Deutsches Volksliedarchiv

The blurred soft beat of smouldering hearts: the nomadic bolero

Author(s): Heloísa de Araújo Duarte Valente
Source: Lied und populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture, 53. Jahrg., Populäres Lied in
Lateinamerika / Popular Song in Latin America (2008), pp. 95-108
Published by: Deutsches Volksliedarchiv
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20685602 .
Accessed: 12/06/2014 16:57

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Deutsches Volksliedarchiv is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Lied und
populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 THE BLURRED SOFT BEATOF SMOULDERINGHEARTS:
THE NOMADIC BOLERO

Heloisa de Ara?jo Duarte Valente

MEDIA SONG: a very

particular matter!

We have already pointed out in a previous paper (Valente 2002) thatmedia song is
a was born with the advent of themedia; in this con
specific kind of song that
dition, it keeps some very particular characteristics, such as duration, sound,1

ways of pronouncing and spelling the lyrics, among other features.We should
stress that this
possibility appeared for the first time in history in the late nine
teenth century,with the invention of the telephone and recording.
The twentieth century was the time inwhich techniques of capturing, storing
and remodelling of sound were developed, initially by the record and the radio.
The result of these techniques has been the appearance of schizophonia in the
was the Canadian composer R. Murray Sch?fer who coined the
soundscape. It
term schizophonia to refer to the an
split between original sound and its elec
troacoustic reproduction in a soundscape.2 These techniques have completely
modified the forms ofmusical perception as well as listening habits.
The technically mediatized sound has traced an interesting historic path: me
diatization has brought new sounds from everywhere in the listeningworld, pro
a
viding complete map of the planet's sound geography. It has also stimulated the
hearing of works produced during the previous centuries.We should also empha
size the changes which this new soundscape has brought to the core of themusi
cian's
performance.
The mosttypical example of the birth of schizophonia is that of Enrico
- - was
Caruso. The voice considered as a musical instrument (medium) the best

1 It is the French composer Fran?oisDelalande who stated that recordedmusic has a par
ticular sound, i.e., patterns of reverberation, echo, noise distortion etc. which character

izes not only a technical option, but also an aesthetic one.

2 R. Murray Sch?ferfirstemployedthisterminhis book The

The composerandmusic researcher
New Soundscape (1969). SCHIZOPHONIAdesignatesthegroup of sounds formingno matter
what acoustic ambient, be it a composition, an acoustic environment etc. See: Sch?fer 1979.

Lied und popul?re Kultur /Song and Popular Culture 53 (2008)

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Heloisa de Ara?jo Duarte Valente

sound source for the earlymusical recordings, for it offered a great number of ele
ments of identification to the listener: words, accent, details of articulation and
vocal effects. Caruso's PHONOGENIC VOICE (Chino 1994) was suitable for the
at that time.
sharpest recordings available
The much-awaited high fidelitywas far from being achieved, though.We only
need to remember that, despite itsgreat development, it took the technical knowl
a to be able to capture sound in its
edge long time integrity,not tomention back
a was
ground noise, hissing which only eliminated around the 1950s when the
system of stereophony and themicrogroove record arrived. Even so, people could
shut out all background noise and enjoy hearing recorded music on the radio.

After theMedia

The introduction of record and radio already in the 20th century facilitated the lis
a
tening to wide range ofmusic. In fact, the pair radio/record promoted the devel
opment of different variants of song (understood as a musical genre), some of
them originating from the traditional music of various countries. Once established,
such songs were incorporated in the classic repertoire of each style in particular,

becoming standards: theMexican bolero is one of the imported genres, fol

lowing theNorth-American >wayof hearing< (>softened<,we must emphasize).

At the beginning of the 1930s a mixture of rhythms, instruments and genres
could be observed. The musicians and singers also introduced foreign elements to
their standard repertoire. On the other hand, each country started to translate the
international hit parade into their own specific language, encouraging a kind of hy
bridisation3 (Garcia-Canclini 2000) or M?TISSAGE (Laplantine and Nouss 1997).

