An Andean Musical Structure That Defies Borders

In many existing repertoires of traditional music in the South American Andean area a type of melodic structure that seems to refer to a common antecedent can be detected, even though its adaptation to the various genres is manifested through musical variants. The comparative analysis of these expressions (some belonging to the heptatonic modal and tonal systems of European origin and other that are typical of the anhemitonic pentatonic Andean system) allows a possible influence of the latter on the former to be hypothesized.
This proposal aims to advance in this direction and will try to highlight one of the characteristics that give cohesion to musical expressions from a cultural area affected by processes of transculturation and identity affirmation. To achieve new knowledge about this phenomenon one has to analyze both the musical structures and the implications of its use in repertoires emerging at different times and in different circumstances, linked to the search and affirmation of an Andean cultural identity through organized sound.
 


Introduction
he anhemitonal pentatonic musical system used in the South American Andes has been the object of numerous studies by ethnomusicologists. They focused on the analysis of musical repertoires from different theoretical premises, which are derived from the interpretive currents that have characterised the discipline throughout the 20 th century. 2 Some of these authors also analysed the phenomenon of the interaction between the anhemitonic pentatonic Andean system and the heptatonic modal and tonal systems of European origin.
In their book, La musique des incas et ses survivances, Raul and Marguerite D'Harcourt (1925) established differences between what they called monodies indiennes pures (pure indigenous monodies) articulated exclusively on one of the five pentatonic modes that they identified, and musique métissée (mestizo music), in which they distinguished different degrees of miscegenation. They even established a category that they called 'métissage de métissage,' a kind of double fusion that is produced in tonal structures.
Carlos Vega (1944) devoted a chapter of his Panorama de la música popular argentina to specify the musical features of what he called cancionero pentatónico. His concept of 'cancionero' corresponds to a composite musical system, which is formed by tonal, rhythmic and musical accompaniment features. The author applied this concept to classify traditional Argentine music (which at that time he called 'popular').
In another chapter of that book, entitled Las formas híbridas (the hybrid forms), Vega mentioned the interaction of the pentatonic with other systems ('tritonic', 'colonial ternary' and 'western creole'). He also established differences between a 'pre-Hispanic pentatony,' coming from Asia and present in the 1 Enrique Cámara de Landa, University of Valladolid (Spain), engcamara@gmail.com. 2 For an exhaustive discussion about these studies and theories, see Mendívil (2018). detected in many existing repertoires of traditional music in the South American Andean area. This structure comes from the Andean pentatonic system and is formed by a tonal configuration, a melodic profile and, when it is manifested in polyphonic instruments, a succession of chords.
It is interesting here to point out two aspects that relate the musical and social spheres: on the one hand, the function that fulfils the use of this musical structure in the search and affirmation of an Andean cultural identity through organised sound (an extremely active phenomenon today among the musicians of the South American Andean countries); on the other, some mechanisms through which musicians exercise their creativity by transforming this musical structure while maintaining the musical features that ensure the cultural identification of the repertoire.
The analysis of these two peculiarities will allow us to highlight one of the characteristics that give cohesion to musical expressions belonging to a cultural area affected by processes of transculturation and identity affirmation. To achieve new knowledge about this phenomenon, it is necessary to analyse both the musical structures and the implications of its use in repertoires at different times and in different circumstances, linked to the search and affirmation of an Andean cultural identity through organised sound.
In a previous text (Cámara de Landa 2013) I verified the existence of this particular structure in traditional musical genres of the Northwest of Argentina, both articulated on the anhemitonal pentatonic musical system in its 'pure' form or mixed with the heptatonic modal and tonal systems of European origin. In the present article, I extend this comparison to other regions of the country, in order to demonstrate the relevance of this musical structure and its use in the invention of a musical genre, the new loncomeo, by composers who, in the 1970s, initiated a musical revival called Música patagónica (Patagonian music).
The observation of the changes introduced by musicians in this particular musical structure allows us to understand the processes of musical fusion in some genres. It also lets us suggest that through the use of this musical structure the musicians challenge different types of frontiers (geographical, political, of musical genres, traditional/popular, and so on) and also shows how South American Andean musicians use music coming from different musical systems to establish their own musical identity. An identity that is permanently recreated through the exercise of musical creativity based on an attitude of transcultural curiosity that brings these Andean musicians closer to those of other geographical areas and that seems to be typical of our time. 3 Finally, to achieve this objective, some Andean musical genres belonging to other South American countries will also be cited.
