Introduction

The anhemitonal pentatonic musical system used in the South American Andes has been the object of numerous studies by ethnomusicologists. They focused on the analysis of musical repertoires from different theoretical premises, which are derived from the interpretive currents that have characterised the discipline throughout the 20^th century.2 Some of these authors also analysed the phenomenon of the interaction between the anhemitonic pentatonic Andean system and the heptatonic modal and tonal systems of European origin.

In their book, La musique des incas et ses survivances, Raul and Marguerite D’Harcourt (1925) established differences between what they called monodies indiennes pures (pure indigenous monodies) articulated exclusively on one of the five pentatonic modes that they identified, and musique métissée (mestizo music), in which they distinguished different degrees of miscegenation. They even established a category that they called ‘métissage de métissage,’ a kind of double fusion that is produced in tonal structures.

Carlos Vega (1944) devoted a chapter of his Panorama de la música popular argentina to specify the musical features of what he called cancionero pentatónico. His concept of ‘cancionero’ corresponds to a composite musical system, which is formed by tonal, rhythmic and musical accompaniment features. The author applied this concept to classify traditional Argentine music (which at that time he called ‘popular’). In another chapter of that book, entitled Las formas híbridas (the hybrid forms), Vega mentioned the interaction of the pentatonic with other systems (‘tritonic’, ‘colonial ternary’ and ‘western creole’). He also established differences between a ‘pre-Hispanic pentatony,’ coming from Asia and present in the

Andean areas, and a ‘post-Hispanic pentatony,’ arriving in America “with the whites of the British Isles and with the Africans of the High Cultures” (Vega 1944, 321).

Subsequently, ethnomusicologists studied the processes and mechanisms of musical hybridisation in books such as the one edited by Gerhard Steingress (2002). In parallel, some scholars produced theories that linked the use of musical structures with socially shared sensory experiences. Everyone knows that this type of hermeneutic approach close to semantics has a long tradition in the East – the theories of raga and rasa from India are an example among many others – and the West (the Greek ethos, the Affektenlehre, Wagner’s leitmotiv, the paradigmatic museme compound by Philip Tagg, or theories about musical topics).

Consequently, the present article is aimed at drawing attention to a type of musical structure detected in many existing repertoires of traditional music in the South American Andean area. This structure comes from the Andean pentatonic system and is formed by a tonal configuration, a melodic profile and, when it is manifested in polyphonic instruments, a succession of chords.

It is interesting here to point out two aspects that relate the musical and social spheres: on the one hand, the function that fulfils the use of this musical structure in the search and affirmation of an Andean cultural identity through organised sound (an extremely active phenomenon today among the musicians of the South American Andean countries); on the other, some mechanisms through which musicians exercise their creativity by transforming this musical structure while maintaining the musical features that ensure the cultural identification of the repertoire.

The analysis of these two peculiarities will allow us to highlight one of the characteristics that give cohesion to musical expressions belonging to a cultural area affected by processes of transculturation and identity affirmation. To achieve new knowledge about this phenomenon, it is necessary to analyse both the musical structures and the implications of its use in repertoires at different times and in different circumstances, linked to the search and affirmation of an Andean cultural identity through organised sound.

In a previous text (Cámara de Landa 2013) I verified the existence of this particular structure in traditional musical genres of the Northwest of Argentina, both articulated on the anhemitonal pentatonic musical system in its ‘pure’ form or mixed with the heptatonic modal and tonal systems of European origin. In the present article, I extend this comparison to other regions of the country, in order to demonstrate the relevance of this musical structure and its use in the invention of a musical genre, the new loncomeo, by composers who, in the 1970s, initiated a musical revival called Música patagónica (Patagonian music).

