The concept of limping is widespread in various forms of music and dance in the northern Cibao region of the Dominican Republic. A limp is said to characterize the way in which accordion and percussion instruments interpret rhythms in merengue típico music, and some consider it a feature distinguishing the típico style of merengue from other styles around the country. Traditionally, merengue típico is also danced with a limping movement. Moreover, the typical Carnival characters of the Cibaeño cities Santiago and La Vega are also meant to move with limps. Musicians, dancers, and Carnival celebrants give various verbal explanations to explain the limp’s history and importance, and many of these tie it to stories about devils or other amoral characters. The limp is, however, not only a local stylistic feature, but one that connects Cibaeño culture with other expressions involving limps around the Caribbean region, from blues rhythms to zydeco dancing to the so-called pimp walk. The connective tissue between all these diverse cultural expressions might be Esu, Elegguá, or Papa Legba, the deity of the crossroads who limps, is sometimes syncretized with the Christian devil, and is invoked at the beginning and end of vodou and santería ceremonies. This article uses data collected through interviews with merengue típico musicians and dancers, four years’ participation in Santiago Carnival, and the theories of Henry Louis Gates and Paul Gilroy to explore Black Atlantic expressions in a Dominican context, while explaining the connections between dance and music from a Cibaeño perspective., unedited non–English abstract received by RILM] El concepto de “cojear” está muy extendido en diversos géneros de música y de baile en la región norteña de la República Dominicana denominada el Cibao. Se dice que el “cojo” caracteriza la forma en que el acordeón y los instrumentos de percusión interpretan los ritmos del merengue típico, y algunos lo consideran una característica que distingue el estilo típico cibaeño del merengue de los merengues de otras regiones el país. El merengue típico tradicional también se bailaba “cojeando.” Por otra parte, los personajes típicos del carnaval cibaeño en las ciudades de Santiago y La Vega también avanzan, según se dice, con un “cojo.” Músicos, bailarines, y carnavaleros dan varias explicaciones verbales sobre la historia y la importancia del cojo, y muchas se lo atan a historias sobre diablos y otros personajes amorales. Sin embargo, el cojo no es solamente una característica estilística local, sino una que conecta la cultura cibaeña con otras expresiones del “cojo” en toda la región caribeña, desde los ritmos blues hasta el baile del zydeco y el “pimp walk.” El tejido conectivo entre todas estas diversas expresiones culturales podría ser Esu, Eleguá, o Papa Legba, el dios de las encrucijadas que cojea, que a veces se sincretiza con el diablo cristiano, y a quien se invoca al comienzo y al final de las ceremonias de vudú y de la santería. El presente artículo utiliza los datos recogidos a través de entrevistas con músicos y bailarines del merengue típico, cuatro años de participación en el carnaval santiaguero, y las teorías de Henry Louis Gates y Paul Gilroy para explorar las expresiones del Atlántico Negro en un contexto dominicano, mientras explique las conexiones entre la danza y la música desde una perspectiva cibaeña.
Examines the meanings of the marvelous in the context of the Afro-Brazilian ritual called the Reinado de Nossa Senhora do Rosário, according to the way it is applied in the song lyrics and in participants’ verbal discourses. Analyses were based on participants’ perspectives about the origin and history of their religious tradition, which is based on their enslaved ancestors’ experiences of pain. Those facts and events still highlight the sense of belonging to this tradition nowadays and make their performative acts meaningful, significant, and thus wonderful., unedited non–English abstract received by RILM] Os significados da ‘maravilha’ no contexto do Reinado de Nossa Senhora do Rosário, tal como o termo é utilizado nos cantos e nas elaborações discursivas dos congadeiros, são aqui abordados a partir da perspectiva desses participantes sobre a origem e o percurso histórico de sua tradição religiosa, calcada na experiencia da dor de seus ancestrais escravizados. Tais fatos e eventos ainda motivam o pertencimento a essa tradição no presente e preenchem de sentido, de significância e, consequentemente, de maravilha as ações performáticas atuais.
