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Teaching, innovating and keeping the traditions of black communities in Mexico.
About the project
“We are blacks from the Coast”
“Somos negros de la costa”, (Juvenile Afromexican Musicians in Oaxaca) is a project focused on musical creativity and musical learning modes, as forms of empowerment within emergent political culture of black or Afro-mexican communities in Oaxaca, Mexico. The project has been established in the pueblo Llano Grande La Banda and its objectives are to document and raise consciousness about the role music plays in young juvenile communities. It seeks to enrich its creativity and its performance abilities through music workshops, exploring a musical regeneration as a long term goal. The British Academy has granted the financial aid through Newton grants and the Centre of Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology has provided resources in equipment and support to make the workshops possible.
About their work and background
The project has been established in the town of Llano Grande La Banda and aims to document, raise awareness of the role music plays in the youth community, enrich their creativity and performance skills through music workshops, exploring a regeneration music as a long-term goal. The British Academy has provided funding through the Newton Scholarships and the Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology has also provided infrastructure support. During the period from April 2015 to March 2017, Dr. Sergio Navarrete Pellicer (CIESAS) and Dr. Lucy Durán (SOAS, University of London) work with an intercultural team, specialized in the learning and oral transmission of music in Mexico and West Africa. The balafonist musician, Lassana Diabaté, an expert in the Mande musical tradition, together with Mexican musicians of the oral tradition, members of the groups Pasatono, Son de Madera and Sak Tzebul, have been invited to carry out three musical practice workshops, taking as a starting point the repertoires of the small coast of Oaxaca and Guerrero. In particular, the participation of Lucy Durán and the Malian musician Lassana Diabaté stands out, who contribute with musical ideas, improvisation strategies, musical composition, and oral transmission techniques that are familiar to the Mandé tradition of Mali in Africa.
Their goals and accomplishments
“We hope to stimulate the expressive culture, communicative ability of young people, and increase musical standards, encouraging young students to be more creative and professional to foster their training skills that will serve them in passing on their knowledge to other young people"
We intend to generate teaching resources for intercultural music education, short video-documentaries for online dissemination, a 30-minute documentary video on the role played by creativity in music, in the daily life of the black populations of the coast and in community building. Likewise, we strengthen academic ties for future collaborations between participating researchers. This unprecedented project is about musical creativity within Afro-Mexican communities in Oaxaca, Mexico, and about the role that music, dance and dances play in nurturing and shaping new generations. The heptatonic balafon xylophone is familiar to the communities of southern Mexico, since it is a relative of the Mexican marimba, which, although of African origin and shares a similar timbre with the balafon, has not retained African playing techniques. We are not suggesting that Mali is a specific source of Afro-Mexican heritage, but we use the balafon as a vehicle to explore the creativity and musical aesthetics of one of Africa's most celebrated oral traditions. The reintroduction of the bass fifth (of the guitar family) and the reinforcement of the violin are experimental efforts that have proven to have a very good response among students. For centuries, African roots have permeated Mexican culture, however, in the imagined concept of the nation, this heritage was not recognized until the mid-20th century. Today, Afro-Mexican communities in Oaxaca are emerging political agents. in the movement that fights for equal rights and opportunities in a multicultural state. It is a well-known fact that large groups of enslaved people from Africa were transported to New Spain between the second half of the 16th century and the first decades of the 18th century, departing from slave ports in Cape Verde, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Angola and Congo. On the “Costa Chica” between the port of Acapulco, Guerrero, and the port of Huatulco, Oaxaca, there is an isolated enclave of about 150,000 inhabitants who describe themselves as heirs of African roots and who historically work as day laborers in cattle ranching, commercial and subsistence agriculture as well as fishing. The INEGI intercensal survey in 2015 registered 1.4 million inhabitants self-ascribed as Afro-descendants in Mexico, of which 5% of that population is in Oaxaca. However, it is a population that suffers from isolation, poverty, limited access to health services and adequate education, which translate into the breakdown of the family structure and the reproduction of a culture of violence. The repertoire of the songs "corridos" are testimony to the violence and revenge that exists in the towns of the coast. The inhabitants of the coastal region affirm that music and dances take a critically formative and political role in the communities. It is the means by which youth collaborate in community activities; playing instruments and dancing at parties recognizes the value of community service while incarnating and learning the myths and stories of the people. The musical exchange between the communities generates reciprocity between them. The music and dances of the black peoples of the coast are two powerful emblems of the movement for the recognition of their political and social rights. Using participatory methodologies of Pedagogy (Wenger, 2001), Ethnomusicology (Turino, 2008), and Music Education (Green, 2002), and based on previous research on the cultures and music of the coastal region (ECMO, 2013), The project carries out three intensive musical workshops in Llano Grande La Banda with people from the Afro-Mexican communities of Llano Grande, El Ciruelo and El Maguey with the aim of developing their knowledge and skills, as well as stimulating creativity among local musicians and young apprentices. In short, the emphasis of the project is placed on the power of orality for easy, fast, pleasant and entertaining learning of music. We hope to stimulate the expressive culture, communicative ability of young people, and increase musical standards, encouraging young students to be more creative and professional to foster their training skills that will serve them in passing on their knowledge to other young people, and emphasizing the benefits of collaborative practice in contrast to individualistic and competitive practices. We also aspire to contribute to the regeneration of the Afro-Mexican roots movement (third root). As researchers, we gain a greater understanding of Afro-Mexican cultural views and ways of life, improve our collaborative techniques within music workshops, and create new dynamic repertoires and educational resources, including the valuable contributions of Mandé traditions in a unique encounter within this enclave of African heritage in Mexico. #Oxaca #Afromexicans #Afromexicanos #ASM #LosNegrosdelaCosta
by Dr. Ellen Hummel
Sources:
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V66nCC8w2R8&list=PLaFCKSEk9AtsTDnE0L9NDWmx8ncxbv_em&index=8
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