Soundscapes from the Americas: Ethnomusicological Essays on the Power, Poetics, and Ontology of Performance

211 Pages·2014·1.545 MB·English

by  Donna A. Buchanan

SoundScapeS from the americaS
In memoriam
dr. Gerard henri Béhague
(1937–2005)
Soundscapes from the americas
ethnomusicological essays on the power, poetics,
and ontology of performance
Edited by
donna a. Buchanan
University of Illinois, USA
© donna a. Buchanan 2014
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
donna a. Buchanan has asserted her right under the copyright, designs and patents act,
1988, to be identified as the editor of this work.
Bach musicological font © Yo tomita
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Soundscapes from the americas : ethnomusicological essays on the power, poetics, and
ontology of performance / edited by donna a. Buchanan.
pages cm. — (SoaS musicology series)
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4724-1583-7 (hardcover)—ISBN 978-1-4724-1587-5 (ebook)—
iSBn 978-1-4724-1588-2 (epub) 1. music—Social aspects—Latin america.
2. music—Latin america—history and criticism. i. Buchanan, donna anne.
mL3917.L27S68 2014
780.97—dc23
2013051046
ISBN 9781472415837 (hbk)
ISBN 9781472415875 (ebk – PDF)
ISBN 9781472415882 (ebk – epuB)
IV
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Music Examples ix
Notes on Contributors xi
Foreword by Richard Bauman xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction: Doing Ethnomusicology “Texas-Style”: A
Musical (Re)Turn to Performance 1
Donna A. Buchanan
Part I: Genres, HIstorIes, and dIscourses of Power
Performed
1 The Teatro Bufo: Cuban Blackface Theater of the
Nineteenth Century 25
Robin Moore
2 La Música Nacional: A Metaphor for Contrasting Views of
Ecuadorian National Identity 43
Ketty Wong
3 Conserve, Adapt, and Reconverge: Rationalizing a Template in
Hawai’i Puerto Rican Musical Performance 61
Ted Solís
Part II: PerformInG PractIce: style and tHe PolItIcs
of subjectIvIty
4 Transformation in Communion: Toward an Aesthetic
of Improvisation 89
Tim Brace
5 Feminine Flowers among the Thistles: Gendered Boundaries of
Performance in Chilean Canto a lo poeta 101
Emily Pinkerton
vi Soundscapes from the Americas
Part III: sItuated events and Performance PolItIcs:
fIesta, festIval, staGe, and street
6 The Way of Sorrows: Performance, Experience, and the Moral
Society in Northern Ecuador 127
Michelle Wibbelsman
7 Performing Indigeneity: Poetics and Politics of Music Festivals in
Highland Bolivia 143
Thomas Solomon
References 165
Index 185
List of Figures
1.1 Víctor Patricio Landaluze, The Kiss, oil on canvas, ca. 1880.
Photo used by permission of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes,
Havana, Cuba. 30
2.1 Disc rack of música nacional in Almacenes Feraud Guzmán,
Guayaquil. Photo by Ketty Wong. 47
2.2 Los Conquistadores performing “El conejito” in the Coliseo Julio
César Hidalgo, 2002. Photo by Ketty Wong. 58
3.1 Charlie Vegas, plucked lead “violin-shape” modern cuatro; August
Rodrigues, strummed Spanish guitar; Ted Solís, güiro. Lawai
Valley, Kauai, Hawai’i, June 1990. Photo by Virginia Rodrigues. 70
3.2 Miguel Rodrigues, holding an ornate “old cuatro,” standing with
musician Tanilau Dias (1908–c.1994). Hilo, Hawai’i, July 1990.
Photo by Ted Solís. 71
3.3 Boy and His Family Troubadours, 1947. Joseph “Boy” Sedeño and
his brothers-in-law. Honolulu, Hawai’i. Photo gift of Joseph and
Maria Sedeño. 77
5.1 Guitarrón of Fidel Améstica made in the mid twentieth century.
Photo by Emily Pinkerton. 105
6.1 Presentation of the Stations of the Cross in Cotacachi by a troupe
of mestizo actors. Photo by Michelle Wibbelsman, 2001. 133
6.2 Indigenous catechists perform the Living Portraits of Christ in
Arrayanes. Photo by Michelle Wibbelsman, 2001. 135
7.1 Performers from the community of Jant’a Pallqa at a music festival
in the community of Irupata, June 1993. Photo by Thomas Solomon. 153
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List of Music Examples
2.1 Typical triple-meter pasillo rhythmic accompaniment derived from
the waltz. 50
2.2 “Manabí,” composed in 1933 by Francisco Paredes Herrera;
lyrics by Elías Cedeño. 51
2.3 “Pobre corazón” [Poor heart], composed in the late 1910s by
Guillermo Garzón. 55
5.1 Standard guitarrón tuning in A. 106
5.2 Entonación la común in A, played by Alfonso Rubio. 106
5.3 Entonación la común in D, played by Myriam Arancibia
(original key: C). 107
5.4 Standard male and female vocal ranges (left) compared with the
melodic range of la común in D, C, A, and G (right). 109