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hum2461
Humanities of Latin America
Music from the
Latin America
Today’s agenda
CUBA
• Trova (19th century)
• Nueva Trova (1967-68)
Main Music Genres
• Itinerant musicians from the 19th century.
• Their profession was singing with a guitar.
• Sung their own songs.
What is “trova”?
• Carlos López (1856-1918): “Tristezas” (1889)
• Sindo Garay (1867-1968): “Retorna”
• José ‘Chicho’ Ibáñez (1875-1981): “Yo era
dichoso” (1919)
Founders of ‘trova’ music
•
•
•
•
1967/68 (after the Cuban Revolution [1959])
Guitar was the main instrument used.
Content was political.
Lyrics attempt to escape the banalities of life.
What is “nueva trova”?
• Silvio Rodríguez (1946): Ojalá
• Pablo Milanés (1943): Versos sencillos [by
José Martí] (1973)
Founders of “nueva trova”
NUEVA CANCION
South Cone
“Nueva canción chilena” (Chile)
“Nuevo cancionero” (Argentina)
Originated in Chile in 1960.
Latin American Folk Music.
Mix of Latin American and Iberian folk
music.
Socially committed music.
 Played a powerful role in the social
upheavals in Portugal, Spain and Latin
America during the 1970s and 1980s.
“Nueva Canción”
• "The Chilean New Song" (1960)
• Violeta Parra (1917-67)
• Isabel & Angel Parra created “Centros
Culturales”
• General Pinochet’s coup d’état in
September 11th, 1973.
• Victor Jara (1932-73)
• 1969 “The 1st Festival of The Chilean New
Song”
Chile
• Founder of the Chilean New Song or “nueva
canción chilena.
• 1966, album “Ultimas composiciones” (The Last
Compositions) “Gracias a la vida” (Thanks to
Life) was her most well-known song.
• “Gracias a la Vida” popularized in Argentina by
Mercedes Sosa, in Brazil by Elis Regina and later
in the US by Joan Baez.
Violeta Parra (1917-67)
Thanks to life, which has given me so much
It gave me two bright stars that when I open
them, I perfectly distinguish the black from
white And in the sky above, her starry
backdrop And within the multitudes the man
I love
Fragment of
(Thanks to Life)
• 1960s sang in La Peña de los Parra.
• 1969, “The 1st Festival of The Chilean New
Song”
• Most well-known song “Te recuerdo amanda” (I
remember you Amanda)
• 1970, Spoke on Salvador Allende's behalf during
political campaign.
• September 12th detained by Chilean Army, in jail
he wrote a poema “Estadio Chile” (1973)
Victor Jara (1932-73)
• Argentina, Manifiesto Fundacional de “Nuevo
Cancionero” (1963)
• Artists and poets (musico-literal).
• It is a rediscovery of folk music and indigenous
traditions.
• Atahualpa Yupanqui and Buenaventura Luna
influential folklorists.
• Internal urban migration that brought rural
Argentines to the capital of Buenos Aires
changed the façade of Argentina.
“Nuevo cancionero”
• “Nuevo cancionero” proposed to develop a
national song that overcome the
dominance of tango-folklore in Argentine
national music and the rejection of pure
commercialism.
• Instead “Nuevo cancionero” sought to
embrace of institutions that encouraged
critical thinking and the open exchange of
ideas.
“Nuevo cancionero”
• Mercedes Sosa (1935-2009)
• Atahualpa Yupanqui (1908-92)
Nuevo Cancionero's most
famous singers
• 1995, won the Diamond Konex Award 
most important personality in the Popular
Music in Argentina.
• Latin Grammy Award for Best Folk Album
in 2000 ("Misa Criolla"), 2003
("Acústico"), and 2006 ("Corazón Libre")
• 2009, her album Cantora 1 won two
awards at the Latin Grammy Awards.
Mercedes Sosa (1935-2009)
• 1950Contract with "Chant Du Monde",
the recording company that published his
first LP in Europe, "Minero Soy" (I am a
Miner).
• Won first prize for Best Foreign Disc at the
Charles Cros Academy.
• Nickname was Don Ata.
Atahualpa Yupanqui (1908-92)
Mexico
Main Music Genres