Please see Chapter 5 in this volume for biographical information on James S. Griffith.
When the Spanish empire expanded into what are now the Arizona-Sonora borderlands, its soldiers and missionaries encountered native peoples who called themselves O'odham or "the People." Due to an apparent misunderstanding, the Spaniards assigned to them the name "Pima," which seems to be derived from an O'odham word meaning "I don't know." The descendants of these people still live in the Arizona portion of their traditional range and are divided into two main related cultural and linguistic groups: the Akimel O'odham or "River People," often called "Pimas" by Anglo-Americans, and the Tohono O'odham or "Desert People," formerly called "Papagos." Although this essay will deal with the musical traditions of both groups, it will start with the Tohono O'odham.
The Tohono O'odham occupy the second largest reservation in the United States, the Navajo Reservation being the largest. It stretches in southern Arizona from a point west of Tucson almost to the mining town of Ajo, and from the United States—Mexico border north almost to Interstate 10. As recently as the eighteenth century, there were many Tohono O'odham in what is now the Mexican state of Sonora; northward migrations to the United States began in the nineteenth century and continued well into the twentieth century, leaving only a handful of O'odham in their Sonoran homeland.
Traditionally, singing was a major means by which the O'odham connected with the world of power. Song cycles accompanied the major and minor ceremonies of the year and were important parts of extraordinary events such as raids against the Apache enemy and salt pilgrimages to the Gulf of California. Curers used song in the healing process; it was an important means by which disturbed balances were restored and health of all kinds was maintained. (A fine collection of various kinds of song texts appears in Underhill 1973.) Songs could be solo or group efforts and were accompanied by gourd rattles and a drum made from a large, overturned basket.
This song tradition continues for curing, for those native religious ceremonies that are still performed, and to accompany group dancing. Two dances that persist are the keihina or "circle dance" and the chelkona or "skipping and scraping dance." From the evidence of painted pottery, the keihina seems to have been a part of desert life for at least 800 years. It is performed by both men and women holding hands in a circle. They sing a given song four times. The first two times the dancers walk in a counterclockwise direction to the sound of voices and rattles; when the basket drum accompanies the last two repetitions of the song, the dancers perform a hopping step, bringing their feet down on the ground "hard, so as to bring in the rain clouds." The chelkona is one of the dances that O'odham children still learn, and it is frequently performed in public at cultural festivals. (A selection of songs used during the 1970s may be heard on An Anthology of Papago Traditional Music, Volume 1, 1972.)
The O'odham traditionally learned songs for the keihina, chelkona, and other dances from the Spirit World. There are still those who receive songs in this way. Once received, the songs become the property of their composers.
Missionaries probably introduced European instruments such as violins, guitars, and military-style drums to the O'odham when the region was a part of New Spain. Assuming this to be the case, the skills necessary to play these instruments were already in place by the mid-nineteenth century when Anglos and others brought new tunes, rhythms, and dances into the desert country.
By the late 1860s, O'odham bands from nearby San Xavier Mission were playing waltzes, polkas, schottisches, and other dance rhythms at the annual San Agustin Fiesta
in Tucson. The makeup of the band may well have been that of old-time fiddle bands: two or more violinists, one or more guitarists, and two drummers (one on the bass drum and the other on the snare drum). Bands such as this, playing what the O'odham call waila music (from the Spanish word baile or "social dance") exist among both Tohono and Akimel O'odham.
The old-time O'odham fiddler's repertoire extends past the nineteenth-century couple dances to three other kinds of tunes. The pácola or pascola dance is a solo ritual dance the O'odham learned from the Yaquis. It is regularly performed at religious feasts, especially in the western portions of the Tohono O'odham Nation. O'odham pacolas dance to the music of a violin and a guitar. Also probably learned from Yaqui sources is the matachines dance, a ritual contradance done by men and boys and accompanied by violins and guitars. Finally, Tohono O'odham play and dance the kwariya ("cuadrilla" or "quadrille"). This is similar to what is known as the Appalachian Big Circle, with couples performing evolutions such as "Grand Chain" and "Promenade" from a large circle, and then splitting into two-couple sets for figures like "Duck for the Oyster" and "Four Hand Star." The route by which this dance and its music entered the O'odham repertoire is unknown. Kwariya tunes are in 6/8 time and include the well-known Anglo-European song, "Flop-Eared Mule."
Since the 1950s, the older, violin-based waila bands have been largely replaced among the O'odham by ensembles featuring accordion and saxophone leads and rhythm provided by electric guitar, bass guitar, and full drum set. This music is also called waila, although some prefer the informal term "Chicken Scratch." Said to be derived from some of the dance steps used to the music, this name is most commonly used among Anglos and Akimel O'odham. Many Tohono O'odham find it derogatory and prefer "waila."
Although contemporary waila music obviously owes quite a bit to la música norteña of the United States-Mexico border region, it is not simply an Indian version of norteño. In the first place, waila is, with only one or two exceptions, instrumental music. Waltzes and corridos, so important in the norteño repertoire, are not played by waila bands. There are other, more subtle stylistic differences as well. Waila tunes may come from the Mexican ("Maquina 501," "Jalisco") or American ("Turkey in the Straw," "San Antonio Rose,") repertoires, or they may be O'odham compositions.
One major context for waila music is the village saint's day feast, an occasion that takes place in most O'odham villages every year or once every two years. A typical feast begins with Mass conducted by a Catholic priest in the village chapel. After Mass a procession leaves the chapel and, often accompanied by music, walks out to the cross that stands somewhere to the south or east of the chapel. Individuals in the procession carry all the holy pictures and statues that normally occupy the chapel altar. Once at the cross, the saint-bearers kneel while other villagers go from saint to saint, reestablishing a personal relationship with the images. The procession then re-enters the chapel.
At this time the feasting begins in a communal dining area attached to an open-air kitchen near the chapel. All comers to the feast are served in shifts with red chile and beef stew, beef and vegetable stew, beans, freshly baked bread, wheat flour tortillas, potato salad, some sort of packaged fruit punch, coffee, and cake. As dark falls, the waila band starts playing beside a dance floor set near the chapel door. Traditionally, the band plays until dawn, alternating polkas, two-steps, and cumbias throughout the night. All ages participate in the dancing, and couples may consist of a man and a woman or two women. The basic steps are simple, with considerable economy of motion. Like the keihina dancers, waila dancers move in a counterclockwise direction.
Waila music has been available on record since 1973. The primary recorder and distributor is Canyon Records, a Phoenix, Arizona-based company specializing in all types of Native American music from across the United States and northwest Mexico. A large number of bands, both Tohono and Akimel O'odham, have recorded for Canyon over the years, and many of their records, cassettes, and CDs are still available. In addition, waila bands have played at such regional and national festivals as the San Diego Folk Festival, Tucson Meet Yourself, the National Folk Festival, and the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife. An old-time fiddle band attended the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington, in the early 1990s. Since 1987 an annual Waila Festival has been held in late spring at the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Tucson.
Since the 1980s, other musical forms have entered O'odham culture. The pan-Indian powwow movement has brought its own music, and O'odham drums have taken part in performances. A Tohono O'odham blues band was performing in the mid-1980s, and O'odham play various kinds of rock music. None of these forms, however, have been integrated into O'odham culture in the way the waila has.
