PROGRAM NOTE

Exploring by chartered skiff the waters of Lake Nicaragua, it is easy to imagine a time before motors and well-lit house boats—a time when the Nahuatl-speaking tribe led by chief Nicarao (from whom, according to some, the country may draw its name: Nicarao - the chief - and agua - water) was settled on its shores.   

I'd recently stepped off such a skiff after a visit to our family home in Nicaragua when Sharon Hansen, Founder and Music Director of The Milwaukee Choral Artists, contacted me about commissioning a new work to celebrate the group's tenth anniversary.  I was thrilled by what I immediately thought to be a compelling pairing of imagery and performers: what better way to pay tribute to this powerful ensemble of treble voices than with a setting of a Nahuatl prayer in praise of the All-Mother, protector of life.  

A note about three words in the text as they draw from the Nahuatl: 

"Ahuiya" (pronounced: ä-wē΄-yä) is a Nahuatl word meaning "rejoice" or "to take pleasure in."

"Maguey" (pronounced: măg΄-wāy), also known as "American aloe," is an agave indigenous to Mexico now cultivated world-wide; the agua miel (honey water) exuded from its flower stem is used to produce mezcal while leaves yield strong fibers used for making rope and cloth.  

The "Quetzal" (pronounced: kět-zäl΄) is a brightly colored, long-tailed bird indigenous to Central America; the bird takes its name from the Nahuatl word quetzalli meaning "large brilliant tail feather."

Commissioned by The Milwaukee Choral Artists on the occasion of their Tenth Anniversary Season, Sharon A. Hansen, Conductor, Nahuatl Hymn to the All-Mother was completed in July 2007 while in residence at The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. An added personal note about the work: premiered by MCA on Saturday, February 16, 2008, Nahuatl Hymn to the All-Mother received its first public performance on the same evening that we went into labor with our first child, giving birth the following evening to a healthy baby boy, Atticus Alemán Hagen, to whom the piece has since been lovingly dedicated. —Gilda Lyons

When Nahuatl Hymn to the All-Mother was commissioned in 2007, I reached toward an exploration of my own Nicaraguan ancestry, adapting texts and images associated with Nahua traditions partly drawn from Daniel Brinton’s “Rig Veda Americanus.” In considering this source today, I acknowledge that—while I am grateful that Brinton’s 1890 publication has survived to offer an outsider’s insights into the sacred songs he collected and transcribed—it is essential that we also look to sources that amplify indigenous voices directly and that we find ways to advocate for the survival of the Nahua culture. I’ve elected to direct funds from the sale of this work to organizations that support Indigenous communities’ preservation of traditional knowledge. I encourage anyone performing this work to learn more here: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/about

TEXT

Ahuiya! Ahuiya!

Hail to our Mother, Hail to the Goddess, 

who poured forth bounteous flowers, 

who scattered the seeds of the maguey, 

as she came forth from Paradise.

Ahuiya! Ahuiya!

Hail to our Mother, Hail to the Goddess,

who caused yellow flowers to blossom, 

who was plumed with the crest of eagles,

as she came forth from Paradise.

Hail! Hail! Ahuiya!

We sing praise to you, the Goddess, 

who nourishes beasts in the desert,

who feeds the green herbs of this earth,

who summons the Quetzal to song,

who comforts this newborn child -

       the little jewel you care for when weeping -  

       as she cries out to you.

Ahuiya! Ahuiya!

Hail to our Mother, Hail to the Goddess,

who shines in the thick of the thorn bush, 

whose bounty was granted to all things,

as she came forth from Paradise.

Hail! Hail! Ahuiya!

                          – traditional, adapted by the composer