Applied tomusic, the concept of M?TISSAGE refers to a very old process, once
?the m?diatisation and the technologisation of music have not created crossings,
but they have only accelerated them on a planetary scale? (Chion 1994)4. Since the
introduction of themedia, musical hybridisation increased very quickly, beginning
with the Argentinean tango and being followed by other urban popular genres

3 Garc?a-Canclini defines as ?the socio-cultural in which structures

hybridisation processes
or discrete that existed in a separate way, combine in order to create new struc
practices,
tures,objects and practices.? (2000: 62).
4 In order to this panorama, several could be cited: the influences of folk
explain examples
lore (Bart?k, Enesco, de Falla, Villa-Lobos); the jazz; the tzigane tradition, the fado. We
should add also the so-called FUSION genre that means, to Garc?a-Canclini, the term re

ferringto hybridisationspecificallyinmusic (2000: 62).

96

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 The nomadic bolero

(Valente 2003). This process of assimilating, adapting, changing, imitating, ex

a was a very common even
cluding internal elements in piece of music procedure
before the arrival of media inmusic. However, after song became one of themost

important merchandises, these actions happened to be more constant and rapidly

we would like to stress that each kind of set
changing. In this sense, procedure (or
of procedures) is not chosen by chance. There are - sometimes subtle or un
rules
-
conscious that guide the selection. In other words, all choices are embedded in a
cultural orientation. The way in which each particular culture understands and
absorbs a musical genre inevitably affects theway themechanisms of culture oper
ate: each culture selects the individual traitswhich are necessary for its preserva
tion. According to the semiotics of culture, it is by or a cer
maintaining excluding
tain number of traits that a specificmodality ofmemory can be created.
This concept ofmemory, introduced by Yuri Lotman and theTartu School, is
in consonance with Paul Zumthor's theory,when he says: ?Our cultures only
re
member by forgetting, theymaintain themselves by rejecting a part of what they
have accumulated as experience, day by day?. Zumthor adds that a community
to the kinds of
memorially adheres thought, of sensitivity, of action and discourse,
which establish the >functions< of their culture, depending on the specific values
this culture retains (Zumthor 1997: 17).

Nomadism

It was the ethnomusicologist and TANGUERO Ram?n Pelinski who coined the

concept of NOMADISM inmusic (Pelinski 1995). It is an approach to Gilles De

leuze's theory,which Pelinski has borrowed from, to study the process of develop
roots in a definite
ing place and cultivating branches in other different countries.
He terms themusic which is rooted in a particular country >territorialized<;on the
other hand, he labels themusic which has been adopted by another country or by
a different culture >deterritorialized<or >nomadic<. These aspects that characterize
-
theArgentinean tango's historical evolution which has been analysed by Pelinski
- can to other genres, such as the bolero.
equally be applied
Pelinski stresses that a musical genre takes on a nomadic character just by being
as an >exotic< a non
symbolically territorialized: By being absorbed product (as
cultural text, Lotman would say), song would travel around the world, being
sometimes more, sometimes less in contact with the local cultures (Pelinski 1995:

27). This same idea could be transposed to theMexican bolero (the territorialized
one) and to the Brazilian one (the nomadic version).

97

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Heloisa de Ara?jo Duarte Valente

The nomadic bolerois the deterritorialized bolero all over theworld. Product
- as - aims to
of a diaspora, the nomadic bolero well as the tango be close to the
to roots. In this process, the nomadic
specific cultures inwhich it aims develop
bolero selects the particular traitswhich will be maintained, as well as the ones
whichwill be excluded.

The nomadic bolero

First of all,we should emphasize that theword BOLERO refers to two differentmu
sical genres.What do they have in common? Both are sung and danced. According
toGrove's dictionary, there are two kinds of bolero:

1) A Spanish dance and song inmoderate tempo and triplemetre, popular

at the end of the 18thand
throughout the 19th. It is still danced inAndalu
sia, Catile and Mallorca. Some scholars consider it to be derived from the
SEGUIDILLE, others regard it as a less overtly sensual version of the fandan

go; according to tradition itwas invented by the dancer Sebasti?n Cerezo

around 1780. It closely resembles theAndalusian CACHUCHA. [...] Musi

cally, the Spanish bolero is usually inAAB form. The entry of the voice is
at least one bar of
preceded by sharped marked rhythm, and short instru
mental interludes separate the sung couplets [...].

