Abstracts
Abstracts from the 2011 RMA Caribbean and Latin American Music Study Day
YUIKO ASABA: The Process of Recording a Tango CD in Buenos Aires
In June this year, I recorded my first Argentine Tango CD album in Buenos Aires, both as a violinist and singer accompanied by some of the most accomplished Argentine musicians of today. The promotional tour will take place for its release later this year in Japan. For this conference, I would like to present my CD, and also to discuss the following two elements: 1) issues and techniques of interpreting Tango through violin and voice, and 2) issues encountered in the processes of rehearsals and recording sessions. My passion for Tango emerged while taking classes with Fernando Suárez Paz, the former violinist of Astor Piazzolla’s ‘Quinteto Tango Nuevo’. Largely based on my fieldwork in Buenos Aires, I wrote my Masters dissertation on Tango violin techniques (Royal Holloway). I then lived in Argentina for three years performing in the National Tango Orchestra, and at many other noted Tango houses in the country. While in Buenos Aires, I was fortunate to have worked with many legendary musicians such as Leopoldo Federico, Emilio Balcarce, and Ramiro Gallo.
JUAN CARLOS FRANCO: Jazz y Ritmos Tradicionales Colombianos: creación de un sonido local
Desde su llegada, el jazz en Colombia ha tenido un proceso intermitente, sin embargo este género va influenciar de forma significativa el paisaje musical local, en particular el repertorio de la zona del caribe. Este trabajo pretende presentar las formas como se ha asimilado este genero en Colombia, tomando como ejemplo extractos musicales de periodos diferentes, basados en los trabajos de dos figuras emblemáticas: Lucho Bermúdez (1912-1994), quien en la década de los 1940 integra a la música de baile elementos del jazz; y Antonio Arnedo (1963- ), que a mediados de 1990 publica el primer disco de “jazz colombiano” basado en ritmos tradicionales de la costa caribe. Igualmente, a partir de esta década el jazz en Colombia se institucionaliza con la proliferación de festivales y la enseñanza de este genero en centros de educación superior, una nueva generación de músicos inspirados por el trabajo de Arnedo, crean un movimiento, buscan consolidar un sonido y un estilo “local”. Se plantea una reflexión en torno a los procesos de creación y de encuentros de músicas de diferentes culturas con el jazz, las repercusiones que estos pueden tener en una identidad transcultural. Por que hacer jazz local? exotismo? búsqueda nuevas estéticas musicales?
TRANSLATION
In Colombia, the process of incorporating Jazz music into the local musical landscape has been sporadic. Its influence, however, is evident in the folk repertoire from specific regions such as the Colombian Caribbean. Through two case studies, the present paper aims to explore the different ways in which Jazz has been assimilated in this region: Lucho Bermudez (1912-1994) who integrated jazz and dance music during the 1940s, and Antonio Arnedo (1963- ) who, during the 1990s, released the first sound document of ‘Colombian jazz.’ Both case studies represent the core of this research. During the 1990s, jazz in Colombia was institutionalized through the creation of jazz festivals and the inclusion of this language into higher education programmes in universities. A new generation of trained local jazz musicians then aimed to create their own sound and style. This study attempts to identify issues in relationship to the process of creation and the intermingling of different styles of music with the jazz language. Why try to ‘make’ local jazz? Is this exoticism? Or a search for a new musical aesthetic?
ZEZO OLIMPIO: Brazilian Music – but not the Samba School...
In this practical lecture presentation I intend to focus on the lesser known rhythms available in the vast palette of colours we have in Brazilian culture. As we know, Samba and Bossa-Nova (either in its authentic forms or through any of the perversions out there) are nowadays one of the most widely recognized and popular rhythms used by musicians from all areas of expertise. However, there is much more to Brazilian music than this and the north-eastern region of the country concentrates some very interesting grooves and musical disciplines for us to explore. Those genres could be very interesting resources for performers and composers, who might find it very appealing, and also for musicologists as it presents an area of Brazilian music not yet exhausted by formal studies! The workshop will focus on 3 particular “internationally obscure” Brazilian styles: Baião; Frevo and Maracatú. During my presentation, we will spend 10 minutes in each genre, setting the geographical and cultural context, dismembering and dissecting the groove elements and showing examples on how it is used traditionally and in today’s music scene. This will be a hands-on approach and I will invite members of the audience to participate as I demonstrate some of the techniques using percussion instruments. This will hopefully raise the awareness of the richness and diversity in Brazilian music, bringing these musical gems to a more prominent position.”
