that would otherwise begin with a vowel.
1.
Extras: Guatemala has one of the highest rates of femicide in the world, along with many other types of inequalities and injustices for Indigenous women. It’s a dark rabbit hole trying to find resources or stats, but without a doubt Sara is playing a larger role than simply sharing music. If anyone is interested in finding a way to learn more or contribute in some way, please let me know.
2.
Here is a song that can melt any snow or cold away!
The song is called "Painaha", which means "Leadership".
Narasirato is a bamboo orchestra! This band from the Solomon Islands plays giant panpipes and sings in the ꞌAreꞌare language.
There are about 7 dialects and around 18,000 people who speak the language. The ꞌAreꞌare People place a large emphasis on music and you can see this in the video.
Xtoles is pronounced chi-tol-les
3.
The melody of Xtoles is thought to be one of the oldest known melodies still in existence!
This performance by students at a university in Mexico offers a unique interpretation of this ancient Mayan song!
"This is a winter song, basically a prayer to the sun reminding it to come back in the spring.”
Conex, conex palanxen, xicubin, xicubin yocolquin.
Conex, conex palanxen, xicubin, xicubin yocolquin.
(Xola mayola, xola mayol, ea, ea, ea, o.)
Conex, conex palanxen, xicubin, xicubin yocolquin.
Some say this song is a lullaby, others say a war dance song sung to the sun.
Let's go, let's hurry boys, for the sun is coming out.
Let's go, let's hurry boys, for the sun is coming out.
(Sho-la ma-yo-la, sho-la ma-yol, ay-ah, ay-ah, ay-ah, oh.)
Let's go, let's hurry boys, for the sun is coming out.
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