2) The Cuban bolero, on the other hand, is a duple-metre dance that exhi
bits closer relationships with the HABANERA and Afro-Cuban musical styles
than with the Spanish bolero. It is a binary song form which developed
from such^-century forms as the CONGA, DANZ?N and CONTRADAN
ZA. Its often sentimental quatrains, sometimes as many as 20, are presented
in two contrasting musical periods characterized by long,
flowing melodies.
use of both CIN
Rhythmic complexity is characteristic, including the
QUILLO and TRESILLO in the as well as in the
melody accompaniment
which is for bongo, conga drum and claves. (Sadie 1980: 870-871)

CinquinoTresillo

If themost famous example of the Spanish bolero is the one by Ravel, composed

already in the 20th century, the variety which became internationally adopted and
was the Cuban bolero, mainly
accepted through theMexican nomadic version.
Groves' Dictionary reinforces this conception:

98

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 The nomadic bolero

(However) itwas the Cuban that superseded the Spanish one in

bolero
Latin America. During the 19th century it entered the repertory of ma
rimba bands in Central America and Mexico. Two types of bolero exist in
Mexico: the ROM?NTICO, danced and/or sung, which has an international
music-hall character, and the RANCHERO, only sung, which is found only
inMexico and is accompanied a mariachi consort
by using stylized bolero
(1980: 871)
rhythms.
Hence, in order to understand the Brazilian nomadic bolero, we should firstgive a
brief description of the evolution of theMexican bolero. Itwill be shown that Bra
zil has absorbed both types, ROMANTIC and RANCHERO, in itsown specificway.

The Mexican bolero

toG?rard an expert in Latin-American music, themost popu

According B?hague,
lar genres inMexican popular music in the first decades of the 20th century were
the bolero and the CANCI?N ROM?NTICA MEXICANA (or CANCI?N MEXICANA)5.
The latter,which also assumed a variant known as RANCHERA, is a genre more ac
to a considerable
quainted folk-song tradition. From the 1920s, quantity of CAN
CIONES and BOLEROS were written. Among famous composers such as Tato Na
cho (IgnacioFern?ndezEsper?n, 1894-1968) andGuty C?rdenas (1905-1932),
AugustinLara (1897-1970) (B?hague 1992: 3). The
thebestknown is certainly
character of Lara exceeded the condition for a national idol: Lara was the first
Mexican artist to perform in Brazil, inaugurating a list ofMexican celebrities who
would visit that country.
It is the ethnomusicologist Samuel Araiijo who has pointed out that the boom of
Lara moved fromVera Cruz to
the bolero inMexico began in 1928, when Augustin
as the haba
Mexico City.6 InVera Cruz he became familiarwith Cuban genres such

5 The bolero ?carried both a sense of as did the tango, and a characteristi
foreign novelty,

callyMexican emphasis of lyricalmelody which theArgentine tango lacked? (Pedelty

1999: 36).We cannot entirelyagreewith thisposition. In fact,when thebolero arrived in
the tango was a well-known the ones
Mexico, already genre. But tango melodies, mainly
after 1917, were a wide of characteristics inherited
composed long, comprising range
from Italian in fact, the accompaniment was more and full of accents.
opera; syncopated

Equally the themes of the lyricswere dramatic, talkingabout loss, life that has passed
away, feelingsof nostalgia and about defeat and ruin.
6 In fact, it seems that Vera Cruz was the entrance door to that came from Cuba:
everything
tobacco, sugarand a significantnumber of immigrantsand refugees(Pedelty 1999: 35).

