Country in South America. It has an area of 406,752km2 and a population of 5.5 million (2000 estimate). The river Paraguay marks the divide between two geographically and culturally distinct areas, populated since ancient times by indigenous peoples. To the east is sub-tropical jungle, inhabited by horticulturalists belonging to the Tupí-Guaraní linguistic group. To the west is the northern Chaco, whose inhabitants are hunter-gatherers belonging to the Maskoy, Mataco-Mak'á, Guaycurú and Zamuco groups. The population of both regions also includes peasants of creole and foreign descent. The only common link between the indigenous cultures of the two areas is that they exist in the same country, where Guaraní-Spanish bilingualism is well established both in practice and, since 1992, by law, according Paraguay singular status in Latin America. The spread of Guaraní was encouraged by the mingling of races in the early days of the Spanish conquest. It was also later adopted by the Jesuits in order to avoid contact between the Spaniards and the natives living in ‘reductions’, as the stable communities established by the missionaries were known. Sources of information about musical activity in Paraguay are sparse and unfortunately imprecise. Juan Max Boettner’s book (c1957) remains unsurpassed, although it contains several obvious errors as regards indigenous music. Various researchers have collected indigenous music in situ, including Carlos Vega and Isabel Aretz, who also documented creole music; and Jorge Novati and Irma Ruiz, ethnomusicologists at the Instituto Nacional de Musicología of Argentina, whose archives also contain recordings made by Vega of a Mak'á group from Paraguay brought for other purposes to Buenos Aires in 1939.
For various historical and cultural reasons, art music was a late development. During the colonial period the antagonistic relationship between Paraguayans and Jesuits meant that no evidence could be found in the cities of 159 years of teaching and the successful practice of European music within the protected atmosphere of the Guaraní reductions. Moreover, contrary to what occurred in Moxos and Chiquitos, the expulsion of the Jesuits marked the beginning of the end of the musical practices imposed under their harsh regime. The political vicissitudes of the two ensuing centuries also resulted in the arrested development of art music, to the extent that, according to Szarán (2000), the first Paraguayan opera, Juana de Lara by Florentín Giménez, with libretto by Milcíades Jiménez y Velázquez, did not appear until 1987. It is significant that academically trained composers of the last 50 years have their roots in popular folk music: the symphonic poem based on folk tunes has become the principal genre, a further indication of the unfailing vitality of creole music. From the 19th century onwards folksongs and dances based on the European heptatonic scale from the colonial centres were re-created and given a distinctive local style. The guitar, harp and violin played, and continue to play, an important role. Indigenous music, unknown beyond native communities, exhibits features of inter-ethnic cross-culturalization, with little if any Western influence.
2. Traditional and popular music.
IRMA RUIZ
Documents dating from the early days of the Spanish conquest mention a choir at Asunción Cathedral, the members of which included Gregorio de Acosta, Juan de Xara, Antonio Coto, Antonio de Tomás and Antonio Romero, who were active in this and other churches until at least the 1570s. Records also refer to numerous military bands, playing a strong repertory of popular and patriotic music, a tradition which persisted in Paraguay for centuries. In 1540 Father Juan Gabriel Lezcano founded a school on the outskirts of Asunción, where the children were taught music. The Jesuits merit special attention as far as music teaching is concerned. The Jesuit province of Paraguay (1609–1768) embraced a large territory including part of present-day Argentina and Uruguay. The Belgian Jean Vaisseau-Vaseo (1584–1623), first music master in Guayrá, was succeeded by the Frenchman Louis Berger (1588–1639). The missions achieving the most success in the practice of academic music brought from Europe or composed by Jesuits were San Ignacio Guazú (Paraguay) and Yapeyú (now Argentina), the latter under the charge of Antonio Sepp. The excellence of Guaraní musicians earned repeated praise from distinguished visitors. A great variety of European musical instruments, including organs, were manufactured in the missions. The Jesuit practice of replacing religious and secular Guaraní music, initially tolerated on their arrival, has deprived succeeding generations of these traditions. The missions’ objective was to instil European cultural beliefs by converting the native population to Christianity. Music played a substantial role in achieving this aim, since it embraced practically every aspect of everyday life, including fiestas and ceremonies. The Jesuits’ Cartas Anuas and other documents describe musical practices transplanted from Europe. These have been classified in two groups: communal religious and missionary music (the only European music found during the early years), and festive music, which included ceremonial music. In the first type, the entire community participated, requiring no support in terms of either teaching or performance. Communal music included cantarcicos, community songs with Guaraní texts of a religious, doctrinal nature, hymns, litanies and other para-liturgical genres, dedicated to Jesus, the Virgin Mary and various saints honoured by specific ceremonies. The second type required a complex and expensive infrastucture, which included training professional musicians, importing musical scores and instruments, organizing workshops for the manufacture of instruments, and the copying of music for distribution to towns and other missions. Festive and ceremonial music followed four European traditions: (1) martial music (with various combinations of trumpets, chirimías (oboes), drums, bassoons, horns, etc.), used by the army and at ceremonies welcoming distinguished visitors; (2) open-air music, recreational and processional pieces combining religious music and music derived from urban traditions including litanies and hymns, wind and fife and drum bands; (3) ‘indoor’ music intended for the religious liturgy of the church; and (4) dances, including those fashionable in Europe at the time (such as españoleta, pavane, canario etc.) and symbolic dances for ceremonial use. For a century and a half this, broadly speaking, was the musical scene in the missions. When these were disbanded, Catholic, Guaraní-speaking villages were established, laying the ground for strong popular religious activities and creating a very particular cultural situation. At the same time Indian villages in the jungle also repopulated.
