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Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa: |
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Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa: |
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Shane Morris
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Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa: Following the Rhythms of an Ancient Journey History has a way of changing when new discoveries force us to reconsider what we thought we knew. For Shane Morris, the growing archaeological understanding of Etzanoa, a major Indigenous settlement located in what is now Kansas, became a doorway into imagining a much larger cultural landscape. Combined with his longstanding interests in anthropology, Indigenous musical traditions, trance, and polyrhythm, that fascination eventually helped shape Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa, an album inspired in part by the extensive networks of culture and trade that existed across the pre-Columbian Americas. Rather than attempting to recreate the music of a particular people or period, Morris uses those ideas as the foundation for his own musical exploration, bringing together hand percussion, flutes, voices, ambient electronics, and layers of interlocking rhythm. In this Ambient Visions Album Focus interview, Shane takes us inside both the ideas and the painstaking creative process behind the album. He discusses how rhythm and repetition can alter our perception of time, why physically performed percussion remains so important to his music, and how improvisation exists alongside carefully composed polyrhythmic structures. He also talks about the influence of artists including Jorge Reyes, R. Carlos Nakai and Tribu, the relationship between acoustic and electronic sound, and the years spent building these compositions one interlocking part at a time. Throughout the conversation, what emerges is an album shaped as much by curiosity and respect for the cultures that inspired it as by Morris' lifelong fascination with the ability of rhythm and sound to carry the listener beyond ordinary listening and into a deeper state of awareness.
Originally I was interested in West African and the Caribbean diaspora but became increasingly interested in the indigenous music of the native inhabitants of North, Central, and South America. The music of Jorge Reyes, Carlos Nakai, Tribu, Xavier Quijas Yxayotl, Martin Espino, and many more inspired and influenced a lot of the music on this album. I suppose the academics came into play a bit more with Etzanoa and the findings from that site. AV: The title connects Tenochtitlan and Etzanoa and suggests a much broader cultural landscape rather than focusing on a single civilization or geographical location. What interested you about imagining that connection, and what does the journey between those two places represent to you? SM: That connection is quite inspiring for me to imagine what life might’ve been like for many of these cultures during this time in the pre-Columbian to early Columbian times. From the beginning most archaeologists vastly underestimated the cultural ingenuity and sophistication of native populations since the beginning of archaeology. The early thought was that native peoples were not smart enough to possess the level of societal skill and technical ability to create and maintain many structures and networks in the centuries before pre-Hispanic contact. The prevailing ethnocentric thought was that another European or an unknown people had created most or all of the cities and mound culture found throughout North America. The last few decades the research has shown that this was all grossly wrong. So all the new research and findings are very inspiring to me filling in and understanding all that native populations were doing for hundreds and thousands of years. The album is dedicated to the Native American populations of North America and their cultural sophistication and ingenuity over thousands of years. AV: One of the things that immediately struck me about “Xochipilli” was how quickly its persistent drumming begins to alter the listener’s sense of time. The opening horns almost seem to announce that we're about to enter another space before the percussion takes over. Were you consciously trying to create that transition from ordinary listening into a more trance-like state? SM: Yes definitely. The horns are the call to the ceremony. The drumming is the beginning of the ritual. The polyrhythms are the incapacitating force that bring forth the possibilities of the trance and ecstatic state of mind. That’s found in the drumming, but also in the singing and flute playing. I’ve always loved using dualities that are opposites in music. Such as fast and slow in the same composition. For Xochipilli, you have fast and busy drumming with a counterpoint of very slow and long vocals, which can often really alter a listener’s sense of time when playing with those kind of opposite forces. This is found throughout the album, just not as nimble on the other tracks as far as the tempo goes. AV: Rhythm seems fundamental to the album, yet you've chosen to perform the rhythmic foundation by hand rather than relying on drum machines or sequencing. What does physically playing those repeating patterns give you that programmed percussion can't? SM: Essentially there are no drum machines that could articulate or imitate those sounds and rhythms. Though in recent years I believe some drum machines are incorporating the use of polyrhythm more, however most just don’t possess this set of percussion sounds and instruments that I use. It would still be more direct and genuine for me to play this music live with organic instruments nonetheless. AV: Repetition plays an important role in trance and ceremonial music, but repetition can also change subtly as a musician responds instinctively to what they're playing. How much improvisation is involved in these performances, and how much of what we're hearing was carefully composed beforehand?