99

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Heloisa de Ara?jo Duarte Valente

nera, the guaracha and the bolero: ?Laras firsthit Imposible (1928) was followed by
an estimated roll of 500 boleros, several of which became quite successful interna
tional hits? (Ara?jo 1999: 44). For Mark Pedelty, when the bolero reached Mexico
?was
City, thismusical genre truly transformed,made into the urban sound ofMex
ico, the city and the nation, fromwhich point itwould be exported internationally as
a
discernibly Mexican cultural product? (1999: 35). Through Lara's compositions,
an interlocutor between
Pedelty adds, ?the bolero became provincial and the urbane,
familiar. Lara an urban
the foreign and the combined sophisticates classical proclivi
ties (signaled in Lara's use of piano, violin, and bel canto vocal techniques) and the
masses? (1999: 36).
popular stylesfavored by the
Ara?jo remembers the importance of shortwave radio, record, cinema (and lat
er RADIONOVELAS) in new repertory,
broadcasting this mostly from the 1930s:

During the 1930s and 1940s, boleros written and sung primarily by Mex
ican and Cubans were widely diffused throughout Latin America via short
wave radio (the XEW station, La Voz de La Am?rica
rpm Latina), 78
records and Mexican-produced melodramatic films,making singers (in some
cases, singer-actor/actresses) such as Pedro Vargas, JorgeNegrete and Pedro
Infantewidely popular in various countries, including Brazil. (1999: 44)
-
Broadcasting throughout Mexico and eventually to neighbouring countries like
-
theUnited States and Cuba XEW extended this new soundscape over Mexican

territory,creating (through music) the sign of a modern country.

The film industry started inMexico at the same time as radio. In 1930, the
first sound film was launched. Itwas entitled Santa, directed by Juan de la Cruz
?larcon (1943) and based on a homonymous novel by Frederico Gamboa. With
a melodramatic narrative, fol
compositions by Augustin Lara, the plot developed
a a sort of theme which became the parameter of the follow
lowing cabaret genre,
a
ing releases. Pedelty remembers that these cabaret films ?provided moral mirror,
sort of reflectionwhich led to a new era of conservative moralismi em
forcing the
bodied in ranchera music (1999: 41). As we
and CHARRO HORSEMEN HERO-films?
will see, both versions (bolero ROM?NTICO and RANCHER?,) produced their no
madic versions in Brazil. That >franticincursion< began, when Santa was shown for
the first time, launching the process of MEXICANISATION in Brazilian culture, as
Severiano emphasizes.7
It is true thatHollywood has contributed to establish a stereotyped conception
of the bolero as a passionate, sensual and extravagant dance and music. Appreci

7 Personal communication, June 2003.

100

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 The nomadic bolero

ated from the point of view (and understanding) ofAmerican culture, all exaggera
tions should be understood in a disfigured way, as a non-cultural sign (using Lot
man's concept of culture).
In the 1950s the dominance on the one hand
of the bolero was
replaced, by
RANCHERA, and on the other hand by rock and roll. It isPedelty who remarks:
Ranchera drew from the bolero nostalgic elements, integrating its hyper
traditionalism and stereotypical nationalism into a new, if somewhat sim
sense of >Mexicanidad<. Rock and roll
plified represented the full embrace
of modernity, urbanity and transnationalism. In essence, the bolero's nos
was on the task of ur
talgic modernity split: ranchera took satisfying the
banities' angst-ridden need for nostalgia, while rock provided a full em
braceofmodernity.(1999: 45)
was a successful combination of three influences: the
Pedelty explains that RANCHERA
>traditional<mariachi ensemble,8 charro-style films and bolero. We cannot describe
all aspects of the evolution of ranchera and itsmixture with the bolero (the bolero

ranchero). However, we should say a fewwords about theTrios. Trio Los Panchos
started in theUnited States, developing an arrangement inwhich string-based Yu
catean traditionswere present, as itwas in the
beginning ofmariachi ensembles. The
in 1948, at XEW, created a new sub
broadcasting of the firstLos Panchos record
- as - to have strong
genrewhich Pedelty puts it ?continues appeal.? (1999: 46)

