Uccelli [née Pazzini], Carolina Uccellini, Marco

II. Traditional and popular music

The traditional musics of Uruguay should not be studied in isolation as they share features with those of the bordering regions of the neighbouring countries of southern Brazil and central-eastern Argentina; on a broader level with those of the larger continent of Latin America, and on a general level with the entire Americas. Uruguayan music draws on three cultural sources: the indigenous, the western European and the black African. Each has produced complex rather than homogeneous musical forms, this diversity defining the Uruguayan musical profile. At the time of the arrival of the Spanish conquerors a multiplicity of ethnic traditions already existed dispersed over a wide area with diverse levels of interaction. The varying nature of gradual contact with the colonizers determined contrasting indigenous components in the music of neighbouring mestizo communities. The European contribution was not as simple as is commonly understood: the majority of immigrants, mostly low class, came from different parts of western Europe and the Iberian peninsula, the latter only recently emerged from a war against Muslim invaders involving religious, economic and political conflict. As a result, a variety of acculturated musical situations already existed within the European population. The cultures of slaves brought forcibly from all around the sub-Saharan regions of Africa also carried with them musical material from a diverse number of cultural areas.

Apart from a number of minor historical studies, the first important contribution to research was made by Isabel Aretz in 1943. Between 1945 and 1966, the Uruguayan musicologist Lauro Ayestarán (1913–66) carried out formative work in collaboration with his senior Argentine colleague Carlos Vega (1898–1966), archived in the musicology section of the Museo Historico Nacional.

1. Amerindian heritage.

2. African heritage.

3. Mestizo music and instruments.

Uruguay, §II: Traditional and popular music

1. Amerindian heritage.

The Amerindian people were nomadic, moving over a very large territory, including parts of Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and, possibly, Paraguay. While their ethnic roots are unclear, it is known that Guaraní was one of their spoken languages. According to historians, most others were mainly from Charrúa and Chaná, both ethnic groups possibly belonging to the Arawak linguistic family. The Chaná-Charrúas rejected acculturation and were as a consequence practically annihilated by the conquerors. Those who survived were wiped out later, after the independence wars by some of the criollo leaders. However, it is now accepted that resistance to integration did not mean that there was no cultural contact. So, although the Amerindian population was destroyed as an entity during the 19th century (notably until 1831; in subsequent decades less openly), it is not possible to affirm that mestizo culture had not absorbed elements from the Chaná-Charrúa musics. What is accepted is the strong presence of Guaraní musical elements in the resulting popular culture which has meant that in recent decades new Guaraní small communities, belonging to the Mbyá ethnic group, have been able to return from the north. As a result of the return of these groups it is now known that, for the Mbyá, music is a private, ‘secret’ practice, which sheds light on earlier historical chronicles which provided practically no information about indigenous musics. In the mid-20th century when Lauro Ayestarán studied some of these early written documents, an imprecise picture was given of indigenous people playing only trumpets, horns and drums. Presence of instruments other than those known in European organology were not noted. Nor was it understood or recorded that for example, in Chaná-Charrúa culture, music did not constitute a category which could be segregated from the totality of everyday human activity. Other Uruguayan Amerindian groups include a probable small quantity of acculturated Chaná-Charrúas, who succumbed to missionary pressure at the beginning of the 17th century; a massive dispersion of acculturated Guaranís ejected from Jesuit missions by the Spanish crown in 1767; and several Guaicurú groups of unconfirmed number who came from the Chaco to settle as tenant farmers following the land reform of 1815–16 begun by the revolutionary leader José Artigas. Each would have introduced varying musical contributions of diverse ethnic origin, complicated by varying degrees of acculturation ranging from the probably low level of the Guaicurús, to the high levels of Guaranís from the missions.

Uruguay, §II: Traditional and popular music

2. African heritage.

The contribution of people from the sub-Saharan (Aguisimbian) regions of Africa has been of great influence. However, colonial Montevideo population records show equal numbers of people coming from Mozambique (East Africa), Angola (West Africa) and other territories.

