Musical Projects Against Violence in Northern Colombia
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! ! ! ! ! TRUST IN MUSIC: MUSICAL PROJECTS AGAINST VIOLENCE IN NORTHERN COLOMBIA BY IAN THOMAS MIDDLETON DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2018 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Emeritus Thomas Turino, Chair Professor Gabriel Solis Assistant Professor Michael Silvers Associate Professor Marc Hertzman Abstract Colombia's protracted civil war is characterized by cycles of pervasive distrust and violence. The people I work with are involved in projects across the north of the country aimed in part at breaking these cycles. In this dissertation I offer an applied ethnographic analysis of the dynamic relations between local forms of trusting, music making and (non)violence. While I recognize music's impact is sometimes minimal or negative, I focus on projects with demonstrable positive impact as part of my commitment to the struggles of my interlocutors. My account is comparative, describing individuals and groups from different towns, sub regions, and positionalities within the conflict, and engaging with similar but contrasting musical styles and projects. I show that musical practices in which participants aim to maximize the breadth of participation (the number of people engaged) tend to foster thin trusting across a broad radius of people, whereas musical practices aimed at the maximum depth of experience of a reduced number of performers tend to generate thick trusting among reduced pools of people. Peacebuilding requires both thin and thick trusting, but the latter can preclude broad organization. I consider festivalization of the musical practices I describe as a means of constructing a parallel peace. While partly successful it can reproduce in miniature some of the violences associated with clientelistic coercive trusting. I present one national project as an exemplar of best practice. The Legión del afecto works to generate an imbricated peace through radically inclusive projects in which young people practice and champion both thick and thin trusting, and peaceful living together, using a wide range of musical practices as part of an integrated, reflexive methodology. My arguments are based in, and seek to finesse, semiotic and phenomenological accounts of music as social life. ii For my nested, overlapping and interweaved families. And at the center, Lina. iii Table of Contents List of Figures..................................................................................................................................v List of Videos................................................................................................................................vii Note on translation, glossary, and anonymity................................................................................ix Introduction......................................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: Christmas Tambora: Trust in Periodic Participation...................................................45 Chapter 2: Identifying as Peaceful Educators through Tambora...................................................90 Chapter 3: El Viaje: Displacement, flow, and Re-encounter through Gaita...............................131 Chapter 4: Trusting in the Next Generation.................................................................................202 Chapter 5: A Radically Imbricated Peace....................................................................................270 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................336 Glossary.......................................................................................................................................359 Bibliography................................................................................................................................373 Appendix A: Percussion Transcriptions Explained.....................................................................385 Appendix B: La atravesá' Transcription......................................................................................389 Appendix C: El Ratón Lyrics.......................................................................................................391 Appendix D: Proposal for Project with Martina Camargo..........................................................392 Appendix E: IRB letter................................................................................................................397 iv List of Figures Figure 1: Map of Northern Colombia (La Costa)............................................................................2 Figure 2: Martina Camargo rehearsing outside her family home....................................................3 Figure 3: Joche Álvarez making gaitas in Cartagena....................................................................11 Figure 4: Fauner Salas playing pito atravesa'o during Christmas celebrations in San Martín......19 Figure 5: Tambora group at the San Martin festival......................................................................23 Figure 6: Percussion of the tambora format: Maracas, tambora and alegre.................................24 Figure 7: Claps, tambora drum accents and steps for the feel of tambora tambora.....................25 Figure 8: Rhythmic feel of berroche..............................................................................................25 Figure 9: Festival gaita format.......................................................................................................28 Figure 10: Smaller gaita format with no tambora drum or separate singer...................................29 Figure 11: Simple maraca, alegre, llamador and tambora patters for the feel of gaita..................30 Figure 12: Characteristic pattern for cumbia.................................................................................32 Figure 13: Simple cumbia feel in gaita or pito atravesa'o formats...............................................32 Figure 14: Typical bass line for paseo in the vallenato family......................................................34 Figure 15: Typical bass line for puya in the vallenato family.......................................................34 Figure 16: Typical simple drum kit pattern for champeta.............................................................35 Figure 17: Martina Camargo and other panelist at a talk in Cartagena.........................................37 Figure 18: Celebrants playing tambora on leaving the Catholic Church in San Martín...............48 Figure 19: A typical gestalt rhythmic pattern for tambora tambora.............................................56 Figure 20: A typical gestalt for berroche or la bosá section of tambora tambora........................58 Figure 21: A common variation of the tambora rhythmic feel on the currulao hand drum..........59 Figure 22: A common variation of the tambora feel played on the tambora drum.......................59 Figure 23: A typical pattern for the feel tambora redoblá'............................................................67 Figure 24: Pito atravesa'o, accompanied by tambora, guache shaker and currulao....................80 Figure 25: Mapalé on bombardino and drums, with women dancers............................................81 Figure 26: A typical gestalt groove for mapalé percussion...........................................................81 Figure 27: Celebrants, including the author, dancing "La pava"...................................................82 v Figure 28: Daytime parade at San Martin’s 2015 Tambora festival...........................................110 Figure 29: Nighttime round of San Martin’s Tambora festival...................................................110 Figure 30: Martina Camargo in stage outfit after a show in Moroa, Sucre, 2012.......................117 Figure 31: Martina Camargo’s co-authored book of rondas and games.....................................119 Figure 32: José Álvarez as a young man.....................................................................................134 Figure 33. José introducing Martina Camargo at a meeting of festival organizers.....................136 Figure 34. Joche Álvarez making gaitas in Cartagena................................................................148 Figure 35. Chiris, César, Joche, Kevin and Mauricio playing gaita in Cartagena.......................158 Figure 36: Simple percussion patterns for the feel of merengue in the gaita format..................159 Figure 37: Simple percussion patterns for the feel of porro in the gaita format.........................159 Figure 38: Melody A of La atravesá'..........................................................................................163 Figure 39: Melody B of La atravesá'...........................................................................................163 Figure 40: Melody C of La atravesá'...........................................................................................163 Figure 41: Melody D of La atravesá'..........................................................................................163 Figure 42: A gestalt groove for drums in the rhythmic feel of gaita...........................................165 Figure 43: Common pattern played on maraca and gaita