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http://www.jstor.org
 THE SCHOLAR MINSTRELS OF ANDALUSIA:
DEEP ORATORY,OR THE
CARNIVALESQUE UPSIDE DOWN

DAVIDD. GILMORE
StateUniversityof New Yorkat StonyBrook

or 'scholarly'genre of sentimentalversificationperformed
This is a study of the estudiantil
duringAndalusiancarnival- a time normallyassociatedwith comic inversions,politicalprotest
and raucoussocial satire. Until recently, many pueblos in southern Spain boasted a serious
aestheticperformancestyle that coexisted and interpolatedwith the 'normal'burlesqueand
billingsgateof carnival.This analysisemploys insightsfrom Bakhtinand others to explorethe
textualmeaningsof this paradoxicalgravityand culturalconservatismduringa liminalperiodof
ritual reversalamong the lower classes in Andalusia.Especiallyof note are the anomalous
idealizationof womanhood,sentimentsof universalbrotherhoodandcontextualizationof Chris-
tianvirtuesassociatedwith Spain'sGreatTradition.

Negation in popular-festiveimagery has never an abstractlogical character.It is always

something obvious, tangible.That which stands behind negationis by no means nothing-
ness but the 'other side' of that which is denied, the carnivalesqueupside down
(MikhailBakhtin1984: 410).
Recent studies of expressiveculturehave focused on the role of the 'oratorical
voice' (Kaeppler1993:474) in speech communities.This work has shown that
verbalperformancesare criticalto culturalreproductionnot only becausethey
shape sharedaffectbut also becausethey commandan audience.By vocalizing
collective experience,verbal performancesreinforcekey symbols that in Ort-
ner'swords (1973: 1343) 'systematicallyformulaterelationshipsbetween a wide
rangeof diverseculturalelements'.Heroic narratives,elegies and panegyricsare
especiallypowerfulin this ordering,since their effect goes beyond representing
personal sentiments to broadcastingcollective truths about society,the world
and the hereafterto assembledgroups (Briggs1993:952).
Often noted but infrequentlyexplored is the gender-specificityof speech
performances.Everywheregrievingand requiem modes tend to be female, in
contrastto politicalrhetoric,agonisticduelling,liturgicalritualand dramaturgy
which are usuallymale (c? Herzfeld 1985;Marcus1987;AC. Taylor1993).As
Bloch (1982: 226) notes about verbal artistryin general: 'again and again
women are given death, while the social order is reaffirmedelsewhere'. The
divisioninto male oratory/bravado and femalemourningis especiallytrue of the
Mediterranean,where spatialsegregationconfiguresmen's and women's ver-
balizationsas well as their moral boundaries(Dubisch 1993). As the Tappers
J. Roy.anthrop.
Inst.(N.S.) 1, 561-580
562 DAVID D. GILMORE

(1987: 87) note in their study of Turkishgenres, in the Mediterraneanarea

'women are the mourners'.
Since Herzfeld'swork (1985) on the 'poetics of manhood', researchin the
Mediterraneanhas focused almost exclusivelyon women's laments (Caraveli
1986; Herzfeld 1991; Serematakis1991). In Greece this emphasisappearsto be
partly an attempt to elucidate a parallel 'poetics of womanhood' (Dubisch
1987). This researchhas shown thatperformancesenableotherwisepassiveand
silent women to express'subversive'affect (Herzfeld 1991: 96), therebyestab-
lishing their own 'economy of truth' (Briggs 1992).1In a recent review of the
literatureon folk performance,Baumanand Briggs (1990) stressthat genres of
verbalartistryconstitutethe rhetoricaldomainof a community'spoliticalecon-
omy. If true, it follows that to understandsocial dynamics fully, especially
between the sexes, one must also understandformalpatternsof public speech
and rhetoric in any given community.The Greek materialdemonstratesthe
value of an epistemologicalapproachlinldng performanceto local authorityin
what Foucault(1980: 131) has called 'the generalpolitics of truth'. But aside
from Herzfeld'sbook (1985) on manhood, recent researchhas neglectedmas-
culine lachrymations.This may be because men's performances in the
Mediterraneantake on monophonicallyself-promotingforms such as singing
contests, boasting (Herzfeld 1985: 142), or festival fustian (Counihan 1987;
Gilmore 1994).2
Turningto Iberia,we have a wealth of literatureon male folklore,but mainly
humorous stuff Brandes(1977; 1980), Mitchell (1988) and I (Gilmore 1989;
1993) have written about men's comic genres in Spainincluding carnivalcou-
plets, anticlericalprofanity,politicaljokes, scatologicalskits and burlesque.This
has highlightedthe power of these playfulgenres to promote male domination
throughboth rhetoricalcommandand sexualparodyBrandes(1987) and Col-
lier (1987: 197) have providedexamplesof women's sentimentalpoetry from
Andalusia.But left out is men's elegiacpoetry:sententiousor sentimentalverse
performedin the pontifical mode. Do Spanishvillage men not have solemn
oratoricaltraditions?3
This articlepresentssome samplesof homileticversificationfrom Andalusia,
paradoxicallycoinciding with the uproariouscomedy of carnival.Although
rarelyacknowledgedin studies of carnival,many towns in Andalusiaboasteda
traditionof 'scholarly'or 'canonical'(estudiantil) verse contrastingto, and in
effect counterpointing,the more familiarRabelaisiangrotesqueries.Typifi4ng
Bakhtin'sremarkabove about the 'negationof the negation'in popular-festive
effusions, these solemn narrativesare the serious face of carnival,the 'other
side' of ribaldry- the carnivalesqueupside down - exemplifyingthe richness
and complexityof lower-classculture in Spain.The scholarlysongs were also
composed by working-classpoets, but their subject matterdiffered markedly
from the politicaland satiricthemes of the comic genres.This venerabletradi-
tion of saturninefestive poetry complementingthe ludic reflects the Iberian
aesthetictraditionby which all voiced productionsfall into 'deep' or 'shallow'
genres (Quinones 1982). The former,cantejondo (literallydeep song) connotes,
beyond profundity,elegiac or lachrymoseaffect. 'Deep' refers genericallyin
Spain to solemn or reflectiveverbal artistry,unaccompaniedguitar music, or
flamenco, alongside cheerier and more extravertedmodes called cantechico,
 DAVID D. GILMORE 563

literallyminor or light, but also connotingjoyous and profane(Molina 1981).4

Consequently,the existenceof a 'deep' mode during the levity of carnivalis a
curious fact that needs discussion.In addition,since carnivalin Spain, as else-
where in Europe (Le Roy Ladurie 1979; Kertzer 1988; Cohen 1993), has
profoundlypolitical connotations,usually promoting resistanceamong lower
classes,a study of the serious carnivalversification,with its muted ideologies,
should shed light on the complexityof proletariansubcultureunder the dicta-
torship. As we shall see, Spanish carnival, like the London/Caribbean
celebrationreportedby Cohen (1993: 130), was an ideologicalamalgam'poised
between compliance and subversion'.However, in Spain this 'compliance'is
more complicatedthan a two-dimensionaldichotomybetween 'popular/elite'.
Repletewith 'heavy'or 'profound'sentiment,the proletarianscholarlygenre
dates to at least the mid-nineteenthcentury,but seems to have died out in the
1960s. W"hy this happened is unclear. Unfortunately I do not have a convincing
explanation,althoughI make some effortsbelow. During a field trip in 1991, I
was lucky to collect some scholars'songs dating from the 1920s to the early
1960s compiled by a team of local historians.Some specimens are presented
below.After describingtheir ritualcontext and the more obscure textualsym-
bolism, I conclude with a discussion of how this material illustrates the
multivocalityof Andalusiancarnival,in particularits ideologicalambiguitiesand
its protean lyricism. I am especiallyconcernedwith the vicissitudes of male
perceptionsof femininityand of sexuality,which at the same time representthe
most centraland most fluid motifs in carnivalsymbolism.