DR HETTIE MALCOMSON: Danzón, age and ‘cultural rescue’ in the Port of Veracruz, Mexico
SHIRLEY THOMPSON: The Woman Who Refused to Dance: Towards a New Aesthetic of Orchestral Song Composition and Performance
Through musical presentation, historical text and still images Shirley Thompson will recollect her ‘influences’ during the process of this dramatic song for singer, chamber orchestra and spoken word artist. The presentation will focus on a single musical composition that represents, heroically, the subject’s African Caribbean historical lineage and the treatment of submerged narratives from post-colonial territories. Whilst steeped in the milieu of Western European art music legacies, the composer Shirley Thompson’s practice-led research in vocal and orchestral music draws on several vernacular music traditions outside of the Western European lineage; including contemporary gospel, Jamaican folk, jazz and popular music idioms. In this composition, the composer employs a wide range of musical styles contemporary with the diegesis and deliberately anachronistic of the subject matter. With a post-modern, inclusive approach to the contemporary classical compositional creative process, The Woman Who Refused to Dance is an orchestral interpretation of a political artefact exemplifying the treatment of an enslaved African woman during the trans-Atlantic slave trade that raises issues of post-colonial identity, representation and ideology.
HELEN GLAISHER-HERNÁNDEZ: The Popular Idiom and Issues of Interpretation in Ernesto Lecuona’s ‘A la Antigua’
In contrast to the largely bifurcated European music scene where the classical and popular rarely cross paths, classical music composers in Latin America have traditionally embraced local popular genres as an integral component of their work. This paper will discuss one such Cuban composer, Ernesto Lecuona, and the extent to which his music can be considered ‘classical’. Using the example of ‘A la Antigua’, the third movement of Lecuona’s 19th-century Cuban Dances, it identifies the various issues and challenges of interpretation for the classical pianist arising from its popular/classical dialectic. It also considers how the popular nature of Lecuona’s works in turn has itself contributed to the unfavourable reception and misconception of his output within classical circles.
ANDRÉS ESPINOZA AGURTO: Nicomedes Santa Cruz’s role as an inside author(ity) in the revival of the music of Afro Peruvian Descent.
During the 1950s and 60s there was a revival of the ‘lost for over a century’ Afro Peruvian music and dance practices; several people brought forth different methodologies for the recovery and research of this tradition. Poet, actor, journalist, radio personality, musicologist and musician Nicomedes Santa Cruz was essential to this revival but his research process included elements that have been often criticized outside Peru as speculative and highly subjective. Despite Santa Cruz’s dubious research techniques; his Afro centrist views and theories became quickly and widely accepted as fact and shaped to a very large extent what we and Peruvians know as Afro-Peruvian music today. Alongside presenting and debating some of the theories and methodologies put forth by Santa Cruz, I analyze how Afro Peruvian music, by symbolizing the forgotten past, expresses modern beliefs regarding what constitutes the Black music of Peru today. This study will work within the larger context of the invention of tradition (Hobsbawm), the African aesthetic in the New World, the study of identity in diasporic communities (Hall, Braziel and many others) as well as the concepts of trans-cultural exchange, cultural memory and transmission.
