Documentos del Archivo Ayestarán: La llamada de los tambores afromontevideanos entre 1949 y 1966 by Centro Nacional de Documentación Musical Lauro Ayestarán, and: Músicas tradicionales del Uruguay: Los toques de los tambores afromontevideanos by Centro Nacional de Documentación Musical Lauro Ayestarán (review)

Compiled by musicologist Coriún Aharonián under the auspices of the Uruguayan Ministerio de Educación y Cultura, the Centro Nacional de Documentación Musical Lauro Ayestarán, and UNESCO, the compact disc includes thirty-nine examples of Afro-Uruguayan—or more precisely, Afro-Montevidean— llamadasor toques(drum calls) collected by Lauro Ayestarán between 1949 and 1966. The recorded examples show a variety of toquesas performed by Afro-Uruguayan tamborilesat parades and other live events in Montevideo. Though the group of drums is traditionally formed by three instruments— chico, repique, piano—one of the samples from the 1960s includes a fourth tamboril—the bajoor bombo. The series of samples was recorded at various times: on February 27, 1956, at the first official parade of Llamadason Durazno Street; at similar parades in 1960, 1962, and 1964; at the arrival or departure of comparsasin 1957 and 1958; at the Teatro Municipal de Verano in 1956; and at improvised sessions in neighborhoods in 1949 and 1953. The recording also includes two additional “in vitro” llamadasas requested by Ayestarán in 1966. One of these samples is the last one of Afro-Montevidean drums collected by Lauro Ayestarán right before his untimely death. The present compilation of toquesconstitutes a major achievement in the documentation of Afro-Montevidean music as performed in the mid-twentieth century, which, as we have learned, differs from the way the tamborileswould be played over the next few decades. Toquesin Uruguay from later in the twentieth century reveal a closer association with the clave rhythmic pattern found in Afro-Caribbean practices. This collection of llamadasis crucial for understanding the African diaspora in Uruguay; in addition, the samples constitute a good point of departure for exploring issues such as cultural identity and musical signifiers and music and change, as well as hybridity and performance practice. Aharonián and the Centro de Documentación deserve recognition for carrying out this project and for preserving a musicological and cultural record of an intrinsic part of Uruguayan and Latin American musical identity.

As part of the series Músicas Tradicionales del Uruguay, the DVD records a lecture demonstration in front of a live audience and in situ performances of traditional toquesby the main Afro-Montevidean tamboriles(the chico, repique, and pianodrums). The lecture-demonstration section of the documentary has been extracted from “La música entre Africa y América,” an international symposium organized by the Centro Nacional de Documentación Musical Lauro Ayestarán in September 2011. The toquedemonstration is led by three virtuoso Uruguayan performers: José Pedro Gularte from Barrio Palermo, Waldemar Silva from Barrio Sur, and Aquiles Pintos from Barrio Cordón, members of the Grupo Asesor de Candombe de la Comisión del Patrimonio Cultural de la Nación. Each one of the toques—as explained by the panelists and performed by local musicians as part of the presentation—is also accompanied by live video footage of various Afro-Montevidean groups playing at drum parades and casual neighborhood gatherings on Sundays and holidays. Thus, from Barrio Palermo we hear llamadasplayed by popular drum ensembles, such as Sinfonía Ansina, Bantú, Elumbé, and Integración; from Barrio Sur, performances by La Calenda and C1080; and from Barrio Cordón, examples played by Zumbaé and Sarabanda. In addition to the tamborileros, the live footage also includes brief appearances by other performers, such as dancers, flag bearers, and impersonators of local historical characters—the escobero(broom man...