Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-05
u. S. ARMY BAND
TO PLAY IN SPAIN
Music of Ancient Indians of
Latin America Will Be
Given at Seville.
BY PAUL v. COLLINS.

1t is not North American music that
the musicians have suddenly become
enthuSed with, but Central and South
American - Aztec. Toltec and Inca
music. 1t Is marvellous discovery made
by music lovers to find those great pre-
Columbian peoples so cultured and so
filled with real harmony and melody
that in comparison the classics of the
Old World are challenged for beauty.
Engineering Shows Skill.
The Inca empire was as large as all
the United States east of the Rocky
Mountains. Nobody can estimate the
number of its population, but its great
wealth was uncovered by the conquerors
under Pizarro Their civilization was
demonstrated by their engineering OF
roadwayS through the mountains.
Their poetic imagination was shown
in their legends One tribe of Andes
Indians built round the great bird the
condor, the myth that once the earth
was so small lin compariSC that con-
dor, whose nest was in the sun, picked
it up and few away with l.. The In
cans say that condor has died and
the earth is grieved when storms and
earthquakes strike.
And so the Passing of the Condor"
composed by an Inca musician hum
dreds of years ago, is music which
and the civilized. 1t is one of the
choicest selections played by the Army
Band.
Thought Earth Like Egg.
incidentally, it should be noted that
the Inca legend pictured the earth in
the shape of an egg-a ball-rather
than the idea Of the ancient Europeans
of old that it was a fiat disk around
which the sun and mooIA rose and set
daily.
In the mountain pastures, the shep-
herds call their f1ockS of llamas by
playing on pipes of Pan" exactly as
did the ancient Grecian shepherds.
These Pan-pipes are made of reeds, or
followed wood or baked clay, the
tubes varying in length, to give the
different notes. Sometimes the TUBES
are in double, or quadruple or treble
rows, tied with thongs Of fiber. the
Pan-uipes were in common use when
Pizarro invaded the land.
Andeans Have Diety.
Former Gov. Charles S. Osborn OF
Michigan, writing on his travels, says
that in Peru there are tribes VINO are
said never TO have seen white man,
vet he adds: Some of the tribesmen
are pipers and have musical reeds not
dissinilar to those used up to the pres
ent day by certain peasants OF Sicily
and which are thought to be the true
syrinx or Shepherds flute, invented
by Pan, according to the myths OF the
Greeks. -,
The Romans, as well, gave credit to
the god of the flocks and pastures, f1rSt
to Inuus and then to Faunus, quite i'm
partially. and these primitive AnoeanS
also have such deity to whom they
blow great blasts from their Pandean
pipes as they summon their namaS:
They played tunes upon the ran
flutes for PiZarro'S band Of invaders In
the early years of the sixteenth CEN
tlrv. They have survived to this day
and are now given by the Army Band.
While neither literature nor written
music of the ancient AndeanS was pre-
served, due to the Spanish conquerors,
many Of the original instruments nave
been discovered and also pictures of the
musicians in the act OF playing them
have been found painted on clay vases.
The folklore melodies have come down
from generation to generation among
the isolated tribes. In r. ct M. DHar-
courts book the author presents some
studies amounting to more than zoo
lines of hitherto unpublished songs and
instrumental pieces which he had re-
corded on monographs, as delivered
by descendants of the Inca tribes.
/ Some Yet Can Be Played.
This method, he says, has been more
fruitful in Peru than anywhere else,
except in Egypt, in preserving the art
of the ancient times, for, due to the dry
nesS of the climate along the Peruvian
coast, many well preserved instruments
/ have been discovered buried In the sand,
often beside vases of funeral ceremonies.
There are many musical instruments in
such preservation that it Is possible to
make them vibrate with musical SOUND.
/ and the author adds that he hears from
1 a flute just exhumed notes that have
1 slept through the centuries. There were
rattles, gongs. drums, cymbals, zylo-
phones, trumpets and even Stringed In
strumentS.
Not all the instruments were in use
all over the continent. The flageolet
/ was commonly used in Peru, but I'M
; known in Mexico. Aztec records have
been preserved by hieroglyphicS, but
/ such were unknown to the Incas. So
the field is not only rich. but varied In
its resources and characteristics.
Adams Gathered Scores.
A few years ago Franklin Adams
now counselor of the Pan-American
Union, spent some time in South Amer
lea. Mr.. Adams In his younger days
played in an amateur band and has
never gotten over his love of band mu-
S4C. NES. AOdLlS DSCdIQC BIcdJIy III
terested with him in What they dis
covered in South American music, and
when they returned to the United
States they brought with them hun
dreds of music scores. Mrs. Adams
lectured on the subject Mr.. Adams
talked about it to the musicians of the
various bands connected with the Gov
ernment-the Army Band, the Navy
Band and the Marine Band. At first
the leaders declined to become interest
ed, preferring only the Classics of the
old masters of Europe, and counting
the Indian music with Jazz or tom-toms
William j. Stannard leader of the
Army Band, was the first to begin try
ing out the ancient Indian scores of
Latin America.
Then began a systematic search for
more selections through correspondence
with musical directors of bands In all
the countries of Central and South
America, through the Pan-American
Union, and when the Army Band gave
concerts in the Hall of Ambassadors of
the Pan-American Union the diplomatic
representatives of the countries whence
came this unusual music became en-
thusiaStic. Then the director general
DR.. L. S. Rowe, called the attention of
the Secretary of War to this rare fea-
ture for interesting the world in at
tendance at the exposition in Seville.
Some of the original Indian music
has been interpreted" by the Spanish
descendants Of the ConquistadoreS and
the later Spanish settlers in those coun-
tries, and while the root Of the music
is Guanani, Inca, Magyar, Toltec and
Aztec, some of it also has a Spanish
flavor Much of it is in a minor KEY
or is interpretative of the tragedies of
the Conquest, or in the spirit of the