San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble

I first encountered the music of the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble about ten years ago when Martina and I were visiting the San Antonio Museum of Art, which has one of the most comprehensive collections of Latin American art on the continent. There in the bookstore I heard the music of SAVAE and was absolutely enthralled.

The SAVAE album we purchased explores the fusion of Mesoamerican and Spanish musical traditions in the years following the Spanish Conquest. The group uses period instruments such as Aztec clay flutes known as huilicapitzli as well as native drums. A particularly interesting composition that SAVAE has brought to life is "Teponazcuicatl," which is found in the Cantares Mexicanos codex, an ancient manuscript in book form.

The song is of Aztec origin and was dedicated to the goddess of corn. It is believed that this song was played on December 26, 1531, when the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Juan Diego's cloak traveled from Mexico City Cathedral to Tepeyac, the place where Juan Diego met the Virgin. SAVAE used instructions from the codex and the structure of Classical Nahuatl, the Aztec language, to reconstruct the song.

Here is a video where one can see the various instruments used by the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble. You may also be interested in SAVAE's recordings of ancient music from Jerusalem.