The place and the time I shall begin to illustrate these processes of fusion observed in the use of this structure through the analytical description of some musical pieces recorded in the extreme northwest of Argentina. In this area, the intense and continuous musical influence of Bolivian composers, performers and instruments on the Argentine musicians has been observed for more than a century. These pieces were recorded in two locations: La Quiaca (an Argentine city separated from the Bolivian town of Villazón by a narrow river) 4 and Humahuaca, a small town in the gorge of the same name. 5 The whole area in which these two municipalities lie was dominated by the Incas, who included it in the Collasuyo, the Southern province of the Incan Empire Tawantinsuyo. All these musical pieces are performed during the carnival by aborigines, mestizos and creoles, who are often referred to generically as collas. 6 During the Andean carnival, musical practices have different functions, some of which are to put time in order, to give special meanings to a place, to achieve the success of the ceremony, or to channel desires within socially admitted boundaries. During the dances organised in tents, visits to private homes and mask festivals, these musical events form a kind of acoustic landscape with a recreational function.
In other situations, sound facts assume more significant functions of social relationships: singing protests, proposing sexual intercourse, insulting members of the other sex to confirm the separation and complementarity of roles, or satirising the social institutions to sanction their validity.
The first examples we are going to consider here are huaynos and carnavalitos, musical genres performed mainly after the unearthing of carnival, in order to acoustically 'baptise' the physical space of 3 "As far as we are concerned, transculturality in music now means, above all, interaction between cultural traditions and musical conceptions whose origins were different from each other. Warning! Not only métissage of musical instruments and artefacts, but rather new creativity and new, shared musical languages" (Giannattasio 2017, 23). 4 Intense relationships exist between the inhabitants of the two cities in areas that range from smuggling to music exchanges. 5 The Quebrada de Humahuaca has been a crossroads of populations since pre-Hispanic times and in 2003 was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 6 The word colla has three different meanings: 1. The Aymara Colla Kingdom, which flourished between the Tiwanaku and Inca periods. 2. The descendants of the Colla kingdom in Argentina and Chile. 3. The inhabitants of the Bolivian Andean region. the celebration. These are performed by troupes called comparsas during the parades through the streets of the towns, or at other private or public events. The borders between the pre-Hispanic huayno and the post-Hispanic carnavalito are not clear because today both designate the same musical genre. The musicians have been mixing the musical traits of these genres for a long time, so today they no longer present significant differences, which is why in the Argentine Northwest both words are used interchangeably. Through playing and singing huaynos and carnavalitos, the members of the comparsas initiate the special time of the festivity, while reaffirming their belonging to a place and a group that has its own social organisation.

The musical structure
The huaynos-carnavalitos (from this point on, I will use only the first word) are articulated on a 'pure' anhemitonic pentatonic system or merged with the European tonal system. Of the five pentatonic modes set by D'Harcourt (1925), the huaynos of the border region between Bolivia and Argentina use mode B, as can be heard in all the examples included here. The following descriptions respect the arrangement of sound pitches proposed by these scholars, which reflects the predominant descending tendency in the melodic profile of the Andean melodies. Therefore, the order of the degrees of the pentatonic system is  [Audio Example 1: 'Huayno of the comparsa' CH-B-CH interpreted by sax, accordion and drum in La Quiaca. 8 ] 7 All the melodies in the present text have been transposed for comparative purposes. I use Roman numerals in lowercase for melodic degrees and uppercase for harmonic degrees. 8 I recorded this piece during the 1989 carnival. The saxophonist produces microvariants in successive repetitions of the melody. In this case, as in all the following, the transcription reflects the version executed the greatest number of times throughout the performance of the piece while the group parades through the streets of the town.
If we observe the structure of the first sentence, which occupies the upper staff, we can see its traits: in the tonal parameter, its main features are the use of the pentatonic scale -in B mode, as in all the other examples -and an overall descendent melodic contour. The antecedent alternates the i and ii degrees of the pentatonic system in high tessitura, while the consequent goes down to the low i degree. This combination of elements is a stylistic feature present in many huaynos with infinite variations, as can be heard in the following example (a huayno played by an Andean flute called anata or tarka). If in the previous huayno the musical phrases differed in the antecedent and agreed in the consequent, here the opposite happens: the two phrases have the same antecedent and a different consequent. The structure I am describing and which we might call an 'identitarian musical structure' appears in the consequent. This melody, recorded by Vega in the 1930s, was adopted during the second half of the 20 th century by members of the comparsa La Juventud ('youth people') in Humahuaca as an emblem of group identity. Its members play it on Carnival Saturday, just after the unearthing of the carnival, while walking around the streets of Humahuaca (many of them dressed as devils). The literary text is based on two literary structures that are interspersed throughout the singing: Chorus (2 verses  In this version the soloists make a little variation on the melody: the first notes of the previous version (F-F-G) are changed by the iv degree of the pentatonic scale (A) articulated three times (that means: iiii-iii replaced by iv-iv-iv melodic degrees). When the melody receives a charango or guitar accompaniment, these instruments alternate the following harmonic degrees of the European tonal system: III-VI-III-V-I. In addition to the alternation of major and minor relatives (typical of the accompaniments that the chordophones introduced by Europeans make to pre-Hispanic pentatonic melodies), there is what could be considered as a subdominant of the major relative in the first, which herein is indicated as a VI degree of the main tonality. 10 As we will see later, this harmonic structure was incorporated into the 'identitarian musical structure' that I am dealing with.
