A Brief Guide to South American Folk (Pt. 3)
In the third and final part of this series, we’re in Chile and Argentina for folk dances and the songs enjoyed by the gauchos.
If you’ve been following WHAT A TUNE for a while, you will know that I am an enthusiastic supporter of the urban music scene in Argentina. From Trueno to Milo J, many of today’s urban music artists are inspired by their country’s folk history and it continues to play a key role in national identity. For this article, it was a pleasure to speak to musician Lautaro Barjacoba to learn more.
Read Part One here and Part Two here.
The playlist, as always, can be found at the end of the article.
Cueca
The cueca was declared the national dance of Chile in 1979, although variations on the dance are also commonplace in Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina (for example, the zamba in Argentina shares many characteristics). It dates from the 18th century, and dancers mimic the courting ritual of a rooster and a hen with intricate footwork (referred to as escobillado and zapateo). The man pursues the woman, they both swirl handkerchiefs, and the dance ends with the man on one knee and the woman with her foot on his raised knee. The music is set to a fast 6/8 time signature and commonly performed on instruments such as the cacharaina (percussion instrument made from the jawbone of a donkey or horse), tormento cuequero (percussion instrument that resembles a small wooden table), pandeiro (frame drum), harp and charango.
Start here: Los Hermanos Campos, 3×7 Veintiuna, Violeta Parra (not only did she compose cueca, but Parra was also a pioneer in the Nueva Canción Chilena – a major socio-political movement in the 1960s in Chile) and Maihuen De Los Angeles (one of the all-time most influential Chilean folk groups).
Carnavalito
The Jujuy region of Argentina is renowned for its rich musical culture. Be it the Peña folk clubs in Salta or the local musicians who regularly play in bars and eateries in towns such as Purmamarca or Tilcara, music is an inseparable part of cultural identity. Most emblematic of the region is the carnavalito, meaning ‘little carnival’. It’s a joyful folk dance featuring traditional instruments of the altiplano, such as the quena, the charango, the erke, the caja chayera (drum), the sikus (panpipes), and the bombo drum. One of the most famous carnavalitos is El Humahuaqueño, written in 1941 by Edmundo Zaldívar about a festival in Humahuaca (ironically, despite being the most widely cited example of carnavalito, Zalídar never actually stepped foot in northern Argentina and spent most of his life in Buenos Aires).
Start here: Los Tekis, Tunay, Los de Jujuy, Los Chalchaleros and Micaela Chauque all hail from the Jujuy region of Argentina (Chauque was the first indigenous woman from the Quebrada de Humahuaca to be allowed to play the quena, an instrument traditionally reserved for men).
Milonga Campera
José Llaralde, Horacio Guarany, Jorge Cafrune… The milonga rural, also known as milonga campera, is inextricably linked with the figure of the gaucho in the countryside of Uruguay and Argentina. To help me learn more, I spoke to Lautaro Barjacoba, a professional guitarist and singer based in Buenos Aires. Barjacoba was mentored by legendary folk musician Hector de Valle. He breaks down the elements of the classic milonga campera over a maté on our call.*
Milonga, in Spanish, refers to a dance or a social event and the milonga dance is the predecessor of the modern-day tango. The milonga rural, however, is performed as a solo on guitar and there is traditionally no dancing: “it’s music for listening,” Barjacoba tells me. You certainly won’t find it at festivals. “[You find it] in the immense plains, las llanuras; it’s here you’ll find someone alone, in a deep state of contemplation, with his guitar, sharing a bond with his animals, his horse, his instrument.”
The traditional milonga campera is structured in four-bar phrases and in the key of E minor. The harmonies move from chord I (tonic), chord VI, chord V (dominant), and back to chord I. There are varieties across different regions; arpeggiated structures are common in the Buenos Aires region, for example. Barjacoba emphasises that every player channels their own character into the milonga: “Every artist puts their personality into the music, and that’s what makes it interesting.” The singer is often referred to as a repentista (a spoken-word improv poet) or payador (troubadour), and the lyrics range from the personal to broader themes such as the political and socio-economic landscape in their country: “[the payador] tells stories via his art.”
The milonga campera is tied to national identity, and Barjacoba assures me the genre is alive and thriving, with young artists continuing to keep the music alive via new interpretations of existing classics and writing new material (for example, see Milo J’s performance of Cafrune here). “It gives us our identity as Argentinians,” He affirms. “The milonga is a powerful space for sharing experiences and ideas, and it’s one of the strongest expressions of identity here. The songs are part of our lives.”
Start here: José Llaralde, Jorge Cafrune, Carlos Ramón Fernández, Argentino Luna (Un Par de Botas is a great example of the repentista style), Mercedes Sosa. Contemporary composers include Marcos O’Farrell (see: Estilo Gaucho), Juan Martín Scalerandi and Carlos Moscardini.
[Translated from Spanish]
