Encienda el Fuego

It is a type of singing associated to an old open position dance of the Cuyo region in Argentina (Provinces of San Juan, Mendoza, San Luis and parts of La Rioja and La Pampa), very popular in the early XIX century. It is estimated that in the first decades of the XX century it had already lost relevance. Some researchers hold the hypothesis that its origin can be found in dances of the Ranquel indigenous people, and that initially it was known as malón (Indian raid) or indiada (Indian mob). The sereno is a cheerful dance, full of naughtiness, in which the dancers show off with provocations and snubs, gallantry and disdain. The lyrics always refer to a typical character of colonial times, the sereno (watchman), who walked the streets at night, watching, singing the hours, announcing the weather conditions and tinging his work with funny attitudes.

The chacarera est un genre vocal et chorégraphique d'Argentine, principalement de la province de Santiago del Estero. Elle est traditionnellement interprétée avec guitare, violon et leguero bass drum (membranophone à double tête, d'environ 50 cm de haut et 40 cm de large). Il y a des chants vocaux traditionnels chacareras ainsi que des instruments seulement. Elle est dansée par des couples qui dansent librement (mais en groupe) avec des cercles et des tours. Certains chercheurs et interprètes considèrent qu'il s'agit d'une danse mono-rythmique à trois temps, tandis que d'autres affirment qu'il s'agit d'une danse bi-rythmique ou polyrythmique, avec une mélodie à six-huit temps et une base instrumentale à trois temps. La Loca (la folle) est une très ancienne chacarera qui est censée conserver sa structure originale.

The comparsa (type of troupe) in unison vidala is one of the genres of singing with caja (double drumhead hand drum) which is currently performed in Argentina by rural communities of Diaguita, Calchaquí, and Coya origin, among others from North Western Argentina. Its multiple forms adopt tetraphony, pentaphony, diaphony, bimodality, and hybrid scales.

Within Argentina, the tonada cuyana is a musical expression characteristic of the Cuyo region. It is a lyrical genre sung with a criollo guitar trio. Some scholars of this genre affirm that it appears before 1850, due to the decline of the Spanish tonadilla. At that time, it was also known by other names such as estilo, triste and yaraví.

Il s'agit d'une trouvaille particulière de la chanteuse, compositrice et chercheuse argentine Leda Valladares (1919-2012) dans sa collection de terrain dans la province de Santiago del Estero. Il s'agit d'une sérénade populaire traditionnelle qui fusionne les genres de la estilo et la valse, et qui est généralement chantée aux jeunes mariés le jour de leur mariage. Sa structure poétique est organisée en dix stances.

Considered the mother of the zamba genre, this song gave rise to the celebration of the “Zamba National Day” on that date. This is an unprecedented version compiled by the musician and composer Manuel Gómez Carrillo in Tucumán, in 1923, for which Valladares wrote the lyrics. A great mystery enshrouds the origin of this zamba, and much has been speculated about its name. One of the conjectures relates it to a homonymous place, located in the northeast of the Province of Tucumán (in the Burruyacú Department), where until the mid-XX century there was a logging camp which received workers from neighbouring provinces and border countries. The lyrics written by Valladares approach that subject.

The vidala is deeply rooted in the history of the region made up of the Provinces of Tucumán, Santiago del Estero and Catamarca and also reaching those of La Rioja and San Juan in the west. Each zone imposes its differences, although in all of them, the accompaniment is respected, which in general corresponds to the caja, with which different beats are performed according to its origin. The vidala has very particular and old musical characteristics. It does not follow western aesthetic patterns, but nurtures itself from elements and nuances proper of the original songs of the Andes. Unlike the other genres, the vidala originates as an already mixed criollo folkloric expression, with musical elements proper of the Spanish culture and of the original peoples of the Argentine northwest.

Matarina est l'anagramme qui décrit les habitants de Matara, un village du département de Cajamarca au Pérou. Là-bas, pendant le carnaval, coplas à huayno melody sont chantés, en contrepoint et en groupe, comme il est présenté dans cette version traditionnelle.

The vidala in duo in parallel thirds with caja is a weeping song of uncertain origin, although it is known that it is an Andean and precolonial expression which resembles the Peruvian weeping songs. The Argentine musicologist Carlos Vega maintains that it belongs to a musical system proper of South America. Normally, it contains love laments as its words express oblivion, impossible love and disappointment. It is found in the Provinces of La Rioja, Catamarca, Tucumán and Santiago del Estero.

Il est estimé que la zamacueca est arrivée au Chili de Lima entre 1810 et 1825. En Argentine, la danse qui porte ce nom a connu une variation qui l'a rendue plus longue. Vers 1870, le nom zamacueca s'est transformé en celui de cueca . Par la suite, à Lima, il a adopté les modifications chiliennes et s'est répandu avec le nom de Chilean zamacueca , chilien , ou cueca . L'origine de la zamacueca peut être trouvé dans la fusion musicale qui s'est produite entre les gypsies et les mulatos qui habitaient Lima pendant la viceroyauté du Pérou. Le tempérament, la satire et l'interprétation lamentable et rebelle de la guitare sont d'origine gitane, tandis que la forme chorale et la tundete (simple grattement répété de la guitare) sont d'origine africaine. Cette fusion musicale commence à se distinguer au cours des XVIe et XVIIe siècles.

Chanson qui accompagne une danse homonyme en position ouverte. Selon le folkloriste et écrivain argentin Ventura R. Lynch (1851-1883), la danse, d'origine traditionnelle, était pratiquée dans les zones rurales de la province de Buenos Aires entre 1850 et 1900, en particulier dans la zone des Dolores et, à la fin du XIXe siècle, elle était également connue dans l'ouest de la zone de la Pampa.

This expression is a rarity as it was compiled in Tucumán (by Leda Valladares), whereas the milonga is a genre typical of the Pampas. Two origins are assigned to the milonga, one of them linked to the criollo guajira or old milonga, which became popular by the mid-XIX century. According to some scholars, this genre replaced others of the criollo folklore, such as cielitos and medias cañas. It is estimated that in the mid-XIX century the genre expanded beyond the Pampa region. The second origin of the milonga, according to the famous Afro-Argentine payada singer Gabino Ezeiza (1858-1916), who introduced the structure of the milonga to the payada (improvised folk song), it comes from candombe, genre made up of musical expressions of African origin.

La baguala is a lyrical genre which can be traced back to the Diaguita-Calchaquí culture (north-west of Argentina and north of Chile). Originally it was sung in kakán language and was considered one of the most ancestral genres of the traditional singing of the area. It is one of the basic vocal expressions of the singing with caja and it is nowadays sung with the poetic structure of the octosyllabic copla. Its melody is triton and the way it is sung is very ornamented. The coplas salteñas come from the Chaco area in the Province of Salta. Through them, the singer improvises his or her words and sings by means of the copla, with interludes where a particular touch of the so-called violin del monte or the caja intervenes.

Pour plus d'informations sur les genres et les instruments musicaux mentionnés, vous pouvez consulter les ouvrages suivants :

Instrumentos musicales etnográficos y folklóricos de la Argentina (Ruiz Irma, Rubén Pérez Bugallo y Héctor Goyena, Eds. 1993. Buenos Aires: INM).

Panorama de la música popular argentina (Vega, Carlos. 1998 [1944]. Buenos Aires: INM).

Diccionario de la música española e hispanoamericana (Casares Rodicio, Emilio, Ismael Fernández de la Cuesta y José López-Calo. 2002. Madrid: Fundación Autor y SGAE).