The history of Samba

Samba, an old Brazilian style of dance with many variations, is African in origin. It has been
performed as a street dance at carnival, the pre-Lenten celebration, for almost 100 years. Many
versions of the Samba (from Baion to Marcha) are danced at the local carnival in Rio. The ballroom
Samba or Carioca Samba is derived from the rural "Rocking Samba" and has been known for many
years. (The Carioca is a small river that runs through Rio de Janiero - hence the name Carioca refers
to the people of Rio.) Today Samba is still very popular in Rio. During carnival time there are "schools
of Samba" involving thousands of elaborately-costumed dancers presenting a national theme based
on music typical of Brazil and Rio in particular.
Before 1914 it was known under a Brazilian name "Maxixe". As early as 1923 an international
meeting of professors of dancing took note of the rise of the Samba's popularity, particularly in
France. A French dance book published by Paul Boucher in 1928 included Samba instructions. The
dance was introduced to United States movie audiences in 1933 when Fred Astaire and Dolores Del
Rio danced the Carioca in Flying Down to Rio and several years later, Carmen Miranda danced the
Sambain That Night in Rio. A Samba exhibition was given at the November 1938 meeting of the New
York Society of Teachers of Dancing. General interest in the Samba was stimulated at the 1939
World's Fair in New York, where Samba music was played at the Brazilian Pavilion. A few years later
the Brazilian composer Ary Barroso wrote the classic Samba, "Brasil," which quickly became a hit,
and in 1944 he went to Hollywood to write the score for the musical Brazil.
Samba has a very specific rhythm, highlighted to its best by characteristic Brazilian musical
instruments: originally called tamborim, chocalho, reco-reco and cabaca. Much of Samba music
came from daily life in Rio, the first famous example being "Pelo Telefone" composed by Donga. To
achieve the true character of the Samba a dancer must give it a happy, flirtatious and exuberant
interpretation. Many figures, used in the Samba today, require a pelvic tilt (Samba tic) action. This
action is difficult to accomplish, but without it the dance loses much of its effect. Principal
characteristics of the Samba are the rapid steps taken on a quarter of a beat and the pronounced
rocking motion and sway of the dancing couple.
The Samba (also known as the Brazilian Waltz) is now a moderately popular ballroom dance, limited
pretty much to experienced ballroom dancers because of its speed.

Sources: http://www.dancelovers.com/samba_history.html
Perhaps one of the most popular music and dance styles ever to emerge from Brazil, samba evolved in Rio de Janeiro by the
early 20th century and grew to become the quintessential music and dance form associated with Rio's carnaval. With its rich
and syncopated rhythm and its often voluptuous dance moves, samba has circled the globe as one of the most infectious and
popular styles from the South American continent.
The word "samba" is thought to be derived from the Kimbundu (Angolan) term semba, which referred to an "invitation to
dance" as well as a common appellation for the dance parties held by slaves and former slaves in the rural areas of Rio.
These dances involved gyrating hip movements (called umbigada) and had roots going back to the colonial period in the
Congolese and Angolan circle dances.
Over time samba gained important influences not only from Brazilian predecessors such as the maxixe and the marcha, but
the Cuban habanera and German polka as well. As a song form, samba was extremely popular during the turn of the century,
with some of the early recordings dating back to 1911. Among the early pioneers of the song form was Alfredo da Rocha
Vianna Jr., known as Pixinguinha, who helped to crystallize the form as well as develop a richer harmony. From the 1920s
and into the height of the radio era of the '30s, sambas were slower and more romantic (such as those of Ismael Silva),