The Brazilian (nomadic) bolero

we can observe the use of

Concerning media song in particular, meta-linguistical
modes, such as or arrangements for other instruments, adapting to spe
parodies
cific styles or fashions. And of course we find translations into the local vernacular
was established. This is the case
throughout the places where the nomadic version
with the >Mexican wave< which swept throughout Latin America and, in particular,
coun
Brazilian culture. Mexicanization began, when the film Santa arrived in the
try; themusicologist Jairo Severiano describes it as a kind of fever: Santa was seen

8 Mariachi are not old and have several in its early years a
particularly undergone changes:
mariachi ensemble consisted of harp, guitars and GUITARR?N. By the 1920ies these in
struments were VIHUELA and JARANA. Due to technical con
joined by violins, problems

cerning radio braodcasting, trumpetswere added to the ensemble.The last step in the
evolution of themariachi ensemblewas the addition of REQUINTO, a typeof guitarpopu
larizedbyAlfredoGil, amember of theTrio Los Panchos.

101

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Heloisa de Ara?jo Duarte Valente

on the film was

by lots of people, but later just forgotten. However, Mexican cul
tural products which arrived togetherwith the film stayed for decades: For ex
to Brazil and has become an impor
ample, the Spaniard Gregorio Barrios moved
tant bolero singer; were en
foreign artists visited the country formany years and
thusiasticallywelcomed.9
We should also remember the importance of local versions of radionovelas,
?which maintained the original soundtracks, and pasteurized versions of Latin
- - mov
American musical genres including the bolero performed inHollywood
ies of the 1940s by artists such as Xavier Cugat and Carmen Miranda? (Ara?jo
1999: 46). Ara?jo continues his explanation which shall be reproduced in totum:

The term bolero did not appear on Brazilian record labels until 1941. The
first examples seem to be reissues of foreignmatrixes sung in Spanish, such
as the first una vez,
big hit in Brazil, Sokmente by Augustin Lara. This ini
tial outburst of popularity also prompted the first Portuguese versions of

mainly Mexican bolero lyrics recorded by Brazilians, finally evolving into

boleros inMexican stylewritten and sung by Brazilians. (1999: 46)

Brazilian nomadic bolero even the Mexican ver

accepted original
sions with lyricswritten in Spanish. Ara?jo remarks the success of pieces ofmu
sic likeHarvest Martins' Caminemos, recorded by Tr?o Los Panchos.

Anyway, territorialized bolero, in Brazil, embodied not only a class of ballroom

genre but also a sentimental song to be heard privately. From 1941 onwards the
number of boleros has increased; moreover, hybrid forms have proliferated: No
we find BOLERO-BEGUINE, BOLERO-CAN?AO, BOLERO-CH?-CH?-CH?, BO
wadays
LERO-INDIO, BOLERO-RANCHO, BOLERO-ROCK, BOLERO-SAT?RICO, FOX-BOLERO,
TANGO-BOLERO and VALSA-BOLERO. (Ara?jo 1999: 46-47)
The popularity of the bolero and itsmultiple versions does not mean an abso
lute acceptation or unanimity. Severe criticism has been addressed to thismusical

genre, considered as a sort of ideological manipulation^ an >unconscious response

to international
recording ambitions<. The popular music researcher Jos? Ramos
to the
Tinhor?o objected following fusion of the bolero with the samba-can?ao,
since it ?was responsible for the overshadowing of the latter in the national musical
scene?(Ara?jo 1999:47).
Ara?jo pursues his analysis describing the fusion process of Brazilian bolero
with samba-can??o, in the sphere of ROMANTIC song. He states that itwas very
difficult to remark the subtle differences between the two genres already by the

9 Personal communication, June 2003.

102

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 The nomadic bolero

1940s. In fact, some traits in common facilitated theirmerging. According to

Ara?jo thesewere:

a) the contents of their texts, typically dealing with love impasses, anger, pri
-
vation, and humiliation but also with social mobility (>you owe me your
- in
social uplifting, but now you look down upon me<) ambiguous ways;

b) the fact that both of them were popular as ballroom dance genres in
medium-to-slow tempo and duple-meter;

c) their prestige at a timewhen ballroom dancing was a widespread practice

in Brazil [...] cutting across more rigid class and/or ethnic boundaries, and

finally,

d) their common types of instrumentation, using either orchestral settings

or a small ensemble of or
guitar(s), requinto (Mexican bolero), cavaquinho
(samba-can?ao), and light percussion [.. .].10 (Ara?jo 1999: 48)

