Music of Guatemala - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Music of Guatemala: Topics
Marimba music Marimba The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...	Garifuna music Garifuna music Garifuna music is quite different from the music of the rest of Central America. The most famous form is punta. Its associated musical style, which has the dancers move their hips from right to left in a circular motion...
Folk music Folk music Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....	Rock Rock music Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
Classical music Classical music Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...	Indigenous
Timeline and Samples
Central American music
Belize Music of Belize The music of Belize has a mix of Kriol, Mestizo, Garifuna, and Maya influences. After many centuries of Maya habitation, British colonizers arrived in the area in the 17th century. Belize was Britain's only colony in Spanish-dominated Central America until self-government in 1964 and gaining full... - Costa Rica Music of Costa Rica The country of Costa Rica has many kinds of music.Though its music has achieved little international credit, Costa Rican popular music genres include: an indigenous calypso scene which is distinct from the more widely-known Trinidadian calypso sound, as well as a thriving disco audience that... - El Salvador Music of El Salvador The music of El Salvador has a mixture of Mayan, African, Pipil and Spanish influences. This music includes religious songs used to celebrate Christmas and other holidays, especially feast days of the saints. Satirical and rural lyrical themes are common... - Guatemala - Honduras Music of Honduras The music of Honduras is very varied, Punta is the main "ritmo" de Honduras, to Caribbean music like salsa, merengue, reggae, and reggaeton all widely heard especially in the North, to Mexican rancheras heard in the interior, rural part of the country... - Nicaragua Music of Nicaragua Music of Nicaragua is a mixture of indigenous and European, especially Spanish, influences. Musical instruments include the marimba and others that are common across Central America... - Panama Music of Panama Panama is a Central American country, inhabited mostly by mestizos . The music of Panama was influenced first by the indigenous populations of Kunas, Teribes, Nobe Bugle and others, and then by the black population who were brought over, first as slaves from Africa, and also Colombia between the...

The music of Guatemala is diverse. Music is played all over the country, even in the remotest corners. Towns also have wind and percussion bands -week processions, as well as on other occasions. The Garifuna people of Afro-Caribbean descent, who are spread thinly on the northeastern Caribbean coast, have their own distinct varieties of popular

Popular music

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

and folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

. Cumbia, from the Colombian variety, is also very popular especially among the lower classes. Dozens of Rock bands have emerged in the last two decades, making rock music quite popular among young people.

Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

also has an almost five-century-old tradition of art music, spanning from the first liturgical chant and polyphony introduced in 1524 to contemporary art music. Much of the music composed in Guatemala from the 16th century to the 19th century has only recently been unearthed by scholars and is being revived by performers.

Marimba

The marimba's first documentary evidence of existence comes from an account of a performance in front of the cathedral of Santiago de Guatemala, present-day Antigua Guatemala

Antigua Guatemala

Antigua Guatemala is a city in the central highlands of Guatemala famous for its well-preserved Spanish Mudéjar-influenced Baroque architecture as well as a number of spectacular ruins of colonial churches...

, in 1680. Later, historian Juan Domingo Juarros mentioned and described it in his Compendium of the History of Guatemala. The instrument however may be probably much older, as an attempt at recreating an older West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

n instrument, and could have been introduced by Afro-Caribbean slaves as early as 1550. http://www.bjmjr.com/afromestizo/guatemala.htm. The arch marimba was probably the first, followed by a simple instrument with a diatonic row of wood bars played with mallets, with gourd

Gourd

A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...

resonators, placed on a wooden a stand. In 1894 came a major breakthrough, when Julián Paniagua Martínez and Sebastián Hurtado developed the chromatic marimba, by adding to the diatonic row of sound bars, comparable to the white keys of the piano, a second row equivalent to the black keys. By the early 20th century, wooden-box resonators had replaced the gourd

Gourd

resonators. Modern marimba bands include a smaller marimba for three players, a larger marimba for four players, plus a drum kit or other percussion

Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

and a string bass. Some bands have occasionally employed one or two saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

s, as well as one or two trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s and a trombone

Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

. Much of the older repertoire of salon music was learned and adopted by the marimba bands, while a sizable amount of new dance pieces was newly composed for the marimba by such composers and marimba players as Domingo Bethancourt (1906-82), the Ovalle brothers, the Hurtado brothers, as well as the famous Mariano Valverde (1884-1956), Wotzbelí Aguilar (1897-1940) and Belarmino Molina (1879-1950), to name but a few. Singer Paco Pérez

Paco Pérez

Paco Pérez was a Guatemalan singer, composer and guitarist.-Biography:Paco Pérez was born as Francisco Pérez Muñoz, on April 25, 1917 in Huehuetenango, Guatemala to José Pérez and Luz Muñoz. At the age of 6, he acted in the municipal theater...