leading to the subgenre known as samba-cano, which emphasized the melody over the rhythm, and lyrics that were more
sentimental and often moody. Brazilian crooners and composers put samba on the international radar, and icons such as
Carmen Miranda embraced the form, becoming a star in Brazil long before her move to the U.S. and Hollywood as a
personification of Brazil's exuberant side.
By the 1950s, as samba-cano began to lose its momentum, a more percussive and funkier style of samba began to
develop in the poor areas and shantytowns (known as favelas). At first called samba de morro because of its development in
the morros(hills), the style came to be known as samba-de-batucada, and emphasized the polyrhythmic sounds of multiple
percussion instruments. This powerful sounding form would in time become the heartbeat of Rio's carnaval, and the primary
vehicles for the style were (and are) organized groups or contingents called escolas de samba (samba schools).
Dating back to the late 1920s, Rio's escolas emerged as fraternal groups devoted to playing and dancing for carnaval, and
now represent some of the most important cultural institutions in the country. Brimming with hundreds of percussionists
(collectively called the bateria), dancers, costume and float designers and choreographers, the escolas prepare virtually yearround for the annual carnival parade, and each group enters into competition with its theme samba called the enredo. Rio is
not the only city in Brazil to offer Carnaval festivities; the former colonial capital of Salvador, Bahia is also home to one of the
most exciting and perhaps more roots-oriented carnival traditions, in particular as the state of Bahia has retained much of its
African heritage as the country's center for the Afro-Brazilian religion of candombl.
Another important development in the legacy of samba took place in the late 1950s which would spark the second
international wave of popularity for Brazilian music: the development of bossa nova. Considered an adaptation of the previous
samba- cano form, bossa nova emphasized the melodic and vocal aspects of samba in a slower, more romantic style
fused with the richness of American jazz harmony. The result was a sound many music critics first panned for its "out-of-tune"
qualities, but its popularity soared as pioneers such as Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joo Gilberto brought bossa nova to new
heights. Films such as Black Orpheus (with a musical score of sambas and bossa novas composed by Jobim) wowed
international audiences with the sounds of authentic Brazilian music.
By the 1970s, samba saw its rise within the era of MPB (msica popular Brasileira) as artists such as Milton Nascimento,
Djavan and Ivan Lins modernized the more dynamic batucada style with contemporary harmony and instrumentation, fusing
samba with rock, jazz and other forms, and bringing the style into the mainstream. No longer would the sound of samba be
limited to its role as the soundtrack for carnaval. Other subvarieties of samba began to emerge, including partido alto (a funkinspired style) and pagode (a smaller group format associated with parties and informal gatherings). Samba was everywhere,
and it seemed to be the measure of happiness for Brazilians of all races and social classes.
While much of samba's history is centered in Rio de Janeiro, a new development of the genre began to emerge in the
eastern state of Bahia in the 1980s, as artists in Salvador created a new percussive style that was a bit slower and more
driving, with lyrics that reflected the ideology of Brazil's African Diaspora. The group Olodum pioneered by the bloco
Afro style, which adapted some of the batucada elements of Rio's samba and focused on a more hypnotic, drum-infused
sound. Olodum's lyrics spoke of black culture and pride, and gave Bahian youth an outlet for their frustrations through the
formation of a strong community organization dedicated to providing education and opportunity. With much of Brazil's black
youth on the fringe of society, blocos such as Olodum provided much needed cultural and political refuge, and also happened
to produce one of Brazil's most exciting new samba offshoots. In time, the bloco-Afro sound would fuse with Jamaican reggae
and be known as samba-reggae, resulting in one of the most popular incarnations of samba into the 21st century. Rebeca
Mauleon

Source:
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/sam
ba_782/en_US
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2932298?
&Search=yes&searchText=candombe&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction
%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dcandombe%26fromHomePage%3Dtrue%26acc
%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc
%3Doff&prevSearch=&item=1&ttl=129&returnArticleService=showFullText

Candombe:
Candombe (can-dome-bey) is an African derived rhythm that has been an important
part of Uruguayan culture for over two hundred years. Uruguay, with a population of
approximately 3.2 million, is a small country located in South America, bordered by
its two massive neighbors, Brazil (162 million) to the East, and Argentina (34
million) to the West. This rhythm traveled to Uruguay from Africa with black slaves,
and is still going strong in the streets, halls and carnivals of this small enchanting
country.

To understand how this rhythm, which is so strongly rooted in Uruguayan culture evolved,
one would need to turn back the pages of African and South American history to look at how
this contagious rhythm anchored at the shores of Montevideo. The text that follows are
excerpts from books and articles written about candombe, as well as the viewpoint of
individuals who have been close to this scene.
Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, was founded by the Spanish in a process that was begun
in 1724 and completed in 1730. African slaves were first introduced to the city in 1750. The
roots of this population were not homogeneous, but rather a multi-ethnic swath of Africa
that was culturally quite varied. 71% were sourced from the Bantu area, from Eastern and
Equatorial Africa, while the rest came from non-Bantu Western Africa: Guinea, Senegal,
Gambia, Sierra Leone, and the Gold Coast (what is today Ghana).

