As
an earnest lover of European and other foreign music living in New
Delhi in the last three decades of the 20th century, I didn't usually
have any opportunity to attend a live performance of South
America's folk music. So when such a rare occasion did arise in
1992, I had very great expectations of not only getting entertained,
but also being enlightened. But what actually happened? . . . just
read on!
_________
Glossary
ICCR -- Indian C0uncil of Cultural Relations.
Bombay/Bangalore -- British-regime names of West/South Indian cities, now called Mumbai/Bengaluru.
Kamani Hall -- Large, modern auditorium in New Delhi, with 600+ seats.
________
THE HINDU,
New Delhi
21 February 1992
No fresh insights
One of the specific responsibilities assigned by the Government to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations is to improve the cultural relations between India and the Latin American countries. Of course, much depends also on the initiatives taken by the concerned foreign Embassies in India. Last week ICCR and the Venezuelan Embassy joined hands to organize a performance by a visiting instrumental quartet from Caracas, said to specialize in the folk music of Venezuela. The group was to perform in Bombay and Bangalore also.
Unfamiliar traditions
Certain
kinds of lilting South American band music (such as Rhumba, Samba and
Cha-cha-cha) are quite familiar to many of us in India, thanks to
Hollywood movies and gramophone records. In recent years, music-lovers
in Delhi were able to hear a little bit of the Brazilian composer
Villa-Lobos during the visits of some Western classical guitarists. But
so far as the folk music traditions of South America are concerned, our
awareness is very poor.
There is a particularly attractive genre of South American folk music called Gurani,
which figures prominently in the cultural life of Paraguay. Some 15 or
20 years ago, an internationally known ensemble called Los Chiriguanos
popularized this music in Europe, singing and playing the Gurani harp
and the Spanish acoustic guitar. Their music was so authentic and
arresting that the contents of their audio album could invoke vivid and
romantic impressions of their homeland's hills and valleys, ranches and
forests, birds and ponies, cowboys and village belles, love songs and
rustic dances.
What
kind of folk music exists elsewhere in South America? If one thinks of
Brazil, all one can visualize are feverish scenes of urban
festivities. Argentina does suggest the folk dance form of Zamba,
but what else do they have there? What do they have in Peru,Chile,
Uruguay, Bolivia, Colombia., Venezuela? There is hardly any knowledge
of this in India. So, naturally one imagined that the recital of 'folk
and traditional music' by the visiting group called El Cuarteto from Venezuela would bring fresh insights and valuable new knowledge.
Cosmetic treatment
From
this point of view, however, the event turned out to be rather
disappointing. What kind of music does the petroleum culture inspire in
a land where Spanish blood mixes with that of African Americans and
American Indians? This question was not effectively answered by the
performance under review.
What
the two guitarists and the double-bass and flute players did was to
reel off a series of Polkas, Waltzes, and sterilized Merengues, which
produced an impression of eclectic rather than ethnic music. Some of
the numbers obviously had their origin in folk traditions, which they
seemed to echo faintly ; but they were all cosmetically treated
versions which failed to evoke any strong local colors.
It
would only be fair to mention that the evening's music
provided excellent entertainment, and the sizable audience in the Kamani
Hall responded warmly. The proceedings were enlivened by the humorous
explanations offered by the guitarists in mellifluous Spanish, which
were translated into good English.
Strident flute
The
intruding element in the music of the ensemble seemed to be the wind
instrument. The flute was well-played, but its aggressive tone
obliterated the vibrant individuality of the guitars. (Apart from the
normal Spanish guitars, Venezuelan guitars with four and 12 strings were
also used). Whenever the flute fell silent over short spells, the
guitars came into their own, displaying powerfully evocative qualities.
But as soon as the listener would begin to be wrapped up in that
enchanting sound, the strident flute would step in and quickly erase
the half-formed impressions. Ultimately no nostalgic memories of the
music lingered in the listener's mind after the event, and only
impressions of the overpowered guitars survived.
The four musicians who constitute the quartet are the brothers Miguel and Raul Delgado Estevez (guitars), Telesforo Naranjo (double bass), and Jose Antonio (flute). Each of them has some solid achievements to his credit as a musician and/or music teacher in Venezuela. They seem to have got together as a group to prove something important. Unfortunately it was not clear from this performance what exactly they wish to prove, particularly when facing foreigners living on the opposite side of the world.
The four musicians who constitute the quartet are the brothers Miguel and Raul Delgado Estevez (guitars), Telesforo Naranjo (double bass), and Jose Antonio (flute). Each of them has some solid achievements to his credit as a musician and/or music teacher in Venezuela. They seem to have got together as a group to prove something important. Unfortunately it was not clear from this performance what exactly they wish to prove, particularly when facing foreigners living on the opposite side of the world.
__________
PostScript, 2016
Strong wind blows strings away!
As
I keyed in this 24-year-old text here, I had a sudden misgiving that I
might have made a big mistake when I blamed the flute for
overpowering the guitars, because since then I have obtained many fresh
impressions of South American folk music -- (thanks to YouTube, of
course!) -- and am now well aware that wind instruments like the
panpipes do have a loud and aggressive role in the traditional music of
the countries situated in the Andes mountain range along the west coast
of the continent. And it occurred to me that the quartet's interpretation of Venezuela's folk music might have been quite authentic, and perhaps as an ignorant foreigner I had no business to question its character.
So
I found some videos of the El Cuarteto ensemble in YouTube -- (they
seem to be still very active) -- just to see if and where I had gone
wrong. And quite intriguingly, I got exactly the same impression as I
did 24 years ago in their live show in New Delhi : that the flute is
completely stifling the guitars and reducing their powerful sound to
mere characterless background noise, except when it rests for very short
spells.
Just hear the following recitals and see for yourself : and please note how
forceful the guitars and double-bass sound when the flute isn't blowing
them away for a minute in the second video :-
So
then, ignorant foreigner or not, perhaps I didn't really go wrong in my
response to their performance in New Delhi! But when I take a fresh look at the whole issue now -- with the advantage of watching YouTube in a wider perspective -- I
realize that perhaps the intrusive element in this context was (and
is) not the aggressive tone of the flute, as I had said in my review,
but the excellence of the forceful guitars.
Wherever
wind instruments (panpipes, flute, etc.) are the backbone of any folk
music tradition, the guitar -- if used -- serves only as
a percussion instrument to regulate and enhance the flow of the rhythmic
pulse, merely as a substitute for drums. On
the other hand, where the guitar is a prime instrument, it can produce a
very sophisticated blend of melodic and rhythmic sound effects. So
when very highly accomplished guitar players team up with a forceful
flutemaster, their visibly diminished role as mere providers of
percussion support creates a jarring element (which can be spotted by
sensitive music-lovers even in distant foreign lands).
So
here's some sincere advice to the globe-trotting
Quartet of Caracas, from an earnest and articulate layman living on the
opposite side of the globe : by all means, Señores, do
carry on as you've been doing ; but in every performance you
give hereafter -- whether at home or abroad -- please also include a
couple of flute-free numbers which will create plenty of scope for the
twin guitars to shine brightly, and your whole performance will be
better balanced and far more exciting!
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