Pasatono Orquesta
| Pasatono Orquesta | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Traditional music of Oaxaca |
| Years active | 1998– present |
| Website | pasatono |
Pasatono Orquesta (Orchestra) is an eight-member ensemble of ethnomusicologists dedicated to rescuing and performing traditional Oaxacan music, especially that of the Mixtec region, and to promote it by adding more modern arrangements and influences. It was founded by three Oaxacan students at the Escuela Nacional de Música (National Music School) in Mexico City, who found that their traditional music was not taught at the school. They have been promoted by Lila Downs, have released four albums, and have toured the United States, playing in venues such as Lincoln Center in New York and Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. In Mexico, they have played in venues in Mexico City and Oaxaca, as well as the Festival Internacional Cervantino.
With a name that refers to a kind of violin maker in Oaxaca, the ensemble’s purpose is to rescue, preserve and reinterpret the sounds of indigenous village bands in the state of Oaxaca, especially those of the Mixtec people. They play traditional instruments such as violins, clarinets, trumpets, guitars as well as local instruments in danger of disappearing such as the bajo fondo, a ten-stringed guitar made in only a few villages in Oaxaca and the Oaxaca jarana, which differs from the better-known Veracruz version. It is smaller with five strings, most often used to play chilenas.
Pasatono recreates the rural orchestra that was popular from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th. All members are ethnomusicologists, and are dedicated to researching traditional Oaxacan and Mixtec music, as well as performance, compositions and the dissemination of knowledge about native musical traditions. Much of this research involves traveling to rural communities in Oaxaca, as well as Mixtec communities in neighboring Guerrero and Puebla.
The rural village orchestra was once very common in rural Mexico, with those in Oaxaca mixing indigenous, European and African musical traditions. Much of it is based on European melodies instruments introduced during the colonial period, but African and indigenous rhythms can also be heard. In addition, these bands were also influenced by musical innovations of the 19th and early 20th century, for example the American jazz that was heard when wireless radio reached Oaxaca in the 1920s and 1930s. In total, pieces played by these ensembles can have influences from danzón, rumba, gypsy music, polka, pasodoble, marching bands, mazurka, swing, big band and foxtrot. Many of these influences have remained here long after going out of fashion in their places of origin. However, this music is in danger of disappearing as more modern musical styles do not use these instruments, and younger generations learn to play it or the instruments.
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