AV: On “Sacred Clay,” I was particularly intrigued by sounds that I couldn't immediately identify. At different moments they suggested an animal or bird call and at others something more human. How important is that kind of ambiguity to the soundworld you're creating, where the listener isn't necessarily able to identify the source of everything they hear? SM: One thing I love about listening to music is sometimes running into that sound that you cannot really identify. It’s harder and harder to do nowadays with so much cultural and musical exchange throughout our deeply connected worlds. But that idea, an unfamiliar sound, psychologically takes one to an otherworldly place just by default. So while I do have a deep appreciation for that, I did not consciously set out to achieve that on any of these tracks. Most of these sounds I’ve been playing with and recording with for years, so they are quite familiar for me. But I am happy to hear that listeners are experiencing that when they hear the album. A significant element in indigenous music around the world is often the incorporation of the sounds of the natural world in secular or ceremonial music. There is less of a sense of separation with nature with many of these cultures like in Western thought, and more of a belief in the interconnectedness with nature and all life. So throughout native music across the Americas, especially with wind instruments, one will hear a lot of natural sounds being incorporated into the music for a variety of reasons. Shamanic cultures often see animals as spirit guides or helpers, so it would only make sense if you are calling the jaguar spirit that you would try to use a sound that would be fitting for that animal. If we went back 50,000 years to the early beginnings of music, I think we would find a lot of imitation in sound with the natural world that shaped and created what we call music nowadays. AV: The acoustic and electronic elements on the album rarely seem to compete with each other. Instead, the electronics often appear to create the space surrounding the percussion, winds and voices. How do you view the role of synthesizers and electronic processing within music that's so strongly connected to organic sound? SM: Thats great to hear because I did want the synths and electronic elements to support and surround the drumming and voices, rather than take a lead role. I do have a few lead parts in the tracks, but that is mostly with flutes, voices, and drums. In general, this music was to reflect a communal like ceremonial vibe, so all the parts to the songs are there to support each other for the whole, instead of an individual part standing out so much. But in general, I’ve always liked blending acoustic, electro-acoustic, and synthesized sounds in my music. I’ve never been one to abandon a particular sonic palette for another. They all have their own unique character and timbre. So it really comes down to the composition at hand and what I’m trying to achieve within that framework which dictates the sounds I’ll work with. AV: The album was recorded at The Drum Hut over a fairly long period, from 2018 through 2024. Did Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa exist as a single project throughout those years, or did separate pieces gradually reveal themselves as belonging to the same larger musical journey? SM: Kind of yes and no. As I mentioned earlier, the conceptual theme of the album evolved over a few years, but the main vibe and ideas were there from the start. Originally I had about five songs the first couple years I worked on it. Eventually I had a few more tunes that grew out of the work on those original five. In the end, a few songs I just finally had to give up on because I just couldn’t either get the overall sound I wanted or I couldn’t contain the mix well enough to present the piece the way I wanted. Those omitted tracks may turn up on a future endeavor. AV: Jorge Reyes, Steve Roach, R. Carlos Nakai and Tribu are mentioned among the inspirations behind the album. What did you take from those artists, and at what point does an influence become absorbed deeply enough that you stop consciously thinking about it while creating your own music? SM: I’m not sure when that crossover of influence to new creation takes place actually. Perhaps when I listen back and decide if that sounds to closely like something I’ve heard before. The first couple years and some time before working on the album, I was listening almost exclusively to Jorge Reyes, Tribu, and many other indigeneous musicians and bands from the Americas. So I think those sounds, rhythms, and approaches to music were just somewhat intuitive when I began working on the album. Also, there is a lot of polyrhythmic stuff that I have learned through African music that is in the album as well. You can hear a djembe solo in Xochipilli and talking drum riffs in The Shaman’s Dream. AV: You've described a career that has moved through many areas of ambient music, from dark and spacious environments to melodic and rhythm-driven work. Does Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa feel like a culmination of several of those different sides of your musical personality? SM: Yes to some degree. I think I’ve often worked in ambient music mostly in two areas, the tribal-ambient zone and dark ambient side of things. Sometimes I do combine both of those elements into the same field, such as Coyote Drum. It’s probably the darkest song on the album. People often think of shamanism as helpful and altruistic, but there is a darker side to it as well that utilizes those same skills to achieve things such as manipulation, spying, combat, and even worse things. Coyote Drum is kind of running with that vibe. AV: All of the instruments and vocals on the album are performed by you. With something that can sound almost like an ensemble at times, what's your process for building these pieces? Do you normally begin with percussion and construct the environment around it, or can an atmospheric or melodic idea sometimes determine the rhythm that follows? SM: Yes. For this music, I almost always start with drumming as the foundation to the song. I am indeed trying to emulate a full ensemble in these tracks. The studio allows me to duplicate myself on many instruments like a percussion ensemble would play. The process is meticulous and takes a bit of time. All the percussion parts have to interlock, so the timing always has to be spot on or the mistake will really stand out. Sonically, the frequencies of all the drums have to fit together as well. So tuning is also very important to make sure there is no overlap in the polyrhythms or it otherwise would not be so distinct. AV: Ambient music is often associated with stillness, but this album demonstrates that deeply immersive music can also be intensely rhythmic. Do you see rhythm as another pathway into the kind of deep listening that ambient music can encourage? SM: On thing that I think connects and works well with rhythmic ambient music is the element of trance or entrainment. For me anyway, non-rhythmic ambient still has a trance-like effect on my ears. So combining a rhythmic trance element with an arhythmic element works well. This again touches on the duality of opposites thing that I like hearing in music. Fast/slow. Short sounds/long sounds, rhythmic/arhythmic. AV: After spending several years creating this music, what would you most like someone to take away from Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa after listening to the entire journey? Is there something you hope remains with them after the final rhythms of “Coyote Drum” have faded? SM: I suppose there would be two things I’d like people to take away from the album. One simply being that this music affects you in a positive hopefully transformative or inspiring way that can not only entertain, but also support as a soundscape that is good for activities such as work, sleep, or maybe even ceremonial. The second would be just bringing awareness to the world of the native people that came before us and that still live with us in this hemisphere of the world and the rich culture and ingenuity they built and evolved for centuries. AV: Our thanks to Shane Morris for taking the time to share the ideas, history, and creative process behind Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa with Ambient Visions. His thoughtful answers provide a fascinating look at how his interests in anthropology, Indigenous musical traditions, trance, polyrhythm, and improvisation came together over several years to shape this recording. We especially appreciate Shane's willingness to take us beneath the surface of the music and explain not only how these pieces were constructed, but also the respect for the cultures and history that inspired them. We thank Shane for sharing that journey with us and wish him every success with Tenochtitlan to Etzanoa. |
