Cueca

The cueca is a musical genre and a dance of single mixed couples from the end of the XVIII century. The dancers, who carry a handkerchief in their right hand, trace circular figures, with turns and half turns, interrupted by various flourishes. Generally, it is considered a dance of conquest of the man over the woman, although it does not necessarily have a loving motive Its origin is questioned and there are various theories or currents about its origin and evolution.

It is danced "under more or less different denominations" from Colombia, passing through Peru and Bolivia, to Argentina and Chile, and has different varieties, both in rhythm and in choreography, depending on the regions and times, "what The only difference between them is the local color that they acquire in different places, as well as the number of bars that varies from one to another".

On November 6, 1979 it was officially declared the "national dance of Chile". In 1989 the Chilean government declared September 17 as "National Day of the Cueca". The Bolivian government declared the Bolivian cueca cultural heritage and immaterial of the country on November 30, 2015; In addition, it declared "Day of the Bolivian cueca" on the first Sunday of October.

Origin

The Cueca (Mauritius Rugendas, 1843)

A stake in a chingana (Frédéric Lehnert, 1854)

Scene of a zamacueca (Chile, 1855)

The origin of the cueca, described by musicologist Carlos Vega in 1947 as "extraordinary dance, the most complex in the world of its kind, the deepest and most noble in America", is not fully defined and there are several theories or currents about it and its evolution. Among its scholars, there are different opinions: Pedro H. Allende and Vicente Salas Viú (1911-1967) indicate its Spanish origin —the first derives from the zambra and the second, from the fandango—, Pablo Garrido Vargas (1905-1982) proposes his black origin and Eugenio Pereira Salas suggests his Peruvian ancestry.

One of them postulates that it would be possible to consider it a representation of the courtship between the rooster and the hen: the handkerchiefs could symbolize the feathers or the crests, within a choreography that is characterized by being of "loose interdependent couple", such as Carlos Vega indicates it.

Another indicates that it would go back to the musical forms belonging to the gypsy-Andalusian tradition brought by the Spanish to Chile, which would have its antecedents in the Moorish element of the zambra (from the Hispanic Arabic zámra, and this one from classical Arabic zamr, 'tocata'). they are right and immediate consequence of the fandango» according to Carlos Vega.

Another proposes that it would have originated in Chile by black slaves who were passing through on their way to Peru. In his essay La zamacueca y la zanguaraña (Critical judgment on this international question) (1882), the historian Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna affirmed:

They brought it to Chile, first that to Peru, at the end of the last century [XVIII], the black slaves who passed through this land via Los Andes, Quillota and Valparaíso, to the valleys of Lima, on a journey from the valleys of Guinea [...L]a first written tradition that we found [...] is located in Quillota.

This first written tradition is the account of the French merchant Julien Mellet, nicknamed El Americano, who traveled through Chile and Peru, and who narrates that he saw the “zamacueca” or “zamba cueca” dance. in 1823 in Quillota and then in El Almendral:

This dance [...] runs to the sound of guitar and song. Men stand in front of women, and spectators form a circle to its melting, which sing and palm their hands while the dancers, the arms a little raised, jump, turn, move back and forth, approach each other and retreat in cadence until the sound of the instrument or the tone of the voice tells them to come together again.

Then, it was danced in chinganas, something unseemly; settled in Peru, the final destination of the journey of the black slaves. The Mexican writer and historian Moisés Ochoa Campos (1917-1985) documented that the "Chilena" had arrived in Acapulco in 1822 with the Chilean squadron, sent by General Bernardo O'Higgins to support the insurgents in the Mexican war of independence. the blacks of the famous battalion number 4 who brought her in their band".

Another suggests that it originated from the zamacueca. The musician and composer José Zapiola wrote:

From [1823], until ten or twelve years ago, Lima provided us with its innumerable and varied zamacuecas, notable and injurious for its music [...] The speciality of that music consists particularly in the rhythm and placement of the accents of her own, whose character is unknown to us, because it cannot be written with the common figures of [...] As I left [in] my second trip to the Argentine Republic, March 1824, that dance was not known. On my way back, May 1825, I already found this novelty (Original spelling).

The writer Eduardo Barrios maintained that the Chilean cueca had distinctive characteristics that would differentiate it from the Peruvian zamacueca: a more stylized dance, with less sexual innuendo, more relevance to singing and dancing, and without exaggerated movements.

Over time, it would have developed its own characteristics and modalities, and would have become a local variant, being known as "zamacueca" or "cueca" -by apheresis-, and in other countries as "zamacueca chilena", "cueca Chilean" or "Chilean".

