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“Pacha Kamaq” Contest Winning Essay-by Maddie Sanden

On January 28th Javier and the band performed a concert at Eureka High School’s auditorium for the students. Javier announced a contest where the student who could explain the meaning of the song “Pacha Kamaq” from his latest album “Vida Trabajo Amor” in an essay, would win four VIP tickets to his show on March 12 at the Sheldon. We have posted the winning Essay by Maddie Sanden. Enjoy!

Maddie Sanden

South American culture held their religious beliefs in high esteem, with many temples built in honor of their various gods.  The town of Pachacamaq was one of the most important religious centers of the Incan empire.  When the Incans took over the Pachacamaq empire, they left the city in place as a religious center until the Spaniards took conquested the Andes region.  In the Lurín Valley, Pachacamaq was visited often by pilgrims coming to consult the creator god, Pacha Kamaq who, according to Andean tradition, was the god of balance.  However, the myths behind Pacha Kamaq vary because when the Spanish came to the New World they destroyed most of the writings concerning the native peoples’ religion.

However, amongst nearly all the religions circulating the ancient Andean region, the generally accepted belief concerned the beings of the underworld (Urin Pacha), the living world of reality (Kay Pacha), and the upper world (Hana Pacha).  Each of these worlds was represented by an animal: a snake for the underworld, a puma for the current world, and a condor for the upper world.  In the underworld, Andean believed the spirits of their ancestors and the dead resided, while in the upper world, the deities lived.  They believed the current world was inhabited by humans like themselves; however, all three worlds were important to understand and recognize.

The shaman, the most religiously elite in the land, were the only ones who could travel to each level by their use of a Chakana—a three tiered cross with an axis in the center.  Through the axis, a shaman could travel to the other worlds.  A chakana had twelve points which represented a world, its animal, an affirmation and an encouraged behavior from each world. So, the underworld and snake affirmed “I live” and encouraged people not to lie.  The puma and the current world meant “I work” and told people not to steal.  The condor of the upper world said “I love” and said not to be lazy.

Javier Mendoza’s song “Pacha Kamaq” encompasses the many aspects of Andean culture concerning finding a balance in life.  Since Pacha Kamaq was the god of balance, he encouraged a balance amongst the worlds which would then transfer into a balance among the lives of the people.  Mendoza’s song suggests how even in life today, one must find a harmonic balance to juggle the craziness that often is our lives.

In the first stanza, the snake asks the puma to stop “walking on [his] ceiling” because “people are trying to sleep.”  Essentially, the snake encourages a basic facet of life which is that people require sleep in order to function throughout the day.  In response, the puma declares that “there is no time for sleep” because there is work that must be done in the morning.  Here, the puma represents his point on the Chakana by showing how labor is necessary for the harvest.  Yet, after the brief argument, the condor resolves the conflict by noting that laboring is quite necessary, but so is rest because “the soul must rest” in order that it may dream.  Dreams, he says, “bring you life” and “awaken” love.  The condor uphold his point, which is love, because he encourages people to dream which can bring life.

The condor resolves the conflict because, being a supreme diety in the upper world, he knows more about life than the other animals and can show the balance they must attain.  Calling on the wisdom of the god of balance, Mendoza shows that for a balanced life we must live, labor and love.  The condor suggests that in order for us to live, we must strike a balance between resting and working in order to appreciate love and life.  The refrain of “Vive, trabaja, ama/Pacha Kamaq” continually calls for a balance in life where we live, work and love; like the people of the Andean tribes, we should recognize the importance of each facet of our lives, not focusing too much on any one goal.  We shouldn’t work too hard, but we also shouldn’t be lazy and forget to get our work done.  With the balance of Pacha Kamaq, we should go about our lives appreciating every individual facet.