Carlos Varela is one of the best-known singer-songwriters to emerge from the Cuban nueva trova movement: heir to the musical traditions forged by Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés. Parochially, if accurately, known in North America as “Cuba’s Bob Dylan,” he has produced eight CDs since he began recording in 1988 and has toured Europe, the United Kingdom, Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America. In Cuba he is known as the voice of the generation that came of age during the Special Period of the 1990s, those raised with the promise and seeming collapse of the Cuban Revolution, for whom his songs have become generational anthems. In this interview, Varela discusses the meaning his music has for Cubans in the diaspora and on the island, the benefits and liabilities of creating music in today’s Cuba, censorship, history, the current Cuban hip-hop scene, and the ongoing significance of music as a political language for his own and other generations of Cubans. He also shares some reflections about his own career and his song-writing process since the 1980s., unedited non–English abstract received by RILM] Carlos Varela es uno de los cantautores más famosos surgido del movimiento cubano de la nueva trova, y heredero de la tradición musical de Silvio Rodríguez y Pablo Milanés. Celebrado como el “Bob Dylan cubano”, ha producido ocho discos desde que comenzó a grabar en 1988, y ha dado giras por Europa, el Reino Unido, América Latina, el Caribe y América del Norte. En Cuba, Varela es conocido como la voz de la generación que se formó durante el Período Especial de los años noventa, los que crecieron con la promesa y, a la vez, la desilusión de la Revolución Cubana, y para quienes sus canciones se convirtieron en himnos generacionales. En esta entrevista, habla sobre el significado de sus canciones para los cubanos dentro y fuera de la isla, sobre los beneficios y las dificultades de la creación musical en la Cuba de hoy, sobre la censura, la historia, el escenario actual del hip-hop cubano, y el constante significado de la música como lenguaje político, tanto para su generación como para las otras generaciones de cubanos. También, Varela comparte algunas reflexiones sobre su carrera y el proceso de creación de sus canciones desde los años ochenta.
The singing of capeyuye (the Mascogo—Black Seminole people—equivalent of the U.S. spiritual) became a significant token of individual and communal identity in that population. The life and career of Gertrudis Vázquez are studied as emblematic of that tradition. The technical aspects of capeyuye are described and its performance is examined with the context of Mascogo society, particularly its connection with important events such as funerals, birthdays, and other festive occasions.
In spaces of violence, scholars and activists have typically addressed music as sites of resistance. In postcolonial Caribbean, the focus of most studies unsurprisingly has thus been placed on the work music has done for the oppressed—or conversely, on the ways the (neo)colonial regimes have used music to increase their control over the masses. Until recently, few publications have addressed the music that has been performed to fortify and gather people together in times of hardship. In this case, what is at stake is not so much a matter of 'us and them' or of resistance, but rather the ways in which the 'us' is mobilized to strengthen senses of belonging and networks of solidarity. Amidst the escalating everyday violence since the mid-1990s, party music in Trinidad continues to thrive. Instead of dismissing such music as merely a source of escapism or hedonism, I want to examine what makes it so compelling and what it does for people. This paper is based on in-depth study of soca music making and mumerous ethnographic interviews with Trinidadian soca artists and fans over the past 15 years.
Through an examination of the recording Gargalhada (pega na chaleira), a chansonnette sung by Eduardo das Neves, the origin of the expression 'pegar na chaleira' (bootlicking) is traced, while some inconsistencies in the online catalogue of the Instituto Moreira Salles are revealed. Probably recorded in 1906, six years before the establishment of the Odeon plant in Rio, the piece was labeled a lundu, a paradigmatically Afro-Brazilian genre, in the 1915–26 catalogues. The music and laughter that Neves appropriates for himself were created by George Washington Johnson, the first black star of early sound recording, and reused in other Casa Edison (Brazilian Odeon) recordings on sale from 1913 to 1919. But while the former North American slave ridicules himself in accordance with white stereotypes, the self-designated Creole stages a satire on the behavior of upperclass men in Rio de Janeiro. In this process, the coon song turns into its antithesis., unedited non–English abstract received by RILM] Um exame do fonograma Gargalhada (pega na chaleira), cançoneta por Eduardo das Neves, expõe a origem da expressão “pegar na chaleira” e revela incongruências nos critérios de catalogação online do Instituto Moreira Salles. Provavelmente datada de 1906, a gravação aparece como um “lundu” em catálogos comerciais de 1915–1926, e as mesmas ideias musicais foram reaproveitadas em outros registros sonoros da Casa Edison comercializados entre 1913 e 1919. A música e o gargalhar que Neves reaproveita foram criados por George Washington Johnson, o primeiro astro negro da gravação mecânica. Mas enquanto o ex-escravo norte-americano se auto-ridiculariza de acordo com estereótipos brancos, o autodenominado “crioulo” encena uma sátira ao comportamento masculino das classes dominantes do Rio. Neste processo, a coon song transforma-se na antítese do gênero.