History

Santiaguinos dancing cueca on the Cañada during Christmas Eve (1872)

Cueca class and people dancing cueca (Quinta El León, Lo Barnechea, Chile, 1906)

The zamacueca (Manuel Antonio Caro, 1873)

This dance, called «zamacueca» or «cueca», was installed, developed and spread throughout the XIX century in the cantinas and chinganas, places that became centers of entertainment and popular festivals.

In 1822, by means of Chilean sailors, and between 1848 and 1855, by Chilean immigrants and adventurers during the height of the California Gold Rush, it reached the shores of the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, where it was known as "Chilena". Between 1837 and 1839, together with the Chilean troops of the Restoring United Army that fought in the war against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, the "zamacueca chilena" or "cueca chilena" arrived in Peru..

By the middle of the XIX century, the cueca was already known in much of Chile with its own characteristics and original melodies, being interpreted and danced both in aristocratic salons and in popular meeting places. During his stay in Chile between 1844 and 1848, the Englishman Frederick Walpole described some of the characteristics of the dance: harp or guitar accompaniment, time stamp with a tapping of clapping or drumming the guitar, I sing in the highest possible register and a particular way of playing the guitar, which consists of "sliding the right hand through all the strings of the guitar, turning it each time with a blow on the box".

Throughout the second half of the XIX century, this dance was very successful as it spread throughout various Latin American countries simply as "Chilean". It entered Argentina through Cuyo —there its presence is documented around 1840 and in the province of Buenos Aires, in 1850—, where it was known as "cueca", while in the provinces of northwestern Argentina and in Bolivia was called "Chilena". During the 1860s and 1870s it became the most popular form in Peru, where it then became known as "Chilena"—in March 1879, the dance called "Chilena » was renamed «marinera» by the Peruvian writer and musician Abelardo Gamarra.

She was associated with the roto —huaso gañán urbanizado—, with whom she moved during the XX century to pre-industrial urban areas, where it took refuge on the outskirts of Santiago and in neighborhoods such as La Vega, Estación and Matadero. The musicologist Pablo Garrido stated in 1943 that the cueca was "the purest symbol of Chilean identity". Although originally it was interpreted preferably in salons, chinganas or recreational villas, with the passage of time frequent music was made in restaurants, event halls and official ceremonies. During the XX century, it even held some importance in the mass media through the interpretation of typical music ensembles and it was enhanced through neofolklore in the 1960s, thus identifying with the stylized artistic figure of the huaso. Since 1968 the National Championship has been held annually in Arica.

Despite being present throughout much of the country's history, the cueca was made official as the "national dance of Chile" through a decree published in the Official Gazette on November 6, 1979, because it was "the one with the highest level of diffusion and the deepest historical significance" among the Chilean folk dances, promoted by the military dictatorship as nationalist propaganda. In 1989, September 17 was declared as "National Day of the Cueca" because "learning to dance it is a duty of every child of this land", within the framework of the National Holidays for "the celebration of Chilean roots" and in 2018, on July 4 as "National Cuequero Day and the Cuequera" when "the competent authorities will tend to develop activities related to the practice and dissemination of the cueca", in commemoration of the birth of the poet and musician Hernán Núñez, who "was linked to the genre throughout his career until his death".

Declare the four national dances of Chile, considering:

1o.- That the cue constitutes in terms of music and dance the most genuine expression of the national soul;
2o.- That in his lyrics he hosts the spiciness of Chilean popular ingenuity, as well as the enthusiasm and melancholy;
3o.- Which has been identified with the Chilean people since the dawn of Independence and celebrated with it its most glorious feats; and

4o.- That the multiplicity of feelings that are combined in it reflect, despite the variety of dances, with greater ownership than any other being national in an expression of authentic unity.

Decree 23, Ministry General Secretariat of Government (6 November 1979).

Since 1980, the National Contest of Unpublished Compositions of Cueca has been held annually in Santa Cruz and since 1986, the National Festival of Cueca and Tonada Inédita in Valparaíso. In the 1990s, the cueca became a hit within of the programming of the MTV music channel (Latin America), performed by the band Los Tres. Since 2003, the World Championship has been held annually in Toronto (Canada). Cueca academies have been founded in various communes, mainly the Academia Nacional de la Cueca Chilena in Santiago, and cueca clubs, which since 2006 compete annually in the Championship. Nacional in Río Negro. In 2009 the song "Doscientas primaveras" was selected as the Cueca del Bicentenario, composed by Ricardo de la Fuente.