(1917-1951) was catapulted to fame with his waltz

Waltz

The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...

"Luna de Xelajú

Luna de Xelajú

"Luna de Xelajú" is a very popular Guatemalan waltz, played on marimba or any other instrument or ensemble; it was composed by Paco Pérez.The title translates as "Moon of Xelajú"...

", one of best-known marimba pieces which is regarded by many Guatemalans as a sort of unofficial national anthem.

Art music

The field of art music, also known as "classical music", includes various musical styles such as Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

, baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

, classical

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

, romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

, 20th century music

20th century music

20th century music is defined by the sudden emergence of advanced technology for recording and distributing music as well as dramatic innovations in musical forms and styles...

, and post-modern music. Guatemala was one of the first regions of the New World to be exposed to European music. The Spanish missionaries and clergy introduced Flemish and Spanish liturgical music during the early 16th century as part of the Roman Catholic rite. The first cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

(1534) at the newly founded city of Santiago de Guatemala was endowed with a choir in charge of plainchant and Latin polyphony. Later in the century, three chapel masters from the Iberian peninsula enriched the cathedral's repertoire with their compositions: Hernando Franco

Hernando Franco

Hernando Franco was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance, who was mainly active in Guatemala and Mexico.- Life :Franco was born in Galizuela in Extremadura, a source region for many people who came to the New World in the 16th century...

(1532-85), Pedro Bermúdez

Pedro Bermúdez

Pedro Bermúdez was a Spanish composer and chapel master, who has been recognised as one of the most outstanding polyphonists in the New World, and who was active in Granada, Antequera, Cusco, Santiago de Guatemala , and Puebla.-Life:Pedro Bermúdez was born 1558 in Granada, Spain...

(1558-1605), and Gaspar Fernández (1566-1629). Scholars have shown that musical activity in the missons of Huehuetenango, in the northwestern mountains of present-day Guatemala, was significant. Native musicians learned the art of polyphonic composition from the missionaries and also contributed a number of villancicos in Spanish and local Mayan languages

Mayan languages

The Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras...

to the repertory of matins and vespers music at their parrish churches.

The main composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

s during the late baroque and pre-classical period were Guatemalan-born chapel masters of the cathedral, Manuel José de Quirós

Manuel José de Quirós

-Life:Born in Santiago de Guatemala, present day Antigua Guatemala, towards the end of the 17th century, Quirós had a religious education while pursuing his musical apprenticeship and reaching the level of a journeyman...

(d. 1765) and Rafael Antonio Castellanos

Rafael Antonio Castellanos

Rafael Antonio Castellanos was a Guatemalan classical composer. His style is that of the late Spanish baroque, pre-classical, and classical periods, with frequent reference to Guatemalan folk music idioms.-Life:...

(d. 1791). The latter successfully introduced Guatemalan folk-music elements in his vocal works, especially his villancico

Villancico

The villancico was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. With the decline in popularity of the villancicos in the 20th century, the term became reduced to mean merely "Christmas carol"...

s for Christmas, which often show traits of Afro-Caribbean and Mayan rhythms, melodies, and accompaniment styles. His 176 extant works reflect Castellanos' mastery of the style of his time, as well as an unusual originality based on plainchant models, baroque

Baroque

part-writing, and the frequent inclusion folk-music idioms. Several of Castellanos' disciples attained mastery of the villancico

Villancico

and the cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

, as is reflected by extant works by Pedro Antonio Rojas, Manuel Silvestre Pellegeros, Francisco Aragón, and Pedro Nolasco Estrada Aristondo. The successor of the latter as chapel master of the cathedral was Vicente Sáenz, who served in that capacity from 1804 to his death in 1841. The organist during his tenure was his son Benedicto Sáenz the elder, who prematurely died in 1831.