andsentiment
Carnivalcontext:subversion
Common in Catholiccountries,carnivaltraditionallybegins on Shrove Sunday
and continuesuntil the followingTuesdaybeforeAsh Wednesday.During Span-
ish carnival,participantswear masksand body disguises.Having thus obscured
their identity,they lose their inhibitions,or as they say,'se quita la verguenza'
(shame takes a holiday). Accordingly,as participantsoften exclaim, 'anything
can happen'.The celebrationthroughoutLatinEuropeoften includesmasquer-
ading, transvestism, contentious skits and mock trials, status reversals,
anticlericalsatires,musicalentertainmentand so on (see Cox 1969; Gaignebet
1974; Caro Baroja1965; Bakhtin 1984; Eco 1984). A plebeianfestivity,Euro-
pean carnivalhas alwayshad serious politicalimplications(Caro Baroja1965;
Kertzer1988). In some cases, the rulersand elites have appreciatedthe value of
'lettingoff steam'by permittingthe proletariatto ridiculesymbols of authority
and to be generallyuninhibited.5Long beforeGluckmanwrote about ritualsof
rebellion (1963), a sixteenth-centuryFrench lawyer wrote of carnival:'It is
sometimes expedientto allow the people to play the fool and make merry,lest
by holding them in with too great a rigor,we put them in despair'(cited in
Kertzer 1988: 144). Carnivalis the people's uninhibited voice, expressed in
what Bakhtin(1984: 16) calls 'grotesquerealism',a languageof criticaldeforma-
tion, 'a specialgenre of billingsgate'.
While pre-Lentencarnivalhas declined or been diluted in most regions of
peninsularSpain since the Civil War (1936-9), its traditionsremain strong in
certaindisparatelocalities,especiallythe port city of Valenciaand in ruralAn-
dalusia (Checa 1990: 67). One pueblo retainingits carnivalis 'Fuenmayor',
564 DAVID D. GILMORE

locatedin Seville Province.6In many of the farmingcommunitiesof the Span-

ish south, or 'agrotowns'(Maddox1992), the festivalhas continued in the face
of governmentprohibitions,a living testimony of the people's defianceof the
dictatorship(RodriguezBecerra1985: 118-19).
Commencing in February,the Andalusianfestivitiesfeature costumed mas-
querading,exuberantcarousingand public indecencyin the main streets.There
is heavydrinking,salaciouspassingcommentaryand other forms of streetthea-
tre. All the while transvestite (male) clowns roam the streets, accosting
bystanderswith scurrilous gossip and, in small groups, acting out liturgical
parodies and rehearsedpantomimes, mostly scabrous or obscene (Gilmore
1993). However,most people considerthe main entertainmentof carnivalto be
the musical bands which circulate through town singing coplas,or couplets,
commentingwittily upon events of the past year.Organizedweeks before the
festival,these bandsare led by a 'maestro',a locallycelebratedballadeer,usually
of working-classorigin. Led by their maestro, the marching troupes, called
murgas(minstrelsor troubadours),promenadethroughthe main thoroughfares,
playingtheir homemadeinstrumentsand chantingtheir ditties to the cheers of
the throngs.
Anthropologistsof Andalusiahave noted the wild abandonof camivalbehav-
iour when 'anythinggoes' (Pitt-Rivers 1971: 176). It is a chaotic time for
expressingthe people's will and for moralizing:a time called 'the festival of
gossip' (lafesta de la critica).This carnivalesquegossip, more accuratelyacerbity
or criticism- the word cftica signifyingderogation- consists of open insults,
anti-establishmentfulminationsand scapegoatingof deviants.Becauseit enacts
an inversion of the quotidian 'hiddenness' of gossip (described as secret
venom), such abuse representsthe symbolic heart of the carnivalesque:the
reversalor inversionof normalboundariesand distinctions.Nevertheless,most
people enjoy the openly provocativetone as titillating.It is considered more
reprehensibleto take than to give offence - anotherexample of carnivalesque
inversion.People who become angryare scorned as bad sports and curmudg-
eons; those who provokeandvilify are praisedfor theirmordantwit and for the
pleasurethey give their audience.
Given this acrimonioustone and the overthrowof normal boundaries,the
festivalhas served many purposesin Andalusia,one of which is political po-
lemic (Pitt-Rivers 1971: 176). Many of the satirical songs attack the
government,the priestsand the rich in the most derisiveterms.Indeed,carnival
has consequently coincided with open class warfareand violence in Spain.
Malefalds(1970), Mintz (1982) and RodriguezBecerra(1992) cite a numberof
instanceswhere festivities escalatedinto insurrectionsbefore and during the
Second Republic.It is no wonder that both twentieth-centurydictators,Primo
de Riveraand Franco,bannedthe celebrationas a threatto publicorder.Indeed,
historicalresearchshows that the Spanishstatehas either outlawedor severely
curtailedcarnivalsince 1586 (RodriguezBecerra1985: 119).Yet,as we shallsee,
another side to carnivalwas the proletarianminstrels' appropriationof core
valuesof the nationalGreatTradition,especiallythose of chivalryand Christian
charity- a culturalconservatismincongruouslymingled with the politicalbil-
lingsgateof the parodicgenres.
 DAVIDD. GILMORE 565