Structure

People dancing cueca in Chile (from top to bottom: 1942, mid-centuryXX. and 2009)

Musical

Musically, its rhythm is 6/8 with a duration of less than two minutes. Metrically, its text is made up of fourteen verses divided into four stanzas —a copla, two seguidillas and a couplet or ending—, as in the following example ("La rosa y el clavel", Jorge Martínez Serrano, 1962):

The first stanza, with four octosyllabic verses, is a couplet with rhyme paired with ABCB; that is, the second and fourth lines rhyme:

• The thread with the cla-ve-el (8)
  hi-cie-ron un ju-ra-men-to (8)
  and pu-sie-ron of tes-ti-go (8)
  a revoltun jaz-min and revoltun pen-sa-mien-to (8)

The second stanza, also with four lines, alternates seven-syllable and five-syllable lines with rhyme even DEFE (the second and fourth lines rhyme, those with five syllables) —that is, a “seguidilla arromanzada”—:

• I don't feel like ro-sa (7)
  that tender-ne revoltes-pi-nas (5)
  ti-ra-me with vio-le-tas (7)
  more fi-nas (5)

The third verse is also a rhyming seguidilla rhymed by EGHG. The first verse of this stanza is exactly the same as the last of the second stanza, but it ends with "my soul" or "oh yes", which transforms it from a five-syllable verse to a seven-syllable verse:

• That they are more fi-nas, ay yes (7)
  ro-sas con da-lias (5)
  Will my ne-gri-ta (7)
  that I do not go-ya? (5)

Finally, the couplet or ending, made up of a seven-syllable verse and another five-syllable, ideally with a GG consonant rhyme:

• An-da, threads with da-lias (7)
  that I do not go-ya (5)

Choreographic

Gallina and rooster faced.

Shoe in the traditional cue, step indicating climax.

The cueca is a dance of loose mixed couples, of dancers with a handkerchief in their right hand who trace circular figures, with turns and half turns, interrupted by various flourishes. It symbolizes the different stages of an idyll, in which the dancers with fast movements seek and avoid each other. Folklorists interpret it as a zoomorphic dance because its routine comes from the "broody", a concept that alludes to the movements that a woman performs. hen when courted by the rooster. That is why the role of the man resembles the wheel and the enthusiasm that the rooster puts in the conquest of it. The woman, on the other hand, maintains a more defensive and elusive behavior. A complete cueca has three feet; that is to say, three dances, which begin when a man invites a woman to the dance floor, both walking arm in arm with her in semicircles.

When the song begins, established choreographic stages are performed, in the following order:

• initial round in circle or in the form of eight, forwarding and backwards;
• second round, with turn and change of side of the dancers; again moving forward and backwards, with the woman and the man with slack passage;
• third round; forward and backward shifts in which both shoe; and
• final turn.

Although the steps are frequently as indicated, the freedom of the steps is an attribute of the dancers, which can be gliding or lateral, waltzing, brushing and stomping. The latter prevail since the last laps. Likewise, depending on the different regions of the country, the inflections in the steps are different. Its basic steps are:

• Floreo: It is used to move all over the bowl. If the dancer goes to the right, the right foot goes back. If it goes to the left, the left foot goes back. I mean, the foot behind is the one that indicates the direction in which it moves.
• Sneaky: The dancer swings from one side to the other, to distribute the weight of the body, and then moves one foot ahead of the other. You can look, move forward or go back.
• Shoe: The dancer keeps the swing, but now hitting the ground with the sole of the foot one, two or three times.

Theme

Today, the cueca can deal with any contemporary topic; however, in the traditional cueca it is common to find the following themes: geographical, historical, picaresque and romantic.

Tone and rhythm

According to Salas and Pauletto, the “most common” tonality of the cuecas is the minor one; notwithstanding this, “there are some in a major key; [...] in terms of measurement, 3/4 or 6/8 are used".

Instruments

In its most widespread version, that of the Central zone of Chile, the instruments traditionally used to play cueca are those with plucked strings —harp, guitar and Chilean guitarrón— and percussion —tambourine and tormento—; sometimes the accordion, bandurria, drums, double bass, piano and vihuela are also used.

Style

To refer to the style, we must look at the way of dancing. There are several types, but in terms of styles, "there are as many as there are couples who dance it." Generally you can find displacements and arguments that adduce to "a loving and balanced pantomime". Bodily, the woman appears upright and performs more stylistic movements than the man, although with "short steps, walking, waltzing, brushing, tapping with rebound and sometimes small jumps".^{[citation needed ]}

Interpretation in Chile

Practice

Cuequear —playing a cueca— traditionally takes place during the National Holidays in September, when the cueca academies are full and cuecódromos are set up for learning and cuequeo —dance of one or more cuecas— exclusively with live music, mainly in the Fondas del Parque O'Higgins in Santiago Centro since 2016, and the authorities inaugurate the celebrations with a pie de cueca —each one of its three dances—. There are places in the Chilean capital where they dance all year round, mainly at La Casa de la Cueca since 1983. Ruedas cuequeras are a way of singing, playing and composing Chilean cueca, which consists of singers and instrumentalists who form a circle and sing by hand, that is, the divided into copla, first seguiriya, second seguiriya and auction, and each part corresponds to a singer, passing the song to the right. The first and second voices are played, while the instruments are played.

