Charly Arana Presents: Blame It on the Syncopation
Charly Arana
Image courtesy of the artist
African music has profoundly influenced all regional music of the American continent, ranging from American blues and jazz to Cuban son, Colombian vallenato, Venezuelan joropo, Peruvian marinera, Brazilian samba, and Argentine tango. Notably, samba and tango, which define the socio-cultural identity of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, respectively, emerged and evolved simultaneously during the same decades of the last century.
In this master class, special focus will be given to defining and analyzing the use of syncopation in the rhythms and melodies that provide identity and a unique personality to these significant and globally-recognized musical genres. Through this analysis, we will assess the relevance and importance of syncopation in samba and tango, its influence on composition, arrangements, and orchestration, as well as its role in the evolution and projection of these genres.
The content of the workshop is articulated on the following topics:
- Musicological analysis
- Comparison of the concepts of music and dance in Europe and Africa
- European harmony and African rhythm
- Metric feet and binarization of ternary rhythms
- Additive rhythms—timelines
- Concept of syncopation
- African influence on Brazilian music
- African influence on Argentine music
- Samba rhythm, origins, habanera, maxixe, and choro
- Rhythm of tango, origins, milonga, and candombe
- The habanera in the tango, and the loss of the syncopation
- The definition of syncopation in tango post-1930's
- "O Samba e o Tango": the stories and the content of the lyrics
- "O Samba e o Tango": dance, approaches, and comparisons
- "O Samba e o Tango": interpretation on guitar and the joint evolution of both genres