The Bantu area is an enormous cultural region of Africa with an extremely complex mosaic
of ethnicities, consisting of over 450 groups with a linguistic heritage that overwhelms man's
migratory limits: more than 20 linguistic groups and 70 dialects.

* these indices were compiled from documents of the Montevideo census of 1812, part of
the nation's general archives.

It is believed that no less than ten million "ebony pieces" disembarked on the coasts of
North and South America. This implies a bleeding of sixty million souls, if we consider that
only one of every six victims of this human traffic ever made it alive to the harbors where
they were to be auctioned. To understand what this meant, in demographic terms, it is
sufficient to consider that at the beginning of the 19th Century, Buenos Aires had a
population of merely 50 thousand.
* from the prologue, written by Adolfo Colombres, to the book "El Candombe" by Ruben
Carambula
Biafra was dead, nobody wanted to get there
Who could care, anyhow, about some dying blacks?
Biafra, you're deserted and your drums are no longer around
While they could, your people sang:
Ne-ia ne-ia cumaia-nagata
Ne-ia ne-ia cumaia-nagata.
* from the candombe "Biafra" by Ruben Rada, in the introduction to the book "Los Tambores
del Candombe" by Luis Ferreira

Candombe is what survives of the ancestral heritage of Bantu roots, brought by the blacks
arriving at the Ro de la Plata. The term is generic for all black dances: synonymous with and
evoking the rituals of that race. Its musical spirit sums up the sorrows of the unfortunate
slaves, who were hastily transplanted to South America to be sold and subjected to brutal
work. These were pained souls, harboring an inconsolable nostalgia for their homeland.
During colonial times, the newly arrived Africans called their drums tang, and used this
term to refer to the place where they gathered to perform their candombe dances; by
extension, the dances themselves were also called tangs. With the word tang, they
defined the place, the instrument, and the dance of the blacks.

At the dawn of the 19th Century, Montevideo's Establishment was deeply troubled by the
existence of the candombes, which they indistinctly called tambo or tang. They banned
them and harshly punished their participants, considering the dances a threat to public
morals. In 1808 the citizens of Montevideo requested that the governor repress these
dances even more severely and "prohibit the tangs of the blacks."
* from the book "Candombe" by Ruben Carambula
In Africa, Tambor and the person playing it are defined by the same word, Tambor.

The African poet Amos Totuola

writes:
When the Tambor
Began to play the Tambor
Those who had been
Dead for years
Came forth to witness
How the Tambor played the
Tambor.
"Kalunga kalungangue O-je o-je Imbambue."
It was the voice of the old "tatas" of candombe from the middle of the last Century,
bellowing in the halls of black clandestine gatherings, sons and grandsons of those brought
over in the holds of the slave ships. From 1751 to 1810, Montevideo received large
contingents of Africans aboard vessels flying English and Spanish flags. While their culture
was quickly repressed by the Spanish, their need for expression, their liberation, was
maintained through their Tambor.
The Tambor of candombe is the presence of ancestral Africa in Uruguay.

Candombe (24cm x 64cm) painting by Pedro Figari

Painted in the year 1932 ( he was 71 years of age at that time), one should consider that
the image above was painted from Figari's memories of his childhood, which reflects the
mid-nineteenth century candombe-gatherings, as described.
The houses where the slaves gathered, with their masters' permission, were off-limits to the
general public in Montevideo of old. These were called tangs, and within their walls the
slaves celebrated their festivities and ceremonies to the sound of the Tambor.

