User:Harpy eagle music

''' BANCHIKILLI - INDIGENOUS MUSIC OF GUYANA

Background
In 1817 many Arawaks fled Angostura, now renamed Cuidad Bolivar and crossed the border into Guyana and has not been heard of since. In the same year a group of approximately one hundred Arawaks led by Juan Aguilera fled Cuidad Bolivar, though this time by boat. They entered the Moruca River and settled on an island they named Bennett, John Peter.

Mariaba
Arawak for guava, a tropical fruit. The island was later christened Santa Rosa in honor of the patron saint of the Spanish Arawaks, St. Rose of Lima in the year 1840.

Banchikilli
Banchikilli is an Arawak word. According to Jennifer Harris, one of the few Arawak speaking person found in Santa Rosa, Banchikilli means “to dance to the violin and banjo”. It is a hybrid of two sounds, Indigenous or Arawak melodies and Joropo providing harmonic texture. This music was developed as a consequence of cultural exchanges with the Spanish European community of Venezuela. When the Arawaks arrived in Guyana they came with fully developed musical repertoires. Indigenous music can be determined by two significant timelines in Western history: pre – Contact that time before the arrival of the Europeans; and post-Contact after the arrivals of the Europeans.

== Form and Texture Rhythm == Banchikilli is polyrhythmic, a mix of 2/4 and 3/4 time signature.

Instruments
The Arawaks employed the uses of both Indigenous and European Instruments in Banchikilli music. It was a move designed to ensure the survival of the sound. The following instruments are presently found in the music - Violins, Banjos, Ukuleles, Guitars, Maracas and the Sambura a type of idiophone. (Sagar, 2008) Texture The music is for the most part is instrumental (the Arawaks having lost their language after their arrival in Guyana). There pockets of vocals for some songs. Very short ideas are sung repeatedly to a type of chant.

Form
Banchikilli music is reflective of diverse influences. The music has Indigenous, Spanish as well as contemporary influences. Indigenous melodies are short simple ideas much of it descriptive of various aspects of their life and environment and also folk tales. Other aspects of Indigenous music are the uses of existing works for the production of newer ideas. Typical examples are the songs Rosita Colorou and Etore B’lin. They both mirror each other in melodic structure and style. However Rosita Colorou is filled with patriotism, and was perhaps the first composition of the Spanish Arawaks after their arrival in Guyana in the early 19th century, whereas Etore B’lin or Baboon Dance was a more classical Indigenous song, pre-contact in creation. However the composer(s) never replaced the structure of what constitutes a Spanish Arawak Indigenous melody, and their techniques are easily recognized in the respective compositions.