The observation of the changes introduced by musicians in this particular musical structure allows us to understand the processes of musical fusion in some genres. It also lets us suggest that through the use of this musical structure the musicians challenge different types of frontiers (geographical, political, of musical genres, traditional/popular, and so on) and also shows how South American Andean musicians use music coming from different musical systems to establish their own musical identity. An identity that is permanently recreated through the exercise of musical creativity based on an attitude of transcultural curiosity that brings these Andean musicians closer to those of other geographical areas and that seems to be typical of our time.3 Finally, to achieve this objective, some Andean musical genres belonging to other South American countries will also be cited.

The place and the time

I shall begin to illustrate these processes of fusion observed in the use of this structure through the analytical description of some musical pieces recorded in the extreme northwest of Argentina. In this area, the intense and continuous musical influence of Bolivian composers, performers and instruments on the Argentine musicians has been observed for more than a century. These pieces were recorded in two locations: La Quiaca (an Argentine city separated from the Bolivian town of Villazón by a narrow river)4 and Humahuaca, a small town in the gorge of the same name.5 The whole area in which these two municipalities lie was dominated by the Incas, who included it in the Collasuyo, the Southern province of the Incan Empire Tawantinsuyo. All these musical pieces are performed during the carnival by aborigines, mestizos and creoles, who are often referred to generically as collas.6

During the Andean carnival, musical practices have different functions, some of which are to put time in order, to give special meanings to a place, to achieve the success of the ceremony, or to channel desires within socially admitted boundaries. During the dances organised in tents, visits to private homes and mask festivals, these musical events form a kind of acoustic landscape with a recreational function. In other situations, sound facts assume more significant functions of social relationships: singing protests, proposing sexual intercourse, insulting members of the other sex to confirm the separation and complementarity of roles, or satirising the social institutions to sanction their validity.

The first examples we are going to consider here are huaynos and carnavalitos, musical genres performed mainly after the unearthing of carnival, in order to acoustically ‘baptise’ the physical space of

the celebration. These are performed by troupes called comparsas during the parades through the streets of the towns, or at other private or public events. The borders between the pre-Hispanic huayno and the post-Hispanic carnavalito are not clear because today both designate the same musical genre. The musicians have been mixing the musical traits of these genres for a long time, so today they no longer present significant differences, which is why in the Argentine Northwest both words are used interchangeably. Through playing and singing huaynos and carnavalitos, the members of the comparsas initiate the special time of the festivity, while reaffirming their belonging to a place and a group that has its own social organisation.

The musical structure

The huaynos.carnavalitos (from this point on, I will use only the first word) are articulated on a ‘pure’ anhemitonic pentatonic system or merged with the European tonal system. Of the five pentatonic modes set by D’Harcourt (1925), the huaynos of the border region between Bolivia and Argentina use mode B, as can be heard in all the examples included here. The following descriptions respect the arrangement of sound pitches proposed by these scholars, which reflects the predominant descending tendency in the melodic profile of the Andean melodies. Therefore, the order of the degrees of the pentatonic system is v (C) - iv (A) - iii (G) - ii (F) - i (D).7

Figure 1
Modo B.

Figure 2
‘Huayno of the comparsa’ CH-B-CH.

[Audio Example 1: ‘Huayno of the comparsa’ CH-B-CH interpreted by sax, accordion and drum in La Quiaca.8]

If we observe the structure of the first sentence, which occupies the upper staff, we can see its traits: in the tonal parameter, its main features are the use of the pentatonic scale – in B mode, as in all the other examples – and an overall descendent melodic contour. The antecedent alternates the i and ii degrees of the pentatonic system in high tessitura, while the consequent goes down to the low i degree. This combination of elements is a stylistic feature present in many huaynos with infinite variations, as can be heard in the following example (a huayno played by an Andean flute called anata or tarka).

Figure 3
‘La Juventud,’ anata.

