Introductory Notes
Bolivia: from pre-contact to modern
Download 272.94 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Brazil: the Portuguese Context from Conquest to Independence
Bolivia: from pre-contact to modernBefore the contact with Spanish explorers, conquistadors, and colonists in the 16th century, very little is known about the music of the nomadic pre-contact Amerindians of Bolivia including the sedentary Aymará and Quechua peoples of the Andean region near Lake Titicaca. Nevertheless, of all the Andean countries, Bolivia’s musical traditions are probably most closely aligned with indigenous traditions. During the long colonial period and the first century of independence, the dominant sectors of Bolivian society retained musical styles based mostly on those that were imported from Spain. However, in 1952 a pro-nativist and popular political movement led by President Víctor Paz Estenssoro advocated voting rights for Bolivia’s disenfranchized Indians, land reform, rural education, and nationalization of Bolivia’s most productive tin mines. Along with this political and social revolution came a resurgence of interest and a passion for native music, costumes, folk customs, and the like. For the past fifty years, Bolivian music has featured its native spiritual roots. Groups like Savia Andina and Los K’jarkas fused folk music with native elements to produce uniquely Bolivian music. Traditional Bolivian musical instruments include the charango, hualaycho, zampoña (from Spain), quena, and a percussion shaker make from sheep hooves. Of course, the violin and guitar are also found throughout traditional Bolivian music. Brazil: the Portuguese Context from Conquest to IndependenceThe history of Portuguese music dates to the kind of music brought to the western region of the Iberian Peninsula along the Atlantic seaboard by Roman invaders and colonists in the couple of centuries just before and just after the advent of the Common Era. Most of this music is no longer known, but it does evolve into the Roman Catholic church music such as the Gregorian chants, which were sung in Latin and which used late Roman musical modes. In the late Middle Ages, one of the most widely known musical forms developed in Portuguese lands are the famous religious songs known as the Cantigas de Santa Maria (13th century). Also influential in pre-Columbian Portuguese music was the influence of various forms of Arabic music that was popular in the the courts and homes of the Arabs who conquered the lower half of Portugal from the eighth through the twelfth centuries. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, medieval ballads sung in Provençal, Spanish, and Portuguese were popular. One of the most enduring of all Portuguese musical forms, the highly popular fado (= fate), may date to the fifteenth century, and it may also have been influenced by Arabic elements such as the its emphasis on mournful tones and sad laments. When the Portuguese colonized Brazil, they brought with them all of these musical forms. At the same time, Portugal-centered church music and all forms of European classical music dominated upper class music in Brazil from the sixteenth century and into the twenty-first century. In the 18th century a Brazilian priest wrote the first Brazilian opera. Meanwhile, African rhythms and instruments entered the Brazilian musical scene with the importation of hundreds of thousands of African slaves. Furthermore, from early in the colonial period Brazilians were aware of and influenced by the music they encountered among native Brazilian ethnic groups such as the Tupi, and the Tamoios. In the 20th century Brazil produced one to the world’s great classical composers, Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959). His compositions cover an extremely wide range of styles, from popular songs inspired by Brazilian ethnic traditions to movie music, symphonies, operas, and ballets. The number of his works is immense: 15 choros, 9 Bachianas brasileiras, 15 concertos including the gorgeous “Harp concerto” (1951), 12 symphonies, 6 other orchestral works, 11 pieces of chamber music, 18 string quartets, 4 operas, 5 ballets, and 12 pieces for solo piano. Villa-Lobos’ music ranges from Brazilian folk music to works within the contemporary European classical tradition (Bachianas brasileiras means Brazilian Bach pieces). From 1905 to 1912, he explored native Brazilian music by traveling into the then virtually unexplore Brazilian hinterlands. In 1912, he married and dedicated himself to “serious” music. From 1945 until his death he enjoyed worldwide renown by composing pieces for famous musicians such as Andrés Segovia (guitar), Nicanor Zabaleta (harp) and for orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1958 he composed the music for the movie Green Mansions, which starred Anthony Perkins and Audrey Hepburn. Two other kinds of music that are typically Brazilian are, first, capoeira, which both a musical form and a martial arts dance and performance made popular in the early 19th century by African slaves and free Blacks in the region in and around Salvador da Bahia, and, second, samba, which was developed by Afro-Brazilians in the poor neighborhoods (favelas) surrounding Rio de Janeiro. In the first half of the 20th century, Brazil’s most famous popular singer was the Portuguese-born Carmen Miranda (1909-1955). She was a famous samba singer and movie star, who, at one time was the highest paid actress in the United States. By 1928 she was famous in Brazil and film actress. In 1939 she moved to the United States where she her recordings topped ten million. Among her trademark style were towering hats, platform sandals, and sexy outfits. Among her most famous movies are “That Night in Rio” (1941), “Week-End in Havana” (1941), and “Copacabana” (1947). (See: => Opening Slide Show #2/53). In the 1950s Brazilian composers like Antonio Carlos Jobim fused jazz with a slow samba beat and created bossa nova. This musical form was popularized first at famous beach resorts near Rio de Janeiro such as Ipanema and Copacabana. In the 1960s bossa nova spread to the United States (i.e., “The Girl from Ipanema”) and around the world. Later, Brazil adopted all sorts of music enjoyed everywhere: rock, funk, reggae, and the like. Jobim was the mentor for another famous Brazilian jazz and bossa nova musician, Sérgio Mendes (b. 1941). In 1961, Mendes did recordings with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann. Mendes’ greatest success began in 1968 when he performed the song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, “The Look of Love” for the Academy Award show in Hollywood. From this year onward, Mendes became the biggest of all Brazilian popular musicians. He even gave concerts for two American Presidents, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Between “Dance Moderno” in 1961 and “Encanto” in 2008, he released 39 albums. The Rio de Janeiro opera house, which is known as the Teatro Municipal, is one of the architectural gems of Rio. It hosts performances of theater, symphony orchestras, opera, ballet, and other classical performing arts. Founded in 1909, it is designed in and eclectic, but essentially it was inspired by the Paris Opera house, which was designed by the great French architect Charles Garnier. It has 1,700 seats on four seating levels. The walls on the outside of the building show the names of major figures in both Brazilian and international humanities. 
Download 272.94 Kb. Share with your friends:
|