The recordings of Violeta Parra preserved at the MEG

Canto a lo poeta

A genre specific to the Zona Central (central region) and the Norte Chico (northern region), the canto a lo poeta comes from a tradition whose origins date back to the syncretism of the seventeenth century, when the Jesuit and Franciscan orders used verse and ten-line stanzas (décimas) as a means of evangelization. The tradition of the décima as a form of poetic-musical expression extends throughout Latin America and can be found in practices such as Cuban repentistas or the cu-manana in Peru. In the case of Chile, this tradition has been incorporated into the canto a lo poeta, considered one of the country’s oldest traditions. (Astorga, 2000: 56).

This main genre can be subdivided based on the subject matter into canto a lo divino (song to the divine) and canto a lo humano (song to humanity). Canto a lo divino includes songs inspired by biblical passages, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the saints, as well as velorio de angelito (funeral rites for children). Canto a lo humano addresses secular, romantic, and historical themes, amongst others, and is characterized by a strong improvisational dimension (paya). The singers who perform these improvisational duels are called payadores.

In the canto a lo poeta, poetry is the central element. The song-declamatory form of the décimas is based mainly on the poetic metres of the cuarteta (quatrain) or copla, as well as on the décima espinela (ten octosyllabic lines with an ABBAACCDDC consonant rhyming scheme). It is important to mention that Violeta Parra, in her own compositions, followed this ancient tradition and frequently used the décima as a poetic form. Her autobiography, entitled Décimas Autobiográficas, is, in fact, entirely structured in this way. 

For the canto a lo poeta, different types of intonation or ways of singing correspond to the type of instrumental accompaniment, known as toquíos (Astorga, 2000: 59). 

The recordings that Violeta Parra left at the MEG consist solely of the canto a lo divino genre.

Traditionally, the canto a lo poeta is accompanied by the Chilean guitarrón, a type of twenty-five-stringed guitar, an instrument that is “played only by men”, as Violeta specifies in tape BD553, track 6. Indeed, the entire canto a lo poeta genre is generally associated with the male sphere, while the cueca and tonada are more traditionally linked to the female domain (Araya Olmos et al., 1996: 14), a fact clearly corroborated by Violeta’s recordings.

We know that Violeta and her son Ángel learned to play the guitarrón from Isaías Angulo (who we may hear playing in the excerpts cited below). However, as Rodrigo Torres points out, and perhaps in the same spirit of respect that led Violeta to never perform Mapuche songs herself, there is no recording of Violeta playing the guitarrón.

Cueca and tonada

These songs belong to the feminine side of folk poetry, whose main figure is the cantora, who accompanies herself on guitar. Because of their secular themes and the fact that they are generally performed in festive contexts, they are considered to be a lighter form than the canto a lo poeta.

The cantora is emblematic of peasant music and culture and is particularly respected. Her singing accompanies some of most important moments in the life of a community: baptisms, weddings, and wakes (Araya Olmos et al., 1996).

These songs can be accompanied by guitar in a variety of ways depending on the theme, for example, with a so-called “plucked” or “trilled” style in imitation of birdsong, as Violeta demonstrates on track 5 of tape BD553.

The tonada can be qualified differently depending on its structure: in the tonada de coleo, the last line of each stanza constitutes the beginning of the following stanza; the tonada cogollo comprises three fixed stanzas followed by an improvised one; and the so-called “accumulative” tonada makes use of new textual elements in each stanza (animals, objects, etc.) (Ortiz Sepúlveda, 2021).

Although Violeta mentions the names of cantoras de cuecas and tonadas featured on the MEG tapes in her letter, it has not yet been possible to associate the names with the corresponding recordings.

Fiesta de La Tirana

Of colonial origin, the Fiesta de La Tirana is a traditional celebration dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel that takes place in the village of La Tirana in the Tarapacá region of northern Chile. It lasts several days, but the key moments occur on the evening of 15 July and during the procession on 16 July. The celebration is characterized by the participation of several groups or associations, each performing their own unique dances and songs. 