Carnival's'scholar'
tradition
I have describedFuenmayorelsewhere (Gilmore 1980; 1987). In Fuenmayor
camival is considered the 'popular' celebrationin contradistinctionto Holy
Weekand the August fair,which were consideredelitist. Indeed, the embattled
local 'sefioritos',or gentry,used to evacuatethe pueblo during carnivalweek,
surrenderingthe town centreto the maraudingpoor (Gilmore 1975).Although
proscribedby state law in 1937 (rescinded in 1967), the festival continued
unabatedthroughout the Franco period (Rodriguez Becerra 1992: 10). The
reasons for this continuance under duress are unclear.Some townsmen say
proudly that the festival persistedbecause the heroic workers of Fuenmayor
defied the Francoproscriptions.Others say that the previous mayor of Fuen-
mayor, a somewhat abrasive outsider, winked at the festival in order to
discomfort his rivals among the local elite (Gilmore 1988). Occasionallythe
Civil Guards intervened, arresting celebrants and chasing masqueraders
through the streets;but then the revelrycontinued unabatedin jail, 'with the
cops laughingin spite of themselves'at the drunkenantics of their prisoners.
The point to remember,though, is thatthe elite voluntarilyabandonedthe field
to the workers.
Historically,the main activitiesduringcamivalin Fuenmayorare the follow-
ing. First,there is wild carousingin the streetswhen people in clown costumes
accostbystanderswith lewd suggestionsand verbalchallenges.There is also an
increasein 'socialvelocity', as excited youths push andjostle, propositioning,
insulting and, in some cases, tappingeach other with wooden staves,reminis-
cent of the 'stickfighting'reportedby Cohen (1993: 131) for the Notting Hill
camival. However, unlike in London, there has been little serious physical
violence, because people anticipatesuch mild depredationsand no one is ex-
pected to take offence. 'It's all in good fun', they say, and actual physical
violence is deplored. More importantthan all this churning activity are the
musicalbands,or murgas, which, gatheringhuge appreciativecrowds, marchin
orderlyfashionaroundtown, mockingdeviantsand occasionallylambastingthe
authorities.Up to the present,the bardsand singershave alwaysbeen working-
class males. Women almost never composed or sang carnivalsongs, although
women did participateas masqueraders.
Previousstudies of Andalusiancarnivalhave generallyoverlookedthe 'schol-
ars' bands'and their austerelyserious lyrics. Up until the 1950s, and in some
casesas late as the early1960s,the troubadoursin Andalusiawere recognizedto
be of two formalkinds:chirigotas (jokersor comedians)and estudiantiles('schol-
ars'or 'academics').By farmakingup the majorityof carnivalsingers,thejokers
sang the familiarsatiricalor obscenecoplas.ProhibitedunderFranco,these lewd
genresneverthelesswere performedsurreptitiouslyin the barsand alleysby the
comediansto acute communityappreciation.Many ethnographershavewritten
at length aboutthese chirigota coplas(Gilmore 1988;1994;Checa 1990). But here
I tum to the scholarlyminstrels,whose intentionswere 'studious'and whose
lyricshaveonly recentlybeen recovered.This secondtype of band,the estudiantil,
was devotedto solemn or tragicsubjects,treatedwith sententiousmoralizingin
a kind of sermonizinggravityquite at variancewith the regressivejollity of their
silly counterparts.Their costumes,usuallysimpletunicsfestoonedwith ribbons,
differed little from those of the chirigotaminstrels. Often these scholar-poets
566 DAVIDD. GILMORE

commemoratedsad recent events such as earthquakes,fires, floods, or other

naturaldisasters,expressingsympathyfor the victims. Other serious bardssang
homilies pontificatingon subjectssuch as sexual exploitation,death and loss,
patriotismand regionalism,or extolling Andalusian'virtues such as tolerance,
mercy,brotherhood,filial loyaltyor, in the AndalusianMariantradition,quasi-
religiousadmirationfor Motherhood- all virtues consonantwith the Castilian
GreatTraditionand Franco's'nationalCatholicism'.
The genre of matriolatryconstituteda very largesubjectfor the scholar-poets,
of which I providesome examplesbelow (see Gilmore 1987). The treatmentof
women in general,a centraltheme in all carnivalsinging,differsgreatlyin tone
between the comic and contemplativegenres. While the chirigota songs mock
mothers-in-lawand wives and remonstrateabout femaledeceit and immorality,
the solemn lyrics touch only favourablyupon women, as we shall see. Thus
carnivaloratorysplits the feminine image into the two familiarhalvesof Medi-
terranean gender schema, the redemptive and the devouring woman
(Giovannini 1981), with the scholars chivalrouslydefending and idealizing
feminine purity.

Styles
In keepingwith the unpredictabilityof carnivalin Fuenmayorand reflectingits
thematicjuxtapositions,performancestyle for sombreversesdifferedlittle from
thatof the comic. There were no markers,musicalpreambles,or visualclues to
alertbystanders.Costumes and instrumentswere the same;the same men sang
in both styles, dependingon whim. Consequently,audienceshad no prior ex-
pectationsas they gatheredaround a marchingband. My informantssay that
people gatheringthereforedid not know whether they were about to laugh or
cry,an emotional ambiguitythat they describedas partof the capriciousnessof
an event celebratingthe dissolutionof boundaries.In rarecases a drum roll or
preludialtrumpetblare might announce a solemn subject;this was apparently
the trademarkof the singer 'El Quico', who was a master of both genres.
Occasionallythe singer,especiallyif he had previouslybeen doing burlesque,
would pause,adopta graveexpression,clearhis throattheatricallyand tap a few
times on his tambourineto produce an effect of gravity.But no other distinc-
tions were made, and in some cases a band would simply switch seamlessly
from one formatto the other.
Since the same troubadoursperformedin either or both styles, sometimes
alternatingduringa single perambulation,there were no clearlyintendedsyn-
bolic or stylistic boundaries between styles. The musicians used the same
standardSpanish folk tunes to frame their words, with the only difference
being that decoroussubjectswere usuallyperformedin waltz time, ratherthan
in the fastersevillanasor pasadoble
style. Indeed, in carnivalmusicalitywas en-
tirely secondary:none of the music was speciallycomposed. Only the lyrics
and, of course, audience reactionand participationdiffered. Funny lyrics in-
spired laughterand interaction:hoots of encouragement,heckling,jokes and
other forms of dialogue. The serious songs were met with an appreciative
silence and perhapsroutinized commentariesto the effect of 'so it is', 'how
true', 'deeplyspoken',and so on, addressedfor generalconsumption.Since, for
the most part,the same 'maestros'composed tragicas well as the philosophical
 DAVID D. GILMORE 567