Expressions of black culture conserved in the capital Montevideo are detectable in the music of the llamada, in choreographic-musical elements of candombe and other specific aspects of dance choreography. Despite the diversity of origin of African immigrants, by the beginning of the 20th century evidence suggests unified use of membranophones, with the adoption of the tamboril, a variant common to other Latin American territories. A single-headed drum whose membrane is nailed to a barrel-shaped wooden shell, the tamboril is carried over the shoulder and played with two hands, one holding a stick (see fig.1). There are three sizes of tamboril called chico, repique and piano (in ascending order of size), the latter appearing sometimes as a bass piano called bajo or bombo. Traditionally tuned by stretching the membrane over heat, in recent decades new methods of construction have introduced mechanical tuning mechanisms. Tuning relationships between sizes is more a function and consequence of ‘good tension’ relationships between the instruments than a question of absolute pitch. The wooden body, traditionally made out of barrel laths without nails, and since the 1970s constructed from treated wood, is carved so that each lath wedges into the next, encircled and held together by three iron rings.

A minimum of two different drums (either the repique or piano, with the chico in continuous reference to the other two) is necessary to produce the llamada, the music of this set of drums. They create a rich weave of patterns with none of the different sizes of tamboril acting independently of the others. In the case of the chico rhythmic patterns are fixed; for the piano (bajo or bombo) they are partially unchanged (ex.1); while for the repique they are varied, with improvisational practices. The llamada is produced by several drums of each size, each determining a layer of rhythms which interact with other layers while at the same time engaging in ‘dialogue’ within their layer (particularly the improvising repiques). The continuity of this tradition is directly linked to the black population of Montevideo, within conventillo (tenement house) and barrio (neighbourhood) culture. At the end of the 20th century this has been gradually changing as young white people, whose own life experience contrasts with that of the poor blacks of these marginal neighbourhoods, have become interested in and have adopted this music.

While still associated with particular calendar dates, the llamada maintains a non-explicit ritual spirit. The ‘spontaneous’ meeting of a group of walking drummers is usually accompanied by people of the neighbourhood. The drummers are usually preceded by processing dancers, some of whom may perform choreographic characterizations: while their original meaning is lost, some bear the mark of behaviours related to the acculturation of black African traditions observed elsewhere on the American continent. In the 1950s the continuity of the tradition was transformed through the integration of the llamada into the official Carnival festivities; the whole phenomenon was thus institutionalized by the municipality of Montevideo, with the introduction of written rules and prize-winning mechanisms. Despite this many traditional features persist.

Drummers, who can number from 15 to 100 or more form a line, usually with six to each row, mixing different sizes of tamboril, their music a challenging mix of the polyphonic and polyrhythmic. Traditional costumes are worn (fig.1). They are accompanied by ritual characters including the gramillero, the mama vieja and the escobero or escobillero and the standard bearers. Other participants include dancers (mostly young women) and ‘exotic’ characters drawn from the world of show business (inspired by the Río de Janeiro carnival and transvestite culture among other things), all formally accepted by the official rules and judging panels. The gramillero (see fig.1), a young person disguised as an old man, wears a false white beard, a pair of spectacle frames, a top hat, dress coat, gaiters with rope-soled sandals instead of shoes, two white gloves (one held), while holding a small case in the left hand and using a walking cane to support a tensely held ‘old’ body. This character relates to roles conserved in syncretic religions of the black Americas. The mama vieja evokes an old lady dressed in bulky skirts holding a parasol, walking graciously. The escobero or escobillero wears a colourful shirt, an animal-skin loincloth studded with brilliant objects over tight-fitting trousers, and sandals with long ribbons attached and tied cross-wise up the legs. The escobero carries a thin-sticked broom, making rotating patterns with it in the air, a syncretic practice thought to relate to the exorcism of bad spirits. The trophy or standard bearers often carry war emblems: a star, a half moon, flags and banners; these trophies are probably survivals of historical ‘holy wars’ between Islamic and Christian blacks in both Africa and the New World. In recent decades certain Afro-Brazilian syncretic religions, particularly Umbanda, have increased their presence and influence with practically unchanging practices observing the Brazilian liturgy and sung in Portuguese.

