The Voice of the People II
Vernacular Genres in Latin America (Continued)
Another vernacular genre, the cumbia, comes from the Atlantic coastal region of Colombia. In traditional cumbia, the couples dance in a circle around seated musicians, using a good deal of hip movement and some back-to-back contact. Also traditional is the bouquet of lit candles in a brightly colored handkerchief the woman holds in her right hand. Such performances are now largely consigned to folkloric dance troupes. The maracas and the gaitas, two flutes made from a cactus-like plant, are Amerindian instruments used in the cumbia.
The cumbia accompaniment also emphasizes percussion, once again showing African influence. As with many Latin American vernacular genres, the cumbia circulated widely during the 1930s and 40s in dance band arrangements and was popular in the U.S., albeit with simplified rhythms.
Also from the Colombian Atlantic coast is the vallenato. Again, the mixture of African and Amerindian influences is striking. Originating in the 1940s and 50s, the vallenato was traditionally accompanied by accordion, caja (a small double-headed drum), and guacharaca (a scraped gourd with notches). Lyrics usually tell of the day-to-day hardships in the region. During the 1950s and 60s, the vallenato was considered unsophisticated, but in the 1970s, it began to grow in popularity and electric bass was often added.
Gaitas
By the 1990s, it was considered Colombia's national style. It is widely speculated that during that time, vallenato musicians in and around the Atlantic coast cities of the country-especially Santa Marta, Barranquilla, and Cartagena-were being supported by drug cartels.
Another vernacular genre that underwent numerous transformations was the Uruguayan candombe. Candombe has, over time, referred to:
- Black confraternities in carnival celebrations in Montevideo (Uruguay).
- A musical form practiced by black confraternities in Montevideo (Uruguay) carnival during the 1940s.
- Music played by primarily white tango orchestras around the Rio de la Plata (River Plate).
- A 1970s "fusion" version that combined influences of jazz, bossa nova, and Indian tabla drums.
Clearly, tracing the meaning and structure of vernacular genres is a complicated matter.
Vernacular Genres in Mexico
The Cuban son combines African and Hispanic elements, whereas in Mexico, the son is a couple dance that may involve a good bit of foot-stamping. Accompanying the Mexican son is the mariachi ensemble, which consists of various guitars, harps, violins, and trumpets. The son may have an instrumental introduction, an interlude (sometimes improvised), and a coda, or ending. Even within Mexico, there are many regional variants of the son. One composer of concert music who was drawn to it was Silvestre Reveueltas, discussed earlier. Like many left-leaning artists, Revueltas was shocked when a firing squad assassinated the Spanish poet, Federico García Lorca, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. The following year, Revueltas composed an orchestral composition Homenaje a Federico García Lorca (Homage to Federico García Lorca) to honor the slain poet, the third section of which is entitled Son.
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"Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca"
Another Mexican genre is the corrido. Like the ballad, the corrido is a narrative form that tells a story, verse by verse. The corrido is a sort of musical newspaper with stories that usually center around some political event. In the nineteenth century, the verses of the corridos came from large fliers, or broadsheets, which circulated around towns and villages to transmit the news of the day. A favorite topic was the Mexican Revolution. As with some of the other genres discussed here, many corridos cannot really be said to have any fixed text, since there are so many variants between written versions; in addition, many corridos are spontaneously improvised. Usually all the verses are set with the same music, a format that is called strophic. The accompaniment generally consists of one or more guitars. Curiously, corridos were first recorded in the U.S., primarily for Mexican immigrants who could afford gramophones. With the advent of electrical recording in 1925, on-site recording became much easier and corridos could be recorded on their home turf. Corridos have endured to the present. A sub-genre, the narcocorrido, concerns the drug trade.
Corridos have also attracted composers of concert music. Like his compatriot Revueltas, Carlos Chávez was drawn to "music of the people" and composed concert corridos for chorus and orchestra. These are, however, only loosely based on the traditional vernacular genre.
Corrido from the 1976 documentary Chulas Fronteras
Protest songs are a longstanding vernacular tradition in Latin America. The patriarch of Latin American protest singers was the Argentine singer and songwriter Héctor Roberto Chavero Haram (1908-1992), better known by his artistic name Atahualpa Yupanqui, which he chose to honor two legendary Incan chieftains. As a communist, he was censored in the 1950s by the government of Juan Perón, husband of Eva Perón ("Evita"). Yupanqui lived abroad for a time and other artists popularized his songs.
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"Atahualpa Yupanqui - El Arbol Que Tu Olvidaste"
By the 1960s, many Latin American countries were suffering military coups and oppressive dictatorships. In Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay, for example, opponents to such regimes were eliminated in mass killings, or "disappearances," as some of these governments called them. Others who questioned military authority were forced to live abroad. Protests were stirring elsewhere in the world, too. Spain, in the final years of the Franco dictatorship, was restless for civil liberties and the U. S. was convulsed over the struggle for racial equality and conflict over the Vietnam war.
Often with little more than a guitar and a compelling voice, singers in these countries inspired a sympathetic public to share their cause. In Latin America, the nueva canción (new song) arose to challenge political oppression. In 1964, a military coup in Brazil resulted in a twenty-year military regime during which music broadcasts were periodically censored. Even some bossa-nova came to be associated with protest. Many musicians went into exile, including singer and composer Chico Buarque; singer, guitarist, and songwriter Gilberto Gil; and composer and singer Caetano Veloso. Some of Veloso's songs were burned by government authorities and in the late sixties, he and Gil were arrested. After serving jail time, they left Brazil to live in London. Veloso's style has been influenced by bossa nova, the Beatles, and rock. This stylistic variety, coupled with his suave singing voice and inventive orchestrations, has earned him international acclaim.
Argentina endured a military dictatorship from 1966 to 1973 only to undergo another coup in 1976, resulting in a regime even more brutal than the previous one, during which systematic "disappearing" of around 30,000 political opponents was undertaken. Mercedes Sosa, a folk singer of mestizo background and a supporter of left-wing causes, was arrested on stage during a concert in 1979. She moved to Paris and then Madrid, returning to Argentina only when the dictatorship was in its final throes. She continues to tour and make her powerful voice heard.
Composer: Leon Gieco
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"Solo le pido a Dios"
Other protesters met worse fates. In Chile, the left-leaning government of Salvador Allende, known as Popular Unity, was strongly linked to nueva canción. One of its leading figures was songwriter, guitarist, poet, and educator Victor Jara. In September 1973, General Augusto Pinochet overthrew, with U.S. backing, the legally elected Chilean government. Days later, Jara was put to death in a stadium along with other opponents of Pinochet. Jara's music subsequently became a beacon for left-leaning causes throughout Latin America. Musicians around the world were moved by the situation in Chile, including Frederic Rzewski, a U.S. composer of concert music. In 1975, Rzewski composed The People United Will Never be Defeated!, a set of thirty-six variations for solo piano on a song popular in the years before the overthrow of the Allende government (see Discover Video). Rzewski wrote the massive-and very difficult-piano work to show solidarity with the Chilean people. This work continues to be played by pianists today.
String instruments did not exist in the Peru region prior to the Spanish conquest
