La música de arpa entre los Nahuas: simbolismo y aspectos performativos

Abstract

This article offers a comparative analysis of the performative and symbolic aspects of harp music (also called small music) among the Nahua people of the Huasteca Potosina in Mexico. We examine the ways in which music, instruments, related myths, dances and performative events establish a web of significance between the lifeways and the religiosity in these Nahua communities. We analyze the dynamic production of meaning generated through the performance of specific ritual events. We specifically explore the production of ritual events as artistic practices and as performative events that convey meaning through symbolism and ritual experience as the performers construct, express, and enact their lifeways. In this context, the music and dance performances represent not simply forms of entertainment or of cultural transmission, but rather, they constitute a discourse to which end they communicate with the spiritual entities that reside in the natural and social environment.