Chile

Background Information

Chile is a coutry on the pacific coast of South America. The coast line is nearly 2,485 miles long, which is nearly 4000 kilometers. The Andes Mountains outline the eastern boarder. The capitol of Chile is a city called Santiago

The main language in Chile is spanish or Castellano as they say there. Although many countries in South America share the same main language, the Chilean accent is softer and easily distinguished from the other spanish speaking countries.

The official religion in Chile is Roman Catholic, althoug many are Protestant or practice traditional Mapuchi religions.

Chilean Music

Music has played an important role in Chile's history. For example, in the 1960's there was a political and artistic protest movement in which artists began to blend folk and classical music with modern musical influences. Songs became an important part of the culture because it was a form of expression against the government. This was a movement calling for more personal rigts and freedoms, which is where the music came into play. The artists then were able to express through music what they never could in print or out loud.

The traditional dance in Chile is known as the Cueca, which is a dance that is quite simlar to the Spanish Flamenco in that it involves rapid steps which form a beat.

• Common instrumentation for these Cuecas include a guitar, guitarrón (a 25 string guitar), piano, harp, rabel (which is similar to a fiddle) and an accordion.

(Chile is greatly influenced, in areas of manner, dress, and the arts, by Europe. Some instruments are native to Chile, such as the gitarrón and the rabel, while the others are borrowed from Europeans).

Chilean Instruments

The Rabel

• The Chilean rabel originated from the Arab rabab. The rabab was a stringed instrument made of walnut shell, with the lower half covered in goat skin. The neck also has two large keys to hold the strings, which are made of sheep guts. The bridge is made of reed. The strings never come in contact with the fingerboard, so the pitch of the strings is changed by using your fingers to hook the strings. The bow is very curved and is made of horse hair. The rabab has a low range and its music is written in the key of F. It is tuned in fifths.

• The Chilean rabel, then, is nearly the same. It is wooden with either wood, tin or tense animal skin pulled across the top to cover the space inside the wooden sound box. The bow is made of horse manes, to which resin is applied for playing. The number of strings and tuning differed. There were usually two or three strings tuned in either fourths or fifths. It was played quite like a modern-day cello, held between the knees and bowed vertically.
• The rabel evolved into the modern-day fiddle. The fiddle is played horizontally held underteath the chin on the shoulder. There are four strings, held up by a bridge, which is significantly lower than the bridge on the rabel, which makes playing faster easier.

The Guitarrón

• The guitarrón is only used in Chile, although the name guitarron is similar to the huge bass guitar of Mexico. The guitarrón in Chile is the same size as a normal size guitar, but with 25 strings which are much thinner than normal guitar strings. The guitarrón is build like a normal guitar, with a flat back, and high sides. The neck is much wider, though and the tuning head has 3 slits to fit 3 rows of 7 tuning pegs. Under the neck, there is more wood attached to make room for another set of tuning begs, 2 by 2, to make room for the four other strings. These strings are called "diablito" strings.

Congreso - Parinas

03 Parinas.mp3

Congreso is a Chilean band that composes ethnic contemporary music that indeginous to Chile. They use a very wide range of musical intruments such as

the flauta, maracas, congas, claves, piano, charango, drum set, kultrún and the list goes on. They also use many electrical intruments such as the bass guitar and th elctric guitar.

Structure

• 20th century with a non western touch.
• 12/8 meater
• Mainly Poyphonic - The flauta plays 2 measures of melody and repaeats them over agian, then the song becomes polyphonic when the marimba, shaker and synthesizer some in at 0:17.
• The sturcture of the song is very regular:
  • When the instruments come in, the flauta solo's for 4 measures then stops for 4 measures(4+4).
  • The next section of the song is maily the fluata soloing. The saxaphones play for 2 measures, then the flauta solo's for 4 measures, then there is a 2 measure brigde repeated once (lasting for 4 measures)leading to a another similar section.
  • The next section starts off with 2 measures of saxaphones, then 2 measures of solo and repeats it three times with an extra 2 measrues of saxaphone.
  • After the saxes play, there is a small section that last for 4 measures that's bridge 2. When thats over, the flauta plays for 4 measures then it goes to the first bridge.
  • After the bridge, the saxes play there pattern but shortened their pattern is cut in half so the cadences land on very weak beat making it appear that the song changes meater, but doesn't. TO get back on the beak they blow a whistle.
  • The saxest then play there melody, but the quieter, then the regualr melody of the song plays for 4 measures then the song leads back into the second bridge. Then the bridge is repeated agian only being played by the guitar an the marimba.

"Artesanía Tradicional Chilena." Pontificia Universidad Católica De Chile. 4 Dec. 2006 <http://www.puc.cl/faba/ARTESANIA/FOTOS/FULL/CHILE/A.71.jpg>.

"South America." South AmericaATLAS of Plucked Instruments. 4 Dec. 2006 <http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/south_america.htm>.

"THE RABAB (Fiddle)." Virtual Museum of Canada. 4 Dec. 2006 <http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Instruments/Anglais/cmam_c_txt09_en.html>.

"Les Chiliens Dansent "La Cueca"" Literaturismena. 4 Dec. 2006 <http://www.literaturismena.com/forclorechilien/lacueca.htm>.

"Chile." CultureGrams 2007: World Edition. Provo: ProQuest Information and Learning, 2006.

"Chileans." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Eds. Timothy L. Gall and Susan Bevan Gall. Detroit: U*X*L, 1999.