songs, as the muse dictated,their identitygave no priorclues as to the coming

performance.I was told, though, thatsome poets specializedin chirtigota comedy
only,as a matterof personaltasteor ability.One exampleis thejokester'Juanillo
El Gato' Johnnythe Cat), the village'smost beloved comic poet (who died in
1989).Juanillowas a rakeand cut-up, referredto as a 'caricaturist'or 'mime',
who felt himself incapableof estudiantil gravity.But other comedians had no
such inhibitions.They simply paradedaroundtown shifting to the deep mode
as the mood took them.
Only one distinction remains in informants'memories between comic and
seriousperformances.This has to do with the age of the lyricist(not necessarily
the singer,as these sometimesdiffered).The men who wrote in the bombastic
mode were generallyolder than the comedians.Poets normallystartedout in
the chirtigotastyle and only later,aftermakinga reputation,did they ventureinto
estudiantd elegies,which for success,required'deeper'(i.e. more mature)sensi-
bilities. Some remainedpure comediansall their active lives, as in the case of
the irrepressibleJuanillo El Gato. In carnivalmany more comic than serious
songswere performed.Peoplesaythatfor everyseriousperformancetherewere
five or six burlesques.
Townspeoplesay that the point of Andalusiancarnivalis thatit erasesborders
between people and things. So the ethnographyof carnivalcannotbe framedby
criteriathat use conceptualor affectivebipolaritiessuch as serious and comic,
for as othershave noted, in carnival'tragedyand comedy often intermingle'(Le
Roy Ladurie1979:206). Findingcontextualdifferencesbetween the two genres
turns out to be much less importantthan their ritualconjuncture.It is impor-
tant to remember,also, in consideringthe confusion of styles and emotions,
that no class or status distinctions separatedthe singers or the genres. In all
cases,the poets were working-classor peasantmen, always'sons of the pueblo'
(hyjosdel pueblo),members of the poorest classes (Pitt-Rivers 1971: 18-19).
These men were often landlesslabourers,alwaysmanualworkers- those who
furnished the revolutionariesduring the Franco era and before. The highly
sentimental,even conservativetonalityof their moralizingpoems, their 'muted'
politics (cf Stokes 1992: 152), seems ratherto have emanatedfrom a cultural
traditionalismthat coexistedcomfortablywith the subversivenessof the protest
genres -just as serious and comic mingled during carnival.Such obliterations
of left-rightand of protest-conformityas monophonic seem quite com-
expressions
mon in proletarianexpressiveculture,as indeed the Tappers(1987) and Stokes
(1992) have noted for the polyphonic Turkishgenres such as the mevludand
arabesk, 'in which social realitycannotbe confined to any one level of discourse'
(Stokes 1992: 13). In anothercontext Bloch (1985: 31) refersto this conjunc-
ture of moral and ideological extremes as the 'amalgam'of 'structureand
anti-structure'common to all liminalfestivities.In this context, notions such as
radicalor orthodoxlose their meaning.

Lyricspecimens.1, tragicmode
I begin with three examplesof the solemn genre in the grievingmode (Spanish
originalsare found in the Appendix).An interestingsubtheme is a nationalist
currentof self-congratulatorybenedictions,urging the listener to take pride in
the outpouring of deep emotion (sentimentosprofundos)and 'floods of tears'
568 DAVIDD. GILMORE

(Ilanto)that supposedlycharacterizethe charitableSpanish soul in the face of

others' misfortune,thus attestingto Spain'snaturalsuperiorityin moral mat-
ters.Another interestingsubthemeis the emphasison the brotherhoodof man
(especiallyof those speakinga Latin-derivedtongue), which is expressed in
some strikinglyuniversalisticimagery,quite at variancewith the intense paro-
chialism of the satiricalgenres. The first examplecommemoratesa flood near
Barcelonain 1962.

1. With the profoundestsentiments,

TodayBarcelonawears
a shroud as black as misery
and her flowers are withered,
dried out from floods of tears,
giving off no more perfume.
La Rambla [a Barcelonabarrioof Andalusian
emigrants]
cradle of cheer, you unite Catalonia,
though distant,to my nativeAndalusia.
Togetherwe grieve,
united in consolation,
togethermourning the ruin
of those poor dear towns.
we, the people of Seville, can never forget;
we carrya sympathyso deep in our hearts
that it honours our entire nation.
Emissariesof all Spain
you were valiant,you were adored,
you gave succour to the stricken
throughoutthe night and day.
Good people of SpanishCharity,and the Red
Cross,
we your compatriots
have indelibly engravedyour
most splendid and heroic deeds in
the History Book of Spain.7

The next song takesas its subjecta tragicair crashin 1961, when a relief plane
bringing supplies during severe flooding plunged into the crowd. Bobby
Deglan6 was a news announcer for the state-run television station, and the
Duchess of Albawas the patronessof the relief operation.These two celebrities
remainedin Seville for some time afterwardsto expresstheir sympathyand to
attendthe funeralsof the victims, uniting elite with commoner in grief

2. this motorcadecoming down from Madrid.

Seville today is dressed in mourning,
the beautyof Andalusiaobscured.
The Tamarguillo,overflowingits banks,
has taken away our happiness.
Those Christiansouls, taken in their prime,
rest now in their sacredtomb,
but for their grieving mothers, weeping
piteously
there can be no consolation.
All Seville was excitedlywaiting,
full of joy, waiting expectantly
for the relief caravan
approachingby road.
Leadingthe way was
a small charteredaeroplane
the special harbingerof joy
for the happyoccasion,
Then tragedystruckwithout waming;
we saw the plane falling, plummeting
the earth burning,death raining
down on those to whom a mother's love
gave life.
On the day of the funerals
all Seville wore black,
the cathedraltower and its bells
shook the sky with doleful peals.
Bobby Deglan6 cried piteously
as did the Duchess of Alba
at the foot of the MacarenaChurch
before the shroudedmotorcade.
MasterBobby Deglan6
and the Duchess of Alba,
we keep your cherishedmemory
among our most sacredimages of Spain.8
 DAVID D. GILMORE 569

The following song commemoratesan earthquakein Sicily.The theme, again

patriotic,is the generosityof Andalusiaand the rest of the Spanish-speaking
world.

3. the destruction,the loss of life, so terrible.

An indelible image
haunts us, unforgettable,terrible,
those poor islandsof Sicily
where so many lost their lives.
Men, women, children
all weeping inconsolably,
floods of tearsand lamentations
coming deep from our wounded heart.
This is a tragedyof great sorrow,
this frightfulhavoc wreakedone day
by the great earthquake,
But our nation of Spain, so great and noble
showed its kind heart
by helping its brothersin need.
And the (Latin)Americannations
also showed their brotherhood
by helping to rebuild those
villages levelled by the great quake.
Thanks be to those good nations
that looked deep in their hearts
to find the fraternalkindness that
softened all that pain.9

Coplaspecimens. 2, motherhood
I now turn to sententiousverse aboutwomen and womanhood. The first song
communicatesthroughthe common vehicle of mother-worshipa didacticmes-
sage about the anguish of elderly widows, urging filial piety. What is most
interestingis the contrastbetween this sentimentallamentwith its invitationto
pity and the bitter,mocking tone that characterizescomic carnivalverse about
old women, who are depictedas 'dragons','tomcats','lizards','witches'and the
like. Repletewith images of feminine sacrifice,these lyrics celebratefeminine
purity.

4. your old mother pines away for loneliness.