From this period of original celebrations in Uruguay, only the musical gathering is retained
today, and find their principal manifestation in the "llamadas" of Barrio Sur and Palermo. In
the sounds of the piano, the chico and the repique, the slaves have been able to preserve
their ancestral memory.
* excerpts of the paper presented in August 1994, in Salvador, Bahia, at the Second
International Congress of Afro-American Cultures by Aglimira "La Negra" Villalba
Impassioned by the rhythm, with a fleeting and naive joy, the dance is the reward for their
tasks in the stables, for the jobs as porters that leave their agile bodies bent.
* written by by Samuel Oliver, excerpt from the book 'Figari', 1984, by Samuel Oliver from
the collection "Artistas de Americas".
On the 28th of October, 1846, the president of the Republic, Joaquin Suarez, abolished
slavery in Uruguay, in a process that began in 1825.
* information supplied by Virginia Martinez
Uruguay abolished slavery, documents described African dance rituals in Montevideo and the
countryside known as tangs, with the accent on the second syllable. The word referred
variously to the drums, the dances and the places where the religious rituals were held.
Therein lies an intriguing musicological tale about the obscure origins of the tango, one of
the best-known Latin American musical genres.

El Tango by Pedro Figari

35x50cm
The tango developed simultaneously in Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Although typically
regarded as the creation of Italian and Spanish immigrants, the tango's music and the dance
movements associated with it were deeply influenced by African dance and music, according
to experts.
Argentina's black population all but disappeared, decimated in the 1800s by yellow fever,
intermarriage and massive military recruitment of blacks, who then died in wars. In
Uruguay, people of African descent accounted for about half the population two centuries
ago; they now number about 189,000 in a nation of 3.2 million.
* excerpts from L.A. Times article by Sebastian Rotella

Oriental Republic of
Uruguay
Short Form: Uruguay
Capital: Montevideo
Language: Spanish
After independence was declared in 1825, civil wars disrupted the republic for almost 75
years. Military rule muzzled Uruguay from 1973 until democracy was restored in 1985, when
many refugees came home. About 90 percent of Uruguayans - most of Spanish or Italian
descent - live in cities, with Montevideo home to two-fifths. Education is compulsory and
free, one of Latin America's most literate.
* Text source: National Geographic Atlas of the World Revised Sixth Edition, 1995
Montevideo, Uruguay-On Sunday nights, the drummers of Barrio Sur assemble by firelight at
an intersection in the historic black neighborhood in a tranquil corner of South America.
Flames dance in a gutter bonfire lighted to tone the hides of the drums. Rows of drummers
pound down the street in a blur of muscle, sweat and sound, filling the night with an Africanderived rhythm known as candombe.

Luna, Barrio y Tamboril by Fernando Gomez Germano

The street-corner ritual is part of a neglected chapter of the African diaspora. The drums tell
a story of the profound impact that African culture has had in Uruguay and elsewhere in
Latin America. In fact, Afro-Uruguayans celebrate an often-ignored piece of history
* excerpts from L.A. Times article by Sebastian Rotella

Nostalgias del Candombe by Pedro Figari 60x80cm

The Creole, who once formed the whole nation, now prefers to be one of many. So that
there may be greater glories in the land, glories must be forgotten. The memory of them is
almost an act of remorse, the reproach of things abandoned without the intercession of a
goodbye. It is a memory which is rescued, as the Creole destiny requires, for the gallantry
and perfection of its sacrifice.
* written by Jorge Luis Borges, 'Figari', published in Buenos Aires Editorial, 1930, translated
by David Balderstom, excerpt from the book 'Figari', 1984, by Samuel Oliver from the
collection "Artistas de Americas".

The candombe rhythm is created by the use of three drums (tambores), tambor
piano, tambor chico and tambor repique. When these three drums heat up, it's like
nothing you've ever heard before. On the following page you will be able to hear the
distinct sound of each of these three tambores.

Sources: http://www.candombe.com/english.html

Candombe has had a significant role in the culture of Uruguay in the last two hundred years, it was recognized
by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage of humanity.[1] It is a cultural manifestation originating in the arrival of
slaves from Africa. To a lesser extent, Candombe is practiced in Argentinaand Brazil. In Argentina, it can be
found in Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Paran, Salta and Corrientes. In Brazil, it still retains its religious character
and can be found in Minas Gerais State.

