{{Short description|Mexican song form}} {{Italic title}} {{infobox music genre | name = Pirekua | stylistic_origins = | cultural_origins = Purépecha | derivatives = {{hlist|Sones|abajeños}} | fusiongenres = | regional_scenes = | other_topics = }} {{Infobox intangible heritage | Image = | Caption = | ICH = Pirekua, traditional song of the P’urhépecha | Country = Mexico | ID = 00398 | Region = LAC | Year = 2010 | Session = 5th | List = Representative }}
'''''Pirekua''''' (Purépecha) is a song form of the Purépecha (Michoacán, Mexico). The singer of a ''pirekua'', a ''pirériecha'', may be male or female, solo or accompanied, and ''pirekua'' may be performed instrumentally. ''Pirériechas'' act as social mediators and "express sentiments and communicate events of importance to the Purépecha communities."<ref name="UNESCO">Intangible Cultural Heritage: "[https://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/RL/00398 Pirekua, traditional song of the P’urhépecha]", ''UNESCO.org''.</ref>
''Pirekua'' ensembles usually include "two or three guitars, strings and winds, [and] a small brass band, or [''pirériecha'' are] unaccompanied."<ref name="Garland579"/> Performed with "a gentle rhythm", generally in '''''sones''''' ({{music|time|3|8}} time) or '''''abajeños''''' ({{music|time|6|8}} time), the genre combines African, European, and indigenous American influences.<ref name="UNESCO"/> ''Pirekua'' is related to the son and the waltz, and Henrietta Yurchenco points out that both the ''son'' and ''pirekua'' are in a slow triple meter, performed as duets, feature rhythmic sequence against fixed patterns in the accompaniment, and use two to three chords (I-IV-V) in major or minor with little modulation.<ref name="Garland579">Chamorro, Arturo (1998). "Purépecha (Tarascan)", ''The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Southeast Asia'', p.579. Taylor & Francis. {{ISBN|9780824060404}}.</ref>
The subjects of ''pirekua'' lyrics range "from historical events to religion, social and political thought and love and courtship, making extensive use of symbolism."<ref name="UNESCO"/> Lyrics make frequent use of flowers as symbols of femininity, passion, and local identity.<ref>Chamorro (1998), p.580.</ref> While ''sones'' are usually sung in Spanish, ''pirekua'' are usually sung in Purépecha, and while ''sones'' tends toward everyday life, ''pirekua'' tend more towards poetic expressions of the Purépecha world view.<ref name="Garland579"/>
==See also== {{Portal|Mesoamerica|Mexico}} *UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *Media services: "[http://www.unesco.org/archives/multimedia/index.php?s=films_details&pg=33&id=1676 Pirekua, traditional song of the P’urhépecha]", ''UNESCO.org''.
{{Music of Mexico}} {{UNESCO Oral and Intangible music|state=collapsed}} {{UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity/LAC}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirekua}} Category:Indigenous culture of Mexico Category:Regional styles of Mexican music Category:Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity Category:Purépecha