In the following example, we can identify the same pentatonic melodic structure with descendent melodic contour: This melody is sometimes sung with the v melodic degree of the pentatonic system converted into a subtonic sensible note, probably under the influence of the European tonal system, as can be heard in the following sound example. Another common variant of the structure shown here is the ending with the finalis on the ii degree of the pentatonic scale: In the following Huayno the 'identitarian musical structure' appears three times. In the first (A and B), the melody does not rise beyond the high I melodic degree, but the charango accompaniment plays the VI and III harmonic degrees at the beginning, followed by V-I at the end. This harmonic succession is tightly connected to the structure in all cases in which instruments capable of producing chords are played. Here it also accompanies the second melody too (the interlude which has non-pentatonic ornaments and ends with a repeated subtonic sensible note) and the third one (D and E) with far more development of the VI degree (which indicates a greater interaction with the European-derived tonal system). When playing some Andean musical pieces with a greater degree of contamination from the Europeanderived tonal system, the local musicians sometimes have difficulty harmonising melodies. This is the case of the following kullawada (a musical genre that is a relative of huayno) which had just been created and was fashionable when I recorded it in the town of La Quiaca during the 1989 carnival. The accordionist of the comparsa Grupo Juvenil del Club Social does not find the secondary dominants developed by the melody in the musical phrase C and executes the I harmonic degree of tonality (minor) instead of the dominant I, which creates a strong dissonance. It is for this reason that in the repetition of the piece the accordionist stops playing. 13 12 I have not underlined the melodic microvariants (which do not affect the structure I am considering) in this case (or in the following ones). 13 In another version of this kullawada, the humahuaqueño musician Fortunato Ramos changes the melody on his accordion, eliminating the conflict created by the secondary dominant.  The Bolivian musician and musicologist Felipe Rivera, who lived on both sides of the border between Argentina and Bolivia (in Villazón and La Quiaca) collected Bolivian music from the 1920s and spread it in both countries through the composition of pieces in a traditional style and the edition of many commercial records in 78 rpm. We can find the 'identitarian musical structure' in many of these pieces. 14 Traditionalist tendencies that began to emerge in Argentina in the late 19 th century as a reaction to the huge migratory flows from Europe stimulated a folk revival that included musical expressions.
Subsequently, a nationalist current in the country (sometimes called nativista, that is 'nativist') forged an idealised image of Tawantinsuyo (conveniently forgetting that the Incas had also been imperialists in the region). The Argentines were building an image of the 'Incan' musical expressions and conferred the function of representing the 'essence' of national identity to some Andean musical genres practiced in the North of the country (a phenomenon that still remains today in the collective imagination).
Although no one recognised it explicitly, the musical structure of pentatonic origin that I am analysing was frequently used by the composers of folk revival trends in order to provide new compositions with an Andean 'air' (and thus, an Argentine character, according to this conceptualisation).
Among the many revival huaynos who develop the 'identitarian musical structure' with different degrees of contamination between musical systems, we find the following ones As we have seen on Vega's field list, this phenomenon was not reduced to huayno and its related musical genres (carnavalito, kullawada ...), but also occurred in the amatory, courtship or picaresque dances (such as bailecito, cueca, chacarera, or zamba) which are still highly practiced not only in the area, but also in many parts of the country, thanks to their diffusion through revival currents from several cities (including Buenos Aires). We can find the 'identitarian musical structure', for example, in the following bailecito: https://tube.switch.ch/videos/y6bj2CDgDE 'Linda Purmamarqueñita,' 'Una lágrima,' 'Quisiera un puñal' and 'Cuando florezca la albahaca' are other bailecitos than can be found on the Internet and in which the 'identitarian musical structure' can be heard.
