Friday 06 July, 2001
The Harp: A Latin American Re-invention
The harp is one of the oldest musical instruments. Its history goes back five thousand years and is linked to music, dance, art and literature. Its beauty made it destined to travel.
Five hundred years ago, when the Spaniards ventured into America, they took the stringed instrument on their long journey.
In the New World, the harp was re-invented using tropical woods. In Paraguay, it became the national instrument, and in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, the soul of folk music and dance.
In the first edition of the 4-part series Meridian Music - Travelling Instruments, devoted to different instruments, the BBC’s Juan Carlos Jaramillo charts the sound of Latin American harps.
The harp was an important element of European culture, in particular that of Spain. It was introduced into the New World during the centuries following the Spanish conquest.
It is believed to have arrived in Yapeyu, Paraguay (today a part of Argentina) in the 17th century, through the missionary work of Jesuit Father Sepp. The area was populated by the Carios indigenous peoples.
Evangelisation
The harp soon became a tool of evangelisation in several areas of Latin America.
Harpist Egberto Bermudez, an expert on the music of Colonial Latin America and a professor at the National University in Colombia, explains:
| ‘If you examine the map of the Jesuit influence in indigenous populations in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, you will see that today, the instruments are in the hands of descendants of those early indigenous communities that received instruction by the Jesuits.’ | |
With the Spanish conquest and subsequent colonisation, cultures fused together. The mestizo was born out of the union of indigenous and European peoples.
The Paraguayan Harp
In music, new fusions also occurred. For instance, the harp was redesigned, using tropical woods and adding other features. Paraguayan harpists taught future generations how to play through oral lessons. Lyrics were often sung in the indigenous language, the guarani, also used by the mestizo poulation.
New techniques were developed, moving away from classical tradition. Nails, instead of fingertips, were used to pluck the strings.
The Paraguayan harp has either 32, 36, 38 or 40 strings. The melody is generally executed with the right hand. It has no metal parts and the nylon strings are usually coloured.
The harp, and its expert musicians, have spawned a rich diversity of rhythms, many of which have European names but very different harmonies and melodies. Some examples are the fast-paced polca, the waltz, the theatrical and comedic zarzuela, the mazurka, the slow and melodic guarania and the thumping rasguido doble.
Cesar Cataldo, one of the great virtuosos of the Paraguayan harp and a teacher of the instrument in Asuncion, the capital, emphasises the contribution of the indigenous peoples to the evolution of the harp.
He says they took the harp from the Jesuits, transforming it and giving it a new spirit. This is reflected in the titles of the songs, all in guarani, which is still one of the main languages in Paraguay alongside Spanish.
Exporting A Sound
Gustavo Cervin, a record producer, says the cultural exchange continues as Paraguayan folk music is currently being exported to the rest of the world.
| ‘Our harp…is already being used in rock and pop, and I’m not talking about Paraguay, only, but also in Europe and especially in Japan, where our harp has become very popular!’ | |
The sounds of the harp music that span the continent are rather similar. Music that is played in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, or in Paraguay, have the same origin and style. Bermudez explains why.
‘It is based on the structures that were practised by the Spaniards in the 17th century. It is basically a harmonic sequence, which is repeated, and that provides a base for the solo instruments, or for the voice. It allowed for a lot of improvisation, which is one of the characteristics of the music.’
Son Jarocho
Veracruz, a port in the Gulf of Mexico, offers its own regional folk music.
It is the son jarocho, a song and dance form, recognisable by bouncy harp rhythms, supported by an ensemble of string instruments. The term 'jarocho' itself means “brusk, somewhat insolent”.
The influence from Andalucia, in the south of Spain, was particularly strong in the Jarocho region. After the arrival of Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes on Aztec territory, a cultural bridge was formed between the Gulf of Mexico to Cuba and beyond, to Seville. It produced many lyrical and dance forms.
Professor Jose Antonio Guzman, from the National Academy of Music in Mexico, explains:
‘This was the origin of dance rhythms such as sarabands, chaconnes, passacaglias, jacaras and corridos. Those rhythms travelled back and forth between two continents, becoming richer with each journey.’
La Negra Graciana’s Jarocho
One of the leading jarocho artists today is La Negra Graciana, who plays the harp and sings, accompanied by two smallish guitars - a 4-string requinto and the 8-string jarana.
She began playing at 10 years of age. Her father used to sing verses; her older brother Pino would play the jarana and her brother Carlitos, the violin.
Today, approaching 70, she and her brother Pino continue to enthrall audiences world-wide.
Together they bring the jarocho veracruzano alive with a repertoire of classics.
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| Travelling Instruments |
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Presenter and producer Juan Carlos Jaramillo journeys through Latin America to find out how a large number of European instruments have become part of the continent's cultural landscape and identity.
The series focuses on four major families of instruments.
Part one looks at the harp, essential to the musical life of Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela.
It is followed by the accordion and bandoneon of Argentina, Colombia and Mexico.
Part three features the sounds of the guitar, and its large family - charangos, tiples and cuatros, essential to Chile and Peru.
The last programme offers a choice of wind instruments: with trumpets and clarinets from Caribbean Cuba, Mexico and Brazil.
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| Influences |
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‘Latin American folk music is a mixture of ancient pre-Columbian rhythms with European and African influences, both black and Muslim.'
'One thing that distinguishes this landscape is the presence of European instruments, which have adapted to fresh habitats.'
'Latin American folk music would be unthinkable without these travelling instruments which sailed from the old world to create the music of the new one.’
Juan Carlos Jaramillo.
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