Music of Chile
Prior to the arrival of the European conquerors, the modern national borders that make up the Americas did not exist, so one cannot refer to music from "Chile", or any other South American country, from this time.
Historian Samuel Marti writes that the Mapuche “do not dance or sing to demonstrate knowledge and skill, or to entertain spectators, but to honour their gods”.
[4][5] Mapuche music today, despite the influence of Christianity, is still an expression of faith, hopes or fears to the traditional gods, because the conquest did not change the spirit of these peoples, even though it introduced new cultural elements.
[6] The Franciscan missionary Geronimo de Ore (Lima, Peru, circa 1598) noted that Mapuche children learned songs from a very young age and demonstrated excellent memory and sense of rhythm.
In the seventeenth century, chronicler Gonzalez de Najera described the music as “more sad than happy” and the instruments as basic drums and flutes made of the shin bones of Spaniards and other native enemies.
[8] wind instruments include: Trutruca, or trutruka: a kind of trumpet, straight or spiral-shaped, made of colihue wood (Chusquea culeou) with a terminal or lateral mouthpiece and a cattle horn to amplify the sound.
Idiophone instruments include the Kadkawilla or, a leather strap with jingle bells attached, which is played alongside the Cultrun; and the Wada or Huada, a rattle made of a pumpkin filled with small pebbles or seeds.
Music in the southernmost regions of modern Chile was produced by the Fueguino peoples, native inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, including the Onas, the Yaganes, the Yamanas and the Alacalufes).
In 1823, a wave of professional musicians came to Chile, including: Bartolome Filomeno and Jose Bernardo Alzedo from Lima, Peru; Juan Crisóstomo Lafinur from Córdoba, Argentina; and the Spaniard,[10] one of the most important figures of Chilean music of this period.
Having studied the harp, guitar, piano and singing with Federico Massimino in Europe, Isidora's superior musical knowledge was welcomed in the Chilean Tertulias (social gatherings of the wealthy, like a salon).
Some of the leading Chilean composers of the twentieth century were born at the end of the nineteenth century, including: Celerino Pereira Lecaros (1874), Prospero Bisquertt (1881), Carlos Lavin (1883), Javier Rengifo (1884), Alfonso Leng (1884), Enrique Soro Barriga (1884), Pedro Humberto Allende (1885), Carlos Isamit (1887), Acario Cotapos (1889), Armando Carvajal (1893), Samuel Negrete (1893), Roberto Puelma (1893), Juan Casanova Vicuña (1894) and Domingo Santa Cruz (1899).By the twentieth century Chile had established its own musical scene, but, as in most of the American countries, the national identity had struggled to assert itself in a world where European styles were still dominant.
Around 1928, the Bach Society, a civil organization of musicians and intellectuals, began to harshly criticise formal music education in Chile, especially at the “Conservatorio nacional” (National Conservatory).
Between 1962 and 1968, Jose Visencio Asuar released several albums of electronic music in Germany (Karlsruhe) and Venezuela (Caracas), and Tomás Lefever composed 19 tracks in this genre.
Among the other dances and music that are part of central Chilean folklore are the "Sajuriana", originally from Argentina, "the Refalosa" introduced from the north, and the "Vals", inherited from Europe and very popular during the first half of the nineteenth century among the upper classes.
On the other hand, the German migrants that came to the provinces of Valdivia, Osorno and Llanquihue brought with them some of their customs and instruments, the most influential being the accordion, which quickly integrated into the existing music.
[34] That idealized view would be questioned in the following decades by Víctor Jara, Violeta Parra and the other musicians that formed the “Nueva Cancion Chilena” movement.
The foundations of the movement were laid through the efforts of Violeta Parra to revive over 3,000 Chilean songs, recipes, traditions, proverbs and folkloric characters, like the payadores (improviser-singers).
The groups continued to oppose Pinochet's government from exile, and helped inspire Nueva Canción singers from Uruguay (Daniel Viglietti), El Salvador (Yolocamba l'ta), Guatemala (Kin-Lalat), Mexico (Amparo Ochoa), Nicaragua (Carlos Goodys and Luís Enrique Mejía Godoy), as well as Cuban Nueva Trova artists like Pablo Milanés.