FIORELLA MONTERO DÍAZ: Turning things around: From white fusion stars with Andean flavour to Andean fusion stars with white appeal
Intercultural popular fusion music in the Peruvian capital of Lima has grown in recent years to become a representative “national” genre which, through interethnic and other forms of social interaction, challenges the existing cultural, socioeconomic and ethnic segregation of Limeño society. This paper reflects on how old connotations, associating highland Andeans and their cultural expressions with a lack of power and agency, are being contested through fusion musics in Lima’s lowland coastal context. In Lima, Andean culture is becoming increasingly mainstream and this is also true in music. In this paper I explore the nuances in ethnicity and agency among a sample of Peruvian fusionists through time (2004-2011). For this purpose I focus on three very different cases: Miki Gonzalez – an older white fusion star who hires Andean musicians, La Sarita – an intercultural Andean rock band struggling to keep the balance between the urban and the Andean, and Magaly Solier – a young Andean film star and singer who hires white musicians. These case studies demonstrate three different ways of dealing with intercultural interaction and approaching fusion music, and performance. I argue that musical fusions are helping to re-shape traditional cultural imaginaries, to stigmatise blatant racism, and to project images of empowerment onto 21st century Andeans.
IGNACIO AGUILÓ: ‘100 % Negro Cumbiero’: race and ethnicity in Argentinian cumbia
My presentation will analyse discourses of race in cumbia music produced in Argentina. From its original strong links with Caribbean ‘blackness’ to its appropriation by the local ‘dark-skinned’ sectors of the working class, cumbia in Argentina has been marked by different conceptualisations of race that, in all cases, emphasise the style’s ‘non-whiteness’, in opposition to the hegemonic notions of Argentinian ‘whiteness’. This is not the case for other prominent music styles of Argentinian popular music, like tango and folklore, which have been stripped from their non-’white’ connections. In that regard, by examining the development of cumbia in Argentina, from its early developments in the 1960s until its breakthrough to mainstream in the 1980s, and its definitive positioning as one of the country’s dominant music genres during the 1990s, I aim to demonstrate that cumbia remains a extremely racialised and non-’white’ form of popular music in a nation in which narratives of racial homogeneity centred around ‘whiteness’ are still hegemonic. Special attention will be paid to cumbia villera, which emerged in the shantytowns of Buenos Aires in the late 1990s and, until the mid-2000s, was the most successful variety of cumbia in Argentina.
DR CHRISTIAN WEAVER: Rumba since the revolution: the music and dance of multi-representation in Cuba
Cuban rumba famously encompasses a variable range of inter-related activities centred on music and dance which, since their establishment among the marginalised of Republican society, have existed as primary means of negotiating social, economic, personal, artistic and religious forces on the island. The revolution of 1959 brought huge socioeconomic changes that continue to evolve today. A number of these changes, along with other historic developments, are examined here in order to illustrate how they are negotiated within, and have subsequently shaped rumba’s contemporary performance and musical languages. State imposed restrictions on impromptu gatherings, increased social mobility, the professionalization of rumba, greater employment, global marketing and the valorising of popular vernacular expressions have all contributed to the nature of rumba in Cuba today. The first-hand testimony of a group of twenty rumba practitioners, representing three generations that have made the transition from amateur to professional at different stages of the revolutionary state’s development, along with the author’s own participant observation of rumba in Cuba is used to develop the point that rumba continues to fulfil its function as an essential creative forum for discussion despite its changing socioeconomic context.
DANIELA ROSSELSON DE ARMA: The commercialisation of Afro Cuban Spiritual music in Cuba and Internationally and it’s effect on the perception of the religion
This paper will take a look at the history of “La Regla de Ocha “(Santeria) in particular the role of song within the spiritual practise. It will look at changes of attitude towards it since the revolution. Emphasis will be placed on the role of cultural organisations in developing a Folkloric Cultural Identity separate from Religious Spiritual practise. The growth of tourism, will be cited as the motivating force behind the promotion of Cuban music and dance as commodities. The appropriation of religious song and dance as tourist bait will be examined. Orisha themed Cuban popular Song will be looked at in addition to the rise in popularity of the study of folkloric arts. Outside of Cuba Many non practitioners, Cuban and non Cuban alike are teaching songs and rhythms previously taboo for playing outside of a religious context. The paper concludes that there are several negative effects on the religion as a whole. It has not aided the preservation and understanding of Spiritual Song and it’s Rhythms and a common perception of the religion is also confused and stereotypical. The paper hopes to enlighten the participants of the conference to a real understanding of the religion and it’s beautiful music.
