TOHONO O'ODHAM FIDDLE MUSIC
Copyright © 2006 Shlomo Pestcoe. All rights reserved.
The Tohono O'odham are the largest Amerindian nation in the state of Arizona. Tohono O'odham means "Desert People" in the Uto-Aztecan language of the O'odham, a reference to their homeland in the Sonoran Desert regions of southern Arizona and the northern Mexican state of Sonora. They were dubbed the Papago (Papahvi-o-otam, literally, "Bean People" in the language of the neighboring Akimel O’odham [Pima] who are closely related to the Tohono O'odham) by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino (1645-1711), the famed Jesuit missionary/cartographer/astronomer/explorer, who established the first missions in the region in 1686. In 1986, the tribal government legally replaced the sobriquet "Papago Indians" -- long considered to be derogatory-- with the term Tohono O'odham as the official name for this First Nation.
The O'odham fiddle tradition of stretches back to the earliest days of Spanish colonization. Catholic missionaries introduced European string instruments into the region for use in church services.
In the mid-19th century, Tohono O'odham fiddlers picked up the latest "pop" dance music forms to come over from Europe-- the waltz, polka, mazurka, etc.-- and adapted them to fit their musical culture. The music they created was dubbed "waila," (pronounced "wy-lah") which comes from the Spanish word baile (lit. "dance").
Waila fiddle bands provided the music for religious festivals, community celebrations and social dancing until the 1950s, when the fiddle was overshadowed by the button accordion and saxophone. This was result of the pervasive influence of norteño music from Northern Mexico, in which the 3-row diatonic button accordion and the alto sax are the main lead instruments. A new O'odham style featuring those instruments emerged called chicken scratch, a reference to a traditional Tohono O'odham dance in which dancers kick their heels high in the air like chickens scratching. Today, the terms waila and chicken scratch are interchangeable and are both synonymous for contemporary O'odham vernacular social dance music.
The 1980s brought a revival of interest in the old-time Tohono O'odham fiddle tradition. This revival continues to grow, guaranteeing that this wonderful music will be played and enjoyed well into the future. In the forefront of the current revival are two major waila fiddle bands, The Southern Fiddlers and Wilson's Fiddle Combo. Their music is issued by Rock-A-Bye Records, the foremost label producing contemporary waila music recordings, videos and DVDs.
Canyon
Records (a small label devoted to
presenting Native American music in all its many varied forms) offers a great CD
of traditional waila music by
The Gu-Achi Fiddlers. Named for their village in Southern Arizona,
this old-time waila band featured
the talents of two great fiddlers and tradition-bearers, Elliot Johnson and
Lester Vavages, who have since passed on. Their distinctive sound was that of two fiddles accompanied by guitar, snare drum and bass drum.
-- Shlomo Pestcoe
Masked Tohono O'odham dancers and musicians performing the Pakola dance, circa 1910. (Collection of Shlomo Pestcoe)
The Pakola is the O'odham version of the neighboring Yaqui nation's Pahko'ola dance, better known as the Pascola dance. While the Yaqui Pahko'ola is traditionally danced to the music of the flute, fiddle and drum, the traditional accompaniment for the O'odham Pakola is fiddle and guitar, as seen above.
