An Introduction to the Colombian Bambuco

Background

A distinction between "art music" and "folk (or traditional) music" is at times difficult to apply to Latin American music as there are many musical genres that share some characteristics of each of these broad classifications. Some relatively well-known examples of such genres are the Brazilian chôro, the Venezuelan vals, the Puerto Rican danza, the Cuban danzón, and the Colombian pasillo and bambuco. All exist as notated forms and most of the better-known examples have specific composers. Musicians who perform such genres in their notated form find them demanding, generally requiring a technical expertise equivalent to that of conservatorium training to do them justice. Contemporary urban performances of these genres are frequently by musicians dressed in the equivalent of Western concert dress to seated audiences in theaters or concert halls. Instruments of national or indigenous origin, made to exacting specifications, are used in such performances in ensembles that may include standard Western orchestral instruments.

From this point of view, these genres might be considered as "art music." However, they also have another aspect in which they display folkloric traits. These genres may be played by ear on instruments that are constructed by self-taught artisans or by musicians who are also completely self-taught. They may be combined with percussion instruments that have not changed in their basic structure and construction for hundreds of years. Many melodies, although they may have been meticulously notated by their composers at the time of composition, may simply be handed on from musician to musician as they recall them, gradually adopting modifications which become part of the traditional performance of the pieces. Some of these traditional modifications become so strong that they may override the written score when being performed even by reading musicians.

The study of such forms of interest from many points of view may help to provide insights into the relationships that exist between notated and aurally transmitted music in environments where they have not been completely separated. A Latin American musical genre displaying such attributes and so chosen for study is the Colombian bambuco. Its selection is due to the fact that, as well as displaying the varying characteristics mentioned, it also exhibits elements of the tricultural composition of Latin American society. Musical genres that can be shown to represent these elements are quite rare, as it is difficult to find social environments where the three cultures—the Amerindian, the European and the Black African—have coexisted for any significant period. As will be seen in the development of this article, these three cultural elements were closely associated with the bambuco in different periods of its evolution, so aspects of each of them may be evident.

The bambuco itself is characteristically associated with the central Andean region of Colombia, the valleys of the Cauca and Magdalena rivers and the foothills and plains adjacent to them. An easterly deviation of the Andean chain towards Venezuela determines the Andean region's northern limit, while it reaches as far south as the border with Ecuador. Examples of the bambuco in song form, which are generally slow and extremely sentimental, nostalgic and poetic, are "Cuatro preguntas" and "El Muro." Represented by completely different pieces from those of the vocal style, there exists an instrumental variant, referred to in the contemporary context as bambuco fiestero, with a rhythm as boisterous as the dance it accompanies. An example is "San Pedro en el Espinal." Bambucos that combine characteristics of both styles are relatively rare but a sufficient number exists for them to constitute a third category which includes "Ontabas."

An apparently syncopated triple time combining elements of 3/4 and 6/8 identifies the characteristic rhythm of the bambuco, however, it is aurally readily distinguishable from other genres, like the joropo (from Colombia and Venezuela's shared llanos) and the pasillo, which share similar applications of these time signatures. The rhythmic features that so readily identify the bambuco are described in this article.

Instrumentations used for the bambuco may be extremely varied; it is commonly represented by a number of standard ensembles, corresponding to different social contexts of musical...