10 NATIVE GUATEMALAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The indigenous musical instruments of Guatemala are the marimba, the chirimía, the ayotl, the chinchín, the tunkul and the ocarina. These instruments have their origin in Guatemala; they were created in this country. This Central American country has a wide variety of musical styles that come from different heritages that have left their legacy with the passing of time.

To fully understand Guatemalan musical culture, we must first know its origins during the Mayan civilization, which is divided into three main periods: the Pre-Classic (2000 BC-250 AD), the Classic (250 AD-900 AD) and the post classical (950 AD-1697 AD).

The marimba is one of the most important indigenous instruments of Guatemala.

Throughout all these years, various musical instruments were developed, those that made civilization dance and sing during the festivities. These were present in the agrarian rites that they had as well as they were also used by the Mayan warrior groups. They were percussion (idiophones) and wind (aerophones) instruments.

Among those of wind were whistles, reed flutes, sibilant glasses, among others. And with regard to percussion instruments, wooden drums with a membrane made of jaguar or deer skin, tunkules, tortoise shells and scrapers.

Later, with the Spanish conquest, several instruments brought from Europe were included and mixed with the indigenous instruments of the Mayan people, creating in this way the tools of the musical culture of present-day Guatemala. You may also be interested in seeing 10 typical musical instruments of Venezuela.

Instruments originating in Guatemala

1- Chirimía

It is a reed flute, brought to the Spanish-American colonies by the Spanish at the end of 1,400 AD. This aerophone instrument, made of cane wood, could be defined as the predecessor of the oboe.

It has nine side holes, of which only six are used to cover them with the fingers, and they have high, low and high tones.

This instrument was used by Mayan civilizations for different popular festivities and religious celebrations.

2- Marimba

It is a percussion instrument made up of a series of wooden strips or sheets of different sizes. These are applied in a scale from high to low and to produce the sound, they must be struck by small clubs. The Marimba bears a strong resemblance to the xylophone.

Each of these keys has its own particular resonance box and at the same time, all are supported or embedded in a wooden board that supports them.

The marimba, arises from the cross between original European, African and of course Guatemalan instruments, between the years 1492 and 680.

The word marimba, comes from Bantu and means "ma" - "many", and "rimba" - "single bar xylophone"

It is the obligation of the Ministry of Education of Guatemala, the teaching of this musical instrument in all public and private schools in the country, since since 1999, the marimba was declared a national symbol.

3- Ayotl

The Ayotl or Ayote, is an autochthonous instrument of the Mayan culture. It is a percussion element, built with a shell or turtle shell. It is struck by drumsticks, or also scraped by a deer crow on its convex part.

Formerly it was used in celebrations of deaths, in some religious rite, or in a party held in honor of the gods. Also, an extra wooden resonance box was placed underneath the squash, to expand its sound when played.

4- Chinchín

The chinchín, maraca or rattle, is a hollow aboriginal percussion instrument, made of wood, to which seeds, grains and cereals are added, which produce the sound when shaken.

In particular, the rattle is made with the fruit of the tree called the nose or, failing that, with a zucchini. It is believed that chinchines in Guatemala were used for the first time during pre-Columbian times.

In the beginning, they were painted black, but today they can be found in various colors such as red and yellow. They also have beautiful decorations on the outside of the zucchini or fruit. They are commonly executed during Christmas celebrations.

5- Tunkul

It is a drum, built with a hollowed horizontal log of wood (mahogany, cedar), and with an added deerskin or jaguar patch over the top. It is struck by two drumsticks. They were also built with mud.

It is one of the instruments most used by the Mayan civilizations, and to this day, several indigenous people throughout Guatemala use it for different types of festivities. At the top it has two reeds for bass and treble sounds.

6- Ocarina

It is an aerophone (wind) instrument, colloquially called a whistle or whistle, made of clay or bones. Currently they are manufactured with different materials ranging from wood and ceramic, to plastic.

The ocarina also comes from the Mayan culture. They were used by the aborigines of the Mesoamerican peoples, not only to play them as musical instruments, but they were also used during hunting. There are several types of ocarinas, here are some examples:

• Transverse: classic ocarina, rounded.
• Online: small and compact, with more holes.
• Pendants: English and others of Inca origin. They differed in that the former have between four and six holes, are small and manageable, while the Inca have up to eight holes and are larger than the English.
• Multi-chamber: they achieve a higher harmonic register than the rest of the ocarinas.
• Ocarinas with keys: built since the late 1800s.

The forms of the ocarinas are very diverse, since some can have human forms, others with animal forms. They also vary in sizes. There can be singles, doubles, and even triples.

Finally, this musical instrument was also used in a symphonic mode and in a poetic mode by different artists throughout time.

References

1. The Behlanjeh, the national musical instrument of the Mandingos. Royal Commonwealth Society Library. Cambridge University Library. University of Cambridge. November 5, 2004. Retrieved April 26, 2008.
2. "Nicaragua Information". World InfoZone. Retrieved December 17, 2007. The marimba, an instrument similar to a xylophone, is the national instrument.
3. "The Harp: A Latin American Reinvention". July 6, 2001. Retrieved December 17, 2007. In Paraguay, (the harp) became the national instrument.
4. Graham, Richard (Spring – Summer 1991). "Technology and Culture Change: The Development of the" Berimbau "in Colonial Brazil". Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana. University of Texas Press
5. Native instruments. Recovered from vosytuguatechula.jimdo.com.
6. Instruments indigenous to Guatemala. Recovered from sabeguate2012.blogspot.com.ar.