Once I saw an old woman weeping,
rackedwith the deepest despair,
all becauseshe had no family
and was plunged into black loneliness.
Seven children have I raised,she cried,
all honourable,pure and decent
but now my children ignore me
ungrateful,indifferent,and heartless.
As if I were just any woman
passingon the street,
they ignore me, yet they know
I am still and alwayswill be their mother.
But, for a mother there is no bad child,
and so I forgiveyou all your cruelty,
but, you must remember that when you
leave home
This heartlessegoism of the soul
eats away at our naturalsentiments,
but I will alwaysbe your mother
(. ines lost ..... )
Now, my children,you may speakill of your
mother,
yet you will dress in blackestmourning
when she lies in her cold grave.
Yes, when I'm gone, you will
put on a face of inconsolablegrief
but however you fool others
you are only deceivingyourselves.
In this world there is no love like mother's;
although she may lie dead in her tomb,
no child will suffer
so long as he remembersher love.10
570 DAVIDD. GILMORE

For contrast,I providea typicalexampleof comic verse satirizingwidows:

5. all in the latest fashions,

Crazy old widows, absolutelynuts,
they've got their own Maestra [female
leader]
and their own wild gangs.
Their behaviourand their fashions
are truly something to see,
they're dressed to kill;
you've got to get a load of these gals:
dressed to the nines,
and makeupsmearedall over,
with short skirts and
highheeledsneakers,
and the sportiestthreadsaround.
They go traipsingthrough the streets
saying to themselves:
now, what poor slob am I going to catch
and marry?1

The following narrative,like the one about motherhood above, discourses

upon the selfless purity of maternallove, here celebratedin an outpouringof
grief over the tragicdeath of a son. The event in question happenedsometime
in the 1940s,when the young man died of a gunshot wound while awayfrom
town, under mysteriouscircumstancesthought to be suicide, very unusual in
Fuenmayor.The case was never solved. Some say it was indeed suicide (almost
unheardof in this part of Spain), others intimate a violent love triangle,yet
others an obscure political assassination.But no matter;the point which the
poet makesis about the moralbeautyof the mother'sundying adorationof her
child, which is portrayedas the most perfecthuman emotion and one familiar
to all mothers and all sons. The child's death signalsthe mother'sdeath also, a
kind of emotionaldeathin life, since the extinguishmentof the 'maternalrayof
light' implies the end of her reasonfor living.

6. signs my death warranttoo,

The saddestand most terriblenews
that an old woman can hear
came suddenly one morning
in a missive from afar.
Distraught,she cried out:
Oh my son, may the blessed Virgin
absolveyou, may God protectyou
son of my heart,
the fruit of my loins, of my love!
Grief overwhelms me,
your bloody signature
it signals the extinguishment
of the torch of my mother's love.
Rest peacefully,oh son of my soul,
I will never forget you,
and until I too rest in my sacredtomb,
I will carry your blessed portrait on my
breast.
Forgiveus all, friends and enemies,
for I hasten to meet my son in eternity,
and I call out to the heavens
to avenge this criminalact.12

Coplaspecimens. 3, fallen women

I turn now to the theme of the dishonouredwoman. The following songs
touch on the subjectof the deceivedvirgin, a compellingtheme in Andalusian
carnivalverse. The first song asks for Christianforgiveness,urgingthe listener
to put himself or herself in the place of the ruined family,thus using empathy
as a device to teach a moral lesson. This contraststo chirigotasatire which
encouragesthe ventilationof harmfulfeelingsor, as Mitchell calls it (1988: 94),
 DAVID D. GILMORE 571

'persecutorymythopoetics'.Indeed,insteadof blamingthe defloweredgirl, the

poet placesthe full load of guilt upon the seducer,the man.

7, will badly end up himself

Dressed in white linen,
an orangeblossom in her hand,
at the church she waited,
a devout Catholic soul.
Shimmeringlike a rose,
full of innocent illusions,
eager to make her vows,
she waits her benedictions.
But, alas, the man she gave herself to
has abandonedher, cruelly spurnedher,
never even caringthat
she carriedhis child in her womb.
Men, do not abandonwhat is yours,
for we all know truly
that he who acts badly to others
Do not laugh at her, do not
mock her misfortune,you who have seduced
her,
for you have only deceived yourself
The rest of you, do not call this woman a
whore,
althoughyou see her dishonoured,
for rememberthat it was an immoral man
who deceived her, who led her to ruin.
All you men who have a sister,
rememberbefore you cast the first stone
that your sister, too, may suffer this fate,
and so you must be honourableto mine
as I am honourableto yours.13

The next song also deals sentimentallywith the loss of women's innocence,
the delicacyof young girls and the beauty of romanticlove. Dating from the
1940s, the 'Time of Hunger' afterthe Civil War,the lyricsattackthe corruption
of girls for money,which apparentlyoccurredamong the more desperateat this
time.

8. to lure these innocent lilies from their

Our laws have severe penalties
againstthe corruptionof minors
and we must guardagainst
such treatmentof young girls.
We must pay attention,
we must respect the authorities
when it comes to these procuresses
and their vile commerce in souls.
They take advantageof ignorance
they use promises of luxury and of money,
they use tricksand evil stratagems
homes.
The poor girls are dishonoured,disgraced,
no better than to be draggedoff to a brothel
becausethey've been violated
and lost their beautifulvirginity.
These girls will never know the flower of
real passion,
the fount of all virtue;
but they will foreverkeep
within their hearts
engravedwith bitter gall,
the memory of their downfall and disgrace.14

My last specimen, written in the mid-1950s, also commiserateswith fallen

women, condemninggossip and elicitingempathyfor the sinner as potentially
a mother, sister or daughter.The lyrics specifically preach against spiteful
laughterat disgracedwomen. Again,althoughhe does not speakin her voice as
in the songs above, the poet gives the impressionof a powerful identification
with the disgracedwoman, who is depicted as an involuntarysufferer of an
impersonal'fate',so that individualblame is minimized and dissipated.Again,
the positive tropes and images associatedwith women contrastmarkedlywith
the derogatoryidiom used in the comic coplas.Here, women are likened to
572 DAVID D. GILMORE

flowers and regenerativethings, to purity and goodness;womanhood is ideal-

ized ratherthan demonized.

