From Cirio, Norberto Pablo. 2009. Tinta negra en el gris de ayer: Los afroporteños a trevés de sus periódicos entre 1873 and 1882. Investigaciones de La Biblioteca Nacional. Editorial Teseo, Buenos Aires.
Unauthorized translation into English of p. 64-67.
Blogger’s note: The information used in this book comes from four newspapers published by and for the Black community in Buenos Aires during this time period; the papers are La Igualdad [Equality] (1873-1874), La Broma [The Joke] (1876-1882), La Juventud [The Youth] (1876-1879), and El Aspirante [The Aspiring] (1882). The newspapers are cited using their initials. The title of this post has been added for purposes of the blog.
[Begin excerpt]
Musical practices
Based on the newspapers in this study, it is clear that the Afro-Porteño community had a special affinity for music and dance, enjoying and cultivating these art forms in various social contexts such as concerts, private dances, masked balls, informal gatherings, dinners, and most importantly, Carnival [the Christian celebration occurring before Lent in February or March]. I will summarize what was happening in these various environments [during the period 1873-1882].
The phenomenon of Carnival in 1800s Buenos Aires brought into being an annual time and space that was especially dedicated to public merry-making. This is evidenced, as I have described, by the existence of numerous Afro-Porteño carnival societies or comparsas [marching bands with dancers, similar to Mardi Gras krewes in the US; the origin of “La cumparsita”]. These groups could be all male, all female, or mixed, each with its distinctive costumes and musical repertoire, from which there have been many lyrics published, but unfortunately, no music (see footnote 18). These comparsas put on their exhibitions in the public arena, and there was much dispute within the community over which musical practices were considered proper for exhibition (LJ #1569, 20-Nov-1878; LB #2605, 3-Mar-1882; LB #2627, 9-Mar-1882; LB #2633, 9-Mar-1882; LB #3431, 21-Nov-1882). Because of this, the evidence from newspapers in the sample shows a strong tendency [of the journalists and/or those they spoke with] to favor European genres of music over the traditional music with drums—we can call it African—, reserving the label of “musical comparsa” for the type of sound that that was being promoted as desirable.
Goldman (2008), in his exhaustive work on the African character of tango in Uruguay in 1870-1890, surprises us by showing how similar the socio-musical milieu in Montevideo was to that of Buenos Aires, providing a strong argument for me to seriously revisit my own studies on the origin of tango in Buenos Aires (Cirio, 2008a). As an example of how Afro-Montevideans promoted the study of European music at the expense of their own musical traditions, the music classes given by the carnival societies had differential pricing: learning to play instruments in the “European style” was literally worth twice as much as learning to play “African style” (Goldman, personal communication).
Dances were practiced at private balls and masked balls, informal gatherings and dinners. A variety of orchestras, usually made up of around a dozen musicians, would perform a repertoire comprised mostly of ballroom or court dances from Europe including the polka, mazurka, waltz, varsoviana, redowa, schottische, contra dance (or country dance), quadrille [square dance], habanera and lancero. Although it is impossible in this brief review to provide more details about the context of the practice and performance of these dances, suffice it to say that some of the dance forms enjoyed a higher regard than others, and not all of them reached the same zenith of popularity. For example, there are repeated mentions [in the newspapers] of the unacceptability of dancing the “comical” contra dance, lancero, varsoviana, and “other old-fashioned dances” (LB #3070, 28-Jul-1882; LB #3088, 3-Aug-1882). At the same time, the habanera is increasingly referred to in print as a popular dance, and its budding descendant, the tango, makes its first [reported] appearance in the carnival societies in 1879, with a piece called “Lenitivo para el voz” [Soothing medicine for the voice], by the Sociedad Negras Bromistas [Society of Black Jokesters] (LB #506, 23-Feb-1879).
Concerts were another space for recreation held in high esteem by Afro-Porteño society of the time, or at least by those with greater resources. As we will see in the next section, these social spaces of the elite constituted an effective way to seek legitimacy within the wider society, which was also constantly evolving. In other words, the Black elites were aiming to coincide with the white elites in the way that they appreciated and practiced certain European courtly traditions. The price they paid was having to forget or to disregard their ancestral culture.