Uruguay, §II: Traditional and popular music

3. Mestizo music and instruments.

The European contribution to music culture has posed problems arising from the complex issues surrounding colonialism. The particular history of the river Plate region has led to the perception of the Uruguayan intelligentsia of Uruguay as a country inhabited by ‘white’ people, posing a challenge to creative musicians who wish to assume a mestizo identity.

With indigenous resistance to the European practice of genocide (particularly of the Chaná-Charrúa), postponing the colonization of the eastern coast of both the Uruguay and Plate rivers, and with no stable European settlements until the 18th century, the process of European acculturation was inhibited. At the same time there were constant cultural influences from the north (from Asunción and later the Jesuit missions), the west (Buenos Aires and other settlements) and the north-east, where Portugal tried to force a permanent demarcation line with Spain in order to dominate navigation in the river Plate area.

By the time Montevideo was finally taken by Spain around 1726, the territory had already been influenced by rural mestizo inhabitants, urban migrants and acculturated Guaranís dispersed from the Jesuit missions, thereby creating a well-defined musical mestizo identity which survives in children’s songs and games and other traditional forms. Ayestarán found that these were linked to similar traditions elsewhere on the continent, with more than 100 different examples of monodic, unaccompanied melodies used as lullabies, rounds, romances (ballads), villancicos and children’s songs and games.

The guitar is the main instrument of both rural and urban mestizo society. While standard western tuning is the most common (E–A–d–g–b'–e') there is evidence of at least another five older tunings, including the temple del Diablo tuning, which has a tritone between the second and the third string and is still found in some rural or semi-rural areas.

The second most popular instrument is the accordion, usually the diatonic form with one or two rows of keys, which first appeared in the mid-19th century, when many social dances were adapted into its repertory. Accordions with ten melodic keys and four bass buttons which produce tonic, dominant and sub-dominant harmonies are generally tuned in D although some use C. A type of accordion preferred for social dances has 21 buttons and eight bass keys.

The bandoneon, pre-eminent in tango culture in Argentina, has relatively few virtuoso players in Uruguay. A number of areas bordering with Brazil use the cavaquinho (retaining the Portuguese name), a small guitar with four strings. Cavaquinhos are played in some places in an ensemble with guitars and ebony side-blown flutes which survive from military and town bands. Drums and cymbals play a large part in Carnival while the tamboril has its own aforementioned traditions, principally in Montevideo. Since the 1960s composer-performers have incorporated a bass guitar called the guitarron, occasionally substituted in groups by a plucked double bass. Drum kit, electric bass, electric guitar, assorted percussion and many wind or string instruments, mainly borrowed from the European orchestra, are found in various popular ensembles.

The preferred vocal aesthetic for men in mainstream popular music in the second half of the 20th century involved a low register, avoiding high and middle registers favoured by women. A former male tradition, which gradually diminished in popularity in live performance during the 1930s, involved a smooth singing style moving to falsetto. This was particularly evident in the ‘high’ art version of a form called estilo, a genre influential in the art of tango singing, as heard in the voice of Argentine tango singer Carlos Gardel. Traditions such as the payada which demand strong vocal projection for open-air performance developed a ‘crying’ vocal style. In the 1980s a style of male falsetto reappeared following the reappraisal of 1960s metropolitan rock music.

The musical craft of the payador survives with surprising historic continuity on the American continent in former Spanish and Portuguese colonies (including Chile, Cuba and Brazil). The payador sings improvised poetry to his own guitar accompaniment according to strict stanzaic rules of versification, based on the octosyllabic, ten-line verse décima form. The décima criolla is the most familiar but other copla (couplet) and verso (verse) forms, with stanzas of four, six and eight lines, are also frequent, on the basis of a repeated musical structure accompanied by the guitar. The present Uruguayan tradition is related to that of neighbouring areas of Argentina and part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The principal musical genres used in contemporary payadas (song sessions) are the cifra and the milonga. For the singer, solo improvisation on a subject usually given by the audience may be of secondary importance to actual participation in a payada de contrapunto, a challenge between two singers, in which they can fully show their virtuosity. Stanzas are alternated, while both guitars maintain repeated rhythm, with a final flourish in the final stanzas when alternating couplets are exchanged, often resulting in an atmosphere of breathtaking public contest.

