Musical Conquests: encounters in music cultures of Aztec and Early Colonial times

Provisional abstract

This paper explores the
socio-political and religious dimensions of sound and music making by comparing
two culturally distinct but intimately connected time periods related to the
same place: the Valley of Mexico. First, Aztec practices of musical dominion
and control over conquered societies in the Late Postclassic period of
Mesoamerica (AD 1325-1521) will be reviewed. Then, the Hispanic strategies of
musical dominion and control over the conquered Aztecs in the Early Colonial
times (1521-1600) will be reviewed and compared with the Aztec model. The paper
will ask which differences are present among the distinct cultures, and whether
there are structural similarities of musical conquests.