9. Many people in this cruel world

Women, so pure and decent
are the apple of their father'seye,
he is full of pride to see his daughter
so pure and so radiantlygrowing.
Yes, sometimes a woman may stray
from the righteouspath,
but do not call her wicked,
because the fault lies in her fate, not in her.
She has been disgraced,yes,
her family distraughtand ruined,
her fathernow feels only pain
when he remembersher disgrace.
enjoy snickeringat misfortune;
they gossip and they harass
a poor unfortunatewoman.
But rememberthis, and stop your laughter,
your own mother who is so good to you
may have once fallen from the straight and
narrow
and some man may be laughingat her too.
You have sisters, rememberthem,
before you gossip about others,
what befalls others mayjust as easily
befall you too, for we are all human.15

Conclusion
Bakhtin(1984: 11) arguesthat popularinversiveritualsare never purely paro-
dies, for the popularimaginationis never bare nor unambiguous;the spirit of
carnival'denies, but it revives and renews at the same time. Bare negation is
completelyalien to folk culture'.In Spain,the conceptualreversalsare restora-
tions of non-carnivalnorms, especiallyof GreatTraditionnotions of Christian
charity;they contrast to the persecutionand mockery of the subversiveand
comic genres.In carnival,negationis never completed,but displaced'in time',
and the object is reclaimedthroughtropesof affirmation:
The non-being of an object is its 'other face', its inside out... The object that has been
destroyedremainsin the world but in a new form of being in time and space;it becomes the
'other side' of the new object that has taken its place (Bakhtin1984: 410).
One is immediatelystruckby the seeminglyanomalouslypositive images of
woman and the strongmoralidentificationwith woman as victim of a universal
fate, so obviouslyin contrastto the maliciousmisogynyof the comedians.The
scholar bards, whose identificationwith the object is often reflected in the
technique of cross-sex soliloquy,enact a reversalof the persecutorypoesis of
carnivalby taking the position of the woman as upholders of traditionsof
romantic love like the troubadoursof the Middle Ages. The poets reclaim
standardCastiliannotions of chivalry,charityand compassion,but in a renewed
form stressing egalitarianismand the unity of the sexes over formalism and
hierarchy.The seriouspoets do not victimizethe deviantwoman as in the satire,
but rathercelebratethe unity of humanityby stressingbonds that unite rather
than divide:suffering,old age, loneliness,'fate'.Likethe Turkisharabeskgenres
describedby Stokes (1992: 122), which similarlystress the unity of the sexes
before an implacablefate, the sexual ambiguityof the voice leads to 'merging
markersof genderidentity'in common experience.Also, insteadof dwelling on
the parochialismof local gossip, the scholars focus on the world beyond in
praiseof a broaderconception of brotherhood,appealingnot to an alienating
retributive fraternalmutualism.The tone is elegiac
justicebut to an incorporative
and philosophical, the moral messages uplifting, merciful, redemptive, in
 DAVID D. GILMORE 573

keepingwith a Catholicepistemologyof compassion.In a typicalcarnivalesque

paradox,the scholar-minstrelsbalanceanticlericalsubversionthroughwhat can
only be calleda proletarianappropriationof elite/nationaldoctrine.
The vision of womanhood is idealizedand romantic.The scholarsrepresent
women as vulnerableand pure:threatenedratherthanthreatening,life-affirming
rather than life-denying, victim rather than wrongdoer. Carnivalpolyphony
points to the 'centralcontradictionin gender relations'(Kaeppler1993: 95) in
Andalusia:the tension of male ambivalenceabout female sexuality- woman
imaginedas both madonnaand whore (Giovannini1981; Saunders1981). This
tension transcendsclass and time, stemming from the male identificationwith
the 'femaleother' as an inevitablepsychicresidueof childhood symbiosiswith
the mother,combined with the culturallynecessarymale repudiationof femi-
ninity during adolescence in patriarchalsocieties (Ingham 1986). Hence the
curious (and otherwisetabooed)empathywith women expressedthroughsen-
timental pleas for Christian mercy and forgiveness - often couched in the
feminine first person. Rather than as object of disgrace, the fallen woman
emergesas a tragicfigure eliciting sympathy(and identification)as an existen-
tiallyhuman, ratherthan female,object- the 'merged'gender identityreferred
to by Stokes (1992). If the chirigotasencouragepersecutionof female deviance,
and thus promote the ventilation of aggressivefeelings and the consequent
alienationof the shamedgirl, the serious songs reversethis throughreincorpo-
ration and moral restitution,or perhaps more accurately,through masculine
guilt; for as Mitchell (1988: 86) puts it, the positive side of such persecutory
folk ritualsas carnivalrepresents'the introjectionof persecutoryfeelings (guilt)
initiallyarousedby one's own retrogradedesiresor deeds'.
Paradoxically,given its popularand protest roots, Andalusiancarnivalincor-
poratesand ratifiesGreatTraditionelements. For Marnst observers,carnivalis
alwaysa 'politicalmovement'as well as a culturalexpression,since culture and
politics are always 'dynamicallyrelated' (Cohen 1993: 154). Thus carnivalis
often interpretedas 'an oppositionaldescriptionof society' (Le Roy Ladurie
1979:316). In Spain,a classmodel is plausibleand useful up to a point - at one
level it capturesthe Andalusian'revolutionarysituation'and the hatredof the
'small for the mighty' (Le Roy Ladurie1979: 33, 105). I have describedthis
aspect of the festival elsewhere (Gilmore 1975). But using a model of class
conflict here to explainthe scholars'traditionalismreturnsus to a datedritual-
of-rebellionthesiswith its baggageof mystificationand 'falseconsciousness'.In
classicManristepistemology(c? Kertzer1988), carnivalis a sublimationof class
struggle,as ritual resistanceto elite hegemony.In Cohen's view, for example,
camivalis alwaysa 'contestedevent' and classconflict is 'the very essence of the
celebration'(1993: 153, 131). Le Roy Ladurie(1979:290) interpretsthe violent
sixteenth-centuryRomans carnivalto be a 'nearly perfect example of class
struggle'.Yet most sophisticatedManxists,Le Roy Ladurieand Cohen included,
know that carnivalimageryis more complicated,its symbolism encompassing
'contradictorymeanings'and psychic tensions, and that it is 'futile to try to
explain,or explainaway,the culturalin termsof the political'(Cohen 1993:120).
In Andalusia,carnivalis surelycontested terrain,a proletarianprotest;yet its
contests occur at many levels, with class forming only one axis of tension. For
example,many authorsspeakof the 'pluralist'qualityof Europeancarnival(Le
574 DAVID D. GILMORE

