Familia Valera Miranda: Chumbamba

Question 1

what is this song about?

Answer 1

a piece of burning land - incident in family’s history

Question 2

what musical form does it use?

Answer 2

son montuno - mountain son

Question 3

what structure is used?

Answer 3

coro-pregón structure (strophic form)

regular succession of 8-bar verses and 8-bar coro refrains

Question 4

what happens in the intro?

Answer 4

cuatro plays 4-bar intro: guajeo - anticipates some melodic lines
rest of instruments enter

Question 5

how long is the cuatro solo?

Answer 5

85 bars with bongo improvisation (ad lib)

Question 6

comment on melody of cuatro/ vocals

Answer 6

• balanced phrases
• guajeo: arpeggiated - falling 3rds
• pregón: mainly start on dominant
• coro: 1st phrase - begins on tonic chord - ends on 7th
  2nd phrase - begins on supertonic - dominant ends on tonic
  (syllabic word settin)

Question 7

describe vocal ranges

Answer 7

• pregón - minor 6th
• coro - minor 9th
  (limited vocal range)

Question 8

what is tonality of piece?

Answer 8

G minor - no modulations

Question 9

comment on harmony

Answer 9

• limited chords - Gm and D7 in regular 4-bar pattern of I, V, V, I
• uses richer harmony by adding Eb over D7 chords - ambiguity - diminished 7th/ minor 9th
  cuatro solo: wider range of chords - uses all notes of harmonic minor scale - sliding parallel progressions

Question 10

comment on tempo, metre and rhythm

Answer 10

tempo: minim=109
- metre: 2 in a bar, but heavily syncopated
- son clave 3:2 rhythm
- anticipation bass - plays root of chord on 4th beat
- cuatro solo: varied rhythms - triplets/syncopation
- vocal: begin off-beat - fourth bar uses 3 straight crotchets to anchor beat