JOHN COWLEY: L’Ame Nègre en exil . . . Au Bal Antillais: the role of discography in historical research — a French Antillean perspective
The systematic documentation of recordings, whether made commercially or for other purposes, allows illumination of sometimes underappreciated aspects of the social and political world in which performers resided. Vernacular music from the French Antilles, recorded commercially in Paris from 1929 to the Second World War, provides a case study.
The biguine, one of several generic African-French dances that evolved in the Antilles, alongside adaptations of European formations, was part of the repertoire featured in the urban centres of French Caribbean islands: notably Saint-Pierre, Martinique, before it was decimated by the volcanic eruption of Mont Pelée in 1902. By the late nineteenth century, particular traditions became associated with the annual Saint-Pierre Carnival and other occasions for carnivalesque. Verses from select songs were incorporated into postcards that included depictions of Martinique belles. These were sold to tourists. Other songs, with satirical and political content also remained in circulation long after their initial composition. Even in the 1930s, therefore, despite the destruction of the island’s principal city, the vernacular canon maintained songs current in Saint-Pierre before its demise. Several can be identified in idiomatic performances before the microphones of Parisian record companies from the time a market for French-Creole 78-rpm discs was established.
Illuminating the history of music and Carnival in Saint-Pierre is but one element in the way in which a French-Antillean discography creates opportunity for greater understanding. Another is the precursor for the recordings taking place: French-Caribbean migration itself and (from 1924) the setting up of dance establishments in Paris where island performers made a living playing their home-grown styles for fellow émigrés. There is also the way in which the Antillean music played a part in left-bank artistic circles during the 1920s. Visiting Harlem Renaissance intellectuals were similarly attracted by these performances. Each of these and comparable circumstances will be explored in a presentation demonstrating that novel understanding can be initiated by the systematic documentation of vernacular music recordings and the value of this technique.
FRANK CUDJOE: Big Drum, String Band, Calypso, Parang and Merengue: or Shut-up play the music and let’s dance: The musics of Carriacou
Discussions relating to the variations in musical styles identified within the Caribbean Basin (Central and South America and the Islands of the West Indies) often tend to focus on a number of areas. First, the type of music identified by either academics, influential individuals or artists as unique to that particular country so making it distinct from other areas in the region. Second, the evolution of a particular style or genre whose origins are in a number of camps and because of its popularity dominates the musical landscape. While both areas are significant in exploring the origin, evolution and existence of styles often overlooked is the role migration had in not only in diffusing but also influencing changes in musical styles. The first area indicated above might be defined as belonging to the camp of the ethnomusicologists, while the second sits comfortably in the chair of the musicologist .
In this paper the author looks at the music from one island (Carriacou) of the Caribbean and attempts to explain some of the differences between what is often perceived as unique to that place and other styles that exist. A central feature within this discussion is how the migration of individuals from and to the island influenced the changes in music heard and played there. The works of Alan Lomax (Big Drum) and Rebecca S. Miller (String Bands) are often sited as musical styles indigenous to the island. However, to this could be added Hosanna, Parang and modern String band (Calypso). The significance of migration becomes relevant when dancing is discussed, apart from quadrilles, reels and other local dances the most important was the Merengue. This dance style was introduced from the Dominican Republic or else- where in Latin America and popular from the mid 1930s onwards. The musicians who played the music were indigenous to Carriacou but by the 1950s were to be found performing in many countries of the West Indies and areas of the USA (Brooklyn).
SHARON MEREDITH: Fife and Drum Traditions of the English-speaking Caribbean
Tucked away in English-speaking territories of the Caribbean are remnants of a musical genre that was once commonplace in the region. For hundreds of years, fife and drum ensembles have, around the globe, provided musical entertainment for ordinary folk, particularly in connection with masquerade and carnival, at holiday times and for celebrations. Today in the Caribbean, fife and drum ensembles (or close approximations thereof) appear in tourist shows, in national parades and events, or in publicity promoting their country. In Barbados, the tuk band has been revived and revitalised post-independence to provide a music that is promulgated as the nation’s traditional music. This contrasts with the belief held by many Barbadians that tuk is a working-class music, associated with the alcohol-influenced antics of men entertaining themselves at the local rum shop, and therefore of little worth. This paper will examine the common heritage of these musics, suggesting reasons for the occurrence of similar musics in places such as Anguilla, Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, considering the factors that led to the development of similar, yet individual musical forms and exploring the reasons for the varying degrees of acclaim they enjoy today.
SARA McGUINESS: A Practice-led Study on a Cuban and Congolese Music Fusion Project in London
This paper presents the results of a six-year study of the fusion of Congolese and Cuban music, as it has and is evolving in London. Key to my methodology, presenting a perspective distinct from many previous comparable studies, is my own formation of and participation in a band. This has granted access to the musical ‘language’ and how it can be used in creative work and communication. My research has been conducted through the dynamics of rehearsal and performance, using music and its associated conceptual framework as the principle medium of analysis. While it is well known that the styles and artists of Congolese and Cuban music have interacted since the 1930s, I wanted to explore how the past is envisioned in the present and can be used to develop new musical products. To achieve this I have brought together musicians resident in London from these two distinct and isolated musical communities in this collaborative project. Whilst Cuban and Congolese music are considered to have parted ways in the early 1970s, I focus on contemporary music and performance practice and consider what commonalities and differences today’s musicians experienced in the “dancing” section of the music: the montuno and seben respectively.
GLORIA MEDONE: Brazilian Music – performance as native and foreign language: a comparative study of music performance of Brazilian music themes and the concept of performance as native and foreign language.
This paper is based on the application of generative theory of musical performance developed in the doctoral thesis of the undersigned, to a selection of versions of the work for guitar by Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959). Using this theory we proceeded to the consideration of the four analytical categories derived from Lerdahl and Jackendoff theory (A Generative theory of tonal music, 1983): Grouping Structure, Metrical Structure, Time-Span Reduction and Prolongational Reduction. This analysis allowed the identification of the technical and performative forms suitable for the proper execution of the four structures, with emphasis on the immanent elements that characterize the composition’s rhythmic, melodic and harmonic aspects in its Brazilian folk root. The definition of performance as native and foreign language aids to the comprehension of the popular qualities of certain music excerpts. This study encourages the listener to be aware of the interpretive discourse regardless of the intrinsic morphological components of the composition, a fact reinforced by the comparison of recorded performances by various performers with live versions and recorded by the author of this lecture. It represents a very specialized contribution to cognitive sciences of music and empirical musicology, because of its scientific approach focused in music performance.
STEWART HILL: Dos Sprachen Deep: Language and Fieldwork Examined
When conducting fieldwork outside of one’s own culture, a fundamental issue is often the acquisition and application of a new language. This area has been surprisingly overlooked within literature discussing ethnomusicological fieldwork methodology and only briefly discussed in related disciplines. Whether or not this omission has been intentional is intriguing, leading us to questions regarding ethics, the accuracy of fieldwork data, and the position of the ego within academia. Through my fieldwork with a group who perform an Afro-Uruguayan musical tradition (candombe) in a diasporic context within Germany I experienced the kind of issues that can arise when participating in a tradition where the working languages are not my mother tongue. My linguistic deficit in Spanish was at times problematic, but our collective identity as foreigners within Germany sometimes acted as a tool which united us. This, along with my occasional lexical failings in German helping to develop a student-teacher role within the group led me to conclude that language issues in the field can have both positive and negative implications on a fieldwork project, and should therefore merit greater consideration during the various stages of fieldwork.
