Title: Pare Cochero
Performer: Orquesta Aragon
Type: Cuban Popular Music
Orchestration: Vocalists, Percussion Ensemble, Flute, Violins, Bass Guitar, Piano
According to the Smithsonian Folkways website, "Orchestra Aragón was created in 1939 by the noted violinist Orestes Aragón and first performed in and around Cienfuegos, its city of origin.” Their Cuban popular music style incorporates several familiar instruments with a fair amount of specific percussion instruments. The music reminds my musical ear of the same harmonic and structural elements of mariachi-style songs, where an accompanying group of background instruments give way to a solo instrument for introductory and connecting musical material, and a group of singers sing the text with a very full and guttural sound. The percussion instruments drive the undercurrent stylistically, but my personal knowledge of all the intricate instrumentation is lacking.
Classification systems are important for purposes of instrument identification, as well as to facilitate discussions of musical time. With regard to instrument identification, simply naming all of requisite percussion instruments in this ensemble would be difficult without benefit of the video. Familiarity with the country of origin of a work and the Sachs-Hornbostel specific classifications of Membranophones would help isolate a search of the particular instrument name, should language become a significant barrier between an ethnomusicologist and local musician.
Language barriers are also a great reason to understand and have command of multiple rhythmic classification systems. A firm understanding of simple variants of upbeat and downbeat are codified in several different cultures in Chapter 2 of Thinking Musically. A mentor conducting teacher identified the rationale behind an identified common musical language, or at least functional translation, for any type of performance setting. During a rehearsal prior to a performance in mainland China, he noted that the concert master of the ensemble did not speak English, the conductor did not speak Mandarin, and the translator was not a musician. The communication method employed was a combination of Mandarin numbers, Italian musical markings, and British rhythmic methods. Ideally, use of the local terminology with regard to performance practice is a more ethnomusicologically appropriate approach, and should be utilized as often as is practical.
Hi Andre
ReplyDeleteI agree, at first listen I would have thought this music to be of Mexican origin and fall into a type of mariachi category. Very interesting that the Cuban music is so similar, but has it's own differences as well. I thought the rhythm change in the song was a very important aspect of the piece. Great idea to point out the upbeat and downbeat that were mentioned in Thinking Musically. How interesting to note the communication in a rehearsal setting would be through mandarin numbers, Italian music markings, and British rhythmic methods. This is a great example to show students! Thank you!
Good point that we can at least identify the type of instrument, even if we don’t know its specific name in that culture’s language. Good example from your conducting teacher. We do have some universality in Western classical music terms that allow for some cross-cultural communication, at least in that context.
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