strictly in accordance with Renaissance rules of counterpoint. By the 17th century,
however, the villancico had evolved into a well-established form, with an opening
estribillo (refrain) sung by the choir, alternating with several coplas (stanzas) sung by a soloist or group of soloists, ending with a final estribillo. Villancicos often
make use of the sesquiáltera (hemiola) inherited from its Spanish medieval roots,
as well as octosyllabic lines, typical of Spanish poetry.
Literally peasant songs (from the Spanish villano meaning peasant), villancicos
emerged in rural areas as simple monophonic folk songs, reflecting the rustic life-
style, with humorous and satirical themes. They often made use of stock characters
from Spanish popular culture, with theatrical stories that represented regional and
ethnic stereotypes. They became widespread in Spain in the 15th century, and in
time became mannered expressions of courtly love, usually performed a capella,
or accompanied by vihuela, harp, or other instruments. Many villancicos were
also semireligious songs of faith and praise, but they were always in vernacular
languages such as Spanish, Portuguese or ethnic dialects, never in Latin. In the
16th century, they were adopted by the polyphonists of the golden age, and gained
a level of polyphonic sophistication, increased expressivity, and rhythmic diversity,
including syncopations and frequent meter changes. During this period, and par-
ticularly after the counterreformation, villancicos were performed liturgically on
specific feast days, notably Christmas, Epiphany, and Corpus Christi. Because the
more popular villancicos were those associated with the Christmas season, the term
itself became synonymous with Christmas carols. By the 18th century, villancicos
adopted elements of Italian opera, often reflecting the structure of da capo arias,
with recitatives and concertato accompaniment. The popularity of the villancico
declined in the second half of the 18th century.
Villancicos often appeared in sets of 7 to 10 poems in different meters, sung in
church during the service to entertain the public after each responsorial. Because
a religious service that included a complete villancico cycle was often quite long,
the last song usually had a light, joyful, and cheerful character, achieved by comical
situations and stories, and the imitation of Spanish accents. These works came to be
identified with those groups, with names such as gallegos and gitanos. Aspects of
black culture had also appeared in Spanish villancicos as early as the 15th century,
Villancico
|
443
owing to the important slave population in Spain and Portugal, most of whom came
from Guinea and Angola. As a result, these villancicos came to be called negros ,
negrillos , or guineos . They were usually in 6/8 meter, and often sought to parody
African accents and pronunciation. By the 17th century, the practice of including a
guineo in a villancico cycle was common, and had become a convention, no longer
necessarily imitating African languages. Many guineos were composed simply out
of custom in places where no blacks had ever lived.
The villancico came to the Americas in the first half of the 16th century, and it
quickly reached a measure of richness and originality that, in retrospect, placed it at
the pinnacle of New World composition, though at the time it was viewed as a sec-
ondary genre. As in Spain, Latin American villancicos came to occupy an important
position in the great cathedrals such as Mexico City, Puebla and Lima, composed by
notable chapelmasters and other church musicians such as Gaspar Fernandes, Juan
Gutiérrez de Padilla, Juan de Araujo, and Manuel de Sumaya. The villancico’s flex-
ibility and broad stylistic background served the genre well in the Spanish and Por-
tuguese colonies. Many composers continued to write gitanos and gallegos in the old
European style, but for the most part the genre quickly developed past its Iberian coun-
terpart, able to absorb the vast, though often subtle, stylistic influences of the different
ethnic groups. The most prominent of these was the mestizo e indio, which purported
to imitate various native languages, with complex syncopations meant to represent the
exotic cultures. Negros and guineos also took on a new life and intensity, due to the
increased racial and cultural diversity in the New World. Texts were a mixture of Span-
ish, Portuguese, native dialects, and African (especially Yoruba) languages, usually
deliberately distorted in a humorous and disparaging way, often offensive to modern
sensibilities. With little relation to actual native or African cultures, these mannered
villancicos are more revealing about the composers and their audiences than about the
ethnic groups themselves. In spite of this, the villancico became at once a means for
colonial artistic expression and a symbol for social and ethnic syncretism.
Many villancicos began to evolve into more popular genres. Some were so in-
fused with dance rhythms that they in turn were called by the names of the dances,
such as the tocotín of Náhuatl origin, which was performed in churches during the
colonial period, and the paya, which combined elements from mulatto, black and
mestizo culture. These genres were infused with popular characteristics, sung in Af-
rican or native languages and accompanied by native instruments, but still answer-
ing to the harmonic and even formal demands of the Spanish homeland. European
dances such as sarabandes , chaconnes , canarios , and folías also began to change, infused with guineo and native elements. All of this music had an important influence on the development of popular and folk styles such as romances , décimas , aguinaldos , alabados , corridos , and countless other genres, from Mexico to Cuba and Puerto Rico, from Colombia and Venezuela to Chile and Argentina.
