Modern techno-cumbia: analyzing "Cariñito" and "Que te Perdone Dios"

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Student Name Professor Name Course Code Date Cumbia: An Ethnomusicology Analysis This paper will analyze two different cumbia songs and their respective artists: Los Hispanos and their song “Cariñito,” and Rossy War and her song “Que te Perdone Dios.” These are two completely different cumbia tracks, which showcase the diversity of the genre as it spread to different countries and particularly from rural to urban areas. Both of these songs signify modern cumbia, which uses electric instruments, commonly called “techno cumbia,” (Romero 217). Rodolfo con Los Hispanos’s “Cariñito,” starts off with a conversation between the electric and electric bass guitars and the horn section. After a few bars, the percussion enters: consisting of both a standard rock drum kit with high hat and kick, as well as congo or bongo drums played by hand. The result is a polyrhythmic, syncopated introduction. After the introduction, the song becomes a standard 2/4 beat with a prominent, simple bass line and melodic trumpets, as well as maracas that are synchronized with a gently brushed high hat. The singer calls out !Sale! after a few measures. At this point, the song bears more resemblance to traditional cumbia albeit with electric instruments. The use of cowbell and other unique percussive instruments also add a traditional flair to the song. However, when the singer starts the main verses of the music it becomes clear that he has adopted European phrasing, and the structure of the song also reflects the influence of rock music on cumbia. For example, the song progresses in a verse-chorus-verse format. Yet the bridges of the songs retain the cumbia flare, returning to the rawer percussion of the afro beats and call-and-response format that characterized the introduction to the song. Repeating each respective phrase adds consistency to the song and distinguishes it as classic Techno-cumbia. Because the lyrics directly reference multiple Latin American nations and the song structure blends African and European rhythms, Rodolfo con Los Hispanos’s “Cariñito” shows how globalization has impacted the evolution of cumbia (Romero 218). Los Hispanos succeed in becoming globalized cumbia even as it retains several traditional elements such as instrumentation such as the cowbell during the chorus. Rossy War’s “Que te Perdone Dios” also exemplifies techno-cumbia, although it has a completely different instrumentation, style, and structure than the Los Hispanos song. Rossy War’s song begins with synthesizer accompanied by an electric bass in a 2/4 beat, anchoring the tune in the 80s. The synthesizer plays the main melody until the singer starts. The drums are, like those of Rodolfo con Los Hispanos, a combination of African congo-style percussion and rock drumming. As techno-cumbia, though, it is likely that some of the drum tracks are from a drum machine. The fusion of African and European elements that characterizes cumbia in general are present throughout this track. Like Rodolfo, Rossy War is emotive in her singing style. Also like Rodolfo con Los Hispanos’s song, “Que te Perdone Dios” follows a rock-style song structure including verse-chorus-verse bridge. Electric guitar adds accent, though, rather than playing the main melody, and the percussion is central to both these songs. Both these songs bear the influence of Banda de viento, or “lineups with trumpets,” drums that include bombo and redoblante, as well as cymbals (“Origin Myths” 59). Set in conversation with one another, these two songs exemplify the modern manifestations of cumbia. Both of these are highly produced, commercialized versions of a music that evolved more organically in Colombia, and may be “perceived to come under attack from commercialization and lose their authenticity,” (“Origin Myths” 53). Both songs have a 2/4 time signature, and both are techno-cumbia. Moreover, the indigenous elements that would have been more obvious in roots cumbia is absent from these two techno-cumbia, globalized songs. Both of these cumbia tracks showcase the “role of sexuality” in cumbia music, too, especially when the music video is taken into account (“origin myths” 61). In fact, the musical production plus the accompanying video show how cumbia had evolved from a culturally-specific roots art form to a commercialized one. Moreover, these tracks retain only select elements of the African musicality that would have been present in la musica costeña, perhaps indicating a whitening of the overall sound (“!Alegria! 