Iberian and African-Brazilian Music of the 17th Century But I am persuaded that it is the Devil who teaches them most of these songs [modas] ,...
Iberian and African-Brazilian Music of the 17th Century
But I am persuaded that it is the Devil who teaches them
most of these songs [modas],
because he is a great poet, a musician skilled in counterpoint, and guitar
player who knows how to invent profane songs to teach those who do not fear God
- Nuno Marques Pereira (1652-1728)
No doubt moralist writer Nuno Marques Pereira imagined that
most of the evils that plagued the Portuguese colony in South America were due
to the proliferation of profane songs by the guitar players of the time.
Judging by the tone of much of his poetry, Gregorio de Mattos e Guerra (1636-1696) incarnated the worst of Pereira's fears. In fact, his profanities and obscenities still scandalize many readers
today.
Portraying people from all walks of life, Mattos's poetry is
a good source of information on the music heard in the streets, homes,
convents, and brothels of 17th-century Brazil. Besides writing comments and
critiques on theatrical and musical performances, naming instrumentalists and
singers, citing forms of secular and liturgical music, and describing choreographies
of African-Brazilian dances, Mattos also did paraphrases and parodies on
Iberian
romances and
tonos. He had a predilection for profane
modas
or, in his own words 'vulgar songs that coarse people sang'. Pereira credited the composition of such songs to the Devil - an excellent guitar player.
The 'Hell's Mouth' - as Mattos became known - was a guitar
player too. Because he was musically trained, one can ascribe credibility to
his comments when he describes, for instance, some monks singing out of tune or
his impressions of a musical performance by the Dominican nuns in Portugal. His descriptions and opinions deal with the music of both the elite and the lower
classes, including slaves and free Blacks - the music that one would hear in African-Brazilian
religious ceremonies such as the
calundus and the synchretic feasts of
the Catholic Church of Bahia.
Some dances, bailes and songs of Mattos's time
Cumbe,
Paracumbe: Defined by the dictionaries of Bluteau and Morais
Silva as African or African-Brazilian
bailes. In colonial Brazil, some sources mention the
quicumbis and
cucumbis (or
cucumbes)
related to the feasts of
Rei Congo.
Fantasia,
Pavana,
Sarabanda,
Gagliarda,
Saltarello,
Tarantella: Instrumental piece and European
courtly dances. These pieces were part of the standard repertory of guitar players
in both Portugal and Brazil during Mattos's time. In his poetry, Mattos
mentions the
pavana, the
sarabanda and the
saltarello. The
gagliarda recorded here originates from the Coimbra codex. It is a
Spanish version in binary rhythm, very different from the more usual ternary
found in Italian and English
galliards.
Rojão,
Vacas: Defined in dictionaries as preludes or instrumental
interludes, the Portuguese
rojões of Mattos's time were mostly
passacalles
- variations on a descending tetrachord ground. The piece called
vacas is
also built upon a ground with origins in the 16th-century song 'Guardame las
vacas'. Its harmonic bass, well known throughout Europe by the name
Romanesca,
was used as a basis for improvisation and variations for at least three
centuries.
Arromba: Mentioned in Minas Gerais as a song in the early 17th century, the
arromba
was formerly a
baile. It used to be danced by Mattos's brother with 'feet
and hands, but with the 'arsehole' always in one place', which he found curious,
since in Bahia that part of the body was 'always dancing'.
Gandum: In 17th and 18th century sources, this word is always related to Blacks,
though rarely as a musical piece. Scholars P. Fryer and J. R. Tinhorão suggest
that it was a forerunner of the well-known African-Brazilian
baile called
lundum, or
landum.
Sarambeque: Mattos uses this word as an erotic pun, but its first
meaning refers to a
baile so common that it was still danced in Brazil in the early 20th century. This performance superimposes the melody of one of the
sarambeques
of the Coimbra codex on some rhythmicmelodic patterns of western Africa
balafon music.
Cãozinho ('little dog'): Mattos's description of this
baile includes
one important African-Brazilian feature, the
umbigada, or belly blow.
Some Portuguese sources call it
cãozinho from
Sofala, referring
to the mining region in Mozambique.
Cubanco: There is very little information about the
cubanco, which
Mattos lists among Iberian guitar pieces such as the
canario,
espanholeta,
and
vilão. A report by Frei Lucas de Santa Catarina mentions the
cubanco
as being played by a lower-class boy so vigorously as to smash his small
guitar.
Vilão,
Canario: Since the 17th century, the
vilão, or
villano,
carries the popular refrain 'Al villano se le dan / la cebolla con el pan' (the
villain gets onions and bread). In southern Brazil, the
vilão has been
one of the dances and
bailes of the so-called
fandangos,
all-night gatherings that include various types of dances. The
canario was
one of the several tap-danced choreographies that flourished in the Iberian
Peninsula, some of which are still found in several parts of Latin America.
Marinicolas: Parody of
Marizapalos, a well-known Castillian song
that survives in several Iberian and Latin- American sources. Mattos satirizes
here the sexual preferences of a high functionary of the Royal Mint because of
his unpopular handling of the Portuguese currency. In Mattos's parody, the
amorous encounters of Nicolau and his servant Marcos replace the escapades of
Marizapalos and Pedro Martin.
Marinicolas todos os dias
O
vejo na sege passar por aqui
Cavalheiro
de tão lindas partes
Como
verbi gratia, Londres e Paris.
Ay verdades que en amor,
Fuese Bras de la cabana
(Foi-se
Bras de sua aldeia),
Ay de ti pobre cuidado: Iberian
tonos humanos quoted or used as
mote or
basis for the composition of new poems by Mattos.
Instruments
Most of the repertory recorded here originates from Portuguese
sources in tablature for the five course guitar. Known in Brazil and Portugal as
viola, this instrument is the ancestor of the Spanish guitar and the
Brazilian
viola, or
viola caipira. The Ensemble Banza plays
arrangements of these pieces - originally for solo guitar - that highlight sonorities
one would expect to find in late-17th century Brazil, more specifically Bahia,
Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro. The iconography and literature related to these places include European
bowed instruments and wind instruments, plucked instruments such as the guitar,
theorbo,
bandurra and
machinho (a type of small guitar), as well
as instruments of African origin, such as the
balafon,
berimbau,
and several types of drums.
Sources
Part of the repertory mentioned by Mattos and played by Brazilian
guitarists in the 17th and 18th centuries survives in Portuguese manuscripts.
Iberian
cancioneros of Mattos's time feature musical settings of several
songs he paraphrased.
Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Distrital
de Braga, codex Ms 964.
Late-17th or early-18th century organ book.
Secção de Música da Biblioteca Geral
da Universidade de Coimbra, codex M.M. 97:
Cifras de viola por varios
autores. Recolhidas pelo Ldo Joseph Carneyro Tavares Lamacense. Early-18th century codex with music
in tablature for guitar, bandurra and violin.
Biblioteca Xeral de la Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.
'Manuscrito Guerra', containing
tonos humanos of several authors, c1680.
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian,
Lisbon, Serviço de Música, no catalogue number. Early-18th century codex with music in tablature
for guitar, bandurra and harpsichord.
Biblioteca pública de Olot, Gerona:
I-VIII. 'Cancionero de Olot', several authors.
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich:
Ms. E200 1620-25. 'Cancionero de la Sablonara', several authors, c1620-1625.
Rogerio Budasz
Universidade
Federal do Parana, Curitiba, Brazil