Among the composers of classical

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

style the most important Guatemalan composer is José Eulalio Samayoa

José Eulalio Samayoa

-Biography:José Eulalio Samayoa was educated within the system of guilds, progressing from apprentice to journeyman before becoming a master. He founded the Philharmonic Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a series of musical and liturgical celebrations held on July 2, 1813...

(1781-ca. 1866), the first musician in the New World to write symphonies besides a sizable amount of church music. His Seventh Symphony

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

, dedicated to the victory of the Federal Army at Xiquilisco in present-day El Salvador

El Salvador

El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

, is a model of classical balance. His later Sinfonía Cívica and Sinfonía Histórica are kept in an early romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

idiom, with frequent programmatic episodes. José Escolástico Andrino, who worked in Guatemala City

Guatemala City

Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...

, Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

, and El Salvador

El Salvador

during the first half of the 19th century, also composed several symphonies. The brilliant young musician Benedicto Sáenz, the younger (d. 1857) on the other hand wrote much church music, such as his Messa Solenne published in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

by advice of the Italian composer, Saverio Mercadante

Saverio Mercadante

Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as impressive a number of works as either; and his development of...

. At the same time, Sáenz and his brother Anselmo were the first to introduce Italian opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

to Guatemala from 1843 on, an enterprise that after initial failures would turn into a huge success, leading to the construction of the magnificent National Theatre, later called Teatro Colón.

The late 19th century is represented in Guatemala by several trends: the aforementioned introduction of opera

Opera

, the training abroad of several highly talented pianist-composer

Composer

s, the influence of military band

Military band

A military band originally was a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music...

music, and the invention and development of the chromatic marimba

Marimba

The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...

.

Piano music was enormously furthered by scholarships for study in Italy and France awarded to several young talents. Thus, Luis Felipe Arias (1876-1908), Herculano Alvarado (1879-1921), Julián González, and Miguel Espinosa could present piano music by Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

, Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....

, and Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

never heard before in Guatemala

Guatemala

. They had also considerable influence on younger composers such as Rafael Vásquez, Alfredo Wyld and Rafael A. Castillo, all of whom flourished during the first decades of the twentieth century.

A group of composers furthered and instructed by the Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

n conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

and bandmaster, Emil Dressner, came from the realm of military bands and salon music

Salon music

Salon music was a popular music genre in Europe during the 19th century. It was usually written for solo piano in the romantic style, and often performed by the composer at events known as "Salons". Salon compositions are usually fairly short and often focus on virtuoso pianistic display or...

. Germán Alcántara (1856-1911), Rafael Álvarez Ovalle (1855-1946), Manuel Moraga (1833-96), Julián Paniagua Martínez (1856-1946) and Fabián Rodríguez (1862-1929) contributed a number of salon pieces, opera

Opera

fantasies, and dances to the repertoire of bands and pianists.

Another important achievement was the invention and development of the chromatic marimba

Marimba

in the highland town of Quetzaltenango in 1894, by Julián Paniagua Martínez and the marimba builder, Sebastián Hurtado. This new development made it possible to play the fashionable dance and salon music on the marimbas, which previously had been restricted to the diatonic scale. As a result, Guatemalan light music achieved an enormous dissemination at home and abroad by countless marimba bands that were formed from the beginning of the twentieth century. Much of the music of that time is still alive in the memorized repertoire of present-day marimba groups.

By the end of the nineteenth and in the first part of the 20th century, several composer

Composer

s developed a keen interest in Mayan

Maya civilization

The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...

mythology

Mythology

The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

and folk music, on which they based their scenic and concert compositions. Jesús Castillo

Jesús Castillo

Jesús Castillo is a defender currently playing for the club Jaguares de Chiapas on loan from Monarcas Morelia, in the Primera División de México.-External links:...

