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.

Il chacarera è un genere vocale e di danza dell'Argentina, principalmente della provincia di Santiago del Estero. È tradizionalmente eseguita con chitarra, violino e leguero (membranofono a doppia testa di tamburo, alto circa 50 cm e largo 40 cm). Ci sono voci tradizionali chacareras ma anche solo strumentali. È ballata da coppie che ballano liberamente (ma in gruppo) con cerchi e giri. Alcuni studiosi e interpreti ritengono che si tratti di un tempo mono-ritmico di tre-quattro, mentre altri affermano che si tratta di una danza bi-ritmica o poliritmica, con una melodia di sei-otto tempi e una base strumentale di tre-quattro tempi. La Loca (La pazza) è un'antica chacarera che si suppone mantenga la sua struttura 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.

Si tratta di un singolare ritrovamento effettuato dalla cantante, compositrice e ricercatrice argentina Leda Valladares (1919-2012) nella sua raccolta sul campo nella provincia di Santiago del Estero. Si tratta di una serenata tradizionale popolare che fonde i generi dell'estilo e della musica. estilo e del valzer, e che di solito viene cantata agli sposi il giorno delle nozze. La sua struttura poetica è organizzata in strofe di dieci versi.

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 è il demonimo che descrive gli abitanti di Matara, un villaggio del Dipartimento di Cajamarca in Perù. Lì, durante il carnevale, coplas a huayno vengono cantate, in contrappunto e in gruppo, come viene presentato in questa versione tradizionale.

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.

Si stima che la zamacueca sia arrivata in Cile da Lima tra il 1810 e il 1825. In Argentina, la danza che porta questo nome aveva una variante che la rendeva più lunga. Verso il 1870, il nome zamacueca derivò in quello di cueca . In seguito, a Lima, adottò le modifiche cilene e si diffuse con il nome di zamacueca cilena. zamacueca , cileno o cueca . L'origine della zamacueca si trova nella fusione musicale avvenuta tra gitani e mulatti. mulatos che abitavano a Lima durante il Vicereame del Perù. Il temperamento, la satira e l'esecuzione lamentosa e ribelle della chitarra hanno origine gitana, mentre la forma corale e il tundete (semplice strimpellamento ripetuto della chitarra) hanno origine africana. Questa fusione musicale inizia a distinguersi durante i secoli XVI e XVII.

Canzone che accompagna un'omonima danza in posizione aperta. Secondo il folclorista e scrittore argentino Ventura R. Lynch (1851-1883), la danza, di origine tradizionale, era ballata nelle zone rurali della Provincia di Buenos Aires tra il 1850 e il 1900, in particolare nella zona di Dolores e, alla fine del XIX secolo, era conosciuta anche nella zona occidentale della 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.

Per maggiori informazioni sui generi e sugli strumenti musicali citati, si possono consultare le seguenti opere:

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).