An excellent CD of field recordings by Belgian author and filmmaker Thierry Zéno, Tzotziles is a beautiful documentation of the Tzotziles tribe of some 150,000 Mayans living in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Originally released in 1999, the CD features fragments from various aspects of the Tzotziles culture.
Psalms, Stories and Music includes, as the title suggests, musical celebrations, religious rituals, speeches, dialogue and more. Recordings of important yearly events are included as well – All Saint's Day, Carnaval and Christmas Night -- the Tzotziles religion is apparently of mix of traditional native beliefs and Christianity... Instruments are all homemade and include harps, guitars, drums, fiddles the beautiful sound of water pipes designed to mimic bird calls. A few of the vocal tracks on Tzotziles remind me of the sound of Buddhist chants and Balinese ritual field recordings.
Tzotziles has been in my CD player more than anything else over the past few weeks since it came in - an enchanting listen into a traditional, deeply organic culture. Beautiful.