In towns with European and mestizo populations, some Jesuits attempted to form choirs and bands, but with little success. In 1811, Paraguay gained independence from Spain under Rodríguez Francia. As ‘Supreme Dictator’ (1814–40) he closed the frontiers, resulting in cultural stagnation. However, during the subsequent peacetime regime (1840–65) Carlos Antonio López and his son Francisco Solano López, who succeeded him, showed a measure of interest in art music. Concerts with foreign conductors were held in the cathedral, the cathedral organ was restored and choirs were organized. The appointment in 1853 of a Frenchman, Francisco Sauvaget de Dupuis, to instruct military bandsmen indicates the importance attached to this form of music. Cantalicio Guerrero, trained by Dupuis, formed an orchestra in 1863, but the most intense musical activity came from a different direction, from the ballroom orchestras that played dances such as the lancers, quadrille, cotillion, waltz, mazurka, schottische and polka. It was not until ten years after the War of the Triple Alliance (1865–70) that there was any formal interest in culture. In 1881, the Sociedad Filarmónica La Lira and other similar groups were created to give concerts and organize musical soirées. Choirs were formed, while zarzuela companies arrived and instruments were imported from Europe. In 1887, the Compañía Italiana de Opera Bufa, under the direction of Guillermo Januski, introduced opera to Paraguay, but despite the creation of the Centro Lírico in 1974, no stable Paraguayan opera company has ever been formed. The Teatro Nacional opened in 1891, while in 1895 the Instituto Paraguayo, which would train future musicians, was founded. Soon afterwards Gustavo Sosa Escalada introduced the concert guitar. With the outbreak of World War I many artistic ensembles arrived and European maestros such as Lefranck, Ochoa, Segalés and Malinverni settled in Paraguay. They taught the first generation of musicians who then went abroad for further training, gaining an international reputation. Fernando Centurión (1886–1938), who founded the Cuarteto Haydn in 1911, composed the country’s first symphonic works: Marcha heroica, Serenata Guaraní and Capricho sobre un tema Paraguayo. From 1940 onwards, successive dictatorships forced numerous composers into exile, notably José Asunción Flores (1904–72), Carlos Lara Bareiro (1914–88), Francisco Alvarenga (1910–57) and Emilio Bigi (1910–47). Among those who remained in Paraguay were Remberto Giménez (1899–1977) and Juan Carlos Moreno González (1916–82), composer of the Zarzuela Paraguaya as well as chamber and symphonic works. Later composers included Luis Cañete (1905–85), Florentin Giménez (b 1925) and Nicolás Pérez González (b 1935). The Asunción group of composers, concentrating on contemporary music, emerged in the 1970s. At the beginning of the 21st century there are still no professional choirs, although there is lively amateur activity.
The Chaco region is home to 11 Amerindian nations, belonging to four linguistic families: Mascoy (Angaité, Guaná, Lengua, Sanapaná, Toba Maskoy); Mataco-Mak'á (Chorote, Nivaklé and Mak'á); Guaycurú (Emok-Toba) and Zamuco (Ayoreo and Chamacoco). Apart from these there are enclaves of Chiriguano (sometimes incorrectly known as Guarayo) and Tapieté, who belong to the Tupí-Guaraní group and who arrived in the area during the 20th century. Because of their cultural affinity and inter-ethnic cross-culturalization, the musical conventions, instruments and forms of expression of the first three are similar to those of the Chaqueño Amerindians of Argentina, although the Mascoy are found only in Paraguay. Music documented for these ethnic groups includes nocturnal dances for boys, songs for men and women and an important collection of shamanic songs. The first, in the form of round dances, were very much alive in the 1970s and were still the only form of entertainment available in remote villages, while retaining their essential function as courtship dances. The lead singer, standing in the centre of the circle, marks the rhythm by beating a tambor de agua (a kettledrum filled with water) with a stick (ex.1). For some tribes this instrument – which the Zamuco did not have – was linked to male initiation rites. Songs for women deal with a wide range of subjects, including the souls and blood of those killed in war; various types of birdsong and lullabies; other songs accompanying the ritual dances which mark a young girl’s entry into puberty (with a palo-sonajero de uñas – a stick rattle of animal hooves, fig.1). Outstanding among the musical customs of adult males are songs accompanied by the maraca (a gourd rattle), an instrument presented to boys during their rite of passage to puberty. Shamanic songs – with or without maracas according to the tribe – are intended to summon various benevolent forces and beings of the natural world and to exorcize the forces of evil. Shamanic medicine involving the recovery of lost souls is supported by a wide range of songs.
