Tuna

A tuna is a group or brotherhood of university students or members of a society that, wearing the old clothes of the university or clothes that represent their culture of origin, are characterized by singing, playing and travel around the world thanks to these skills —despite the fact that not all or very few of them are professional musicians— or for interpreting musical themes generally using string and percussion instruments.

Origin

The university tuna is an ancient tradition that arose in Spain, mainly in Salamanca, and later, thanks to its traveling nature, it spread to various parts of Europe, such as Portugal and the Netherlands, and in America in countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Chile or Argentina, etc. It arrived at the end of the XIX century through Spanish tunos, specifically from Madrid.

For some its origin is located between the XIII century or XIV with the continuers of the goliard tradition: in the Middle Ages he was a type of itinerant cleric (giróvagos or sarabaites) who took advantage of the lodging tradition of the monasteries to live without working, standing out for his predilection for music, drink, food, gambling and love affairs. Another origin, not exclusive, would be that of the poor students or sopistas, who lived on the silly soup that they gave free in the convents to the needy. These sopistas would use their musical skills, pleas or picaresque rogue to cover at least part of their studies and livelihoods. Whatever the origin, they would leave a mark over time that is already reflected in the Golden Age as a stereotype of the student with a cheerful and mischievous character that we can find, for example, in the Cervantes interlude of La cueva de Salamanca.

Etymology

Recording Le Monde Illustré about the Spanish student in the carnival of Paris of 1878

There are many versions of the origin of the word «tuna». For some this derives from the word "'tunar'" or "'correr la tuna'", which means "lead a traveling, vagabond life, playing and singing"; It is also believed that it derives from the French expression Roi de Thunes (King of Tunis), an appellation used to designate leaders of vagabonds. due to "the migratory nature of these fish and the ambulatory nature of the Tunos". According to this theory, "Tunos" would be the seasonal workers who moved to the south of Spain looking for work, this being provided by the Mediterranean tuna season. These seasonal workers may have inspired the students to lead a wandering life.

Likewise, it is also believed that the word tuna could come from "tunante", which was a derogatory word referring to the student musicians and night owls who made noise when they fell asleep, to which the Archpriest of Hita alludes in his Book of Good Love, which by use derived in "tuna". This theory is based on the mendicant character of the "sopistas", students, not necessarily poor, who after squandering their allowances, survived at the expense of the "sopa boba", distributed free of charge in that type of convent hostels, so that —I have here's the connection—they must have called them "tunos."

Other more widely disseminated theories try to locate the origin in Latin tonare (sound), although this evolution is contrary to the legislation of the phonetic changes from Latin to the Iberian languages. However, there are other theories.

Tradition and history

Portuguese tuna on the streets of Lisbon.

In its early days, the tuna was made up of students who, due to their limited resources, had to sing or play from place to place in order to earn a living, or simply, to sustain themselves during the trip back home when they the holidays were coming (in some cases). Hence, this activity is designated with a specific verb: "tunar", or ""run the tuna".

If I really tell you, / although I always come and go, / I don't know where I go or come, / that's what in school phrase / is called tunar.

Who will find a strong woman from Calderon de la Barca, premiered in 1672.

Being a tradition closely linked to the universities, the tunas keep alive the customs inherited from the university students of the XIII century. Alfonso X the Wise referred to the tunos as minstrels, in his Code of the Seven Games when he wrote: «Those schoolchildren who trovan and play instruments to have maintenance». A contemporary of hers, so did the work Razon de amor con los desuetos del agua y el vino, describing the ribbons that still hang over the tuno cape: “one for each love conquest, one for each woman ».

The Archpriest of Hita, in The Book of Good Love, underlines his mendicant nature.

... in the courtship that comes out to receive Don Amor: the Moorish guitar, the alaut corpudo, the bandurria reciancha, the panderete (which) with azofar faze sweet sonete clamps.

In its origins, the tuna brought together those students who, due to their economic condition, could not afford their stay at the university, and they searched for inns and inns to get some money and a bowl of soup with which to sustain themselves. For this reason they were known as "sopistas", and it was said that they lived on silly soup.

For such tasks they carried guitars and bandurrias, and sang popular songs. They also used their musical skills to woo the maidens they wanted. Evidence of this is found in the first written reference to tunas, found in the archives of the University of Lleida, and in which students are prohibited from making rounds at night under penalty of confiscating their instruments.

One cannot speak of tunos, until 1538, the year in which the sopistas took refuge in the charitable housing offered by the Instruction for pupil high school graduates. From that moment on, they began to sing without their survival depending on it. Because, then, the already ex-sopistas, as veteran students, were made to serve as squires for the "bobos", "nerds" or new students, whom they supposedly had to support, according to the norm, in exchange for bequeathing them their gay science musical.

It is told by Guzmán de Alfarache, emphasizing the status of rich student that the former sopists achieved. Later, in El Buscón by Francisco de Quevedo, he talks about the jokes that the novice students put up with, until they achieved the meritorious status that ended up equating them.

The mendicant tuno almost disappeared from the Spanish scene thanks to the abolition of the mandatory use of the talar suit (student suit), seeing the students constrained to hang cloaks and tricornes and wear people's clothes, making it impossible to identify who run the tuna as belonging to the school corporation in the year 1835, and later in the middle of the century during the regency of María Cristina, which allows free association, associations of musicians and artists are created, among which the "estudiantinas" stand out. », musical groups under the baton of a director, with a musical number format that was a success at the time, making students like «Figaro» transcend borders and continents.