[Audio Example 2: Huayno of the comparsa ‘La Juventud’ interpreted by anata and drum in Humahuaca.9]

If in the previous huayno the musical phrases differed in the antecedent and agreed in the consequent, here the opposite happens: the two phrases have the same antecedent and a different consequent. The structure I am describing and which we might call an ‘identitarian musical structure’ appears in the consequent. This melody, recorded by Vega in the 1930s, was adopted during the second half of the 20^th century by members of the comparsa La Juventud (‘youth people’) in Humahuaca as an emblem of group identity. Its members play it on Carnival Saturday, just after the unearthing of the carnival, while walking around the streets of Humahuaca (many of them dressed as devils). The literary text is based on two literary structures that are interspersed throughout the singing:

During the performance the soloists sing the stanza, while all the other participants sing the chorus in a responsorial way. The final accents of the musical phrases cause shifts in the final accents of the literary verses. Toco becomes tocó, alegre becomes alegré, hablar becomes habla-ár, and so on.

Soloists: Esta cajita que tocó

Group: Soy de la Juventud Alegré

Soloists: Tiene boca y sabe habla-ár

Group: ¡Que viva nuestra comparsá!

Soloists: Sólo le faltan los ojós

Group: Soy de la Juventud Alegré

Soloists: Para ayudarme a llora-ár

Group: ¡Que viva nuestra comparsá!

Figure 4
‘La Juventud’ voices.

[Audio Example 3: Huayno of the comparsa ‘La Juventud’ interpreted by voices and instruments in Humahuaca.]

In this version the soloists make a little variation on the melody: the first notes of the previous version (F-F-G) are changed by the iv degree of the pentatonic scale (A) articulated three times (that means: ii- ii-iii replaced by iv-iv-iv melodic degrees). When the melody receives a charango or guitar accompaniment, these instruments alternate the following harmonic degrees of the European tonal system: III-VI-III-V-

I. In addition to the alternation of major and minor relatives (typical of the accompaniments that the chordophones introduced by Europeans make to pre-Hispanic pentatonic melodies), there is what could be considered as a subdominant of the major relative in the first, which herein is indicated as a VI degree of the main tonality.¹⁰ As we will see later, this harmonic structure was incorporated into the ‘identitarian musical structure’ that I am dealing with.

In the following example, we can identify the same pentatonic melodic structure with descendent melodic contour:

Figure 5
‘Pocos pero locos,’ pincullo.

[Audio Example 4: Huayno of the comparsa ‘Pocos pero locos’ interpreted by pincullos(end-blown notch flutes) and drums in Humahuaca.]

This melody is sometimes sung with the v melodic degree of the pentatonic system converted into a subtonic sensible note, probably under the influence of the European tonal system, as can be heard in the following sound example. Another common variant of the structure shown here is the ending with the finalis on the ii degree of the pentatonic scale:

Figure 6
‘Pocos pero locos,’ young boy.

[Audio Example 5: Huayno of the comparsa‘Pocos pero locos’ sung by a young boy in Humahuaca.¹¹]

In the following Huayno the ‘identitarian musical structure’ appears three times. In the first (A and B), the melody does not rise beyond the high I melodic degree, but the charango accompaniment plays the VI and III harmonic degrees at the beginning, followed by V-I at the end. This harmonic succession is tightly connected to the structure in all cases in which instruments capable of producing chords are played. Here it also accompanies the second melody too (the interlude which has non-pentatonic ornaments and ends

with a repeated subtonic sensible note) and the third one (D and E) with far more development of the VI degree (which indicates a greater interaction with the European-derived tonal system).

Figure 7
Los Chipas.

[Audio Example 6: Huayno of the comparsa ‘Los chipas’ interpreted by voices, quena (end-blown flute without duct) charango, drums, and clapping in La Quiaca.¹²]

When playing some Andean musical pieces with a greater degree of contamination from the European- derived tonal system, the local musicians sometimes have difficulty harmonising melodies. This is the case of the following kullawada (a musical genre that is a relative of huayno) which had just been created and was fashionable when I recorded it in the town of La Quiaca during the 1989 carnival. The accordionist of the comparsa Grupo Juvenil del Club Social does not find the secondary dominants developed by the melody in the musical phrase C and executes the I harmonic degree of tonality (minor) instead of the dominant I, which creates a strong dissonance. It is for this reason that in the repetition of the piece the accordionist stops playing.¹³

Figure 8
Acaso porque soy pobre I.