In the 1940s and 1950s, both bolero and samba-can??o sold a prodigious number
of records. On average, themost famous recording stars reproduced the style of the
international bolero stars such as Lucho Gattica and Gregorio Barrios. The num
ber is not insignificant and gathers names which have become very famous: Dalva
de Oliveira, Nelson Gon?alves, Angela Maria, Anisio Silva.
two main directions: 1) the
The subsequent evolution of Brazilian bolero took
CAFONA or BREGA,meaning bad taste inmusic, exaggeration, vulgar sentimental

ism; in short, an impoverishment, erosion of the genre; 2) a refinement process

which led to the Bossa Nova movement.
Another bolero of the nomadic version is represented by the CAIPIRAS and SER
TANEJOS version, a type of Brazilian country music. These musicians heard Maria
chi groups and incorporated the simpler variants; they both recorded the same rep

ertorywith lyrics in Portuguese and composed their own boleros. Sometimes a

very popular song is transformed into a bolero. Examples of this practice can be
found on records ofDuo Guaruja, Pedro Bento e Z? da Estrada and many others.

Nowadays, they have been absorbed by best selling artists like Roberta Miranda,
Chit?ozinho eXoror?, Zez? di Camargo e Luciano.
In the 1950s rock and roll virtually invaded theworld's soundscape; the four
beat measure in a faster tempo appealed to a kind of culture inwhich high speed
seemed to be a synonym of progress and a superior way of life.The American way

10 Ara?jo remindsus that the use of congas indicatesa similarity

with the bolero,while the
pandeiro is with
identified the samba-can?ao. (1999: 48)

103

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Heloisa de Ara?jo Duarte Valente

of life sounded like an irresistible invitation to that country's goods and cultural
an
products. >Let's put energetic song inmy car!<; >Let's talk about youth, individ
ual subjects [...]< - a
in continuous and strict 4/4beat! And
by this process of the
rock-and-roll-invasion the earlier genres which used to symbolize the countries
where theywere born, weakened or just disappeared.
Even so, there are artistswho have built their careers
singing specific musical
In such as Dalva de Nelson
genres. Brazil, singers Oliveira, Gon?alves, An?sio
Silva, Alternar Dutra, Agnaldo Timoteo, Miltinho, Roberto Luna and many others
include several boleros in their repertories. Some of these
people, still alive, contin
uewith thesamehitswhich theyused to singin the 1940s and 1950s.This is the
case with
Cauby Peixoto and Angela Maria.
Yet, other generations have seen a privileged way of access to romantic music
in bolero. This attitude is not restricted to Brazilian veter
performers.World-wide
ans likeRoberto Carlos and Julio Iglesias but also younger singers like Luis
Miguel
changed their previous musical identity by stamping their career with a romantic
label. Some interpreters include boleros in their records formany other reasons:
For example, some of them are politically concerned and find music a means
good
of expressing their ideas; other artists are interested in
keeping musical memory
alive. This is the case of the singer Elis a vast repertory
Regina, who has recorded
including Adoniran Barbosas (forgotten) sambas and boleros likeMazanero's Me
deixas louca {Me vuelves locoIYou drive me crazy).
From our point of view (point of we would like artists to choose bo
hearing!)
leros, because the bolero represents an opposite sound to the contemporary sound
scape of theworld, where short and accentuated noisy events occur in a very fast
tempo. Bolero TEMPO is slower and demands a fluid and prolonged reverberation.
some artists have
Nowadays, given the bolero a new look (in fact, a new hear
ing!), recreating it in differentmusical arrangements and subtle changes in rhyth
mic patterns. The themes can
display other kinds of feelings, banishing the usual
DOR DE COTOVELO
(jealousy). Among these artists,we should mention Jo?o Bos
co, a composer, guitarist and singerwho has created some important pieces ofmu
sic such as Dois pra la, dois pra cd and
Papel mach?. Jo?o Bosco's remarkable cha
racteristic is his personal style of singing, a kind of non-traditional one inwhich he

plays with phonemes. He also creates an onomatopoeic similaritywith percussion

and brass instruments, giving rise to a new sound. (Delalande 2001)