Roy Ladurie1979: 313), and of 'parallel'or 'dual' carnivals,but by this they

refer to class divisions and oppositions:for example, one elite camival, one
proletariancontesting the same space, as in the case of the village of Romans
(Le Roy Ladurie1979: 313), or in the class-dividedRio or London festivals
(Guillermopietro1990;R.L. 1Tylor1978;Cohen 1993: 135-7). Yet even within
purely lower-classcelebrations,as in Andalusia,where the elite is virtuallyab-
sent, ideologicalcontradictionand value ambiguityare the rule; there is both
politicalprotestagainst,and an emulationof, elite values.A simple class model
cannot do justice to the richness of such multivocal expressions;emulating
'elite' values cannot be explainedaway simply as 'compliance'or 'camouflage'
(Cohen 1993: 130, 132), that is, as false consciousness. Rather,these Great
Traditionelements representlower-classappropriations of nationalculture in the
constructionof subculturalmoral systems. In Spain, class and culture are or-
thogonalratherthan paralleldomains.
MauriceBloch (1982; 1985; 1992), anothersophisticatedMarxist,arguesthat
it is the very flexibilityof ideology,its 'vaguenessand a-logicality'that provides
the disorientingeffects in the ritualizationof affect. Thus ideology can 'both
affirmand deny at the same time' (Bloch 1985: 40-1), the camivalesquebeing
the denial of 'time' as well as the social order; and politicized rituals, like
carnival,superimposecontradictoryaffects.For Cohen (1993: 154), carnivalis
either revolutionaryor else it gets 'co-opted' by the dominant culture and
thereby transformedinto an 'opium of the masses'. But I think it is more
fruitful to look at carnivalas expressingcontradictionsboth withinand among
classes - at least in Spain - as Bloch seems to suggest. In this perspective,
Abu-Lughod'swork on Bedouin folk poetry and Stokes's on Turkishsinging
provide some insights.Abu-Lughodshows how Bedouin women's 'discourses
of vulnerability'similarlyqualifysimplisticdepictionsabout univocalideologies
of sexual dichotomies, politics and morality.Stokes (1992: 12) shows that the
Turkisharabesksongs,althoughsimilarlyprotestingthe 'iniquityof power',also
createtwo quite distinctdiscourseswhich enablepoor and oppressedpeople to
express social experienceas 'distinct notions of selffiood and emotion which
must be seen togetherif either is to makesense'.
Carnivalthus has many faces, many voices. Its political economy is multi-
valent, polyphasic.As Kertzernotes (1988: 150), popularfestivitiesare at the
same time conservativeand convulsive:
Popularrites of community solidarity,with their well-developed symbolism, their legacy of
emotional fervor,and the power that comes with sharingwith others in regularritual per-
formances,have the power that comes from the communal effervescence,joyeusetis collectives.
It is indeed a power that can be used to deflect social tensions, but it can be used for quite
differentpurposes.
This collective release of tension, with its riotous 'upside-downings'(Davis
1978: 188), is only partof a dialecticof punishmentand forgiveness.Thus the
concept of 'ritualorder' itself takeson a more fluid, more kinetic meaning.As
the critic LindaHutcheon puts it in her study of popularcomedy (1986: 112),
the 'aestheticappropriation'of standardrealityin the carnivalesquerepresents
not only the denialof reality,but also the denialof the denial,or the authoriza-
tion of the folk text as equivalentto the elite, not just its opposite.
Finally,there is the question of why the scholarlygenre died out duringthe
post-war years. I do not have a convincing explanation.The scholarlysongs
 DAVID D. GILMORE 575

representedan exampleof lower-classparticipationin Spain'sGreatTadition,

an ennobling body of meaningsto all classesin a countrywith a glorious past
and a diminished statusin Europe. The decline of the scholarlytraditionmay
reflectmodernization,the impactof mass media and the gradualcommoditiza-
tion of carnival,as of all ritual,throughoutthe peninsula,which beganto occur
after the tourist invasionsof the late Francoyears. Like other rituals,carnival
may have lost some of its proteancomplexityas other expressiveoptions have
proliferatedin the pueblos, especiallysince the end of the dictatorship.But
since the people themselveshad no definite answers,my remarksmust remain
speculative.

APPENDDX
1. cuando de Madridsalieron.
Barcelonatiene un manto El periodistaun milagro
negro como soledad de los que da Dios en la vida
y tus flores se van despojando al caer en el suelo ardiendo
seca por el lianto una mujer le di6 vida.
no perfumanya. El dfa de los funerales
Ramblade las Flores Sevilla de velo negro
cuna de alegrfa la Giralday sus campanas
une al forastero lanzanel sonido de duelo.
di mi Andalucfa. Bobby Deglan6 llorando
Todos se lamentan y la Duquesa de Alba
unidos al consuelo al pie de la macarena
sienten la ruina y al frente su caravana.
de aquellos tres pueblos. Seflor Bobby Deglan6
Un recuerdotenemos profundo y la Duquesa de Alba
to los sevillanossin poder olvidar en memorialos tenemos
con raicesen nuestros corazones como lo mejor de Espafia.
que merecen honores esa nacional.
Emisoraespafnola 3.
fuistes preferida Un recuerdoinmemoriable
presentandoservicio caso que nunca se olvida
de noche y de dia. aquellos islas de Sicilia
Caridady Cruz Roja cuantos perdieronla vida.
paratus hermanos Hombres, mujeresy nifios
en la historiade Espafia liorabansin compasi6n
quedareisgrabado. con un lianto muy profundo
que sale del coraz6n.
2. Caso de mucha tristeza
Sevillaviste de luto la ruinade aquel dia
la graciade Andalucia por un grandeterremoto
el arroyo Thmarguillo que la destruyo en el dia.
le ha quitadosu alegrfa. Espafia,grandey nobleza
Cuantos cristianosdescansan demuestragran coraz6n
en una tumba sagrada paraayudara sus hermanos
pa esas madresno hay consuelo que se encuentranen el dolor.
liorandosin esperanzas. Los EstadosAmericanos
Sevilla estabaimpaciente demuestransu armonfa
toda liena de alegrfa paralevantarlos pueblos
esperandola caravana que el terremotoundfa.
que de camino venfa. Graciasa las buenas Naciones
Delante una avioneta que demuestransu atenci6n
iba alegrandoel sendero llevandolesmedecinas
a la alegracaravana paraaliviarsu dolor.
576
4.
Vi que liorabauna anciana
con sentimentosprofundos
es que no tiene familia
o esta sola en este mundo.
Siete hijos yo he criado
honrada,pura,y decente
y ahoramis hijos no quieren
que se lo cuente a la gente.
Pbr una mujer cualquiera
que se la encontr6 en la calle
ahorapaso y no me mira
sabiendoque soy su madre.
Pa' una madre no hay hijo malo
te perdonatus motivos
pero cuando nos casamos
pa su madre no es el mismo.
Ese egoismo embustero
separanuestro carifno
yo siempre ser6 tu madre
(. ines lost .....)
a veces de ella murmura
se viste de luto negro
cuando esti en la sepultura.
iQue rostro lieva de pena!
que el mundo va demostrando
pero limpia tu concienca
to solo le vas engafiando.
Como una madre no hay na'
aunque este un la sepultura
ningun hijo pasapena
mientrassu madre le dura.
5.
Viudasa lo loco
nos presentamos,
todos con la Maestra
y organizados.
Su tipo y su hechura
es lo que tienen que ver,
cuando se queden mirando
de la cabezaa los pies.
Viste a la moda
como ninguna;
con el vestido corto
y la pintura.
Las alpagatasblancas
y las medidasde 'sport'
van por las calles diciendio:
iCon que me casar6yo?
6.
Tristey fatal noticia
parauna anciana,
leyendo muy deprisa
correspondenciade la mafiana.
Desesperadagrit6:
iQue la Virgen te perdone,
DAVIDD. GILMORE
hijo de mi coraz6n
y fruto de mis amores!
El sentimiento me 'ajoga':
mi muerte sera,
al fallarmela aureola
rayo de luz maternal.
Descansa,hijo del alma,
que nunca te olvidar6
y hastami tumba sagrada
tu retratollevare.
Perdonemosnuestros enemigos,
me despide hasta la eternidad.
La concienciaque dicte justicia
paraque procese
la acci6n criminal.
7.
Vestidade velo blanco
y un ramo de azaharen la mano
a la iglesia se dirije
Como todo fiel cristiano.
Granabacomo una rosa
TodaIlenade ilusi6n
A echarselas benediciones
ante un altarle juro.
El hombre que ella elegfa
nunca se llego a pensar
que cuando fruto tuviera
el la iba abandonada.
No abandoneslo que es tuyo
que nadie te ha de alabar
que el que malemente anda
malamenteha de acabar.
No te rfassin conciencia
despues si no te agredaba,
hombre no a verla engafiao.
No le llames prostituta
aunque le veas en ese sino
que fue un hombre sin conciencia
que la puso en el camino.
Todo aquel que tenga hermana
que puede ser que la tenga
no se puede vengarmafiana
si a su hermanase lo hicieron.
Si a ti te duele tu hermana
a mi me duele la mfa
y ahorano podrfas
de la deuda que debfas.
8.
Un severo castigo
las leyes imponen
con la tratade blancas
y a la corrupci6nde menores.
Es preciso que vigilen,
deber de la autoridad,
a esas 'matronas'que viven
de ese comercio inmoral.
 DAVID D. GILMORE 577