Figure 9
Acaso porque soy pobre II.

[Audio Example 7: ‘Acaso porque soy pobre’ (kullaguada). Author: José Zapata. Interpreted by members of the comparsa Grupo Juvenil del Club Social in La Quiaca]

The spreading of the ‘identitarian musical structure’ to other musical genres and revival compositions

These mechanisms of dialogue between musical systems are not new to the area. In the first half of the 20^th century, they were documented by several musicians and musicologists. Vega began to take field research trips to the province of Jujuy in 1931 and recorded several pieces in which we find the ‘identitarian musical structure’ I am describing here. This is the case of some huainos-carnavales (n. 2, 6 and 20 of the recorded music, in accordance with the numbering indicated in the book of field travel sound documentation of the Instituto Nacional de Musicología), but also that of other genres, such as zamba (n. 19), chilena (n. 21, 25, 27, 31 and 32), bailecito (n. 42 and 43), zapateo (n. 8), yaraví (n. 28) and two

‘melodies’ (n. 3 and 4).

The Bolivian musician and musicologist Felipe Rivera, who lived on both sides of the border between Argentina and Bolivia (in Villazón and La Quiaca) collected Bolivian music from the 1920s and spread it in both countries through the composition of pieces in a traditional style and the edition of many commercial records in 78 rpm. We can find the ‘identitarian musical structure’ in many of these pieces.¹⁴

Traditionalist tendencies that began to emerge in Argentina in the late 19^th century as a reaction to the huge migratory flows from Europe stimulated a folk revival that included musical expressions. Subsequently, a nationalist current in the country (sometimes called nativista, that is ‘nativist’) forged an idealised image of Tawantinsuyo (conveniently forgetting that the Incas had also been imperialists in the region). The Argentines were building an image of the ‘Incan’ musical expressions and conferred the function of representing the ‘essence’ of national identity to some Andean musical genres practiced in the North of the country (a phenomenon that still remains today in the collective imagination).

Although no one recognised it explicitly, the musical structure of pentatonic origin that I am analysing was frequently used by the composers of folk revival trends in order to provide new compositions with an Andean ‘air’ (and thus, an Argentine character, according to this conceptualisation). Among the many revival huaynos who develop the ‘identitarian musical structure’ with different degrees of contamination between musical systems, we find the following ones:¹⁵

‘Mama coya’ (Máximo Gregario Puma): VI-III-VI-III/V-I-V-I

‘Carnavalito del duende’ (Manuel J. Castilla/Gustavo Leguizamón): VI-III-VI-III/VI-III-IVM-I (first stanza)

‘Soy Tulumba’ (Horacio Guarany): I-VI-VIID-III-I-VIID-III-V-I.

‘Albahaca sin carnaval’ (César Perdiguero/Eduardo Falú): VI-VIID-III-V-I-V-I

‘Mi quena y yo’ (René Careaga/Viviana Careaga): VI-VIID-III/IIIIVM-III-V-I

‘Amorosa palomita’ (anon.): VI- III-V-I

‘El sueño grande’ (Sergio Denis/Rolando Hernández): VI-VIID-III (2 times)-IV-I-IV-V-I

‘Pampa palomita’ (Ángel Quiroga, gatherer): I-VI-VIID-III/III-IVM-III-IVM-III-V-I

‘Tenés razón’ (Oscar E. Palavecino): VI-III/V-I

‘Soy de la Puna’ (José María Mercado): VI-VIID-III/III-IVM-III-IVM-III-V-I

As we have seen on Vega’s field list, this phenomenon was not reduced to huayno and its related musical genres (carnavalito, kullawada ...), but also occurred in the amatory, courtship or picaresque dances (such as bailecito, cueca, chacarera, or zamba) which are still highly practiced not only in the area, but also in many

parts of the country, thanks to their diffusion through revival currents from several cities (including

Buenos Aires). We can find the ‘identitarian musical structure’, for example, in the following bailecito: https://tube.switch.ch/videos/y6bj2CDgDE

Figure 10
‘Sirviñaco.’