The recordings done of this festival are likely the only field recordings made by Violeta Parra in northern Chile. Although the festival is a large-scale event, Violeta chose to focus on Las Cuyacas de la Virgen religious and dance group, thus highlighting, as Rodrigo Torres points out, the feminine dimension of the celebration.

Several sources mention that Violeta Parra composed music for a documentary by Nieves Yankovic and Jorge Di Lauro called La Tirana, which might explain this collection as part of her research. However, this film cannot be found in any known archives and may never actually have existed. 

The Cuyacas, like the other groups of dancers, remain until the end of the procession and sing the cacharpaya, the festival’s closing song. The recording below is an excerpt from the comparsa (procession) recorded by Violeta Parra in 1958.

Mapuche songs

Between 1957 and 1958, at a time when prejudices against the Mapuche people were particularly persistent, Violeta Parra collected numerous Mapuche songs. The breadth of her interviews and the diversity of songs she collected testified to her meticulous care in the fieldwork and the deep respect she showed for the singers (vlkantufe). 

During her travels in Araucanía, Violeta formed close bonds with the Mapuche singers. Her encounter with the machi (healer) María Painen Cotaro played a particularly important role, and she developed a warm relationship with her, as reflected in the affectionate greeting she addressed to her in her letter to José María Palacios: ‘Mai-Mai-Peñi’.

In Mapuche culture, song is deeply rooted in daily life and ceremonies alike. Violeta was fully aware of this. She collected songs with diverse social functions and carried out in-depth interviews. These conversations however, are not found on the MEG tapes.

The following excerpt more than likely corresponds to one of the recordings of machi songs, performed by the machi herself, María Painen Cotaro, as Violeta mentions in her letter. However, this has yet to be confirmed by the machi’s family, who were contacted by researcher Paula Miranda. These recordings feature the kultrung, one of the Mapuche ceremonial instruments.

The classification of Mapuche songs found on the sheets is based on the proposal from this same source:

• Poyewvn vl, love songs.
• Koybatun vl, songs about lies and infidelity.
• Kajfvzugun vl feyentun vl, songs about spirituality.
• Kimkantun vl, songs or lullabies to help babies sleep or facilitate learning.
• Lof kvzaw vl, songs about work.
• Kisugvnewvn vl, songs about one’s decisions.

Demonstrations of traditional peasant rhythms and tuning techniques

On the third and fourth tapes (BD552 and BD553), Violeta presents different ways to accompany cuecas with the tañido (percussion on the guitar soundboard), as well as several tuning techniques from the peasant tradition, intended to facilitate guitar playing, particularly for the tonada and the cueca.

The transcriptions of the rhythms and tuning techniques were done by Jorge Pacheco Escobar.

All the excerpts can be consulted at the MEG.

Percussion (or tañido) accompaniment for the cueca diabla, cueca carcelaria, or cueca caminera.

Accompaniment for the peasant cueca chillaneja

Peasant tuning technique from Chillán, near the Andes.

Peasant tuning technique from Hualqui, Concepción region.

Violeta’s singing

The magnetic tapes at the MEG contain several cuecas and tonadas performed by Violeta herself. This selection is part of Violeta Parra’s best-known repertoire and also appears on various records and compilations. The versions found at the MEG were most likely recorded on 6 June 1963, the last day of her collaboration with the museum.

The following example consists of two excerpts that highlight Violeta’s interpretive work based on the songs collected during her field missions. The first excerpt is a version from a recording of canto a lo divino; in the second, Violeta sings the same verse but changes the intonation. This second excerpt corresponds to tape BD552, which is an original recording.

In her selection, Violeta includes traditional cuecas, but also personal compositions (“Por pasármelo toman” in the second example), thereby including part of her own work in the recordings that she wanted to pass down to future generations.