In this context, holding concerts became a valuable way for them to exhibit their progress and eminence. There were many Black musicians and composers who had outstanding talent for European music of the court and the academy, including some who had already been playing for many decades, such as Remegio Navarro (Plesch, 2006). Among those who were active during the time of the newspapers in the study, some of the notable ones were Zenón Rolón (1856-1902), musician, composer, and orchestra director (he lived for many years in Florence, where he perfected his art); Andrés Espinosa, music teacher and owner of the music school in which he taught; Pedro Espinosa, teacher of violin and brass instruments; Juan Espinosa, pianist; Estanislao Grigera, organist of the Iglesia de la Concepción [Church of the Immaculate Conception] (nicknamed “the organ-grinder’s monkey”); Casildo Gervasio Thompson, pianist; and Manuel L. Posadas, violinist who studied for three years at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with the Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe.
Finally, we must discuss the other category of Afro-Argentine music which was virtually ignored by the newspapers in the study. This includes music which can be called ancestral, which was maintained through oral tradition, and which came from the elders who were brought from Africa as slaves, for example the makumba dance, which belonged to the ritual known as “the saint’s dance” among its other names: Invoking the sacred using the beat of drums and occasionally using singing, the performer attempts to communicate with the ancestors, entering an altered state as a medium of communication (Cirio, 2008b). This overlooked category also includes traditions which were created here [in Argentina] in a context of cultural mestizaje [mixing], for example the candombe (Cirio 2007, 2008a).
As we will see later, given that this musical category still remains alive and active up to the present day, we deduct that the silence surrounding it on the part of the newspapers in question is not a result of the music being nonexistent, but rather of the fact that discussing it was seen as inappropriate in the context. Its deliberate exclusion shows how biased any primary source can turn out to be, and shows the danger of taking such a source as an unerring, holistic reflection of a reality that, because it is in the past, cannot be directly accessed by the researcher.
The mentions of this category of music are scarce, and almost always carry a negative or pejorative tone. In the item “A Visit to the Mexico Club,” it is commented that some aristocrats from the neighborhood—who were white—were complaining that people were outside dancing “in the style of our ancestors” (LJ #51, 16-Jan-1876). It is possible to infer that what was being danced was either candombe, makumba, or semba (also written cemba or zemba), which was another Afro-Argentine dance even older than candombe (Cirio 2002, Cirio & Rey 2006). The majority of the mentions are indirect references, as in satirical poetry about personalities of the time. For example, in an item making fun of a staff member of La Broma [newspaper] who was nicknamed “El mister,” the man is described as having “that candombero walk” (LB #3503 14-Dic-1882); and in a poem that begins “And in a dream I saw Tomás,” by anonymous, which recounts incidents from dreams, the protagonist states “And I ended up dancing Congo” (LB #356, 26-Sept-1878).
Finally, there are mentions, small in number but very interesting, of seven different Afro-Argentine instruments. These give us some clues that can be used in future historical reconstructions of how the music of this group was played: the quisanche or quisanga, a certain type of reed instrument (LB #222, 31-Jan-1878; LB #1645, 6-Mar-1881); the chinesco, which consisted of chimes and bells hanging from the edge of an umbrella (LB #266, 2-Mar-1878; LB #430, 15-Nov-1878; LB #637, 10-Aug-1879; LB #1548, 6-Jan-1881) (see footnote 19); the tambor [drum], a percussion instrument made of a wooden barrel or hollowed-out log with leather stretched over one end, played with the hands (LB #222, 31-Jan-1878; LB #1587, 27-Jan-1881; LB #1607, 3-Feb-1881; LB #2605, 3-Mar-1882; LB #3431, 21-Nov-1882); the mazacalla or mazacaya, a rhythm stick which had on one end between one and three metal containers with small rocks or seeds inside (LB #2605, 3-Mar-1882); and the cajón, a box made of wood which was struck with the hands (LB #1173, 10-Jan-1880). Lastly, there are two more instruments which are mentioned in La Broma only once, the cañas and the tabletas (LB #222, 31-Jan-1878), which were percussion instruments, although I am not sure of their form. The cañas could have been similar to the Afro-Venezuelan quitiplás, of about 5 cm in diameter and 20 to 40 cm long, which were played by striking against the floor. The tabletas were probably a percussion instrument that made sound by striking two parts of the instrument together.
