Quetzalcóatl by Kanahuaxtli

"Quetzalcóatl" is a semi-prehispanic conceptual album, inspired in the book with the same name, by José López Portillo y Pacheco. I call this music "semi-prehispanic" because I use mainly prehispanic instruments, but nobody knows how was the pure "pre-hispanic" music, so my search is to explore the ancestral sounds of the instruments without interest or pretension to sound as the musicians from the past, so it's pre-hispanic, but not "purely pre-hispanic".

Most of our written culture was destroyed and this fact makes it a mystery, which attracts me to explore the possibilities of this instruments which are, by the other hand not tempered and with a unique character. In this "AI- tempered-autotuned-super-produced-loudness war, standarized-make up, filtered, algorythmic etc." times I deeply appreciate the possibility to play something with this element of mystery and freedom and with the vibe of different times.

It's also "semi-prehispanic" because I like to combine the pre-hispanic instruments with synthesizers and other contemporary effects, so this new context, by the hand of the unknown character of the music and how exactly these instruments were played, reinforce the freedom and multiply the sound possibilities in search for an authentic expression.

Tracklist

1.	El Advenimiento de la Serpiente	10:43

2.	Los Constructores	11:16

3.	El Árbol del Universo	7:39

4.	Chichimecas	3:43

5.	El Valle de las Ánimas	1:38

6.	El Regreso de Tezcatlipoca	4:28

7.	La Rueda de los Infinitos	9:36

Credits

released January 31, 2025

All instruments (Teponaztles, rainsticks, charchas, double clay prehispanic flutes, single clay prehispanic flutes, ocarinas, dead whistles, cenzontles, jaguar and other prehispanic whistles, native american double and triple flutes, recorder, synthesizers, shakers, native american drums, thunder drum, bone güiro, donkey's jaw, claves, turtle shell, etc. ) played and recorded by Kanahuaxtli.

Audio production by Kanahuaxtli.

Art cover designed by Oscar Rojas, with pre-hispanic unknown author's art taken from the Magliabechiano codex.

License