from "Waila: The Social Dance Music of the Tohono O'odham." by Jim Griffith, pg. 186-204
In The Music of Multicultural America

Edited by Kip Lornell and Anne K. Rasmussen

 

1988, Tucson, Arizona. Gu Achi Fiddlers.

This is the first commercial recording of the older style of "chicken scratch." The O'odham fiddle sound is a unique one, with a full band consisting of two violins, a guitar, a snare drum and a bass drum playing polkas, two-steps, and mazurkas (all European dance forms that were brought to America and adopted by a number of American communities including Mexican Americans, and Scandinavian and European Americans). The Gu Achi Fiddlers is a family enterprise; all of the musicians are either related or learned music from older family members.

A band with drums, accordian, and electric guitar performs outside in front of desert mountains.
The shield of the Papago Midnighters waila band. Tumacacori Fiesta, December 1981.