The Chamacoco and Ayoreo of the northern Chaco show notable musical differences from other tribes. Although they share use of the maraca with other groups, including the Guaraní, it is used in different ways with distinctive symbolic meanings. In contrast with the emphatic style of most songs in regular duple rhythm sung by men of the Chaco tribes, Ayoreo singing consists of continuous vibrato male voices with the uniterrupted shaking of a gourd rattle and with musical phrases continuing until the singers run out of breath. A bizarre stance is adopted for singing (fig.2). Another oddity is that the Ayoreo have no dances. Ayoreo songs for solo female voice usually tell the stories of incidents that have happened in the community.
The Tupí-Guaraní tribes of the eastern region are the Paĩtavyterã, Avá or Chiripá, Mbyá and Aché-Guayakí. The first three represent the ‘monteses’ (or ‘wild ones’) who escaped Spanish and creole oppression for centuries. They conserve their own religious traditions and rituals, notably musical performances of various types, which reveal a certain degree of Western influence. In search of seclusion, and in the case of Mbyá, ‘a land without evil’, some groups migrated to the jungles of Argentina and Brazil. Their two sacred musical instruments are the mbaraká played only by men, which the Mbyá replaced with a five-string guitar, and the takuapú (rhythm tube played by women). Among the Aché-Guayakí, who became horticulturalists, the men reclaim their original role as hunters through the improvised texts of solitary nocturnal songs, while the women sing in plaintive style at religious ceremonies. Other musical instruments used by these groups include wooden whistles (by the Nivaklé and Ayoreo); vertical and transverse flutes by the Chiriguano; vertical flutes and panpipes by the Mbyá; and musical bows called gualambáu and guyrapa'í by the Paĩtavyterã and Chiripá, although some of these are no longer used. There are also examples of rustic fiddles with a single string used by the Mak'á, Lengua and Toba and various two-headed drums, both instruments adopted more recently.
Although originally of European origin, creole traditions are the most representative of Paraguayan music since, in creole hands and with the consolidation of the nation state, they have acquired a character of their own. Forerunners are the aforementioned European dances, which in the 18th and 19th centuries were danced in the salons of the nobility, in public and private ballrooms and at open-air band concerts. Dances based on the cotillion include La golondrina (now obsolete), and El Santa Fe, also called Cielito de Santa Fe or Chopí, a single tune without lyrics. Boettner (c1957) indicates that the Chopí was still danced at popular festivals in the 1950s, describing how it was choreographed for three couples and consisted of four figures: a greeting, a chain, a toreo and a waltz. Boettner also mentions La palomita, popular during the war of 1865–70. Special attention is given to the polka or polca, the most widespread of all dances. All that remains of the dance that arrived from Europe around 1850 is the name. In lively tempo, usually sung in 3rds by two singers, it is traditionally played by guitars, harp or violin (fig.3). A double bass was added at a later stage to provide a ground bass in 3/4 time, in counterpoint to the usually syncopated 6/8 rhythm of both guitars and singers. The oldest polkas such as Campamento Cerro León (ex.2), which has become a kind of ‘popular anthem’, are by anonymous composers. Campamento Cerro Léon (Cerro Corá a Guaraní purajheí or song by Giménez and Fernández) and India (a guarania by Flores and Ortíz Guerrero) were officially declared Canciones Populares Nacionales in 1944 by the Paraguayan government. This gesture, indicative of the power of popular music, enshrined the polca, the purajheí and the guarania (a genre created in 1928 by Flores) as the three most representative genres. Both the purajheí and guarania are derivations of the polca although they are purely vocal and their tempo is slower than that of the dance version. The songs tell of military, political and patriotic exploits or explore romantic themes. Also popular are the galopa and ‘onomatopoeic’ pieces such as Guyrá campana (‘Bell-Bird’), Polka burro (‘Donkey Polka’) and Tren lechero (‘Milk Train’). These show off the virtues of the diatonic, pedalless harp with characteristic techniques of lavish glissandi and ornamentation, on occasion using techniques of the violin.
A striking feature of Paraguayan creole music is the continuity between oral and popular urban traditions and their influence on academic music. Szarán describes attempts to ‘modernize’ creole music, through the creation of a nuevo cancionero, a movement inspired by similar endeavours in Argentina and Chile.
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F. Müller: ‘Beiträge zür Ethnographie der Guaraní-Indianer im östlichen Waldgebiet von Paraguay’, Anthropos, xxix (1934), 177–208, 441–60, 696–702; xxx (1935), 151–64, 433–50, 767–83
J.M. Boettner: Música y músicos del Paraguay (Asunción, c1957)
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