With Sounds of Teotihuacan, Adje Both and Simon Bradley created a sound exhibition tour through the UNESCO world heritage site of Teotihuacan, in Mexico.

This sound walk is one of the shortlisted pieces in the Sound Walk September Awards 2023. Here, Adje discusses this piece.

It’s a tricky thing to talk about the music of an ancient culture, but even more difficult to get a sonic idea of it, especially when it has long vanished and no sort of legacy is evident. This is the case for Teotihuacan, Mexico.
In the 1990s, as a student of pre-Columbian archaeology, I participated in excavation projects at Teotihuacan, and since then had the dream to get more than a vague idea about the sonic dimension of this fascinating, mysterious culture. When walking through the remains of the great city – over its endlessly long processional pathway and its specious plazas in the shadow of mountain-like pyramids, or delving through its hidden palaces, secret temples and closed courtyards – one might find it fairly easy to envisage life in the ancient city. But what about its music and sound? Nothing. Silence. Only the whispering wind, perhaps here or there the surprised shout or laughter of a visitor.

But, ah, from time to time you can hear the noise of some instrument, played by one of the many local sellers in order to convince potential buyers. What a disappointment to realize that these touristic flutes and whistles, although beautiful and exotic, have very little in common with the original, highly sophisticated instruments of Teotihuacan!

Lost in the museum

Many years later I had the chance to get much closer. Some museums and research laboratories opened the sacred gates to their depots. Deep in the shrines of the past I started to document original Teotihuacan sound artefacts found over the last 150 years in numerous excavations all over the site (special thanks to G. Cowgill, S. Gómez, C. M. López, L. Manzanilla, K. Niño, E. Rosales, and M. Schultz). There were so many of them, hundreds!
I took measurements and photos of different kinds of rattles, trumpets, horns, rasps, whistles, and flutes, among others, and noted down the find spots, eventually managing to play and record a few instruments, which remained intact (special thanks to D. Arndt, F. García, J.-L. Ringot and R. Till).

Making, playing, recording

On the basis of the information obtained, I started to reconstruct the complete array of Teotihuacan instruments (at least the bit known today, according to the archaeological record and some representations in mural art, see www.teosoundmap.com). For the most complex ceramic instruments, this was only possible with the help of a great instrument maker and friend from Mexico, now living in The Netherlands, Osvaldo Padrón Pérez.

The next step was playing the reconstructed instruments not only in the studio, but also in the plazas and courtyards of the actual site (special thanks to L. R. Rivero and Y. Vargas). By playing, we did not take care about the limits of hard sciences; instead, we freely explored musical possibilities, sonic ranges and effects. And in Teotihuacan, together with my friend and colleague Rupert Till, the architectural acoustics in terms of reverb effects and sound propagation were documented.
One of the archaeologists, Sergio Gómez, invited us to play and record shell horns in an artificial cave deep below one of the pyramids, maybe one of the most sacred find spots of the site.
Finally, in and around Teotihuacan we gathered field recordings of birds, wind, thunder and rain.

Although the music itself is long gone and we do not have any clue about playing techniques and the like, not the music for sure, but at least the basic sounds of the original culture have now been recovered. Precious sound bits of a lost sonic universe, as if our forefathers would speak to us through a very faulty connection!

The sound walk 

And the Teotihuacan sound walk? I consider it the crown of the project. Visitors are now able to walk through the site, and listen to a kind of sonic exhibition, as if dumb pyramids start speaking.
In following an artistic approach with clear reference to the assumed function and meaning of the principle structures of the site, we used excerpts of the many recordings of original instruments and reconstructions, applied a sound design including Teotihuacan soundscapes of birdlife and atmospheric noises, and set the site to music.
This was only possible with the collaboration and intuitive knowledge of sound artist Simon Bradley, while Hamish Sewell provided the platform, Soundtrails, and helped to sort out all kind of technical issues. The idea was to create a strong feeling of the sonic dimension of the place, while physically being present at the site.

As the huge archaeological zone has five entrances, it was not possible nor the intention to create a linear walk from A to B. Visitors should be able to freely explore the site and experience the sounds of Teotihuacan by walking through 21 different, but interconnected, sound fields located all over the site. Only the starting point is always the same, the introduction, which is given at the five entrance areas and corresponding parking slots. This is the only bit of the sound walk, where someone speaks and explains something, and it is only activated once. The rest of the walk corresponds to a pure atmosphere of sonic impressions, creating a powerful sonic experience of the ancient site.

The goal was that any disturbing interaction with an electronic interface is eliminated. The individual sound fields are programmed in a way that they start and stop running automatically without gaps. All fields are interconnected with a fade out / fade in. Areas of the site without a specified sound field are equipped with a meditative quadruple flute background sound. And when making a turn back, the files of the previously activated fields are activated again, but eventually start fading in at the point where they have been left.

Regarding the front end of the sound walk, we choose to use a simplified version of the archaeological map of Teotihuacan, showing much better the spatial dimension and complexity of the site than any conventional Google Maps layer. For a better localisation, it is possible to zoom in and out.

Path to the underworld I-VII

The main axis of the site is the long processional pathway, the so-called Street of the Dead. An array of sound fields along this spine are invocations to the underworld, the place where the dead go and new life is created. On the basis of the walking rhythm of creepy bone rasps, section by section different kind of instruments related to the underworld are heard, such as shell rattles and noise whistles. At the point where the pathway crosses a channeled stream, an underworld paradise is invoked by a rich source and the sound of whistling vessels – strange instruments, which are driven by water.

The wind & the cave

Right and left to the Street of the Dead the principal ceremonial areas of the site are found. In the southern Ciudadela complex the God of the Wind is called by the sound of wind whistles and the distant growl of shell horns. In the central area of the huge plaza the dark cave of the underworld is being invoked by reverberant water drops and the sacred, precious sound of underwater shells. 

The fire – sun dance – the garden

Around the impressive Pyramid of the Sun, the largest building at Teotihuacan, the power of fire is invoked by a wall of sound composed of the shrill blasts of Teotihuacan ceramic trumpets, while in the patio in front of the pyramid a sun dance is performed with drums and rattles. If you see a visitor there with headphones dancing around, you know why.
South of the pyramid, around the present-day museum of the site and a sculpture garden, the relaxed mood of a quadruple flute and birds chirping in the background can be enjoyed.

Procession & the hill of sustenance

Towards the Pyramid of the Moon, the second largest building at Teotihuacan situated at the northern end of the Street of the Dead, a roaring jaguar is performing a rattling procession. Passing the so-called Temple of Agriculture with murals showing the sacred hill of sustenance, a wall of sound composed of rattles, fruit shells and seeds invokes the forces of terrestrial fertility.

Moon dance & the waters

Stepping onto the large plaza in front of the Pyramid of the Moon, a nightly ritual is joined. Accompanied by the sound of cicadas, a procession of dancers arrives from the distance and performs a solemn dance. On the foot of the Pyramid of the Moon, shell horn blasts call thunder and rain.

The palace & horns of the jaguars

Finally (or to begin with, according to the entrance chosen), a royal palace complex is visited. In its patios, the mysterious, multi-phonic melodies of a quadruple flute are played by a court musician, and a jaguar emits roaring blasts with his feathered shell horn, while his large shell rattle performs a tinkling background sound.

And in closing

Don’t miss this sound walk, if you ever come to Mexico and visit Teotihuacan. Just make sure that you download the Soundtrails app and the sound walk before approaching the site, as network coverage in the archaeological zone is weak.

The winners and honourable mentions of the SWS Awards 2023 will be announced in January 2024.