Rabinal Achi / ZapatistaPortAction

Quichí-Achí, speaks for the Fourth time:

Ha! Aha! Yeha! Ahau! Wow! Achí!

                 I:   Quichí-Achí

                 to you:   Masters of the 'tun' drum  Masters of the flute!

Hey you the flutes!
Hey you the drums!
Could you manage to make
like my flute
like my drum?

OK now
play the great melody
play the little melody
swing all those tunes!
Play my Toltec flute play my Toltec drum

my flute from the Quichí   my drum from the Quichí!
the dance of my prisoner
the dance of my captive
among my mountains
among my valleys!

As if we were going to make the sky throb
as if we were going to make the earth throb
as our foreheads bend down
as our heads bend down
when we make great leaps and turns zapateando
when we dance and rock and beat the ground
with the men and the girls
here under sky
here on the earth

That's what I have to say
to the sky-face here
to the earth-face.
May sky
and earth
be with you

          O flutes!      O drums!