The Diatonic Harp in the Performance of Paraguayan Identity

337 Pages·2005·52.96 MB·English

by  Alfredo Colman

Copyright
by
Alfredo Cesar Colman
2005
The Dissertation Committee for Alfredo Cesar Colman
certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation:

The Diatonic Harp in the Performance of Paraguayan Identity

Committee:

___________________________
Gerard Béhague, Supervisor

____________________________
Andrew Dell’Antonio

____________________________
Veit Erlmann

____________________________
Richard Flores

____________________________
Stephen Slawek
The Diatonic Harp in the Performance of Paraguayan Identity

by

Alfredo Cesar Colman, B.M., M.M.

Dissertation

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
the University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

The University of Texas at Austin
August, 2005
To Paraguayan harpists
Dionisio Arzamendia Párriz and Luis Bordón
Acknowledgements
First, I would like to acknowledge the inspiring figure and mentorship of Dr.
Gerard Béhague, my dissertation supervisor, who from the beginning stages of my
doctoral studies at the University of Texas at Austin expressed a genuine interest in me as
a student and as a researcher of Latin American musicology and ethnomusicology. I
would also like to express my gratitude toward each one of the members of my
dissertation committee: Andrew dell’Antonio, Veit Erlmann, Richard Flores, and
Stephen Slawek, who offered advice, encouragement, and suggestions through the
various phases of the research and writing process.
Many thanks to my friends Tomás Báez, Diego Sánchez, and Rudi Torga, who
guided me through the first stages of my fieldwork and research in Paraguay, making
contacts and providing names and addresses of local harpists; and to professors Werner
Giesbrecht and Werner Franz at the Facultad de Música de la Universidad Evangélica del
Paraguay, who offered me a teaching appointment which enabled me to support myself
financially during the course of my fieldwork. I would like to thank those Paraguayan
musicians and other professionals who shared with me their comments, experiences, and
stories related to the folk harp and other expressions found in Paraguayan culture, mainly
harpists Tito Acuña, Dionisio Arzamendia Párriz, Luis Bordón, Odilón Dávalos,
Prisciliano Fernández Fleitas, Tony Genes, Abel Sánchez Giménez, Carlos Talavera, and
Gerardo Zárate; luthiers Epifanio López, Eligio Monges Báez, Adelio Ovelar, and Mario
Ovelar; musicians Yverá Barboza, Angel Benítez, Alejandro Cubilla, Delia Picaguá,
Victor Riveros, Oscar Nelson Safuán, and Felipe Sosa; anthropologists Bartomeu Melià
and Guillermo Sequera; historian Alfredo Viola; journalists Víctor Barrios and Serafín
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Francia Campos; and sociologist Gerardo Fogel. I would also like to acknowledge the
help of the staff at several local libraries: Adelina Pusineri and Raquel Salazar from the
Biblioteca Andrés Barbero, and the personnel at Biblioteca del Museo José Asunción
Flores, Biblioteca Municipal, Biblioteca Nacional, and Biblioteca del Colegio María
Auxiliadora in Villarrica; the staff at the Museo Monseñor Juan Sinforiano Bogarín and
Rubén Milessi Gómez from the Museo de Arte Popular; and the personnel at the archival
offices of local newspapers ABC, Diario Noticias, and Ultima Hora. My heartfelt thanks
are also extended to Jorge Luis Candia, Stefan Fiol, Diego García, Victoria Giménez,
Ana María Gamell, Víctor Lombardo, Demetrio y María Emilia Núñez, Alberto Sosa,
Marlene Sosa Lugo, and Alfredo Vaesken.
I would like to express my gratitude to friends and colleagues from the
ethnomusicology division at the University of Texas at Austin who read, critiqued, and
offered insightful comments during the writing process of the manuscript, with special
thanks to Peter Kvetko, Emily Pinkerton, and Ketty Wong; to my editors, Wilma Barker
and Maimy Fong; and to the staff at the School of Music microcomputing lab: Jeremy
Cumbo, Rob Deemer, David Hainsworth, Brad Johnston, and Bryan Walls, who
continuously assisted me with technical help and support. I would also like to
acknowledge Dr. Helen-Jo J. Hewitt for finding a font which enabled me to incorporate
the Guarani nasalized vowels. Many thanks to Douglas and Rose Clark, Ed and Karen
Humphrey, and the congregation at First Baptist Church, Wells Branch, Austin, for their
unwavering encouragement and financial and moral support. Finally, I am grateful to
Cecilia Béhague for encouraging me to persevere and thankful for the prayers and
support of my family in Paraguay, Argentina, and in the United States, the manifold
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resources offered to me by Dr. Esther Raizen toward the completion of this project, and
the constant encouragement, help, support, and unconditional love of Michal Raizen (che
rohaihú nde, che petei resã mitakuñá!). SDG.

