22 maja 2007
Waila Festival
I had the chance to stop by the Waila festival this weekend. For those of you who don't know what waila is, it is a form of polka music played by the Tohono O'odham. The music resembles norteño and banda, but the instrumentation is a bit different (no bajo sexto from norteño, and the large brass sections from banda are stripped down to just saxophone). Also, waila rarely has vocals. Whereas both norteño and banda are popular from Texas to San Diego, waila can be called genuinely homegrown here in in the Pimeria Alta.
The music is often refered to as chicken scratch, but Angelo Joaquin Jr., a long time booster of the music and the festival (and whose family played in the excellent Joaquin Brothers), prefers the term waila, which comes from baila. The traditional way to dance to the music is a large group two-step moving counter-clockwise.
The original waila bands were fiddle, drum and guitar. You still see that occasionally, but only one group that played on Saturday featured violin, Tucson Fiddlers. They played early before the party really got underway. Decades ago, bands replaced the fiddlers with accordion and saxophone, making it noisier (and I mean that in a good way), but there is something elegant about the old school fiddle bands. One of the first bits of waila I bought was a tape by the Gu Achi Fiddlers and those guys rocked.
Long time Waila Festival stalwarts Gomez Band played as well. The third band of the evening was South Image, who, did I see that right, featured a woman on accordion. This was remarkable because I've never seen a woman in a waila band before.
The highlight of the evening were the closers, T. O. Combo. They started off with a rolicking polka of "Ghost Riders in the Sky," and later featured a cover of "Ring of Fire." The mariachi horns of the latter song just beg for a polkafied-waila treatment. My understanding is that these guys are the "it" band right now and they proved it that night. I picked up their CD, 1999's T. O. Forever. Unfortunately, it doesn't feature either "Ghost Riders in the Sky" or "Ring of Fire," but there is enough there to keep me occupied for quite a while. I made sure to pick up that and a collection of waila from the early 1970's called Waila!, which featured an instructor I had at Pima College. Pretty cool, the guy that taught me how to say "Śkuk taś" playing the sax. The CD features his band, Mike Enis and Company, El Conjunto Murrieta, Elvin Kelly y Los Reyes and Los Papagos Molinas. When I am at these festivals or I am at a tiendita on the reservation, I always try to pick up some of the music because it is so hard to come by.
Canyon Records has a page promoting T. O. Forever which has audio samples.
I found a shaky You Tube video of Papago Warrior, an excellent waila band that is popular right now. The sound isn't that good, but you get a great idea of what the music sounds like.
Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.
The music is often refered to as chicken scratch, but Angelo Joaquin Jr., a long time booster of the music and the festival (and whose family played in the excellent Joaquin Brothers), prefers the term waila, which comes from baila. The traditional way to dance to the music is a large group two-step moving counter-clockwise.
The original waila bands were fiddle, drum and guitar. You still see that occasionally, but only one group that played on Saturday featured violin, Tucson Fiddlers. They played early before the party really got underway. Decades ago, bands replaced the fiddlers with accordion and saxophone, making it noisier (and I mean that in a good way), but there is something elegant about the old school fiddle bands. One of the first bits of waila I bought was a tape by the Gu Achi Fiddlers and those guys rocked.
Long time Waila Festival stalwarts Gomez Band played as well. The third band of the evening was South Image, who, did I see that right, featured a woman on accordion. This was remarkable because I've never seen a woman in a waila band before.
The highlight of the evening were the closers, T. O. Combo. They started off with a rolicking polka of "Ghost Riders in the Sky," and later featured a cover of "Ring of Fire." The mariachi horns of the latter song just beg for a polkafied-waila treatment. My understanding is that these guys are the "it" band right now and they proved it that night. I picked up their CD, 1999's T. O. Forever. Unfortunately, it doesn't feature either "Ghost Riders in the Sky" or "Ring of Fire," but there is enough there to keep me occupied for quite a while. I made sure to pick up that and a collection of waila from the early 1970's called Waila!, which featured an instructor I had at Pima College. Pretty cool, the guy that taught me how to say "Śkuk taś" playing the sax. The CD features his band, Mike Enis and Company, El Conjunto Murrieta, Elvin Kelly y Los Reyes and Los Papagos Molinas. When I am at these festivals or I am at a tiendita on the reservation, I always try to pick up some of the music because it is so hard to come by.Canyon Records has a page promoting T. O. Forever which has audio samples.
I found a shaky You Tube video of Papago Warrior, an excellent waila band that is popular right now. The sound isn't that good, but you get a great idea of what the music sounds like.
Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.