Common Origins
According to George Reid Andrews, the historian of Montevideo Black communities, after the middle of the 19th
century younger blacks in particular abandoned the candombe in favor of dances from Europe such as
the mazurka. Meanwhile, whites began to imitate the steps and movements of blacks. Calling themselves Los
Negros, upper class portenos in the 1860s and 1870s blackened their faces and formed one of the carnival
processions each year.
A new dance, which embodied the movement and style of the candombe, and called a tango with couples
dancing apart, rather than in an embrace, was created by the Afro-Argentines of Mondongo in the year 1877.
So wrote a man who identified himself as "Viejo Tanguero" in a September 1913 article in Buenos Aires's first
mass circulation popular newspaper.[2] In a book published in 1883 Ventura Lyncha noted student of the
dances and folklore of Buenos Aires Provincenoted the influence the Afro-Argentine dancers had on
the compadritos, or tough guys, who apparently frequented the Afro-Argentine dance venues. Lynch wrote, "the
milonga is danced only by the compadritos of the city, who have created it as a mockery of the dances the
blacks hold in their own places".[2] Lynch's report was interpreted by Robert Farris Thompson in Tango: The Art
of Love as meaning that city compadritosdanced milonga, not rural gauchos. Thompson notes that the
population of city toughs dancing milonga would have included blacks and mulattoes, and that it would not have
been danced as a mockery by all the dancers.[3]

In uruguay
In the third decade of the 19th century the word candombe began to appear in Montevideo, referring to self-help
dancing societies founded by persons of African descent. The term means "pertaining to blacks" in Ki-Kongo. In
Montevideo it meant more than a dance or a music or a congregation, but all of the above. [4]
Candombe the dance was a local fusion of various African traditions. A complicated choreography included a
final section with wild rhythms, freely improvised steps, and energetic, semi-athletic movements. [5]

In Argentina
Afro-Argentines playing Candombe Porteo near a bonfire in St. John's night (noche de San Juan), 1938.

The African influence was not foreign to Argentina, where the candombe also has been developed with specific
characteristics. A population of black African slaves had been present in Buenos Aires since around 1580.
However their place in Argentine culture nearly died out due to events such as the yellow fever epidemic and
the War against Paraguay that decimated the black population in Argentina and nearly wiped out their culture. [6]
In Buenos Aires, mainly in southern districts today called San Telmo, Montserrat and San Cristobal, crowds
gathered to practice it. Was decreasing while it carried out the invisibility that the government did to blacks
during the 19th and 20th centuries, decimated by these causes, and the flow of immigration of white Europeans
who displaced to the domestic service, the crafts and alley sale to the afroporteos (black people from Buenos
Aires).

Even though the original present-day Angola, where it was taken to South America during the 17th and 18th
centuries by people who had been sold as slaves in the kingdoms of Kongo, Anziqua, Nyong, Quang and
others, mainly by Portuguese slave traders. The same cultural Carriers of candombe colonized Brazil
(especially in the area of Salvador de Bahia), Cuba, and the Rio de la Plata with its capital Buenos Aires and
Montevideo. The various stories that followed these regions separated the common origin giving rise to different
rhythms.
In Buenos Aires, during the two governments of Juan Manuel de Rosas, it was common that afroporteos
(black people of Buenos Aires) practiced the candombe in public, even encouraged and visited by Rosas and
his daughter, Manuela. Rosas defeated in the battle of Caseros in 1852, Buenos Aires began a profound and
rapid change with respect to European culture. In this context, the afroporteos (black people of Buenos Aires)
replicated their ancestral cultural patterns increasingly into their private life. For this reason since 1862, the
press, intellectuals and politicians began to assert that had disappeared misconception that has remained
virtually until now in the imagination of ordinary people, from Argentina.
Many researchers agree that the Candombe, through the development of the Milonga is an essential
component in the genesis of Argentine tango. This musical rhythm influenced, specially, the "Surea Milonga".
In fact, tango, milonga and candombe form a musical triptych from the same African roots. But with different
developments.
Initially, the practice of Candombe was practiced exclusively by blacks, who had designed special places called
Tangs. This word originated sometime in the 19th century the word "Tango", but not yet its present meaning.

Present
[edit]Argentina
Afro-Argentine Candombe drummers at a party of the Association Misibamba -Afro-Argentines Community of Buenos Aires.