116). As Wade suggests, the ideology of mestijzaje (mixed culture or mixed identity) is “simply a mask,” (239). Both Rossy War and Rodolfo may be mestizaje, but they do not play up their ethnicity in their respective songs. On the other hand, Rodolfo does display national pride, as if national identity supersedes racial or ethnic identity. Issues of transnationalism and border dynamics are only tacitly evident in the Los Hispanos song, but absent entirely from Rossy War’s. Neither song indicates any class-related issues in their lyrics. The purpose of cumbia was never political in the sense of social activism, but more indirectly political in the sense of national identity construction. Gender tends to be a central issue in the lyrics of cumbia, and these songs are no exception. Rossy War sings from the perspective of a woman who has been hurt, and bitterness is evident in both her vocals and in the lyrics she delivers. She sings about not wanting to suffer anymore, but not knowing what to do with her pain. The sentimentality is palpable, making “Que te Perdone Dios” classic pop music. The title refers to “may God forgive you, because I cannot.” Apparently her former lover will just cheat on her again if she decides to let him back into his life. Remarkably Rossy War achieves the semantic goals of the song without using the word corazon. The video for the song focuses squarely on the singer, focusing the audience’s attention on her and her pain. Female-led cumbia can be expressive of relationships and emotionality. On the other hand, Rodolfo and Los Hispanos’s video includes highly sexualized imagery of women, including women getting in and out of hot tubs. The male version of cumbia is therefore more sexual and more lighthearted in that he sings about dancing all night, “hasta las seis de la mañana.” Cumbia is the musical counterpart of Colombian costeña culture, but neither of these songs are quintessentially Colombian, instead being of the more generic type of international commercialized cumbia produced for a global (albeit mainly South American) market. Bred in the multicultural domain of the coastal regions of Colombia, cumbia at its most original combines sonic elements from African, indigenous, and European music. However, as the Rossy War and Los Hispanos tracks both show, cumbia instrumentation, musical structures, scales, vocal styles, lyrics, and phrasing have all evolved over time, reflecting important social, political, and economic changes taking place simultaneously in Colombia and more broadly in South and Central America. Cumbia has always been a syncretic musical form, and one that has reflected the cultures of those who produce and listen to it. Therefore, it makes sense that modern techno-cumbia tracks like those from Rossy War and Los Hispanos would sound nothing like the cumbia from previous generations. These tracks have shifted the locus of cumbia from the coast towards more urban regions, and from Colombia specifically to Latin America more generally. In order to make this change from the localized to the globalized, certain features of the music naturally needed to have changed. The music needs to have the generic international sound, influenced by North American and European popular music, to appeal to a broader and more diverse audience. Both Rossy War and Los Hispanos show that appealing to a wider audience can be achieved without sacrificing what makes their songs cumbia. Of the two tracks, Los Hispanos’s has a more traditionally cumbia sound overall. In spite of relying on electric bass, most of the instruments are acoustic, and the most prominent of those instruments is actually a horn section, with trumpets playing a melody together in a way that is strongly evocative of Mexican music: another thing that differentiates “Cariñito” from “Que to Perdone Dios.” Rossy War’s song is more modern, lacking the rich array of traditional acoustic instruments like the maracas. Both tracks boast polyphonies but “Cariñito” has more complex layering, and more dialogue between different instrument and instrument sections such as between bass and horns, and between horns and percussion. Rossy War’s song is simplistic in comparison, more of an 80s rock ballad than an exemplar of cumbia. The bongo drums are one of the only traditional elements that can be heard in Rossy War’s arrangement. Cumbia music is proudly postcolonial but also optimistic and sentimental. In spite of the sadness of Rossy War’s lyrics, it is a strongly sentimental song that thrives on the pop music theme of heartbreak. Neither of these tracks have a political dimension to them, and none of them bear the stamp of “blackness” that would once have been a signature feature of cumbia (“!Alegria! 135). Before its permeation into almost all corners of Latin America, cumbia was heavily involved in the methods of Colombian nationalism and Colombian identity construction, but these two tracks represent the shifting of cumbia from a geographically dependent art form to one that represents pan-American pride (“La Costa and Música Costeña in the Colombian Nation” 32). Although cumbia was born on the coast of Colombia, it has since become an emblem of Latin American identity.