vii
The Diatonic Harp in the Performance of Paraguayan Identity

Publication No. _______________

Alfredo Cesar Colman, Ph.D.
The University of Texas at Austin, 2005

Supervisor: Gerard Béhague

The diatonic harp, Paraguay’s emblematic instrument, constitutes a symbol of identity for
most social groups in the country. First used as a liturgical instrument associated with the
Jesuit missions during colonial times, the transplanted European diatonic harp underwent
local transformations and was adopted into the folk and traditional music vocabulary of
Paraguay and the Río de la Plata region. Receiving the designation of arpa paraguaya
(Paraguayan harp) in the twentieth century, the diatonic harp became Paraguay’s
unofficial national folk instrument through a series of socio-historical processes. Since
the commercial success of Paraguayan harpist Félix Pérez Cardozo in the 1930s in
Argentina, the symbolic value of the Paraguayan diatonic harp as an icon of social,
cultural, and national identity has been articulated and validated through musical
performances and other local traditions associated with popular folk music festivals and
formal recitals of traditional music. Not only have the Paraguayan diatonic harp and its
traditional music become part of the practices associated with local folk traditions in the
twentieth century, but the instrument has also become a symbol reinforcing the socio-
cultural values associated with paraguayidad (Paraguayan-ness), a national sentiment
closely connected to the culturally imbedded idea of the Paraguayan tekó (the way of
being), concepts which consequently serve to construct Paraguayan identity.
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Table of Contents

List of Figures………………………………………………………………………. xiii
List of Tables……………………………………………………………………….. xiv
List of Examples……………………………………………………………………. xv
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………… 1
The Paraguayan Tekó and the Paraguayan Diatonic Harp……………………… 7
Harpists…………………………………………………………………………. 13
Identity, Paraguayidad, Tekó…………………………………………………... 20
The Articulation of the Historical Memory…………………………………….. 25
General Review of the Dissertation Structure………………………………….. 30

CHAPTER ONE: The Setting and the Advent of the Harp ………………………. 32
The Setting
Geographical and Regional setting…………………………………………. 32
Etymology of the Word “Paraguay”………………………………………... 32
Colonial Period: Historians and Historical Sources………………………… 33
Conquest and Colonial Times: Historical Background…………………….. 39
The Advent of the Harp
Societas Jesu: Missionaries and Teachers………………………………….. 48
Vocal and Instrumental Music in the Jesuit Missions………………...…….. 55
The Harp in Medieval and Renaissance Spain…………………………..….. 64
Documented References to the Harp in Paraguay and the Río de la Plata
Area……………………………………………………………………… 67
CHAPTER TWO: Harps and Harpists …………………………………………….. 75
The Paraguayan Diatonic Harp: Introduction………………………………….. 75
The Paraguayan Diatonic Harp: Characteristics……………………………….. 79
Caja [Armónica] ([Harmonic] Box)………………………………………... 79
Tapa [Armónica] ([Harmonic] Cover or Board)…………………………… 80
Cabeza or Consola (Head)………………………………………………….. 81
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Brazo (Arm or Forepillar)…………………………………………………… 83
Strings……………………………………………………………………….. 83
Paraguayan Harps in the Nineteenth Century…………………………………… 84
Harp Luthiers in the Twentieth Century………………………………………… 85
Paraguayan Harp Techniques……………………………………………..…….. 92
Trino – trémulo – trémolo paraguayo (Paraguayan Tremolo)……………… 94
Bordoneado…………………………………………………………………. 95
Glissando……………………………………………………………………. 96
Tuning Systems…………………………………………………………………. 96
Performance (Technique and Interpretation) Schools………………………….. 98
Arperos……………………………………………………………………… 98
José del Rosario Diarte…………………………………………………. 99
Agapito Morínigo (“Tacho’í”)………………………………………….. 106
Arpistas Profesionales……………………………………………………… 110
Félix Pérez Cardozo……………………………………………………. 111
Dionisio Arzamendia…………………………………………………… 120
Luis Bordón…………………………………………………………….. 123
Digno García…………………………………………………………… 131
Lorenzo Leguizamón…………………………………………………... 138
Tito Acuña……………………………………………………………... 140
Nicolás (“Nicolasito”) Caballero………………………………………. 144
César Cataldo…………………………………………………….…….. 146
Raquel Lebrón…………………………………………………………. 148
Ismael Ledesma………………………………………………………... 152
Arpa, Arperos, Arpistas : Conclusion………………………………………… 154
CHAPTER THREE: Paraguayan Traditional Music……………………………… 158
Paraguayan Traditional Music: Repertoire and General Characteristics……… 159
Polca and Galopa………………………………………………………….. 162
Compuesto…………………………………………………………………. 175
Guarania…………………………………………………………………… 177
Vals o Valseado……………………………………………………………. 182
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