Lately, some artists have incorporated this genre to their compositions, and have also created groups and
NGOs of Afro-descendants, as the Misibamba Association, Afro-Argentines of Buenos Aires Community.
However, it's important to note that the Uruguayan Candombe is the most practiced in Argentina, both due to
immigration from Uruguay and to the seductiveness of the rhythm that captivates the Argentines. For this
reason they learn the music, dance and characters and recreate something similar. Uruguayan Candombe is
played much in the neighborhoods of San Telmo, Montserrat and La Boca. While the Argentine variety had less
local diffusion (compared with the diffusion that occurred in Uruguay), mainly by the decrease of population of
black African origin, its mixing mixing with white immigrants and the prohibition of the carnival during the last
dictatorship. The Afroargentine Candombe is only played by the Afro-Argentines in the privacy of their homes,
mainly located in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.[7] Recently, due to a change in strategy by the Afro-Argentines to
move from concealment to the visibility, there are some ventures to interpret it in public places, as stages and
street parades. Among the groups who play Afroargentine Candombe are: Tambores del Litoral (union of
Balikumba from Santa Fe, and Candombes del Litoral from Parana, Entre Ros), Bakongo (these, have
their own web page) and the Comparsa Negros Argentinos. The latter two are in Gran Buenos Aires (Buenos
Aires City and its surroundings).

[edit]Instruments
[edit]Uruguayan

and musical features

Candombe, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by

UNESCO
Tambores de Candombe Uruguay

Inscribed in 2009 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, UNESCO. The
candombe is a source of pride and a symbol of the identity of communities of African descent in Montevideo,
embraced by younger generations and favouring group cohesion, while expressing the communities needs and
feelings with regard to their ancestors;
The music of candombe is performed by a group of drummers called a cuerda. The barrel-shaped drums,
or tamboriles, have specific names according to their size and function:

chico, small, high timbre, serving as the rhythmic pendulum

repique, medium, embellishes candombe's rhythm with improvised phrases

piano, largest size, its function similar to that of the upright or electric bass

An even larger drum, called bajo or bombo (very large, very low timbre, accent on the fourth beat), was once
common but is now declining in use. A cuerda at a minimum needs three drummers, one on each part. A full
cuerda will have 50-100 drummers, commonly with rows of seven or five drummers, mixing the three types of
drums. A typical row of five can be piano-chico-repique-chico-piano, with the row behind having repique-chicopiano-chico-repique and so on to the last row.
Tamboriles are made of wood with animal skins that are rope-tuned or fire-tuned minutes before the
performance. They are worn at the waist with the aid of a shoulder strap called a talig or tal and played with
one stick and one hand.
A key rhythmic figure in candombe is the clave (in 3-2 form). It is played on the side of the drum, a procedure
known as "hacer madera" (literally, "making wood").
[edit]Master

Candombe drummers

Among the most important and traditional Montevidean rhythms are: Cuareim, Ansina and Cordon. There are
several master drummers who have kept Candombe alive uninterrupted for two hundred years. Some of
highlights are: in Ansina school: Wshington Ocampo, Hctor Surez, Pedro "Perico" Gularte, Eduardo "Cacho"
Gimnez, Julio Gimnez, Ral "Pocho" Magarios, Rubn Quirs, Alfredo Ferreira, "Tito" Gradn,, Ral "Maga"
Magarios, Luis "Mocambo" Quirs, Fernando "Hurn" Silva, Eduardo "Malumba" Gimenez, Alvaro Salas,
Daniel Gradn, Sergio Ortuo y Jos Luis Gimnez. [8]
[edit]Argentine

Candombe

Tambores del Litoral -a group of afro-litoraleo Argentine Candombe-.

The Afro-Argentine Candombe is played with two types of drums, played exclusively by men. Those drums are:
Llamador (also called: "base", "tumba", quinto or tumba base), and Repicador (also called: contestador,
repiqueteador or requinto). The first is a bass drum, and the second is a sharp drum. There are two models
of each of the drums: one made in hollowed trunk, and the other made with staves. The first type are hung with

a strap on the shoulder and are played in a street parade. The latter are higher than those, and played for
granted. Both types of drums, are played only with both hands. Sometimes others drums are played: the "Mac"
and the "Sopipa". Both are made from hollowed tree trunk, the first is performed lying on the floor, as it is the
largest and deepest drum; and the "Sopipa" which is small and acute, is played hung on the shoulder or held
between the knees.
Among the idiophones that always accompany the drums are the "Taba" and "Mazacalla", being able to add:
the "Quijada", the "Quisanche" and the "Chinesco. The Argentine Candombe is a vocal-instrumental practice,
all the same to be played sitting or street parade. There is a large repertoire of songs in African languages
archaic, in Spanish or in a combination of both. They are usually structured in the form of dialogue and are
interpreted solo, responsorial, antiphonal or in group. Although singing is usually a feminine practice, men may
be involved. When is more of a voice, it is always in unison. Where there is more of a voice, it is always in
unison.
[edit]Uruguayan

Candombe Performance

A oil painting of Pedro Figari depictingCandombe dancers (oil on canvas 75 X 105 cms.) Costantini Collection.