The most common song type in Uruguay is the milonga (also found in southern Brazil, central-eastern Argentina and southern Chile). Ayestarán’s unsuccessful attempts to establish its origin arose from a history of 18th- and 19th-century racism and social taboo concerning the music of African immigrants, resulting in a lack of written documentation about the milonga and related genres. A fast, danceable version, usually without words, had disappeared by the turn of the 19th century, with surviving elements captured in some early tango and the tango-milonga, a more rapid form than common tango and full of striking rhythmic patterns (ex.2). The slower milonga, often used as accompaniment for the improvised verse traditions of the payadas of payadores, as well as for songs, has different characteristics. The most common rhythmic pattern is 3 + 3 + 2 in duple time (ex.3). Despite the accompaniment with tonic and dominant chords, 19th-century milonga singing style used non-equal tuning (of unknown origin) outside the tonal system. At the end of the 20th century two main tendencies could be recognized on opposite sides of the river Plate: a Uruguayan milonga, called oriental or orientala, in a heavy style which contrasts with the softer and delicate style of the Argentine pampeana.

The cielito form, which emerged as the most prestigious musical and choreographic genre some time between 1800 and 1820 when it was popular with revolutionary patriots, is still found. In a lively tempo, its metrical pattern was binary with ternary subdivision (6/8 or equivalent), with a general ABABAB structure. The formula for the refrain ‘Cielito, cielo, que si, / cielito’ or ‘Cielo, cielito, que si, / cielo’ or variants, appears as the first phrase of B and at the beginning of the second phrase B (ex.4). The cielito became popular throughout the whole river Plate area as did the popular dances, the media caña and pericón. Both use a similar metrical pattern with texts often expressing political struggle (the media caña by 1830, the pericón later), and are still performed.

The estilo (occasionally called triste), which became popular in the late 18th century, was recognized by the end of the 19th century as a ‘folkloric survival’ and ‘revitalized’, remaining commercially popular until the beginning of the 1930s. Usually sung by men, with the singer accompanying himself on guitar, the subjects of its lyrics were most often ‘transcendental’, lyrical or dramatic; it is regarded as one of the most ‘refined’ popular genres. With an ABA' structure (in Vega’s terminology: tema, kimba, final), it begins with a punteo, an introductory instrumental prelude, whose structure contrasts with those of the A and B melodies while relating to the tempo of the B section. The metre for both A and A' is in either duple or triple time or a combination of both. The B section is called cielito, recalling the aforementioned cielito dance. According to unpublished work by Ayestarán, the structure of the cielito falls into three formal groups: the principal one has two sections of four phrases, a slow section A, followed by a quicker, danceable section B, concluding with a slow A' section of two phrases. Its verse pattern is that of the décima criolla or décima espinela, a widespread Latin American popular poetic tradition, a Spanish-derived octosyllabic ten-line rhyming stanza form (usually patterned ABBAACCDDC), in which one the challenges is shifting the verse punctuation to coincide with the rhythms of the music.

The cifra, a non-danceable song genre which had probably originated by 1830, is also based on the décima form, sharing non-tonal melodic behaviour with the sung milonga. It survives in the repertory of music used in the contemporary payada. A solo voice alternates with guitar sections, with sung phrases in a declamative recitative style, ‘commented on’ by brief instrumental interludes, except for the final passage between the last sung phrases, when the musician may conclude with a surprise improvisation on the original musical theme. The range of subjects covered in verse includes sucedidos (dramatic stories), memorable deeds and (more recently) humorous themes.