It is common in the esquinazos —tributes to people in public places with music and Chilean folk dances— to authorities and foreigners. The cuecadas are exhibitions simultaneously by numerous couples characterized as members of groups with live music, such as schools, ensembles folkloric or cueca clubs that achieve cuecazas —excellently danced cuecas—, mainly the Folkloric Greeting in Los Angeles since 2008. Cuecazos are organized in public places and on any date, when it is danced by common people in a massive, continuous and prolonged way with live music, highlighting the Cuecas Mil for more than 36 hours in San Bernardo since 1992, called the largest "cuequero encounter —relative to the cueca or person who dances or likes it— in Chile", the Cuecatón during the Telethon in Maipú since 2002 and the Longest Cueca in Chile for more than a kilometer in Villarrica.

Competitions

In Chile, national dance championships are held annually with a couple representing each region, selected through regional and community championships, mainly:

• Cueca National Championship, since 1968 in Arica, Arica and Parinacota Region;
• National School Cueca Championship, since 1980 in Mulchén, Biobío Region;
• National Cueca Infantil Championship, since 1996 in Iquique, Tarapacá Region;
• National Youth Cueca Championship, since 1997 in the Magellan and Chilean Antarctic Region;
• National Senior Cueca Championship, since 1999 in Tomé, Biobío Region;
• National Cueca Free Expression Championship, since 2001 in Rancagua, O'Higgins Region;
• National Cueca and Folk Club Championship, since 2006 in Río Negro, Los Lagos Region;
• National Teen Cueca Championship, since 2006 in San Clemente, Maule Region; and
• Inclusive Cueca National Championship, since 2019 in Peumo, O'Higgins Region.

The cueca is not only danced throughout Chile, but also by members of Chilean communities abroad, where championships of this dance are also held.

• Chilean Cueca World Championship, since 2003 in Toronto, Canada.
• Cueca Cofochilex World Championship, since 2005 in different international cities.
• International Cuecas Championship, since 2014 in Miami, United States.

Subgenres

The cueca developed throughout Chile, acquiring its own characteristics in each region of the country. Thus, depending on the geographical location, it presents differences that lead to distinguishing the following variations with respect to the traditional cueca. There are several types of cueca, among which are:

It also has other variations, such as the cueca alone, with the flag or on horseback.

Among the best known Chilean cuecas are:

There are also some dances derived from the cueca, called “variantes”. These include the cardita, the light cueca, the engineer, the porteña (not to be confused with the porteña cueca) and the persecutor (a variant of the porteña).^{[citation required]}

In other countries

Throughout the XIX century, this dance spread successfully simply as «Chilean» throughout various Latin American countries.

In Mexico

In 1822, through the sailors of the Chilean squadron, sent by General Bernardo O'Higgins to support the insurgents in the Mexican war of independence, and between 1848 and 1855, with immigrants and Chilean adventurers during the height of the California gold rush, the cueca reached the ports of Acapulco (Guerrero), Huatulco and Puerto Ángel, (Oaxaca), where it was combined with the mestizo traditions of the southern region and gave rise to in Mexico to the new musical genre called "Chilena".

This musical genre arose specifically in what is now the state of Guerrero and very soon spread throughout the area known as the Costa Chica, which includes the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca. In other states of the Mexican Republic and in the United States, the "Chilena" came to be implemented as one more musical genre, due to the mass migration of inhabitants from the coastal regions during the 1980s and 1990s.

In Peru

Towards the end of the War against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation (1836-1839), together with the Chilean troops of the Restoring United Army, the "Chilean zamacueca" arrived in Peru, where it became the most popular form during the 1860s and 1870s, and then became known as "Chilena" —in March 1879, the dance called "Chilena" was renamed "Marinera" by the writer and musician Peruvian Abelardo Gamarra el Tunante.

The first sailors were published in the newspaper El Nacional in March 1879: on the 8th, "La Antofagasta", a Bolivian port occupied by Chile in those days, written by the Rogue with music by Nicanor Núñez del Prado; and on the 15th, "Ciruelas de Chile", written and set to music by José Alvarado, Alvaradito.

