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Collecting Chilean folk music
How could I have imagined, when I went to record my first song one day in ‘53 in the district of Barrancas (in Santiago), that I would discover that Chile is the best folklore book ever written (V. Parra)
Parra, Isabel. El libro mayor de Violeta Parra. Michay, 1985, p. 37. Translation by Ileana Muñoz. Unless otherwise specified, all the translations in this paper were done by the same person.
Violeta Parra and Antonio Suárez, cantor of songs to humanity and to the divine. Fundo Tocornal. Sergio Larraín Photographic Archive © Parque Museo Pedro del Río Zañartu
Violeta Parra is undoubtedly best known as a musician, composer, and cantora (traditional folk singer). However, she also amassed a significant body of work compiling Chilean folk music, a fundamental dimension of her own work that would nourish her artistic approach and inspire certain of her compositions.
In the early 1950s, encouraged by her brother Nicanor, Violeta frequently travelled throughout rural Chile, particularly in the Central Valley, but also to parts of the north and to Araucanía, in the southern-central region. On these trips, she collected songs and oral musical traditions.
Yet Violeta Parra was not the first to undertake such an endeavour. Her work was part of a broader movement to collect and promote Chilean folk music that had begun with the reform of the University of Chile in 1928. In the decades following this reform, several initiatives emerged, notably the Escuelas de Temporada (Seasonal Schools), a project led by writer Amanda Labarca. These were “schools” organized during the summer and winter holidays with the aim of democratizing education and forging ties within communities. Folklorist Margot Loyola and Violeta Parra participated in these seasonal schools by teaching courses on “folkloric” music. From the late 1940s onwards, and especially in the early 1950s, “folkloric missions” were set up, and groups like Conjuntó Cuncumén were tasked with collecting materials in the field.
“Rosa y romero” (canto a lo divino = song to the divine) [excerpt]. Alberto Cruz (?). Chile, Central Valley, Salamanca (?). Recording made around 1958 by V. Parra. Bd550-7
Tonada de coleo (song of coleo): “El romero no lo quiero... ” [excerpt]. Two female voices, guitar. Chile. Recording made by V. Parra (date and place of recording unknown). Bd550-13
What distinguishes Violeta Parra’s approach however, is that firstly, she managed to collect a considerable amount of music, practically without any official support (Parra, A., 2008: 107) and secondly, due to her renown and vocation, her research and collections were not limited solely to academic circles. They became part of her own artistic creation, inspiring her compositions, and as evidenced by the magnetic tapes preserved at the MEG, they travelled beyond the borders of her native Chile as a living testament to a poetic and musical folk tradition.
Her work also had a significant impact thanks to the technological tools of the time. Violeta’s first compilations were recorded entirely by hand, her resources limited to paper and pencil (Herrero, 2017: 173). In 1954 however, Violeta met Raúl Aicardi, director of Radio Chilena, who offered her the opportunity to produce the programme “Así canta Violeta Parra” (“This is how Violeta Parra sings”). For this, she had access to audio recording equipment. The radio programme enabled her to present her research and the music she had collected to the public. She even collaborated on several occasions with people from different villages to stage some traditional festivals for the radio (Parra, I., 1985: 26). This experience furthered her career and brought her national recognition, which she would use to further her mission.
Violeta Parra and Gastón Soublette. Sergio Larraín Photographic Archive © Parque Museo Pedro del Río Zañartu
In 1955, one year after she was awarded the Caupolicán Prize for best folklorist of the year (an award the Genevan press would later dub “the Oscar of folklore”), Violeta was invited to Europe for the first time by the Communist Party to sing in Poland at the World Festival of Youth and Students. She took advantage of the opportunity to stay for two years, travelling and performing in Paris, where she recorded Chants et danses du Chili I in 1956 with the Le Chant du Monde label. This album included her own interpretations of songs from her collections. In 1957, Violeta returned to Chile with a recorder purchased in Poland, which she would subsequently use on her collecting field trips.
Francisca Martínez, cantora and storyteller of tales and legends. El Rosario, Province of Rancagua. Sergio Larraín Photographic Archive © Parque Museo Pedro del Río Zañartu
From 1957 to 1959, the University of Concepción employed Violeta to set up the Museo Nacional de Arte Folklórico Chileno (National Museum of Chilean Folklore) and to teach cuecas in its Escuela de Verano (summer school). During these years, she continued her travels collecting music, this time accompanied by photographer Sergio Larraín and musicologist Gastón Soublette. Violeta conducted several interviews with musicians and poets in the Chilean countryside, notably for the canto a lo poeta and tonada repertoires, in the Santiago metropolitan area, particularly Puente Alto and Pirque. These were published in 1979 in Cantos folklóricos chilenos. This book also includes musical transcriptions by Soublette and photographs by Sergio Larraín and Sergio Bravo. Some of the singers she recorded during this period can be heard on the tapes donated by Violeta to the MEG, such as Isaías Angulo, Emilio Lobos, Alberto Cruz, and Gabriel Soto.
Mapuche songs form a separate corpus. These were recorded between 1957 and 1958 in Millelche, Lautaro, Temuco, and other locations in the Araucanía region, or Wallmapu. Although Violeta did not speak Mapuzugun, she nevertheless succeeded in instilling trust amongst the vlkantufe, or Mapuche singers, whose names and places of origin she recorded. She was able to document a large number of vl (songs) in great detail and in close collaboration with the performers. These encounters had a profound impact on her, particularly her meeting with the machi (healer) María Painen Cotaro, with whom she spent an entire month. This encounter was decisive and provided her with the foundational knowledge that would allow her to further develop the Mapuche song collections she subsequently undertook in 1958.
As Paula Miranda points out, unlike the peasant songs Violeta collected and based on which she recorded albums, gave lectures, and published a book, Violeta never sang or played the Mapuche music she collected (Miranda et al., 2017: 17). Her son, Ángel Parra, remembers that his mother Violeta returned, deeply moved, from her first encounter with the machi. She shared with him what she had just recorded and showed him the ritual dance that accompanied the song. However, he remembers her words: “If anyone were to share these ritual songs with the respect they deserve, that person should be a representative of this people” (Parra, A., 2008: 118).
“Ka antv, kiñe epigeyalu xokiwkefun” (“One day, we will be two”) [in Mapuzungun] [excerpt]. Juan López Quilapan. Chile, Araucanía, Lautaro. Recording made around 1957 or 1958 by V. Parra. Bd551-4
“Tañi kvme kawej tañi yeafeyu ñaña » (“I have my good horse to take you”) [in Mapuzungun] [excerpt]. Adela Quiñileo. Chile, Araucanía, Lautaro. Recording made around 1957 or 1958 by V. Parra. Bd551-7
Although Violeta never performed Mapuche songs, these encounters had a considerable influence on her work as a composer. For example, her song “El guillatún” which is a tribute to one of the most important Mapuche rituals, bears witness to her admiration for this people.
