Música prehispánica (Pre‑Hispanic music) refers to the ceremonial, social, and courtly musical practices of Indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica (e.g., Mexica/Aztec, Maya, Mixtec, Zapotec) and, by extension in some usages, the pre‑Columbian Andes, prior to Spanish colonization.
It is characterized by rich percussion ensembles (particularly the huehuetl vertical drum and teponaztli slit drum), aerophones (whistles, ocarinas, tlapitzalli flutes, panpipes, and conch trumpets), and rattles and other idiophones. Voices often use chant, hocketing, and call‑and‑response. Rhythmic ostinati, processional patterns, and dance‑linked meters are central, while pitch systems are variable (often non‑equal tempered, with pentatonic, hexatonic, or heptatonic collections). Music was inseparable from ritual, dance, and cosmology, accompanying offerings, calendrical feasts, healing rites, warfare, and rulership.
Because no staff notation survives, modern understanding comes from archaeological instruments, codices and iconography, colonial descriptions, living traditions, and experimental reconstruction by contemporary practitioners.