[Audio Example 8: ‘Sirviñaco’ (bailecito). Text: Jaime Dávalos; music: Eduardo Falú; interpreted by Chany Suárez (voice) and Daniel Homer (guitar).¹⁶]

‘Linda Purmamarqueñita,’ ‘Una lágrima,’ ‘Quisiera un puñal’ and ‘Cuando florezca la albahaca’ are other bailecitos than can be found on the Internet and in which the ‘identitarian musical structure’ can be heard. The structure is also present in many zambas, a dance derived from the Peruvian zamacueca that has been one of the most practiced musical genres in Argentina over the last hundred years. Here is an example:

Figure 11
‘La imillita.’

[Audio Example 9: ‘La imillita’ (zamba). Author: Pedro Enrique Mealla; interpreted by the folk ensemble Los Fronterizos.¹⁷]

Other zambas in which this structure appears with different variants, are ‘Zamba de los mineros,’ ‘Balderrama,’ ‘La rubia Moreno,’ ‘Pampa del Chañar,’ ‘Cafayate en la nostalgia,’ ‘Zamba de la toldería’ and ‘Zamba del otoño’ (all can be heard on the Internet). Another dance derived from the Peruvian zamacueca is the cueca, which exists in two main variants – Chilean and Bolivian – and which is also practiced in Argentina. The musical structure that I have described here appears in many cuecas, such as ‘La boliviana’ and ‘La yaleña.’ It also appears in other traditional Argentine genres like vidala, triste or yaraví, which are not dances but songs.¹⁸

Concluding remarks

What I have tried to show through the observation of these musical pieces from the Argentine tradition, is the existence, among other “surrounding availabilities” (Vega 1979, 6), of a Mestizo musical structure that comes from some Andean repertoires articulated on the anhemitonal pentatonic system coming from pre-Hispanic times, which dialogues with the European-derived tonal system. This structure, made by the combination of features of different parameters (scale, melodic profile, harmony), has conferred ‘local colour’ to various musical genres of the area and continues to be used for this purpose in the creation of new expressions aimed at generating – or reinforcing – links of ethnic and cultural identity. Composers continued to use this structure even when they had to confer an ‘Andean ancestral identity’ on melodies intended to constitute a new repertoire: the so-called Música patagónica (Patagonian music), an invention carried out in the 1970s. At such times, all the other regions of Argentina had their emblematic musical repertoires of local traditions, except for Patagonia, a land stolen from the Indians in the late 19^th century and lacking any revival process. The creators of Patagonian music appealed to some basic rhythms of indigenous rituals surviving in the area but they also used the ‘identitarian musical structure’ to reinforce the Andean character of their musical proposals. This is the case of the musical genre that they baptised loncomeo, a name adopted from the music of a ritual of the indigenous Mapuche from southern Argentina and Chile.¹⁹ An example of the use of the ‘identitarian musical structure’ in a ‘revival loncomeo’ is the following:

[Audio Example 10: ‘Rogativa de Loncomeo’ (loncomeo). Author: Marcelo Berbel; interpreted by José Larralde.²⁰]