The vidalita, noted in documents by 1880, is apparently the last south-eastern genre derived from musical and poetic material which came originally from Peru, the centre of the Spanish colonial empire. Generally reserved for expressing the pain of love or love sickness, it is structured in quatrains, with alternate lines followed by a refrain on the word vidalita. The chimarrita (also chamarrita, cimarrita or shimarrita), linked to the Portuguese-Brazilian colonial period, is still found in the northern half of the country and neighbouring territories. Emerging in the 1820s and widespread by 1850, its popularity peaked around 1880. With an octosyllabic ABAB structure, and lyrics in Portuguese or a particular frontier dialect of Portuguese and Spanish, it was danced with polca steps. The tirana and carangueyo (carangueija in Portuguese), dance-songs related to the southern territories of present-day Brazil (mainly the state of Rio Grande do Sul), survive only as songs, with lyrics in Spanish, Portuguese or the frontier dialect.

As a reaction to the arrival of enormous numbers of European immigrants at the end of the 19th century in the river Plate area, a movement led by progressive intellectuals emerged in Montevideo and Buenos Aires, which attempted to affirm a criollo cultural profile. This involved the revival of certain musical genres including the pericón and estilo. During the same period, dances brought originally from Europe evolved new creole forms. They included the polca (polka), known in its new southern version as the polca canaria; the vals or valse (waltz); the chotis, shotis, siotis or chote (schottische); the danza or habanera (from the French and English country dance); and the mazurca (mazurka) or ranchera. Adaptation to a criollo aesthetic often meant these dances lost characteristic European features, such as choreographic jumps, due to a preference for keeping feet close to the ground, which resulted in corresponding musical changes.

By 1880 the beginnings of Tango, one of the most influential musics and dances of the 20th century, emerged in both Montevideo and Buenos Aires (see Argentina). The etymology of ‘tango’ is thought to be of African origin, as the term was used historically in various countries of the Americas to describe the practices of black communities. Its choreography emerged independently of any previous traditions. Its success in Europe just before World War I enhanced its reputation at home, where local society had initially regarded it as ‘indecent’. Although Uruguay played a significant role in the development of tango in the first 50 years of its life, Montevideo gradually relinquished the role of ‘tango-capital’ to Buenos Aires.

During the final decades of the 20th century candombe became fashionable, mostly as a song. As a term it has had various contrasting but related meanings over time. During the colonial period it described the practices of the black communities, while in modern times it has designated a song whose rhythm is compatible with the drummed llamada, so that it can be superimposed over it. In the 1940s it had two meanings: the first as a form conserved in the conjuntos lubolos, the societies of black people in the official Carnival festivities in Montevideo (together with other genres such as the milongón); the second, introduced by tango orchestras (orquestas típicas), related to the danceable milonga, a form which had already been used by tango composers. At the end of the 1950s, when the popularity of tango was in decline, a third candombe emerged in the repertory of dance bands strongly influenced by Afro-Cuban dance music. From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s candombe further evolved: one group of creators and performers attempted to ‘fuse’ the candombe of the conjuntos lubolos and of orchestras of ‘tropical’ Latin music with elements of first jazz and then rock. Another group created a new way of playing candombe with guitar (with or without plectrum and percussive tapping on the guitar body). These groups were part of a new Uruguayan ‘folksong’ movement searching for their musical roots which briefly became a mass phenomenon in 1967–8. From the mid-1970s this candombe became part of a young song movement, which blended together previous musical developments.

The murga is a dramatic form used traditionally during the long Carnival festivities. Although its origins are unclear (in Spanish the word was originally used to describe groups of non-professional musicians asking for money), by 1920 the name was given to societies practising this style, formed in the main by poor people. During its ‘golden age’ in the 1940s certain characteristics emerged and were consolidated. These included free use of fashionable tunes, with satirical lyrics composed annually on a wide range of subjects from critiques of daily life to obscene jokes; delivery with a strong nasal voice; use of rhythms regarded as mestizo, supported by a bass, snare drum set and cymbals; and a repertory of gestures and choreographic movements performed by musicians with painted faces wearing colourful clothes. Until the 1970s murgas were found only as part of Carnival. However, during the 1960s, the murga developed as a number of popular musicians began to build songs based on the marcha camión, one of its rhythmic patterns (ex.5). During the 1970s murga, particularly the marcha camión and other variations, gradually became accepted by new social groups (ex,6), and by the 1990s murga was a successful part of the repertory of popular singer-composers. The northern area of Uruguay, related historically to the culture of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, has preserved a number of religious polyphonic forms, including the recital of the Rosario de cinco misterios (the Rosary of the Five Mysteries) or Tercio. The folías del Divino are prayers sung during processions at times of crisis.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Uruguay, §II, 3: Traditional and popular music: Mestizo music and instruments