104

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 The nomadic bolero

The blurred soft beat of smouldering hearts: the nomadic bolero

After these brief comments concerning the nomadic bolero, we could argue the
traitswhich guarantee the
longevity of that genre. The bolero is a hundred-year
old musical genre.Why is it so strong?We have already pointed out a
hypothesis:
an to a way of lifewhich pro
nowadays, the bolero could represent opposition
motes fast actions and movements. (The present soundscape expresses this
rapid
kind of life through rock and pop.) A slower tempo inmusic could compensate for
the hurry (even in thinking) which people are obliged to accept.
Another reason could be the sentimentalism itselfwhich is a permanent trait of
human kind. It seems that a sentimental storywould occupy a privileged in
place
a discourse throughmusic is perhaps themost eloquent
people's minds. Moreover,
way to tell a love This
story! could be well understood ifwe state the text below -
in fact, a text composed from the titles of several boleros:

The blurred softbeat of smoulderinghearts

(El suavey difuso latido de los corazones, afuego lento)
Bolero-bolero
Ahora y siempre Now and forever

Nosotros we

Caminemos walk
Brisa tropical breeze
tropical
Camino verde green way

Campanitas de cristal
crystalbells
Rayto de luna moonlight
Canci?n del alma song of the soul
Noche de luna night of themoon
La barca theboat
Noche de ronda roundingnight

Somos We are

Dos two
gardenias gardenias
Inmensa melod?a
deep melody
Sombras nada m?s shadows, else
nothing

Sigamos pecando, let's go on sinning

Los dos both of us
As?, like this
Prohibido prohibited
... Santa! ... woman!
Holy

Aunque t? no me quieras Although you don't loveme anymore

Abr?zame as? Embrace me

105

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Heloisa de ?jo Duarte Valente

Voy apagar la luz I'll turnoff the light

B?same mucho Kiss me so

Besos de fuego Kisses of fire

Despu?s de un beso After a kiss
Sabr?s que te You'll realize Iwanted you
quiero
Solamente una vez Only once

Por que me siento triste? Why am I feelingso sad?

em la distancia You so far away
Contigo
Recordar? tu boca I'll remember your mouth
Si no vuelves Ifyou don't come back
Lejos de ti Far fromyou
Que ser?de mi? What will happen tome?
Que voy hacer sin t?? What could I do without you?
Esp?rame en el cielo Wait for me in heaven

Amorcito coraz?n Little love,my heart

Piensa en m? Stay byme
Qu?date comigo Think aboutme
mucho Love me very much, do!
Qui?reme
Tu vida ymi vida Your lifeismy life
Un A commitment
compromiso
Secreto A secret one

Veinte a?os Twenty years

Cuando ya no me When you don't love me anymore

quieras
Arr?ncame la vida Take my lifeaway
Con toda el alma With all your deep soul
J?rame! Swear it!
en paz Leave me alone
D?jame
D?jame solo Let me be
No podre olvidarte Iwon't be able to forgetyou
Black tears
L?grimas negras
de amor Love tears
L?grimas
Cenizas Cinders

Que tehas cre?do? Have you believed in that?

No me vayas
a
enga?ar
You won't be unfaithful
No trates de mentir Don't lie

Puro teatro! Pure drama!