(1877-1946) was the first musician to collect a sizable amount of folk tunes, which he later used in works such as his opera

Opera

Quiché Vinak, as well as ouvertures and symphonic poem

Symphonic poem

A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another source is illustrated or evoked. The term was first applied by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt to his 13 works in this vein...

s. His half brother Ricardo Castillo (1891-1966) studied in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where he acquired impressionistic and neo-classical

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...

techniques. His piano music, as well as his orchestral output, reflects the fusion of his contemporary art with Mayan

Maya civilization

mythology

Mythology

such as legends and myths from the Popol Vuh. José Castañeda (1898-1983) also took keen interest in the Mayan past in his stage works such as the ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

La serpiente emplumada (The Feathered Snake), premiered in 1958, while his two symphonies his string quartets are much more experimental.

Composer

Composer

s from the next generation, some of them Ricardo Castillo's and José Castañeda's students who could also profit from the teachings of the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n composer, Franz Ippisch, continued to focus on the autochthonous Guatemalan cultures. In their stage, vocal, and instrumental works, they have shown an interest in Mayan

Maya civilization

and Garifuna cultural elements, which they have stylized in different ways. Among these, Joaquín Orellana (b. 1930) has developed idiophones and aerophones derived from the marimba and other folk instruments, which he uses in some of his aleatory compositions that deal with the social strife of present-day ethnic groups. Among his former students, the Gandarias brothers have focused on electronic process of folk-music and bird calls recorded on site, producing several discs. At the beginning of the new millennium, two multimedia works by contemporary composer

Composer

Dieter Lehnhoff

Dieter Lehnhoff is a composer, conductor, and musicologist.-Life:Born in Guatemala City to German settlers, 1955, Dieter Lehnhoff has been a pupil of Klaus Ager, Gerhard Wimberger, Josef Maria Horváth, and Dr. Friedrich C. Heller in Salzburg...

, Memorias de un día remoto (Memories of a Distant Day) and Rituales nocturnos (Night Rituals) have evoked the Mayan

Maya civilization

past in a more contemporary style, being conceived as the soundtrack to an imaginary film. The sojourn of the Garifuna to Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

n shores on the other hand is the subject of Satuyé, his opera

Opera

in progress. Among the younger composers, several have written works in a variety of post-modern styles, often returning to traditional or free tonality in their vocal and instrumental compositions.

In 1930 comes to air radio TGW, the Voice Guatemala, first station of long wave. Later, in 1946, begins the time of the national broadcasting. In that period, the transmitters produced dramatized pieces, arose programs from quality that could compete with the foreigners; the broadcasting reached their maximum development. The station has had an entertainment focus, featuring artist such as: Paco Pérez

Paco Pérez

, Gustavo Adolfo Palma

Gustavo Adolfo Palma

Gustavo Adolfo Palma was a Guatemalan singer, actor, and lyric tenor between 1936 and 1970, nicknamed "the Tenor of Central America."- Early years :...

, Juan de Dios Quezada, Manolo Rosales, Jorge Mario Paredes and Ernesto Rosales.

Music life

Present-day Guatemala boasts a number of performing organizations, such as orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

s, choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

s, chamber ensembles, opera

Opera

troupes, soloists and dozens of rock bands.

The Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional was founded in after the 1944 Revolution, transforming from an earlier government orchestra called Orquesta Progresista. For several years it was directed by the notable violinist, Andrés Archila

Andres Archila

'Andrés Archila', international violinist and orchestra conductor, was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on December 24, 1913. He was the principal founder and conductor of the Guatemalan National Symphony Orchestra from 1944–1964, founder of the Quarteto Guatemala, Associate Concertmaster of...

. In 1964 a permanent conductor

Conducting

was appointed Ricardo del Carmen, who was joined in the early 1970s by Jorge Sarmientos, another music director. In 1991, after both conductors retired, the orchestra decided to dispense with a permanent music director, working only with guest artists. As a result, many of the orchestra's concerts are conducted by some of its members, who are not necessarily trained in orchestral conducting. This orchestra is endowed with subsidy from the government to cover salaries and expenses. It has yearly seasons, one of which includes international guests; the other seasons are popular and didactic in nature.

The Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil was founded in 1970 by Manuel Alvarado Coronado. It was a youth orchestra, and its members were students at different schools in Guatemala City. Without financial support, it was forced to develop its activities with the aid of parents.

