Expanding the Definition of Baroque Music Through the Example of Latin American Baroque Hybridity By Omar Ávalos Gallegos Associate Music Instructor, Santa Ana College This paper was written in May of 2009 for a Seminar in Baroqe Music at CSU Fullerton taught by Dr. Katherine Powers
Many people love chocolate, but not many people know that the word chocolate comes from the Nahuatl word xiocolatl.1 Nahuatl was the language spoken by the Aztecs and other tribes. The point here is that Pre-Columbian people also had an influence on the rest of Western culture as the West did on the Americas. Not only were contributions made in gastronomy but also in music, a fact that is rarely examined. The current music history model also largely ignores the contributions of the African peoples to the Baroque musical period. This fact is more easily understood when taking into account the fact that the Iberians, the Spanish and the Portuguese that is, did more to exploit Africans into slavery than other European countries.2 The forced contact between different cultures caused the creation of hybrid and unique musical forms in Latin America that in turn influenced music making in Europe. The sarabande, chaconne, and fandango are only some of the forms that are said to be of Latin American origin for example, and these along with other genres will be presented further along. In this paper I’ll demonstrate how hybrid forms developed on a small, local scale and went on to leave traces on some the most celebrated or widely known European Baroque composers.
1
Real Academia Española Rogério Budasz. “Negros e violas no mundo luso-brasileiro nos séculos XVII e XVIII.” In IV Reunión Científica: Mujeres, negros y niños en la música y sociedad colonial iberoamericana, edited by Víctor Rondón, 63-75. Santa Cruz, Bolivia: Asociación Pro Arte y Cultura, 2002. 2