444 | Violão de Sete Cordas
Further Reading
González-Quiñones, J. “The Orchestrally Accompanied villancico in Mexico in the
Eighteenth Century.” Ph.D. diss., City University of New York, 1990.
Grebe, M. E. “Introducción al estudio del villancico en Latinoamerica,” RMC , no. 107
(1969), 7–31.
Melis, A. Poesia e musica nell’America Coloniale: il caso si sor Juana Inés de la Cruz ,
Florence, 1994.
Ramón y Rivera, L. F. “Del villancico al corrido mexicano,” Heterofonía vii (1974): 10–13.
Stanford, E. T. El villancico y el corrido mexicano . Mexico City, 1974.
Mark Brill
Violão de Sete Cordas
The violão de sete cordas is a Brazilian seven-string, classical-style guitar, typi-
cally used in traditional choro and samba groups. The instrument was first adapted for use in popular Brazilian music in the early 1900s. Valued for its extended bass
range, it is known for providing melodic bass lines, called baixarias. Over the past
century, several players have developed the techniques and vocabulary of play-
ing the instrument. The early pioneers, “Tute” and “Dino Sete Cordas,” used it in
popular ensembles and more recently, Raphael Rabello and Yamandú Costa have
popularized it as a solo instrument.
The seventh (lowest) string of the violão de sete cordas is tuned to C or B fol-
lowed by the standard six-string guitar tuning E, A
, D, G, B, and E. It is played using
classical guitar finger-picking techniques and has become an ideal accompaniment
instrument due to its full sound and ability to play low bass notes and chords simul-
taneously. When playing baixarias, the thumb plays repeated rest strokes, primar-
ily on the lower strings, facilitated by the frequent use of legatos. A thumb pick,
usually made of pliable metal, is typically used as it adds volume and protects the
thumb, but some players use natural or acrylic fingernails.
History
The vocabulary of the baixaria style was first established on the violão (six-string
guitar) during the late 1800s in the popular terno ensembles which were comprised
of flute, cavaquinho, and guitar. The origins of the violão de sete cordas are uncertain, but the instrument has roots in Europe and Russia dating back to the Re-
naissance. It began to appear in Brazil during the beginning of the 20th century
and Russian immigrants that settled in Catumbi, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro,
are believed to have brought it to Brazil. As a result of interactions with gypsies
Violão de Sete Cordas | 445
from Catumbi, the guitarists “China” (Otávio Viana) and “Tute” (Artur de Souza
Nascimento) both associated with Pixinguinha’s famous group, Os Oito Batutas
(1919–27), adopted the instrument and are credited with integrating it into Brazil-
ian popular music.
By the mid-1920s, the violão de sete cordas and pandeiro were added to the ternos and became standard components of the conjunto regional or regional group.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, these groups were hired by recording companies
and radio stations to provide music for a variety of formats. They specialized in
choro , samba, and other popular music and thus defined the sound and instrumentation of traditional Brazilian music. During the 1950s and 1960s, most of the re-
gional groups disbanded and use of the violão de sete cordas declined as traditional
Brazilian music was replaced by bossa nova and American music.
The techniques and musical language of the violão de sete cordas continued to
be developed through the innovations of guitarist Horondino José da Silva (1918–
2006) or “Dino Sete Cordas.” Dino played the six-string guitar for many years in
regional groups, but after the guitarist Tute retired in 1950, he began playing the
seven-string and was invited to join Benedito Lacerda’s regional in 1952. During
the 1960s, Dino joined Jacob do Bandolim’s group Época de Ouro and recorded
definitive versions of choro standards. Throughout his career, Dino played a De
Souto seven-string built in 1953 by Sylvestre Domingos.
Before the invention of nylon strings after World War II, steel strings were used
instead of gut because they were stronger, stayed in tune longer, and could with-
stand tropical heat and humidity. Dino used a combination of strings. A low C cello
string for the seventh string, flat wound steel strings for the E, A, D, and G, and
nylon for the B and high E. Steel strings were used on seven-string guitars until
1983 when Luiz Otávio Braga, guitarist for Camerata Carioca, was the first to use
an all-nylon string instrument that since has become the standard for most players.
The choro revival of the 1970s created renewed interest in traditional music and
instruments. This led to the establishment of regular rodas de choro (informal choro
jam sessions) and choro clubs in several Brazilian cities. It was during this time
that the violão de sete cordas began to be integrated into the escola de samba. The
revival reached its peak with the arrival of guitarist Raphael Rabello (1962–1995)
who quickly became one of the world’s greatest guitarists with his brilliant baix-
arias, virtuosic solo work, and duets with a variety of artists. His recordings and
collaborations helped solidify the role and popularity of the instrument.
Further Reading
Cazes, H. Choro: Do Quintal ao Municipal. Rio de Janeiro: Editora 34, 1998.