In short, it is possible to affirm that this musical structure has been functioning as the sonic equivalent of wipala, the recently invented flag of Tawantinsuyo, to fill gaps in cultural identity. It can be considered as a kind of museme or topic present in different musical expressions of the former territory of the Incan Empire (from southern Colombia to central Argentina). Two examples from Bolivia are ‘Saliendo de Llallagua,’ from Potosí, and ‘Caripuyo torrecita,’ from Caripuyo.²¹ Some pieces from Perú are ‘Valicha, Gorrioncito,’ ‘A los filos del cuchillo,’ ‘Adiós pueblo de Ayacucho,’ and ‘Puno Candelaria Fiesta.’²² Many Ecuadorian sanjuanitosalso make use of it.²³ In the case of Argentina, which has been considered here, both ethnic pride (manifested in some areas such as the Andes) and the sense of belonging (expressed in other regions such as the metropolises) are related to constructions based on the appropriation and mixture of influences from both the nearby north (ex-Tawantinsuyo) and a distant Europe. This seems to be a valid resource in a country whose national anthem was composed by a Murciano musician in a style between Mozart and Rossini, and whose emblematic town of traditional Andean culture (Humahuaca) is the burial place of the author of the local anthem (‘El humahuaqueño’), Edmundo Zaldívar. Even if the composer never knew Humahuaca (he composed the famous piece in Buenos Aires), his grave is subject to visits by those who recognise in this music a – constructed – emblem of their own culture.²⁴

It is very likely that the comparative study of all these musical genres will confirm the origin of the ‘identitarian musical structure’ in the Andean anhemitonal pentatonic system (as I hope to have shown here). It will also be possible to confirm the semantic associations that the musicians of these countries have established between this structure and Andean musical identity. In any case, it is a clear example of the use of music to affirm or reaffirm an awareness of cultural identity and, at the same time, of artistic creativity in the framework established by the explicit or implicit recognition of the features of a musical prototype strongly consolidated through time and space.

https://youtu.be/UtBQUPAadl4,https://youtu.be/b-urxF6IHLo, https://youtu.be/lmNjMBcXx8c, https://youtu.be/rGekI78yE2s,and https://youtu.be/OKCh5bJNDw8?t=43 respectively (all last access 15 February 2021). I thank the ethnomusicologist Claude Ferrier for pointing out these and other examples of musical pieces that present the ‘identitarian musical structure.’

References

Aretz, Isabel. 1952. El folklore musical argentino, Buenos Aires: Ricordi Americana.

Cámara de Landa, Enrique. 2013. “Entre el perfil melódico y la sucesión armónica: la persistencia de una estructura musical andina.” In Analizar, interpretar, hacer música. De las Cantigas de Santa María a la organología, edited by Melanie Plesch, 379–418. Buenos Aires: Gourmet Musical Ediciones.

D’Harcourt, Raoul, and Marguerite D’Harcourt. 1925. La musique des Incas et ses survivances. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner.

Giannattasio, Francesco. 2017. “Perspectives on a 21st Century Comparative Musicology: An Introduction.” In Perspectives on a 21st Century Comparative Musicology: Ethnomusicology or Transcultural Musicology?, edited by Francesco Giannattasio and Giovanni Giuriati, 10–28. Udine: Nota.

Mendívil, Julio. 2018. Cuentos fabulosos: La invención de la música incaica y el nacimiento de la música andina como objeto de estudio etnomusicológico, Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Steingress, Gerhard, ed. 2002. Songs of the Minotaur: Hybridity and Popular Music in the Era of Globalization. A comparative analysis of Rebetika, Tango, Rai, Flamenco, Sardana and English urban folk. Hamburg: LIT Verlag.

Vega, Carlos. 1944. Panorama de la música popular argentina, Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada.

Vega, Carlos. 1979. “Mesomúsica. Un ensayo sobre la música de todos.” In Revista del Instituto de Investigación Musicológica. “Carlos Vega,” 3: 4–16. [Orig.: “Mesomusic: An essay on the music of the masses.” In Ethnomusicology 10/1: 1–17, 1966].

Vega, Carlos. 1998. Panorama Sonoro de la Música Popular Argentina, 2 CDs with fieldwork recordings. Buenos Aires: Instituto Nacional de Musicología [prepared in 1942].

Notes