Black guitar-players and early African-Iberian music in Portugal and Brazil

Abstract

Some of the most interesting and puzzling early guitar sources are held in Portugal, at Lisbon's Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and at Coimbra University Library. Notated in tablature, they display a large number of pieces of supposed African origin, along with many Iberian dances and instrumental items. While the African influence is suggested by the titles, literary sources, historical context and musical features, dances such as the arromba, cãozinho, cubanco, gandu, sarambeque, cumbé and paracumbé also reveal a strong connection with Iberian forms from the period, such as the canario, villano and jácaras. Its ultimate place of origin—Africa, Iberia or America—does not seem as relevant as the interaction process itself, with all the economic, social, racial and political implications: most of that repertory was shared by musicians in different places of the Iberian dominions in Europe, Africa and the Americas, be they white or black, slaves or free artists. The article contextualizes that repertory historically, relying mostly on the works by Brazilian poet Gregório de Mattos (1636–96), a source of information on the music heard in the streets, homes, convents and brothels of 17th-century Brazil. Many of his descriptions and opinions deal with the music of slaves, free blacks and mulattos; they include many of the titles found in Portuguese guitar tablatures. The analysis of this musical material raises important questions that are addressed in the article: was this music created by black guitar players who assimilated Iberian materials and playing techniques? Or was it composed by white Iberian musicians, maybe as exotic depictions, or caricatures? What is African and what is Iberian in such music, and on what terms did such interaction take place? The article finishes with historical data on Brazilian mulatto musicians—guitar players, singers and poets—who lived in Lisbon and enjoyed some success during the second half of the 18th century.

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