Abstract

SINGER, Deborah. From Threatening Musics to Devotional Musics Indigenous. Sounds in the Devotional Imaginary of Guatemala (16th to 18th Centuries). Estud. hist. novohisp [online]. 2019, n.60, pp.109-130.  Epub Dec 04, 2020. ISSN 2448-6922.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iih.24486922e.2019.60.63148.

The article focuses on the way Spaniards and Creoles perceived indigenous local sounds during the colonial times in Guatemala. Based on texts written by chroniclers and witnesses, it analyzes to what extent external factors like ethnicity, religion and cultural practices orientated the reception of indigenous music. The lack of knowledge about the other made westerners relate native instruments and sounds to the devil and death, which drove to stereotyped images about the indigenes. Nevertheless, coexistence favored a cross-cultural interchange that made possible approximations and redefinitions of musical practices.

Keywords : Threatening music; indigenous instruments; music perception; reception.