The Orquesta Millennium is an independent organization founded in 1993 by Dieter Lehnhoff

Dieter Lehnhoff

and Cristina Altamira

Cristina Altamira

Cristina Altamira is a mezzosoprano specializing in baroque and Latin American music.-Biography:...

. Initially called Nueva Orquesta Filarmónica, it played its first concert seasons in the Auditorium of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, as well as other locations. It made its first CD La Sociedad Filarmónica in 1993, with premiere recordings of works by Guatemalan classical composers José Eulalio Samayoa

José Eulalio Samayoa

, José Escolástico Andrino, and Benedicto Sáenz, the younger. In 1998 it was appointed official orchestra of the City of Guatemala, under the protection of the Mayor and City Council

City council

A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...

, with the name of Orquesta Metropolitana. In 2004 it separated from the City government, became independent again, and changed its name to Millennium Orchestra. The Orchestra has recorded the highly successful CDs Valses inolvidables de Guatemala and Melodías inolvidables de Guatemala, both of them with music by Guatemalan composers.

The Orquesta Clásica was founded in the early 1990s. It is a private orchestra, which plays at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín for their classical season. Since the death of its original leader in 2003, it has been conducted by guests. In September 2007 the university cancelled all of the remaining season concerts and withdrew its support.

The Orquesta Sinfónica Jesús Castillo, a youth orchestra, was established in 1997, after a series of workshops conducted by a group of Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

n instrumental teachers. Its members are students of the National Conservatory and other privates academies. Its first Musical Director was Igor Sarmientos 1997–2007. This orchestra had the partial support of the government to cover their expenses until 2007.

Among the choirs active in Guatemala, the oldest organization is the Coro Nacional, founded after the 1944 Revolution as Coro Guatemala. Over the decades, it has introduced many works by European composers, as well as numerous Guatemalan song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

s and choral compositions. It is the only choral group with government support, and offers several yearly concert sasons.

The university choirs are also very important, and gather in yearly traditional choral festivals. There are also independent, and amateur

Amateur

An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....

choral organizations. At the beginning of the new millennium, several choirs of children and young have sprouted, not only in Guatemala City, but also in towns and rural areas.

There are several chamber ensembles such as wind quintets, string quartets, brass choirs, and groups specializing in baroque

Baroque

performance practices. Among these, the Millennium Ensemble has raised much attention by their first performances of Renaissance

Renaissance

, baroque

Baroque

, and classical works from colonial Guatemala, which they have presented at festivals and concerts in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, North- and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. Since their first CD, released in 1992, up to their twelfth CD Joyas del Barroco in Guatemala (2006), they have revived numerous works of 18th century composers as Manuel José de Quirós

Manuel José de Quirós

, Rafael Antonio Castellanos

Rafael Antonio Castellanos

, and Pedro Nolasco Estrada Aristondo, with mezzosoprano Cristina Altamira

Cristina Altamira

Cristina Altamira is a mezzosoprano specializing in baroque and Latin American music.-Biography:...

performing villancicos and cantatas for different occasions of the Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

liturgical year.

Opera

Opera

has also regained favour, with yearly performances at local festivals in Guatemala City and Antigua Guatemala

Antigua Guatemala

. Guatemalan Baritone Luis Girón May (b. 1953) has been influential in obtaining significant sponsorships for the staging of several operas by Verdi and Puccini. Foreign opera companies also visit the country on occasion, performing in the magnificent National Theatre

Centro Cultural Miguel Ángel Asturias

The Centro Cultural Miguel Ángel Asturias, commonly named Teatro Nacional, is a cultural center in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It is located in the Centro Cívico of the city and was built in the same place of the old Fuerte de San José. Its form, which emulates a seated jaguar, stands out from the...

in Guatemala City

Guatemala City

Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...

or on historical locations in Antigua Guatemala

Antigua Guatemala

Modern popular music

In recent decades, Guatemala has produced a variety of popular performers, such as pop vocalists, Guatemalan rock

Guatemalan rock

Guatemalan Rock or Rock Chapín is a genre of rock music which has been developing in Guatemala since the mid 1960s.-Guatemalan Rock Music:...

bands, heavy metal groups, big bands, tropical salsa

Salsa music

Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...

and merengue

Merengue music

Merengue is a type of music and dance from the Dominican Republic. It is popular in the Dominican Republic and all over Latin America. Its name is Spanish, taken from the name of the meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar...

bands, hip hop

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

and reggaeton crews, disk-jockeys, trios, and mariachi

Mariachi

Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...

bands. The best known popsinger/songwriter from Guatemala is Ricardo Arjona

Ricardo Arjona

Edgar Ricardo Arjona Morales, , known as Ricardo Arjona , is a Guatemalan singer...

