Wapsi Square Forum

One of my degrees is in Spanish, which I don't use that often except when twisting balloons in front of Spanish speakers, but I got it partly because I had an interest in women like Monica I mean pre-Colombian history like the Aztecs and Mayans. So when the whole Jaguar girl arc started, I re-read some stuff and looked up some stuff on the web, and I found this interesting site that I want to share called, "Music from the Land of the Jaguar." It has pictures of various instruments used in pre-Colombia Mexico and Guatemala that you can click on to hear how they sound. All of them are wind instruments, except one that features a single string that when played imitates the growl of a jaguar. It probably played a role in rituals related to the Mayan afterlife as Jaguars were seen as creatures that could travel in both the land of the living and the dead, but the really fascinating thing is that it is apparently the only pre-Colombian string instrument ever found.

Give them a listen. All of them are quite beautiful. And if interested, look for some songs by, "Los Folkloristas," which is a group partly known for creating copies of instruments like these and composing modern pre-Colombian songs with them... uh, if that makes sense.

http://mcis2.princeton.edu/jaguar/jaguar.html

Pretty neat find.