Diniz, A. Almanaque do Choro: A história do chorinho, o que ouvir, o queler, onde cur-
tir. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar Ed., 2003.
446 | Volcanto
Livingston-Isenhour, T. and Garcia, T. Choro: A Social History of a Brazilian Popular
Music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.
Taborda, M. E. Dino Sete Cordas e o Acompanhamento de Violãona Musica Popular
Brasileira. Dissertação de Mestrado, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 1995.
Thomas Rohde
Volcanto (Nicaragua)
The term Volcanto refers to protest song in Central America and is derived from
the fusion of the two words, volcán (volcano) and canto (song), a term inspired
by the many volcanoes that distinguish the natural landscape of western Central
America. Of the several terms available to denote protest music in Latin America
( nueva canción , nueva trova , música testimonial ), volcanto was created specifically as a new handle for music of the region, yet it appears to only have become a
fixed term in Nicaragua. It began to be used after the revolution in 1979, becom-
ing prevalent in the 1980s, long after nueva cancion had established itself as the
preeminent genre of protest song in Latin America. One of the best-known volcanto
artists from Nicaragua is Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy. While the music of volcanto
may not be discernibly Nicaraguan, the texts are what mark this repertoire’s point
of origin, with many songs making direct references to the local struggles of the
Nicaraguan people. Volcanto music, rather than forging a decisive path for protest
song in Central America, became one of many different types of música testimonial.
Further Reading
Scruggs, Thomas M. “Socially Conscious Music Forming the Social Conscience: Nica-
raguan Música Testimonial and the Creation of a Revolutionary Moment.” In From Tejano
to Tango: Essays on Latin American Popular Music, edited by Walter A. Clark, 41–69. New
York: Garland, 2002.
George Torres
Waltz. See Vals .
Wayno. See Huayno .
Z
Zabumba
Zabumba is a Brazilian term that refers to both a musical instrument as well as
a type of musical ensemble. Both the instrument and the ensemble are primarily
associated with the Northeast region of Brazil. The musical instrument known
as zabumba is a type of deep military-style side drum with rope-tensioned coun-
terhoops that was introduced into Brazil during colonial days by the Portuguese.
Zabumbas of this type are still present in many Brazilian processional traditions and
may also be called bumbo, ze-pereira, bumba, tambor grande, and caixa grande. In
the maracatu carnival tradition from Recife, multiple zabumbas (commonly called
alfaia ) are played with thick wooden sticks.
The zabumba’s most typical association today is with northeastern baião , forró , and banda de pífano music. In these contexts, the instrument developed into a rather
shallow bass drum carried at chest level (rather than at the side) by a neck strap and
is played with a short soft mallet on one head of the drum while the hand or a thin
stick plays counter rhythms on the bottom head. Luiz Gonzaga popularized this
instrument nationally in the 1950s as part of a northeastern trio format involving
The term zabumba also refers to a type of instrumental folk ensemble of the fife-
and-drum variety typical in rural areas of northeastern Brazil, especially in the hin-
terland zone called the sertão . Also generically known as banda de pífanos (band
of fifes), these ensembles are the preferred musical accompaniment for a range of
religious rituals of folk Catholicism and social festivities among the caboclo ( mes-
tizo ) populations. Zabumba musical ensembles, also called banda cabaçal, terno
de zabumba, and esquenta mulher, comprise two cane flutes, a snare drum, and
the zabumba bass drum. The musical repertory of the zabumba ensembles includes
marches, religious hymns and praise songs, waltzes, baiões, frevos, forrós , cocos,
choros , and many other styles. In the early 1970s, the Banda de Pífano Zabumba
Caruaru (from Caruaru, Pernambuco) made a national impact via collaborations
with Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso.
Further Reading
Crook, Larry. Brazilian Music: Northeastern Traditions and the Heartbeat of a Modern
Nation. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
447
448 | Zamba
Crook, Larry. “Northeast Brazil.” In Music in Latin America: Regional Traditions, edited
by John M. Schechter, 192–235. New York: Schirmer Books, 1999.
Larry Crook
Zamba
A folkloric dance and song form most closely associated with the Tucumán and
Santiago del Estero provinces in northwest Argentina, the zamba is a derivative
of the 18th-century zamacueca. While the zamacueca was originally a salon dance popular in the urban centers of Peru, its popularity quickly spread across class and
national boundaries. By the mid-19th century, it had generated local variants, both
urban and rural, across South America, including the zamba as well as Chilean, Ar-
gentine, and Bolivian versions of the cueca, and the Peruvian marinera.
While each of these genres currently can be differentiated by differences in form,
tempo, or instrumentation, they share musical and choreographic commonalities.
They are flirtatious courtship dances, danced by nonembracing couples, and classi-
fied as danzas de pañuelo, or handkerchief dances, referring to the obligatory ker-
Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music Page 75