. One of the better-known pop-rock bands during the 1980s and 90s was the group Alux Nahual

Alux Nahual

Alux Nahual is the Latin rock band formed in 1979 by brothers Plubio and Alvaro Aguilar, and their cousin Ranferí Aguilar. Alux Nahual is a maya-quiche phrase naming a goblin similar to a leprechaun. The band's climax came in 1995 while performing in a sold-out show at Los Angeles Palace.The...

. While this group has been separated since 1998, their recordings are still favoured by a certain age group of Guatemalan city-dwellers.
Notable vocalist from the 20th century include Luis Galich, Roberto Rey, Herman May, Tania Zea, Karim May, and Elizabeth

Elizabeth

Elizabeth or Elisabeth is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God's promise," "oath of God," or "I am God’s daughter." Elizabeth and Elisabeth are the parent unit names of Lisa, Lilly, Beth, Betty, and Ella; Elsa, Isabel, and Isabella are etymologically related...

Alternative Music in the 90s

Bands suchs as Bohemia Suburbana

Bohemia Suburbana

Bohemia Suburbana is a Guatemalan rock band formed in the year 1992. Current members are Peruvian musician Álvaro Rodríguez , Colombian musicians Alejandro Duque and Juan Luis Piolly Lopera , and Guatemalans Rudy Bethancourt and Giovanni Pinzón...

, Viernes verde, La Tona and E.x.t.i.n.c.i.o.n. were the cornerstone for the alternative rock movement of the 90s, during the time of the post-war in Guatemala. This bands still enjoy a level of succes, mostly because during that time FM Radio (stations suchs as Doble S then renamed Atmosfera, FM Fenix, Metroestereo, La Marca) represented a huge push for rock bands. However there were also underground movements during the 90s that went the opposite direction; with bands suchs as Pusher

Pusher

Pusher may refer to:* A dealer in the illegal drug trade* Pusher , a 1996 Danish film by Nicolas Winding Refn* Pusher II, a 2004 film sequel* Pusher III, a 2005 film sequel* Pusher configuration, an aircraft configuration...

(metal), Fuerza X (hardcore), Domestic Fool (punk) among others setting new styles outside the mainstream movements.
Recently there has been a documentary called "Alternativa" which documents the alternative and Garra Chapina movement from the 90s to this day.

Today, the musical scene in Guatemala is populated by diverse bands and vocalists. Online radio 'http://www.elcircodelrock.comwww.elcircodelrock.com promotes the diverse talent nationally and abroad, but it is still directed to a 90s audience.

Underground Music in Guatemala

During the year 2006, the last Rock station on FM disappeared from the airwaves and there was no longer support from the media. As a result several hundreds of musicians started developing musical styles on underground movements and selfproducing, and also because of the lack of support from the media, the bands started promoting on the internet on sites such as Myspace.com and Rockrepublik.net and targeted on smaller audiences in more specific music genres, this also had as a consequence an overpopulation of musical projects which are still (nowadays) looking for a way to bring a new face to music in Guatemala.

In 2010 there are several projects which have been transcending among the overpopulated underground movement:
Dubvolution on reggae dub.
Evilminded in electronic Music.
Treateth

Treateth

-Eugenics:Track listing:-Treateth en 2010-2011:Treateth, now complete, began writing new stuff, Treateth got serious, with brutal vocals, sick drumming, and mixing some crazy guitar riffs and what is something that in the band can't miss is the Melodic riffs, giving the band a new and brutal sound,...

