research
Una ventana al este (Short Stories, 2013)
ed. El Duende Gramático
In this article, I explore the processes of cultural dialogue through which European and Caribbean dances such as the waltz, the pasillo, the polka, and the danzón became tributaries of Panamanian típico. These genres, particularly the thriving danzón culture in Panama, contributed in various degrees to the shaping of típico as local performers adopted, adapted and reinterpreted rhythms and melodic material from the context of existing musical traditions. Expanding on recent research, I show how this cultural dialogue developed into a platform for innovation from which típico emerges as a distinct genre in the mid 20th century, a reinterpretation of the dance repertoire known as danzón–cumbia by composers which I collectively call the Azuero School. I examine how this repertoire and its performance practice became channels for discontinuous cultural dialogue, experimentation and reinterpretation of multiple influences in a context of political and social change in Panama.
Una ventana al este (Short Stories, 2013)
ed. El Duende Gramático
Narciso Garay publicó en 1930 Tradiciones y cantares de Panamá, el cual contiene numerosas transcripciones de músicas tradicionales que el autor recopiló en cinco años de viajes a lo largo del territorio panameño como parte de un esfuerzo de construcción de identidad. Los compositores panameños Alberto Galimany, Roque Cordero y Eduardo Charpentier participaron de un proceso resignificación de ese esfuerzo, citando dichas transcripciones y crearon obras en diversos estilos donde recontextualizan la música recopilada por Garay. En este estudio analizamos las citas de estos compositores desde la perspectiva de la formación consciente de identidades y la “Panamá imaginada” de Garay durante las primeras décadas de la república y de la influencia que este repertorio ejerció en la construcción de un paisaje musical “panameño” en el imaginario de las siguientes generaciones de compositores.
Tambor y Mejorana: Roque Cordero's Rapsodia Panameña
Per Musi, 2022
Panamanian composer Roque Cordero (1917-2008) is known for his use of twelve-tone technique but also for the incorporation of Panamanian music into his compositions. However, his methods for doing so have largely remained unstudied. This article examines the methodic juxtaposition of dodecaphonic technique and Panamanian elements in Cordero’s Rapsodia Panameña (1988) for unaccompanied violin. An analysis of the work, informed by a survey of Panamanian traditions and previous works for violin by Cordero, reveals how the composer weaves together a twelve-tone row and diatonic material built from deconstructed traditional elements through a series of strategies guided by a unified pitch center. The article further discusses Cordero’s “musical Panama” and how his youthful experiences with popular music and the study of Narciso Garay’s transcriptions contributed to his methods.
​
La cumbia panameña es el resultado de un complejo proceso de diálogo cultural que se consolida a fines del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX. En este seminario web, el compositor y musicólogo panameño Samuel Robles, investigador del Centro de Investigaciones Históricas, Antropológicas y Culturales AIP (CIHAC AIP), examina las diversas influencias—musicales y sociales—que confluyeron en el Azuero de principios del siglo XX y que dieron como resultado una cultura musical vibrante, constantemente innovadora y profundamente influyente en la percepción identitaria de los panameños.