BIBLIOGRAPHY

and other resources

L. Ayestarán: La música en el Uruguay, i (Montevideo, 1953)

I. Moya: El arte de los payadores (Buenos Aires, 1959)

P. De Carvalho Neto: ‘The Candombe, a Dramatic Dance Form from Afro-Uruguayan Folklore’, EthM, vi (1962), 164–74

C. Vega: ‘Las canciones folklóricas argentinas’, Gran manual de folklore, ed. Hamlet Lima Quintana (Buenos Aires, 1964), 191–320

L. Ayestarán and F. de M. Rodriguez de Ayestarán: El minué montonero (Montevideo, 1965) [incl. disc]

A.D. Plácido: Carnaval: evocación de Montevideo en la historia y la tradición (Montevideo, 1966)

L. Ayestarán: El folklore musical uruguayo (Montevideo, 1967, 4/1985)

L. Ayestarán and F. de M. Rodríguez de Ayestarán: ‘Juegos y rondas tradicionales del Uruguay’, Clave, no.55 (1967), 16–19

L. Ayestarán: ‘El tamboril afro-uruguayo’, Music in the Americas, ed. G. List and J. Orrego Salas (Bloomington, IN, 1967), 23–40; repr. in Boletín Interamericano de Música, no.68 (Nov 1968), 3–14

L. Ayestarán: Cinco canciones folklóricas infantiles (Montevideo, 1968)

L. Ayestarán: Teoría y practica del folklore (Montevideo, 1968)

A. Soriano: Tres rezos augúricos y otros cantares de liturgia negra (Montevideo, 1968)

C. Viglietti: Folklore musical del Uruguay (Montevideo, 1968)

L. Maslíah: Un detective privado ante algunos problemas no del todo ajenos a la llamada ‘música popular’ (Rosario de Santa Fe, 1984)

J. Bonaldi: ‘El canto popular uruguayo’, La Revista del Sur, i/3 (1984); repr. in Boletín de Música de Casa de las Américas, no.106 (7 Dec 1985), 5–12

C.A. Martins: ‘Popular Music as Alternative Communication: Uruguay, 1973–82’, Popular Music, vii/1 (1988), 77–94

C. Aharonián: ‘¿De dónde viene la murga?’, Brecha (2 March1990)

C. Aharonián: ‘¿Y qué pasó con el tango?’, Brecha (9 Nov 1990)

C. Aharonián: ‘Un hecho históricamente dinámico: la música del tamboril afro-uruguayo’, Brecha (8 Feb 1991)

M. Alfaro: Carnaval: una historia social de Montevideo desde la perspectiva de la fiesta (Montevideo, 1991–8)

C. Aharonián: ‘¿Pero qué es un candombe?’, Brecha (10 and 17 July 1992)

F. de M. Rodríguez de Ayestarán: La danza popular en el Uruguay, desde los orígenes a 1900 (Montevideo, 1994)

recordings

Carnaval uruguayo, Macondo GAM 538, GAM 539, GAM 540 and GAM 555 (1971–3)

Ayestarán y su verdad folklórica, coll. L. Ayestarán, Conae 002 (1974)

El arte del payador, perf. C. Molina and G. Sosa, i, Ayui A-E 37 (1982–3) [incl. notes by C. Aharonián]

Antología del candombe, Orfeo O 005–2 (1991) [incl. notes by C. Ahoranián]

Antología del carnaval, Orfeo O 038–2 (1993)