Perfidia Perfidy
No me pidas perd?n Don't apologize
Nada espero I don't expect anythingfromyou
Nunca jam?s Never,

106

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 The nomadic bolero

No vale la pena It's not worth it

Nuestro Our vow

juramento

Angustia, Amargura, Ausencia, Decep Anguish, bitterness, absence, deception,

ci?n, Despecho, Dudas, Incertidumbre, despisal, doubts, uncertainty, misery,
Miseria, Olvido, Traici?n oblivion, betrayal
...Y... ...And...

to the bolero could be found, on average, in

Incidentally, all these feelings attached
all boleros. After a century of melodies, we have become accustomed to listening,
me acostumbraste [...]:
dancing and singing boleros! T?
T? me acostumbraste You accustomed me

a todas esas cosas To all those things

y tu me ense?aste And you taughtme
que son maravillosas. That theyall aremarvellous.
Sutil, a mi como la tentaci?n, you came to me as
llegaste Subtly, temptation
itself,
Llenando de inquietud
mi coraz?n. Fillingmy heartwith anxiety.
Yo no conoc?a I didn't know
Como se How to love,
quer?a,
Em tu mundo raro In your curious world

Yo por tiaprend?. I've learnt because of you.

Por eso te
pregunto, That's why I ask you,when I realize
al ver que me olvidaste, that you've
forgotten me,
Por qu? no me ense?aste Why didn't you teachme
Como se vive sin ti. How to livewithout you

References

on Brazilian Music
Ara?jo, Samuel (1999): The Politics ofPassions: The Impact ofBolero
Expressions. In: Yearbook for Traditional Music. No. 31. New York, ICTM (In
ternationalCouncil forTraditional Music), pp. 42-56.
o estudo da m?sica popuhr urbana htino
B?hague, Gerard (1992/93): Recursospara
americana. In: Revista Brasileira deM?sica. No. 20. Rio de Janeiro.

Caravaca, Rub?n (1995): 313 Boleros por ejemplo.Madrid.

Chion, Michel (1994): Musiques, m?dias et techonologies.Paris.

Delalande, Fran?ois (2001): Le ?son?des musiques. Paris.

11 T? me acostumbraste is a bolero composed by Frank Dom?nguez.

107

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Heloisa de Ara?jo Duarte Valente

Garc?a-Canclini, N?stor (2000): Noticias recientessobreh hibridaci?n. In: Buarque de

Hollanda, H./Resende, B. (org.): Artelatina. Rio de Janeiro, pp. 60-82.

Laplantine, Fran?ois/Nouss, Alexis (1997): Le m?tissage. Paris.

Lotman, I?ri (1996): La semiosferaI? semi?ticade la culturay del texto.Madrid.
- ? semi?ticade la cultura, del textode h conductay del espacio.
(1998): La semiosferaII
Madrid.

Mart?n-Barbero, Jes?s (2000): Dislocaciones del tiempoy nuevas topograf?asde memoria.

In: Buarque de Hollanda, H./Resende, B. (org.): ArteUtina. Rio de Janeiro,
pp.139-169.

Pedelty,Mark (1999): The Bolero: The Birth, Life, and Decline ofMexican Modernity.
In: Latin American Music Review. Vol. 20, No. 1, Spring/Summer, pp. 30-85.
?
Pelinski, Ram?n (1995): Tango nomade ?tudes sur le tango transculturel.
Montr?al.

Sadie, Stanley (ed.) (1980): The Grove Dictionary of

Music andMusicians. Vol. 2. Lon
don. Reprinted 1990, pp. 870-871.

Schafer,R. Murray (1979): Le paysage sonore.Paris.

Valente, Heloisa A.D (2002): >Amedia luz<: alguns tonspara urna escuta clariaudiente
do tango brasileiro. In:Actas del IV Congreso Latinoamericano IASPM:
www.hist.puc.cl/iaspm/mexico/articulos/Duarte.pdf.
-
(2003): As vozesda can??o na m?dia. Sao Paulo.
- ? the nomadic
(2006): The song that does not want to die tango. In: Erkki Pek
kil?/Neumeyer, David/Littlefield, Richard: Music, Meaning and Media. Imatra,
pp. 209-218.
Zumthor, Paul (1983): Introduction ? U po?sie orale. Paris.
-
(1994): Body and performance. In: Pfeifer,L./Gumbrecht, U.: Materialities of Com
munication. Stanford.

-
(1997): Tradi??o e esquecimento. S?o Paulo.

108

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.49 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:57:19 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions