Oaxacan Indigenous Women Musicians' Collective Songwriting Process on the Title Track of Mujeres

Abstract

Oaxacan Indigenous Women Musicians' Collective Songwriting Process on the Title Track of Mujeres Xóchitl C. Chávez (bio) Introduction This interview features Maestra Leticia Gallardo Martínez and Diana Gabriela Gallardo Martínez of the all-female wind band, Banda Femenil Regional "Mujeres del Viento Florido,"1 of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, Oaxaca (Sierra Mixe), Mexico. The dialogue you are about to read reflects the two-year process in producing the album—and its collectively written title track—Mujeres. The interview is led by Dr. Xóchitl C. Chávez, assistant professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Riverside. This interview weaves together stories from the First Workshop of Indigenous Women Musicians of 2018, including tales of transborder and local networks, the challenges Indigenous women face in the recording industry, intergenerational collaboration, and how the global pandemic has brought further innovation with technology and social media. The interview was conducted on May 23, 2020. Xóchitl C. Chávez: What was the inspiration for the song, "Mujeres"? Leticia Gallardo Martínez: "Mujeres" was a collectively written song that arose out of the intention to host the First Indigenous Oaxacan Women gathering with other women musicians from different locations in Oaxaca and California. This idea was dreamt up from an informal dinner we had in 2015 in Los Angeles with Maestra Jessica Hernández, Maestra Yulissa Maqueos, and Dr. Xóchitl Chávez—where we promised one another that we would collaborate on something together. The opportunity presented itself in 2018, and we were able to coincide with the travel plans of Maestra Jessica Hernández and Professor Xóchitl. We coordinated a small musical "Encuentro" workshop with 46 people, which has been named "The First Workshop of Indigenous Women Musicians." Along with Dr. Xóchitl Chávez, Maestra Jessica Hernández, and Maestra Mercedes Payan Ramírez, we designed activities and workshops on topics such as conducting, identity discussion, ethnographic interview and documentary techniques, how to seek out colleges in Mexico, and collectively composing songs. A particularly supportive dynamic was [End Page 121] created after one of the sessions where fellow women musicians shared very strong experiences about their identities as women from indigenous communities. Given the stories that were being shared, we gave words of encouragement to one another, and acknowledged that each one of us had lived a hard process to incorporate into the community music bands both in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec and communities like Los Angeles. We acknowledged the processes and the forms in which it had been difficult to join and for us to create music with a group of people who sometimes weren't so open, or sometimes didn't agree with this idea that women could make music. After the discussion on identity, we brainstormed themes with Maestras Jessica Hernández and Professor Xóchitl, and they wrote ideas on the board as they heard from our colleagues. After a few of us saw how they were organizing the ideas, other fellow women musicians started contributing their experiences, and collectively we talked and began to draft verses and stanzas. Collectively we added and cut out, and we did an exercise of revising to see if the idea was good or if it was missing something. Then, we recognized when we finished and agreed on the first draft. Next, we decided to create music to accompany the lyrics we wrote. We took some instruments and we started to see what type of rhythm would fit, what type of music it could be. As this was happening, I could feel a melody that came to me through the lyrics as they were written. After speaking out the lyrics again, this melody came to me, and I worked on it a little more with Maestra Nataly Luis Pérez (who plays the trumpet), trying to adapt this melody from what we were weaving, and then we found the melody. That very day we created the melody for the song, "Mujeres." Once I saw our colleagues play the music and sing collectively during one of our rehearsals, we decided to record the melody there, in the open space of the school. That is where the idea of...