At DeCorazón México, we are dedicated to promoting and preserving the rich culture and craftsmanship of Mexico. Our mission encompasses showcasing the diverse cultural expressions of the Valle and preserving artisanal techniques passed down through generations.

We firmly believe that those who create and sustain Mexico’s culture and art have reinterpreted its symbols and continue to keep them alive. Clay and ceramics have been fundamental in crafting musical instruments for centuries, including the pre-Hispanic cultures of Mesoamerica. These instruments were deeply connected to daily activities and rituals such as harvests, funerals, celebrations, poetry, and dance, during a time when music was at the heart of community life. In that era, instruments were classified into membranophones (like drums and timbales), idiophones (classic percussion instruments such as the Tzompantli), and aerophones (like flutes, ocarinas, and whistles). Their construction often involved materials like wood and bone, combined with clay and ceramics, creating a range of unique sounds that accompanied daily life.

The Sound of Clay

Ceramics played an important role in creating beautiful percussion instruments, such as red clay pots and natural clay vessels. The Zapotecs used these varied and beautiful pieces to mark rhythms in dances and celebrations, taking advantage of the diverse shapes and textures they offered. Musicians would strike the sides of the pots with their hands or sticks, and could create timbales by covering the pots with jaguar skin and striking the surface with their palms. Bernal Díaz del Castillo recounted how, during the night, the drums would play incessantly, robbing him of sleep, on the summits of the great temples. The sound would evoke deities like Xochipilli Macuilxóchitl, the goddess of music, or Xipe-Totec, the god of goldsmiths.

Wind Instruments

In addition to their wide variety of percussions, ancient musical instruments included flutes, ocarinas and clay whistles, used to imitate animals and communicate with various deities. Instruments such as the Tlazotzonaliztli, a three-pipe flute found in Tenenexpan, Veracruz, or the ocarina, known for its hollow resonance chambers and finger holes, were fundamental in the life of pre-Columbian cultures. Although it was previously thought that pre-Hispanic music was limited to simple melodies, the existence of complex instruments such as the quadruple flute, or Tlatzotzonaliztli, reveals the harmonic and stylistic sophistication of the musicians of that time.

Forms that Mix

Pre-Hispanic musical instruments are faithfully preserved and recreated by artisans and researchers throughout the country. These beautiful pieces are an essential part of the vast repertoire of traditional Mexican art and Mexican clay crafts. DeCorazon Mexico is a store and gallery of traditional Mexican crafts and Mexican folk art. Our collection consists of various wooden alebrijes, natural clay crafts, black clay, red clay, among others, as well as handmade rugs and various textiles. We seek to promote and disseminate the many artistic manifestations that make up our country. And thus defend Mexican handcrafted products, popular art and new artists.