Aprovechanla ignorancia, Aquella que por desgracia

el lujo y la plata se apartendel buen camino,
sirven de cadena, pues no le liamemos mala
parapoder deshojar porque ese serf su sino.
aquellablancaazucena. La desgraciaella la mete en su casa
Luego se van despreciadas al pecarpor poca edad,
y arrojanal lupanar, y su padrela esti mirando
porque ha sido violada siempre con pena por ser desgracia.
la hermosavirginidad. Muchos seres de este mundo
No conocen la flor de pasi6n, que le gustan murmura,
la semilla de toda virtud; se rien de las mujeres
pero queda en su coraz6n, cuando se ven desgracia.
grabadoa pufiales Date cuenta y no te ria
con la ingratitud. que tu madre pa ti es buena,
y tambienpuede ser un hombre
9. se hubierarefdo de ella.
Mujeres purasy decentes Tiene hermana,a ti no te da la gana
granacomo una amapola de tenerlamurmura,
su padre lieno de orgullo que no toque, que como toque
al verla pura,puray frondosa. quierao no quiera te ha de conforma.

NOTES
Researchin Fuenmayortook place in 1972-3, 1977, 1980 and 1991. Fieldworkwas sponsored
by generous grantsfrom the following U.S. agencies:the National Instituteof Mental Health,
the National Science Foundation,the Wenner-GrenFoundation,the H.F. Guggenheim Foun-
dation, the Council for the InternationalExchangeof Scholars,the National Endowment for
the Humanities, the AmericanPhilosophicalSociety and, in Spain, the Programfor Cultural
Cooperationbetween Spain'sMinistryof Culture and U.S. Universities.I also want to express
my thanks to Professor SalvadorRodriguez Becerra, Isidoro Moreno Navarro and Alfredo
JimEnezNunfiez,who graciouslyassistedme while I was in their country. ProfessorRodriguez
Becerrahelped greatlyin the interpretationand dating of the lyrics. My thanksalso go to local
people who so generouslygave their time and hospitality:Antonio Milla, FranciscoFernindez,
Manoleta Femindez, Jos6 Maria Conde Moreno, Antonio Siria, Marfa-AuroraMartfnRuano,
Jose MarfaLora Sanchez, Ram6n L6pez Morillo, and so many others too numerous to name.
Daniel G. BatesandJudith Tucker helped me to digest the data.
I For a review of the Greek materialand some further insights on gender and ritual, see
Loizos and Papataxiarchis (1991: 10-16).
2 A recent article by Julio Alves (1993) explores competitive narrativesand versification
among urbanPortugueseboys.
3 I am not referringto the flamenco genre here, in which lyrics are composed mainly by
professionals for paid performancewith guitar accompaniment.A good study of political
thought in flamenco lyrics is Ortiz Nuevo (1985; see also RodrfguezBecerra1985). Flamenco
also is divided into 'serious' (cantejondo) and 'light' (chico)genres. For more on the flamenco
coplastyle, see Mitchell (1990; 1994).
4 There are few good works in English on either flamencoor Spanishfolk music genres, but
good introductionscan be found in Zern (1976) and Serranoand Elgorriaga(1990). The best
and most scholarlyhistorical/culturalstudy is the recent book by Mitchell, Flamencodeepsong
(1994).
5 For south Europe, ruralcarnivalshave been briefly describedfor Italy by Silverman(1975)
and Galt (1973). Filippucci(1992) has written a fine historicalaccountof an Italiancarnevake in
the town of Bassano.For Andalusiawe have descriptionsby Gilmore (1975; 1988; 1993), Ro-
driguez Becerra (1981; 1985), Almagroet at. (1990), and Checa (1992), among others. Caro
Baroja'swork (1965) remainsa classic.
6 Fuenmayorde la Campinais a pseudonymfor a town in western Seville Province.
7 Composed by MarcelinoLora,circa 1945.
8 Composed by MarcelinoLora,circa 1950.
578 DAVIDD. GILMORE

9 Composed by FranciscoCaro, 'El Quico' around 1953.

10 Composed by MarcelinoLora,circa 1954.
11 Composed in the 1940s, authorunknown,murgagroup called 'Los Sajones'.
12 Composed by Luis 'El De La Gamerita',year unknown.
13Writtenby Juanillo 'El Gato'circa 1955.
14Writtenby Luis 'El De La Gamerita'.
15 Composed by MarcelinoLora.

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580 DAVID D. GILMORE

Les m6nestrels lettr6s d'Andalousie: de I'eloquence profonde au

carnavalesque sens dessus dessous
R6sum
Cet article 6tudie le genre estudiantil ou 'lettr6' de la versification sentimentale ex6cut6e
pendant le carnavalandalou, une p6riode normalement associ6e aux inversions comiques,
I la contestation politique, et I la satire sociale gouailleuse. Encore tout r6cemment, de
nombreux villages de l'Espagnem6ridionalerevendiquaientavec fierte un style de discours
a la fois esth6tique et s6rieux co-existant, interpol6, avec le burlesque tapageur,norme du
carnaval.Cette analyse, qui s'inspire des ides p6n6trantesde Bakhtin et d'autres, explore
les significations textuelles de cette gravit6 paradoxale,et du conservatisme culturel des
couches populaires andalouses durant la p6riode liminale caract6ris6epar le renversement
rituel. On trouve l'id6alisationanormalede la f6minit6, les sentiments de fraternit6univer-
selle, et la contextualisationdes vertus chr6tiennes associ6es Ala grande traditionespagnole
tout particuli6rementdignes d'int6ret.

HunterCollege/CUNY;695 ParkAvenue,New York,New York10021,

DepartmentofAnthropology,
U.SA