There are sources that indicate that the marinera «comes from the Aragonese jota, the zamacueca and the Chilean, it became detached from its previous name ("chilena"), as a consequence of the war with Chile and assumes a nationalist connotation to become a version of Peruvian music with its own identity".

In Argentina

Its presence is documented in Cuyo around 1840 and in the province of Buenos Aires in 1850. It entered Argentina from Chile through Cuyo —first as "zamacueca" and later as "cueca chilena"—, where it kept the name of "cueca".

The Cuyana cueca is essentially sung, with guitar accompaniment —formerly the harp was also used—, and can have a length of 40 or 48 bars. It presents musical and choreographic differences with the current "Chilean cueca"; Musically, it has the bimodality of the old zamacueca, but in a minor mode.

There is also the "northern cueca", or simply "Chilean" for the inhabitants of the provinces of northwestern Argentina and Bolivia, a variant that entered the province of Jujuy through Bolivia directly from Peru —in the latter country, "until [March 18]79 it was more general to call [a] Chilean"; since then, there it has been called a marinera— and in the last quarter of the century XIX reached the provinces of Salta and Tucumán. Since 1974, the National Festival of the Cueca and the Damascus has been held annually in Santa Rosa.

Subgenres of this variant include:

• Cueca whosena
• Cueca Norteña (called "chilena" in the NOA)
• Cueca riojana
• Cuequita
• Cueca malargüina
• Cueca neuquina

Among the ten most famous “cuecas cuyanas” are:

In Bolivia

In 1865 it entered Bolivia from Peru —in the latter country, "until [March 18]79 it was more general to call it Chilean"; since then, it has been called a marinera there. In general, it can be affirmed that in Bolivia it is a dance that is danced at social events, especially family ones, as well as in patron saint celebrations such as the Oruro carnival, the Urkupiña festival and the Great Power festival. Since 2004, the International Cueca Festival has been held annually in El Alto. The Cueca Boliviana - Willy Claure Cultural Foundation was created in 2016, whose objective is to carry out actions that allow its development, revaluation, safeguarding, promotion and dissemination. The Cuecoteca is frequently organized in the Municipal House of Culture of Sucre since 2017 and in the Plaza 25 de Mayo in La Paz since 2018 for your learning and practice with live music.

On November 30, 2015, the Bolivian government declared the Bolivian cueca "cultural and intangible heritage" of the country through Law 764, since "the cueca is the main rhythm that has managed to articulate the spirit of a homeland and a nation"; likewise, he declared "Day of the Bolivian cueca" on the first Sunday of October. It was promoted by national artists, folk dance academies and the general public.

The Plurinational Legislative Assembly decrees:

Article 1.- It is declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Cueca Boliviana, for the diversity of its musical, poetic, choreographic and indumentary expressions, for the safeguarding of cultural, traditional and popular values, which give it national identity.

Article 2°- It is declared “National Day of the Bolivian Cueca”, on the first Sunday of October of each year.

Law 764, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (30 November 2015).

Subgenres of this variant include:^{[citation needed]}

• The coquette, more or less fast, shoeed, is characterized by its elegance and gallantry.
• The cue chaqueña is jumped, fast, the dress is from the Chaco and dances with the most erected body especially in the woman.
• The Cueca Chuquisaqueña is of a "valued" character; the arrangement in rows between ladies and gentlemen, the rigor of the times, the altiva look, the garrison of rigor and high taco, the chick pleated under the knees, the embroidered blouse adorned with volados, the silk blanket and the white handkerchief, are some of the details that make up the most of the old colonial city
• The Cochabambina Cueca is of more popular and simple but joyful features, is danced in social events, bosses and chicherias.
• The orurine and peacekeepers are similar in their structure: both have melancholic minor modes, are danced in various social events: parties and events such as lends and others.
• The Cueca potosine combines sad parts with joy and is danced very elegantly, although with outfits other than the Chuquisaqueña; for example, the pleated chick is longer and does not use the high heel.

Depending on the type of cueca represented, the clothing used changes: the woman dresses as a Bolivian chola from Orureña, Paceña, Potosina, and the chuquisaqueña and Cochabambina women wear a relatively long skirt and boots. In the south, the chapaca wears the shorter skirt-type pollera and the chaco wears a long flowered skirt. The male dresses in pants, shirt, vest and hat. The cueca in Tupiza (Sud Chichas) is also cheerful and bouncy, the woman wears a short skirt and a white wide-brimmed hat, the man wears shirt pants, a red poncho and a white wide-brimmed hat.

Among the ten most popular and renowned Bolivian cuecas are: