The oldest Native song?
LOS XTOLES (pronounced chi-to-les) – This piece of music is said to have been chanted by Mayan warriors in praise of the Mayan Sun God. This five-tone (pentatonic) melody, is also possibly one of the oldest melodies known to exist in the World. Los Xtoles has been notated in various Mexican folk music collections.
Mayan Warrior Dance Song
(Maya)
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.Which translates to:Song to the Sun
Mayan Warrior Dance Song
(English)
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.
*This is phonetically how to say this line.
Comment: Xtoles could be a couple thousand years old, so I presume it qualifies as the oldest known Native song.
P.S. I don’t think it’s grammatically correct to put the Spanish word Los in front of the Maya word Xtoles. Especially since Xtoles doesn’t appear to be a plural word.
For more on the subject, see Natives Sing It Their Way.
This post is brought to you courtesy of the author and TribalBiz.com.
I'm eager to hear your comments... Tags:Native American Culture,Native American History,Native American Music
Related posts
Tags: Native American Culture, Native American History, Native American Music
Print This Post
Posted in