Like the snake, we must provide for the basic necessities of life—food, water, shelter, rest—in order to attain a healthy life.  However, too much of relaxation disrupts the work we need to do; while in Javier’s song he mentions a harvest, in reality, any part of our lives where we must work is also important.  Whether it is as a student going to school, a teacher teaching or a farmer tending his field, the work we do plays an important role in helping us to appreciate the love the condor represents.  If we had all our time to do things we loved, we would begin to lose an appreciation for the activities we truly love in life.  By attaining a balance, we have time to value the moments where we can truly enjoy ourselves.

As the wise Andeans taught, let us find the delicate balance of living, laboring and love—of Pacha Kamaq.

The Beacon Reviews Javier’s New Album “If You Dare”

By Terry Perkins, special to the Beacon

Posted 10:33 am Wed., 9.7.11

Javier Mendoza’s latest CD, “If You Dare,” wasn’t planned to be thematic. In fact, many of the songs that made it onto the CD were written as part of Mendoza’s online music subscription series created this past March. It enables fans to download a new song written by Mendoza every other week over a year. Mendoza’s plan was to then to take some of the best material written for the subscription series and release it as a CD this fall. In a way, it was Mendoza’s variation on the “greatest hits” concept: taking what he considered the best songs he’d written to date for the subscription series and compiling them onto a single CD. But somehow, “If You Dare” may end up being one of his most thematic recordings since he first began releasing music back in 1999.

KDHX Music Spotlight

Javier Mendoza was interviewed was featured on KDHX Local Music Spotlight.

Click on Image to listen to interview

Would You Like Javier To Write You A Song?

WOULD YOU LIKE JAVIER TO WRITE A SONG TAILORED FOR YOU? Javier will write and record a song just for you. You can pick the topic and style. Javier will contact you via e-mail to discuss the topic/subject matter after your subscription is processed. The song will be professionally recorded, mixed and mastered, and a CD with appropriate artwork will be mailed to you. (Javier Mendoza will retain all Rights to the original work, but you will be credited wherever the song appears.). Price is to be determined over the phone or e-mail prior to starting the process. CLICK HERE FOR CUSTOM-WRITTEN SONG SAMPLE

The Life

So many folks come to me and tell me how awesome my job must be. I must admit that there are many wonderful things about it and the fact that I get to do what I love the most (well that would be soccer but after two ACL surgeries this better take precedence) allows me to endure the many horrible things in the music business (90% being business and the other 10 being music). You see, this job is far from glamorous and fun most of the time, especially when you are a truly an independent artist.

The only thing a musician knows for sure is that things will change very rapidly. There are no two similar moments in this business. Like music, the day to day changes in the glimpse of an eye. One moment you have a show at 11 pm and the next it’s at noon and the venue has changed. Other times you are driving 6 hours to Chicago to perform at a festival opening for Ziggy Marley in front of thousands of people, then the next day you have to catch a flight to Florida to perform at a school cafeteria at noon in front of 75 hungry college students going… “why is there a guy here playing music during my lunch time…I mean it’s cool, but why?”.

But I think the most difficult part is at one point or another having to wear 375 different hats. One second I’m the agent, the other minute I’m the manager, or the graphic designer, intern (at least I always bring my coffee on time and it’s perfect), promoter, public relations, producer, tour manager, roadie, oh and I forgot singer songwriter and musician. It is exhausting, but it is amazing how quickly it goes away the second I get up on stage and I’m able to connect with the audience. There’s a moment in which the listener and the performer completely connect like two pieces in an endless puzzle and suddenly all negativity goes away. You live with that high the rest of the evening…. then 7 am hits and you are woken up by your 3 year old screaming “Papaaaaaaaaaaá”. I love him more than anything but damn!

…but all I need is that moment once in a while to keep me moving forward. The train carrying the great deal in the sky is out there. It has stopped here once or twice and maybe it will come again… or maybe not, but it does not matter because it’s that road we pave with our own experiences the one we need and the one that makes us who we are. I know I’m on the right path to living a happy life. When I get lost I just sing and I’m on track once again.