The Afro-Uruguayan candombe exemplifies a creative processes reacting to the 'whitening' of its practice in the context of the national appropriation of music created by Afro-Uruguayans and long despised in this very eurocentric country. The group Afrogama which describes itself as traditional and militant, taking its inspiration from Africa and the African-American religions, is 'blackening' these musical features and choreographical gestures. The dynamics and the content of these games of color in the candombe should be understood in the national and transnational context of the definition of Afrodescendance in Latin America. The category 'Black music' acquires meaning if it is seen as an ethnomusicological category which articulates musical, social, and political dynamics, bearing in mind the specific nature of music and dance in the processes of identity building., unedited non–English abstract received by RILM] À partir de l’exemple du candombe afro-uruguayen, je propose d’analyser comment, dans un contexte d’appropriation nationale d’une musique créée par les Afro-Uruguayens et longtemps méprisée dans un pays très eurocentriste, on assiste à des processus de création en réaction à ce « blanchiment » de la pratique. Le groupe Afrogama, qui se définit comme traditionnel et militant, « noircit » le trait musical et le geste chorégraphique en s’inspirant de l’Afrique et des religions afro-américaines. Les dynamiques et le contenu de ces jeux de couleurs dans le candombe doivent être compris dans un contexte national et transnational de définition de l’afrodescendance en Amérique Latine. La catégorie « musique noire » prend son sens si on l’envisage comme une catégorie ethnomusicologique qui articule dynamiques musicales, sociales et politiques, tout en considérant la nature particulière de la musique et de la danse dans les processus de construction identitaire.
Afro-Brazilian traditions in the city of Juazeiro do Norte, in the state of Ceará, evolved mostly in connection with the practice of Candomblé and related rituals. Similarly to what happened elsewhere in Brazil, transculturation and miscegenation became important features of these traditions, especially in the blending of African and Catholic religious practices. The song and dance associated with religious and secular Afro-Brazilian genres in Juazerio do Norte are examined.
Disputes the idea that cultural/poetico-musical characteristics are integral to or combined with the biological criteria which define ethnicities and races. Samba was born at the turn of the 20th century in working-class, multiethnic neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro. With its syncopated rhythm characteristic of celebrations in Black Brazilian communities, it is an urban genre associated with the early days of Carnaval which was widely broadcast on the radio in the 1930s. It thus lost its local and regional character and enjoyed worldwide recognition. Controlled by the Estado Novo, samba became 'civilized' and assumed an important symbolic role in building a Brazilian identity, both real and ideal. The result of a long and complex process of hybridization, the samba transcends and expresses more than a century of racial and social affiliations and tensions ubiquitous in Brazilian society, ultimately becoming an ideological matrix and a model of cultural fusion. The role and exceptional creativity of certain artists (Sinhô, N. Rosa, Zé Keti, C. Buarque...) and the social and aesthetic processes which contributed to the recomposition of the elements of samba are examined from a sociosemiotic standpoint which draws as well on a major audiovisual source and relevant works published in Brazil., unedited non–English abstract received by RILM] Cette contribution remet en question l’idée selon laquelle aux critères biologiques définissant les ethnies et les races se trouveraient intégrées ou agrégées des caractéristiques culturelles – poético-musicales en l’occurrence. Le samba naît au tournant du xxe siècle dans les quartiers populaires de Rio de Janeiro, marqués par leur composition pluriethnique. Rythme syncopé privilégié des célébrations pratiquées dans les communautés noires brésiliennes, ce genre urbain est associé aux débuts du Carnaval et abondamment radiodiffusé dans les années 1930. Il perd alors son caractère communautaire et régional et connaît bientôt une consécration mondiale. Contrôlé par l’Estado Novo, le samba se « civilise » et joue un rôle symbolique de premier plan dans la construction, réelle et idéelle, de l’identité brésilienne. Résultat d’un long et complexe processus d’hybridation, le samba transcende et articule sur plus d’un siècle les appartenances et les tensions raciales et sociales, omniprésentes dans la société brésilienne, au point de s’ériger en matrice idéologique et modèle de fusion culturelle. L’approche sociosémiotique de ce travail, qui repose sur l’écoute et visionnage d’un important fonds audiovisuel et sur l’étude des ouvrages publiés au Brésil, met en lumière le rôle et la créativité singulière de certains artistes (Sinhô, N. Rosa, Zé Keti, C. Buarque...) et les processus sociaux et esthétiques qui ont contribué à la recomposition de ses éléments.