A full Candombe group, collectively known as a Comparsa Lubola (composed of blackened white people,
traditionally with burnt corks) or Candombera (composed of black people), constitutes thecuerda, a group of
female dancers known as mulatas, and several stock characters, each with their own specific dances. The
stock characters include:

La Mama Vieja: the Old Mother.

El Gramillero: the Herb doctor. an ancient black man, dressed in top hat and frock coat, carrying a bag
of herbs.

El Escobero: the Broomsman, He has to be an expert candombero and graceful dancer, who performs
extraordinary feats and of juggling and balance with his broom.

Candombe is performed regularly in the streets of old Montevideo's south neighbourhood in January and
February, during Uruguay's Carnival period, and also in the rest of the country. All the comparsas, of which
there are 80 or 90 in existence, participate in a massive Carnival parade called Las Llamadas("calls") and vie
with each other in official competitions in the Teatro de Verano theatre. During Las Llamadas, members of the
comparsa often wear costumes that reflect the music's historical roots in the slave trade, such as sun hats and
black face-paint. The monetary prizes are modest; more important aspects include enjoyment, the fostering of a
sense of pride and the winning of respect from peers. Cuerdaluna is a very popluar Candombe group in
Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Intense performances can cause damage to red blood cells, which manifests as rust-colored urine immediately
after drumming.[9]

Que Pasa? In Uruguay

---

Uruguay has a number of local musical forms. The most distinctive ones are tango,
murga, a form of musical theatre, and candombe, an afro-Uruguayan type of music
which occur yearly during the Carnival period. There is also milonga, a folk guitar
and song form deriving from Spanish traditions and related to similar forms found
in many Hispanic-American countries. The famed tango singer Carlos Gardel is
rumoured to have been from the Uruguayan town of Tacuaremb.
Also, cumbia, a music style popular throughout most of Central and South America
is widely enjoyed by the Uruguayan people, particularly in the rural areas
Uruguayan tango

The modern field of tango music and dance arose Buenos Aires, Argentina as well as Montevideo,
Uruguay. It is still questioned whether Carlos Gardel, the giant of tango, was actually born in
Tacuarembo, Uruguay, rather than in France. Other Uruguayan tango musicians, among the most
important names, were director Francisco Canaro and singer Julio Sosa. One of the best-known
tangos in the world, "La Cumparsita", was written by Uruguayan composer Gerardo Matos Rodrguez.
Modern tango musicians include Raul Jaurena, Hugo Daz, Miguel Villasboas, Marino Rivero, Raul
Montero, Elsa Moran, Gustavo Nocetti, Luis di Matteo, Julio Brum, Hector Ulises Passarella, and
Giovanna. One of the key names in modern tango, poet Horacio Ferrer, who contributed the lyrics for
several of the most important tango works by Astor Piazzolla, is Uruguayan as well.

Candombe
Candombe originates from the Ro de la Plata, where African slaves brought their dances and
percussion music. The word tango then referred to the traditional drums and dances,

as well as the places where dancing occurred. Candombe rhythms are produced by drum ensembles,
known as cuerdas, which include dozens of drummers and feature three drum sizes: tambor repique,
tambor chico and tambor piano).

Popular candombe musicians include Hugo Fattoruso and Rubn Rada. Fattoruso has been a
longtime part of both the Uruguayan and Latin American music scene, including as a member of rock
band Los Shakers, and swing band The Hot Blowers, as well as Brazilian Milton Nascimento and the
Latin jazz group Opa.
The Afro-Uruguayan rhythm Candombe has played a
significant role in Uruguayan culture for over 200 years.
The rhythm is created by the use of three drums
(tambores); tambor piano, tambor chico and tambor
repique. The piano is the largest in size and the lowest in