South American Music
Music of Latin America. By Nicolas Slonimsky. (Harrap. 12s. 6d.) THIS book comprises the most informative collection of data pub- lished up to now about Latin-American music and musicians. It is a work which should be indispensable for any future study of the subject, although in the chapters dealing with popular music we find ideas and opinions expressed either by Mr. Slonimsky or by American scholars which need partial correction. It must be borne in mind that research work on the music peculiar to each of the Latin- American countries is, at the moment, undertaken there rather in a spirit of national assertion than along the strict lines of scientific methodology.
There are three main origins of the present popular music in Latin America : the aboriginal pre-Columbian the Negro-African and the Spanish. It should not be thought that the Spanish music is the best known by American scholars and investigators ; however, it must be added that it is not even well known by Spanish musicologists them- selves. Spain has still to make a start on the study of the evolution of her musical rhythms ; editions of old Spanish music are scarce, and the reliability of some of the transcriptions doubtful. This may account for the faulty information found in Slonimsky's book when he attempts to establish the origins of some American songs and dances. The Argentinian tango is, in my opinion, a case in point. The characteristic rhythm of this dance has very old roots in the Andalusian tradition. From Andalusia came many Spanish songs and dances which already in the sixteenth century were in fashion in the peninsula—such as the dance called " hacha." The Portuguese " fado " and the tango of Andalusia descend from the same family. From this old form called " fiamenca " derives also the well-known modern tango of Cadiz. The habanera itself occupies a distinctive place in this morphologic evolution. The word " tango " belongs to an African-Hispanic terminology which for centuries has designated many Spanish songs and dances: fandango, perlindango, zorongo, zarabanda, zambra, etc. It must be borne in mind that Spain, long before the discovery of the New World, had come under African musical influence. The Chilean " zamacueca " is another example of rhythmical indebtedness to the mother country • its rhythm, in fact, is analogous to that of the old "zarabanda," an•was frequently found in the Spain of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (see the Cancionero de Palacia, transcription by Barbieri) and is still notice- able today in many songs and dances of the peninsula.
The classification of songs and dances according to the origin of their music is not a very difficult task. One must determine whether the instruments were melodic or harmonic ; and technical analysis can also reveal an alteration of one type of music to the other and vice versa. All the dances mentioned here have essentially a harmonic character, and the instrument used is the guitar, just as in similar old Spanish dances. The African-Hispanic tradition is clearly re- vealed in the literary form of the Cuban " son," which today looks so extraordinary to us. It was already in use in cultured Spanish poetry of the thirteenth century ; the most famous example of that time is offered by Gonzalo de Berceo in the Cantiga, where a constant refrain is " Eya velar." Lope de Vega collects in his comedies many popular songs of this same form. The Mexican " corrido" is just the Spanish "romance," which, for want of heroic feats, deals, as in Spain, with the most important political events. Its name " corrido,"
used in Andalusia from the beginning, means a narrative story in short verses with no interruption—Le., "de corrido" (run through). Similarly " seguida " or " seguidillas " (followed through) is the term for the short lyrical form so popular in Spain and spread today throughout Spanish America.
In spite of its shortcomings, this book will be of much assistance to scholars and investigators interested in the traditional music of Latin America. It paves the way for new studies in a wider field.
E. M. Tom.taa.
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