Instrument Postage Stamps of El Salvador 1978

Sets of postage stamps that feature the traditional musical instruments of a country are quite common. As a matter of fact, you can find posts about such sets from Laos, Ethiopia, and Nepal, among others. Such stamps have multiple purposes. Firstly, the images of instruments can create pride in the culture of a country and a sense of national identity. Secondly, the stamps can highlight lesser known traditions from an ethnic minority. Thirdly, sets of instruments make a nice group for related stamps, often of different denominations.

El Salvador created a set of five postage stamps that featured traditional musical instruments in 1978. Each stamp has a solid color background with a photograph of an instrument in the center of the stamp. They are not the most attractive stamps, but I think that they are interesting because they celebrate instruments that illuminate the various sources of contemporary El Salvadoran music: indigenous, European, and African.

Teponatzli

The first stamp celebrates the teponatzli. The instrument is a log drum. The instrument has slits carved into the top that create two separate tongues. A player hits these tongues with mallets, and each is a different pitch.

The teponatzli has ancient roots in Central American culture. It was a common instrument of the Aztec people.

Pitos

Similarly, the next stamp features two flutes, called pitos. Just like recorder the recorder, the pito is end blow with five or six open finger holes.

The instrument is also indigenous to the Americas and similar instrument could be found throughout Central and South America. The pito can be made of pottery or of wood.

Tambor

The third stamp features an instrument with European roots. The instrument is a drum, or tambor. This is a type that would have been first used by Spanish conquistadors as a signal instrument in their armies. It was later used by colonial military forces, but has also been adopted into use in other forms of music.

Maracas

Another instrument that is indigenous to Central America are the maracas. Maracas are made of gourds that have been dried so that the seeds inside become hard. Shaking the instrument by a wooden handle causes the seeds to rattle against the shell. Maracas probably had religious purposes when they were first used in the Americas. They are now in used in musical styles across Latin America.

Marimba

The final stamp features a marimba. This instrument with wooden keys that are hit by a mallet is similar to instruments in Africa. Enslaved Africans who were forcibly transferred to Central America, brought this tradition with them. In Central America, the marimba plays in large bands made of marimbas of different sizes with multiple people playing a single instrument.