December 25, 2009

The oldest Native song?

Correspondent DMarks located a Native song that's much older than The Huron Carol and more genuinely Native:

XtolesLOS 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.Xtoles--Mayan Children's SongsXtoles
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.

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