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Folk Chant: Gualíes


These chant-like songs are lullabies and romances commonly sung during the funeral services of recently deceased children. African-Colombian communities celebrate the belief that a deceased child will become an angelito (little angel). In contrast to Catholic tradition, they believe that children that die before they are older than seven or eight years old, are saved from the original sin, so their departure to the afterlife is a joyful life event.

Romances de Gualí


Manuel Zapata Olivella, Colombian Anthropologist and writer, describes romances de gualí as children's songs of Spanish heritage with the same responsorial structure of alabaos. The first stanza of the romance de gualí titled "Estaba la blanca Juana" illustrates the child-like character of the lyrics and the structural similarities with the alabao:

Section
Performers
Lyrics
Verse Cantaora Soloist Estaba la blanca Juana
arrimada a la candela

con sus dos hijas preciosas

Cantaora Soloist and
Second Solo Cantaora
Blanca Flor y Filomena
Refrain Tutti con sus dos hijas preciosas
Blanca Flor y Filomena

Arrullos


Unlike the romance examples above (alabaos and romances de gualí), arrullos are not strictly octosyllabic. Typically they combine verses of six and eight syllables. Their stanzas are comprised of four verses presented by a soloist cantaora followed by one or two verses sung by a choir of cantaoras. "Carmela viene bajando" (Carmela is coming down) exemplifies this structure:

Section
Performers
Lyrics
Verse Soloist Carmela viene llegando
como que viene de Roma
con su vestido de brillo
se lo han mojado las olas
Refrain Choir se lo han mojado las olas

se lo han mojado las olas.

Although the characteristics mentioned above are frequently found in the diverse repertoire of arrullos across the Colombian Pacific Region, other variations of poetic and formal structure are also common.

Section
Performers
Lyrics
Verse Soloist Se vino la luz y el brillar desde pueblo, afuera cante
Esa es la avanzada que viene arrimando con la vacilante
Refrain Soloist Ya llegó la virgen, Y hasta que te trajo
Choir Bajen los balones, súbanle los brazos.
Refrain Soloist Ya llegó la virgen, Y hasta que te trajo
Choir Bajen los balones, súbanle los brazos.

In contrast to the alabaos and romances de gualí, arrullos can include instrumental accompaniment. Vocal-instrumental arrullos are performed above traditional rhythmic patterns, mainly from currulao.

Composer: 0

  • "Grupo Naidy - ¡Arriba Suena Marimba! Currulao Marimba Music"

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Fun Facts

String instruments did not exist in the Peru region prior to the Spanish conquest

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