The structure is also present in many zambas, a dance derived from the Peruvian zamacueca that has been one of the most practiced musical genres in Argentina over the last hundred years. Here is an example:  Other zambas in which this structure appears with different variants, are 'Zamba de los mineros,' 'Balderrama,' 'La rubia Moreno,' 'Pampa del Chañar,' 'Cafayate en la nostalgia,' 'Zamba de la toldería' and 'Zamba del otoño' (all can be heard on the Internet). Another dance derived from the Peruvian zamacueca is the cueca, which exists in two main variants -Chilean and Bolivian -and which is also practiced in Argentina. The musical structure that I have described here appears in many cuecas, such as 'La boliviana' and 'La yaleña.' It also appears in other traditional Argentine genres like vidala, triste or yaraví, which are not dances but songs. 18

Concluding remarks
What I have tried to show through the observation of these musical pieces from the Argentine tradition, is the existence, among other "surrounding availabilities" (Vega 1979, 6), of a Mestizo musical structure that comes from some Andean repertoires articulated on the anhemitonal pentatonic system coming from pre-Hispanic times, which dialogues with the European-derived tonal system. This structure, made by the combination of features of different parameters (scale, melodic profile, harmony), has conferred 'local colour' to various musical genres of the area and continues to be used for this purpose in the creation of new expressions aimed at generating -or reinforcing -links of ethnic and cultural identity.
Composers continued to use this structure even when they had to confer an 'Andean ancestral identity' on melodies intended to constitute a new repertoire: the so-called Música patagónica (Patagonian music), an invention carried out in the 1970s. At such times, all the other regions of Argentina had their emblematic musical repertoires of local traditions, except for Patagonia, a land stolen from the Indians in the late 19 th century and lacking any revival process. The creators of Patagonian music appealed to some basic rhythms of indigenous rituals surviving in the area but they also used the 'identitarian musical structure' to reinforce the Andean character of their musical proposals. This is the case of the musical genre that they baptised loncomeo, a name adopted from the music of a ritual of the indigenous Mapuche from southern Argentina and Chile. 19 An example of the use of the 'identitarian musical structure' in a 'revival loncomeo' is the following: Ecuadorian sanjuanitos also make use of it. 23 In the case of Argentina, which has been considered here, both ethnic pride (manifested in some areas such as the Andes) and the sense of belonging (expressed in other regions such as the metropolises) are related to constructions based on the appropriation and mixture of influences from both the nearby north (ex-Tawantinsuyo) and a distant Europe. This seems to be a valid resource in a country whose national anthem was composed by a Murciano musician in a style between Mozart and Rossini, and whose emblematic town of traditional Andean culture (Humahuaca) is the burial place of the author of the local anthem ('El humahuaqueño'), Edmundo Zaldívar. Even if the composer never knew Humahuaca (he composed the famous piece in Buenos Aires), his grave is subject to visits by those who recognise in this music a -constructed -emblem of their own culture. 24 It is very likely that the comparative study of all these musical genres will confirm the origin of the 'identitarian musical structure' in the Andean anhemitonal pentatonic system (as I hope to have shown here). It will also be possible to confirm the semantic associations that the musicians of these countries have established between this structure and Andean musical identity. In any case, it is a clear example of the use of music to affirm or reaffirm an awareness of cultural identity and, at the same time, of artistic creativity in the framework established by the explicit or implicit recognition of the features of a musical prototype strongly consolidated through time and space. 21 The first one, performed by Ruperta Condori, can be heard at https://youtu.be/r-esLdd9J6Y. The second, interpreted by Bonny Alberto Teran, is found at https://youtu.be/2PMbGWLMLe4 (both last access 15 February 2021). 22 To be found at https://youtu.be/UtBQUPAadl4, https://youtu.be/b-urxF6IHLo, https://youtu.be/lmNjMBcXx8c, https://youtu.be/rGekI78yE2s, and https://youtu.be/OKCh5bJNDw8?t=43 respectively (all last access 15 February 2021). I thank the ethnomusicologist Claude Ferrier for pointing out these and other examples of musical pieces that present the 'identitarian musical structure.' 23 See Pobre corazón, sanjuanito created by Guillermo Garzón Ubidia, and interpreted by Julio Jaramillo and his musical ensemble at https://youtu.be/kFdUleS8fGo (last access 15 February 2021). 24 El humahuaqueño alternates musical phrases in the tonal system of European origin with others that use the Andean pentatonic system. The other elements of the 'identitarian musical structure' are present in this composition and give the music an unmistakable Andean personality.