, Virus Belico, Metal Requiem and Zarkasmo in Metal.
Los Mojarras

Los mojarras

Los Mojarras are a band from the province of El Agustino Lima Peru that formed in 1992. They released their first album in 1994, titled Sarita Colonia, and are still currently producing music and performing. They have been politically active through their music, voicing political realities and...

and Xb'alanke in instrumental music.
and several other artists such as None at Last, Assabeth, Silent Poetry, Trinky, Madam Funtoo and pop sensation Woodser
Perhaps the best known bands are Bohemia Suburbana

Bohemia Suburbana

, La Tona, Viernes Verde, Viento en Contra, Malacates Trebol Shop

Malacates Trébol Shop

Malacates Trebol Shop is a Guatemalan Rock Pop Latino band best known for their innovative and unique compositions. The band's varied musical style has fused traditional rock and ska with various elements of Latin and pop. They have recorded four Albums: 1.Paquetecuetes2. Sí, 3. Sólo éxitos… 4. De...

and El Tambor de la Tribu, although there are many others. Notable popular singers include a new generation of pop stars such as Tuco Cardenas (whose music gender is actually folk), Magda Angélica, Shery

Shery

Shery is a Guatemalan Latin pop singer and songwriter . She has recorded songs in Spanish and Italian, and shared stage with such international superstars as Chayanne, Christian Castro, Manuel Mijares, Miguel Bosé, Enrique Iglesias and Aleks Syntek...

, Carlos Catania, Tavo Barcenas, Giovanni Passarelli, Raul Aguirre and Carlos Peña, just to name a few.

In Metal music there are bands like Treateth

Treateth

, Virus Belico, Celula, Zarcasmo, Metal Requiem, E.X.T.I.N.C.I.O.N., TOBA

Toba

Toba may refer to:In Geography:* Lake Toba, a lake in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, and site of the volcanic Toba eruption 75,000 years ago** Toba catastrophe theory, according to which modern human evolution was affected by the Toba eruption...

, Astaroth

Astaroth

Astaroth , in demonology, is a Crowned Prince of Hell. He is a male figure named after the Canaanite goddess Ashtoreth.-Background:...

, A Walking Legend and to many others.

Chapinlandia: Marimba Music of Guatemala. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2007. SFW CD 40542. http://www.folkways.si.edu.
Valses inolvidables de Guatemala. Guatemala: ADESCA, 2000. Orquesta Metropolitana Millennium, Dieter Lehnhoff
Dieter Lehnhoff
Dieter Lehnhoff is a composer, conductor, and musicologist.-Life:Born in Guatemala City to German settlers, 1955, Dieter Lehnhoff has been a pupil of Klaus Ager, Gerhard Wimberger, Josef Maria Horváth, and Dr. Friedrich C. Heller in Salzburg...

. http://www.sophosenlinea.com/index.php?keyword=Valses+inolvidables+de+Guatemala+&Search=Buscar&Itemid=1&option=com_phpshop&page=shop.browse
Tesoros musicales de la Antigua Guatemala. Guatemala: Universidad Rafael Landívar, 2003. Orquesta Millennium, Dieter Lehnhoff
Dieter Lehnhoff
Dieter Lehnhoff is a composer, conductor, and musicologist.-Life:Born in Guatemala City to German settlers, 1955, Dieter Lehnhoff has been a pupil of Klaus Ager, Gerhard Wimberger, Josef Maria Horváth, and Dr. Friedrich C. Heller in Salzburg...

.
Melodías inolvidables de Guatemala. Guatemala: Universidad Rafael Landívar, Fundación Soros-Guatemala, 2007. Orquesta Millennium, Dieter Lehnhoff
Dieter Lehnhoff
Dieter Lehnhoff is a composer, conductor, and musicologist.-Life:Born in Guatemala City to German settlers, 1955, Dieter Lehnhoff has been a pupil of Klaus Ager, Gerhard Wimberger, Josef Maria Horváth, and Dr. Friedrich C. Heller in Salzburg...

. http://www.sophosenlinea.com/index.php?option=com_phpshop&page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=73538&Itemid=8
Shery: El amor es un fantasma. Guatemala, C.A.: Creatorium Music, 2008. Shery
Catania, Carlos: Nariz de Santo. Guatemala, C.A.: Strip Records, 2007.

Giovanni Passarelli: Tu lugar. Guatemala, C.A.: Talismano Musica, 2006. Giovanni Passarelli

External links

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