Performance or community?

Much earlier in the year I sang Vidala para mi sombra (The Ultimate Companion) in Spanish at a local folk night.  Another time, I sang the tango Invierno when pressed.  Singing at folk nights here is more performance - one person leads and if the others know it, they might join in (quietly). People keep asking when I am going to join in again.  Or with slightly more lean:  People are asking questions about why you aren't joining in.  I feel listening is joining in and once a musician made that same point.  There is one singer who sings quiet songs to which one really wants to just listen.  This apart, the most successful songs I feel are the ones that get everyone joining in.  

I dislike the spotlight.  I do like listening to the others and they don't seem to have my levels of self-consciousness. I would like to join in, but I mean that "join in", "join together", "join with someone else" - but since I prefer the Spanish songs, on the whole and they don't know these, there is this apparently unbridgeable gap.  There have been hints that well if you bring the music someone will play for you, which might be the way forward, though that still means singing alone. I live in hope of the day when an Argentinian or Cuban folk musician walks into the pub at the right time, on the right day, when I am there too in this small country town in rural Scotland!  

When I listen to traditional singing from Latin America it's not performance: it's someone telling about their life - often the troubles of their life, sometimes the funny episodes. The coplas, bagualas and vidalas are an accompaniment to life, to work, to festivals, for yourself and your neighbours, simply singing the things that happen to you or that you observe and how you feel about them. Copleros don't necessarily have amazing voices.  That doesn't seem to be something on which they are especially judged.  It is as much or more the story they tell and the way they tell it. Similarly I remember a Colombian telling me they don't judge women negatively on what they wear or their shape, that was more a western thing.  They accept people more as they are.   

Their singing is cathartic. Or it's a singing competition duel like the Argentinian payadores, by which I mean it is not singing necessarily alone.  Similar traditions exist in at least Cuba, Puerto Rico, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela.  Sometimes they are called repentistas, versadores, trovadores, troveros, or copleros.   

Or if you are singing alone, it is to accompany yourself in some task or on some journey. Atahualpa's incomparable Luna Tucumana is about doing exactly that in the lonely night, and there are many others.  

Sometimes the singing is in a group.  I think I already shared this comment on salsa (although I can't find where).  It's by someone who knows about these things.

1. For ears (listeners) that aren't familiar with the sounds of salsa music, there is a need for a mind shift. Keeping an open mind is advised when coming into contact with salsa as a neophyte.

2. The role of percussion in salsa shouldn't be downplayed, minimized or overlooked. Percussion is not only fundamental to salsa, but it is its very soul. The different complex percussion patterns of salsa come from the African continent with its own distinct musical mindset.

3. The seemingly repetitive, monotonous or unvaried moments in many salsa music pieces should be viewed as musical reflections of ritualistic African tribal musical traditions, where music is intended to help the community get into a collective trance for purposes of spiritual connection with god or the gods and goddesses of nature, or the supernatural entities that exist in their diverse belief systems.

4. It's worth considering that a great portion of salsa music, if not all, is intended for people who dance, chiefly as an expression of community life and the joy of seeing and meeting people, spending time together, and sharing common spaces and traditions, rather than the competition that some environments have turn salsa dancing into. Therefore, what may appear to the highly cultured listener as unvaried or repetitive unmusical stuffing, is actually a perfect medium for the unassuming and spontaneous salsa dancing that continues to take place in a number of Latin-American communities.

I remember the same person talking about "música de medicina....de yajé". This is a concept that doesn't really exist in my society. I think it is a kind of ritual music that accompanies ceremonies to achieve altered states of consciousness. Yajé is a Colombian name for ayahuasca, the natural version of DMT. Recent research on the synthetic version shows it a powerful treatment for depression and addiction, something indigenous communities have long known. The yajé ceremonies are used for healing and connection with a world unlike the one we live in, day to day.

I saw something today that hints at these other ideas of music and community. I had commented light-heartedly to a friend about a Colombian musical party we hadn't managed to have. Someone else remarked:
"...también iremos más allá de la rumba, hay otros aspectos sociales increíbles alrededor de estas músicas."

[We will also go beyond the party; there are other incredible social aspects surrounding these types of music.]

They continued:

"...explorar estas músicas es una experiencia muy bonita que nos sitúa en otros contextos culturales e históricos, a parte de la interpretación de estas músicas también es bonito aprender de los usos que dan las comunidades a estas músicas, como construir comunidad, compartir vivencias, resolver conflictos o hasta sanar el espíritu individual y colectivo."

[Exploring these types of music is a very beautiful experience that places us in other cultural and historical contexts. Apart from the interpretation of these music styles, it is also beautiful to learn about the ways in which communities use this music, such as to build community, share experiences, resolve conflicts, or even heal the individual and collective spirit.]

It is so different to the performative focus of so much western music, even our folk music now is so performative.   

So I keep going to the Scottish folk nights but with the knowledge that the friendly people there want me to participate when all I really want is someone to sing with. Or at least be accompanied.  I started to learn the guitar, to accompany myself at home in these songs from Cuba and Argentina and only marvel more at the skill of the musicians I hear.