Elements from African and European Music
In addition to the convergence of ancestral African and European elements in cultural and religious practices of the communities from the Colombian Pacific, prominent scholars have also traced different ancestral African and European elements in the music of the region.
European Elements
Different Mozarabic gestures brought by Spanish conquistadors from Andalucía and Extremadura are evident in the melismas, glissandi, and other embellishments of nostalgic alabaos and gualíes. Similarly, Afro-Colombian romances display hypnotic and repetitive melodic structures like the ones found in Gregorian litanies.
In addition to Mozarabic gestures and repetitive melodic designsin alabaos and gualíes, African-Colombian scholars mention other elements that are evidently inherited from Gregorian plainchant such as modal gestures, the reciting tones on scale degree 1 or 5, and the rhythmic freedom of African-Colombian romances.
The alabao Adios hijos, que me voy" (Good Bye my Children, I am Leaving), by cantaora Inés Granja, exemplifies these three elements.
Alabado del pacífico colombiano (Timbiquí)- Inés Granja [ 00:00-00:00 ]
Granja's performance displays the typical rhythmic freedom of alabaos: Nonetheless, although her tempo fluctuates through the use of subtle accelerandi (speeding up) and rallentandi (slowing down), her phrasing is regular, allowing the listener to hear melodic connections throughout the form. Additionally, her interpretation includes different glissandi.
African Elements
Group performance, particularly antiphonal singing-music performed by two groups often in alternate musical phrases-is usually identified as a long tradition brought from Africa during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Alabaos, in particular, resemble the improvised phrase endings found in duet and singing duels of current African-music practices.
Egberto Bermúdez, a prominent Colombian folk music scholar, has pointed out that typical African hemiolas and compound rhythmic patterns have been inherited by the music of certain Latin American and Caribbean countries. The marimba currulao bordón (harmonic-rhythmic pattern) that accompanies several arrullos exemplifies a typical African-Colombian hemiola, created by the constant juxtaposition of different meters.
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"Recording by Julian Brijaldo - Chief Jitoma sings Mui Numuru"
String instruments did not exist in the Peru region prior to the Spanish conquest