However, it wasn't until the mid-1990s that hip hop gained mainstream popularity with successful groups such as Tiro de Gracia, Los Tetas, Makiza, Zaturno and La Pozze Latina.
Most recently, Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux (formerly of Makiza) has become one of the most successful rap artists, collaborating with Mexican musician Julieta Venegas and having tracks featured on the EA Sports video game FIFA 11.
Chilean cumbia bands are called “Combos”, “Sonoras” or simply “Orquestas” (orchestras) and are formed by 10 or more musicians where the brass and the drums have an important role.
Cumbia developed this orchestral performance style in the 1960s, adapting from the tropical orchestras that had played rhythms such as the cha-cha-cha, mambo, rumba, bolero, and merengue in the 1920–1940s.
It main exponents are Chico Trujillo, Banda Conmoción, Juana Fe, La Mano Ajena, Cholomandinga, Villa Cariño, Combo Ginebra, etc.
Among the figures of contemporary Chilean jazz stand out: Jorge Vera, Ricardo Arancibia, Mariano Casanova, Cristián Cuturrufo, Camila Meza, Federico Dannemann, Sebastián Jordán, Mario Feito, Christian Gálvez, Pedro Greene, Martin Joseph, Ronnie Knoller, the Lecaros Family; Mario Lecaros, Pablo Lecaros, Roberto Lecaros, Agustín Moya, Gonzalo Palma, Ángel Parra Orrego, Andrés Pérez, Lautaro Quevedo, Felipe Riveros, Carla Romero, Moncho Romero, Melissa Aldana, Miguel Sacaan and Nicolás Vera, José Gil, Antonio Lambertini, Jorge Caraccioli and the groups La Marraqueta, Contracuarteto, Los Titulares, Ángel Parra Trío, Holman Trío, Caravana Trío and Ensemble Quintessence, among many others.
In 1823, a wave of professional musicians came to Chile, including: Bartolome Filomeno and Jose Bernardo Alzedo from Lima, Peru; and the Spaniard,[10] From 1900 onwards, music began to take a more central place in Chilean society.
The construction of a new venue, the Teatro del Lago (Lake Theatre) which opened in 2010, has given the festival a boost, providing space for more performances and larger audiences.
Allende put special effort to include some elements of Chilean tradition and folklore in his work, with works such as the symphonic poem “La Voz de las Calles” (The Voice of the Streets); “Doce Tonadas para Piano” (Twelve Tunes for Piano); and the “Concierto Sinfónico para Violoncello y Orquesta” (Symphonic Concerto for Cello and Orchestra), whose rhythmic richness was praised by Claude Debussy.
Other important Chilean composers include Vicente Bianchi known for his compositions based on Pablo Neruda poems; Alfonso Leng, one of the most influential Chilean classical composers with a mystic and romantic style influenced by Wagnerian Post-romanticism; Luis Advis Vitaglich, known by his work (“Cantata de Santa Maria de Iquique”); Carlos Riesco; Domingo Santa Cruz Wilson; Roberto Falabella Correa; Nina Frick Ajenjo; Carlos Isamitt; Juan Orrego-Salas; Alfonso Letelier; Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt; Sergio Ortega; Leon Schidlowsky; Leni Alexander; Fernando García; Juan Allende-Blin; Cirilo Vila; Santiago Vera-Rivera; Andrés Alcalde; René Amengual; Próspero Bisquertt; Gabriel Brncic; Salvador Candiani; Acario Cotapos; Alejandro Guarello; Hans Helfritz; María Elena Hurtado; Tomás Lefever; Eduardo Maturana; Claudio Spies; Jorge Urrutia Blondel and Darwin Vargas, among many others.
One of the best-known performers is pianist Claudio Arrau,[49] known for his vast repertoire spanning from baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms.
[50] Other great include Rosita Renard, Oscar Gacitúa Weston, Roberto Bravo, Elena Waiss, Elisa Alsina, Liza Chung, Alfredo Perl and currently Valentín Trujillo, who has interpreted a repertoire of classical as well as popular music, and is well known for taking part in television programmes.