Footnote 18: Unfortunately, the music of these pieces was not preserved at all in these sources. The only known music that has survived is the beginnings of two songs: first, a march of the Estrella del Sud [Star of the South] Carnival Society, “We are coming with music and flowers,” and second, an instrumental “March” for the band of the Unión Marina [Marine Union] Carnival Society. These appear in an anonymous article in the Porteño magazine Caras y Caretas [Faces and Masks] from March 7, 1903. The date of the publication gives us an idea of the long lifetimes of this type of association.
Footnote 19: Probably, the name chinesco was not a unique name for this instrument, but rather a common description at the time for certain objects of a, shall we say, “exotic” character, whose origin can be traced indirectly to China through the Chinoiserie trend, which began in Europe in the 1600s and by the end of the 1800s had reached a stage of decadence. I am basing this conclusion on an item published in La Broma which describes the donations of objects for a raffle to benefit La Sociedad de Socorros Mutuos La Protectora [Mutual Aid Society of Mary, the Protector of the Church], including “un tintero chinesco” [a Chinese-style inkwell] and “una relojera chinesca” [a Chinese-style clock] (#1893, 16-Jun-1881).
[End excerpt]
The photo is not from the book, but from a web publication citing work by Pablo Cirio, previously translated in this blog: “Tango’s Origins in Black Culture,” December 10, 2018. Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación. The photo caption is as follows: A show by Alberto Castillo with Afro-Porteño candombe dancers. Rosario (Santa Fe), circa 1970. Photo by Carlos Gomez. The Afro-Argentinian dancers—almost all of whom as still alive—are from the Garay, Córdoba, and Lamadrid families. The house of the Lamadrid family, in Flores, functioned as the Centro Recreativo La Armonía from 1917 to 1952, where the tango of the Guardia Vieja was danced.
Works Cited
Cirio, Norberto Pablo. 2002. “Prácticas musicales de procedencia afro en el culto a San Baltazar. La ‘charanda’ de Empedrado (provincia de Corrientes, Argentina),” en Revista Musical Chilena, 197, p. 9-38. Santiago: Universidad de Chile.
Cirio, Norberto Pablo. 2007. ¿Cómo suena la música afroporteña hoy? Hacia una genealogía del patrimonio musical negro de Buenos Aires,” in Revista del Instituto de Investigación Musicológica “Carlos Vega” 21, p. 84-120. Buenos Aires: Facultad de Artes y Ciencias Musicales, Universidad Católica Argentina.
Cirio, Norberto Pablo. 2008a. “Ausente con aviso: ¿Qué es la música Afroargentina?” En Federico Samartino y Hector Rubio (eds.), Musicas Populares. Aproximaciones teóricas, metodológicas y analíticas en la Musicologia Argentina. p. 81-134. Córdoba: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.
Cirio, Norberto Pablo. 2008b. “La danza makumba afroporteña: un abordaje de su performance a través de fuentes históricas y de memoria oral.” Buenos Aires. (unpublished).
Cirio, Norberto Pablo and Rey, Gustavo Horacio. 2006. “Vigencia de una práctica musical afroargentina en el culto a san Baltazar, Empedrado, provincia de Corrientes,” en Etno-Folk 6, p. 33-48. Baiona: Dos Acordes.
Goldman, Gustavo. 2008. Lucamba: Herencia africana en el tango: 1870-1880. Montevideo: El Perro Andaluz.
Plesch, Melanie (preliminary study). 2006. “Boletín Musical: 1837,” La Plata, Archivo Histórico de la Provincia de Buenos Aires Dr. Ricardo Levene.