In the image of these student girls, the first tunas are recreated in Spanish universities as we see them today, which evoke the former troupes of students who with cassocks and threadbare shawls toured cities and fields, but now with the costume and musical format of the student, multiplying their traditional courtships and night rounds.

Salamanca seems, child, your street, / because the students always fill it.

Currently, the associations in the university have diversified extremely, which has made the associations with the most tradition such as the choir, the tuna and the university theater lose students, focus and support in favor of other more recent ones such as international cooperation, film forum and role-playing games. However, the fact of holding student meetings as an element of their own persists in many cities and some students hold annual recitals at their respective universities with institutional support.

Controversy

Despite the age of the institution, or perhaps because of it, prickly pear currently arouses conflicting opinions. Supporters and detractors put forward different arguments for and against its existence. Among the arguments of its supporters are that the tuna is a "nice" institution, a cohesive group that defends values such as brotherhood, loyalty, the defense of student traditions, that celebrates the joy of youth, student insouciance and love for music and healthy fun.

Hazing

The novatage is the period in which the new and future members of the Tuna are trained in both musical and personal aspects, this process being a method of reinforcing the strong and weak points of the young person, although with variations between the different tunas, In general, the new members of the tuna are considered unworthy of wearing the suit and the scholarship until they have demonstrated different degrees of ability or expertise, both musically and in the customs and manner of behaving of the veteran tunas. The length of time that novices and nerds (a nerd has a suit but no scholarship) must spend being so varies, depending on their speed of learning.

During that time they are considered apprentices, that is why they help veterans in the performance of the tunar and are excluded from "certain rights", they can also be subject to random hazing at the whim of any of the most veteran members (Always with the aim of learning the skills of the prickly pear from these hazing. It is also a tradition that novices and nerds try to get rid of them, make someone else comply with them and / or any other need that lightens the load, helping each other even if they just met, because this is what brotherhood does). After that period, the rookies who deserve to access the rank of veteran and carry the scholarship usually go through a rite of passage in the form of a private celebration in which they spend a night full of fun, brotherhood, music and laughter. At the end of this, the new full member of the tuna is awarded the distinctive scholarship that accredits him as such. In some tunas, the rite of passage is carried out as an initial condition to enter the tuna and access the novice status. In others, there are degrees of "inexperience": nerd, novice, etc. until accessing the veteran.

Clothing

Red scholarship of the Tuna San Pablo CEU in Madrid.

Tunnel cap.

The tunas are usually classified according to the university faculty to which their members belong: thus we will have the Tuna of Law, Tuna of Medicine, Tuna of Experts, Tuna of Philosophy, Tuna of Teaching, Tuna of Economics, etc. In the case of universities with less antiquity or tradition, there is usually only one tuna Universitaria, which encompasses students from various studies, and even in cities with several "university districts", they create a Tuna de Distrito (also with students from various studies).

The clothing of the Tuno is made up of a cape or manteo, doublet, shirt, leggings, puffed or Cervantes over these, shoes or boots and finally the scholarship that is what identifies each Tuna and varies its color according to the faculty to which it belongs according to the Spanish tradition: red for Law, turquoise blue for Sciences, yellow for Medicine, light blue for Philosophy and Letters, purple for Pharmacy, green for Business, orange for Economy, etc.

The first iconographic representation of a tuno can be found at the bottom of the handrail of the stairs of the Rectorate of the University of Salamanca, a former university hospital, a small carving that shows it with the bicorne decorated with a spoon and fork, an instrument rope that looks like a bandurria and cape.

In the corresponding representations of the 18th century, they appear dressed in short trousers, doublet and cape, and bicorne. At present the tunas are divided between those of greguesco or trusas and those of short shorts.

• The Jun It's a jacket girded to the bust, with a lump on the shoulders, called "faroles" or lamps, whose color can match that of the "beca" or be totally black. The coupon is first quoted on the Iberian peninsula in 1377, and in the centuryXVI generalized its use as a light garment.

• La shirt generally white. It appears under the coupon, the chestnuts instead of buttons use laces, although there are also lace in the necks and cuffs of the sleeves.

• Like pants clutches or lumps and Castilian or Cervantino are used. The trousers or gongorines are short and wide, and girded to half thigh, at the bottom. Castilians or cervantines are pans (similar to a short trouser) gilded under the knee by means of a buckle, used mainly in the centuries XVI and XVII.

• The heels, mesh or socks, are garments that cover the foot and leg up to the waist, using under the lumps or slugs. With the bulging trousers you use socks, or just socks, that cover the entire leg.

• La scholarship is the band of cloth, silk or felt, of color that identifies each university branch, and is placed on the chest and shoulders, in the form of V (uve). Formerly he indicated that his carrier was scholarshipd by his university, and as a fellow he had a help that made his stay less costly. The colors of the scholarship and the shield that is embroidered in it identify the university and the school or faculty in which the tuno studies. The scholarship is delivered to the tune by their peers when they consider it to have reached the sufficient degree of musical knowledge and veteran enough for the development in the various situations that in the tuna activities are given, and can thus represent their tuna correctly. The act in which the scholarship is delivered is called “baptize”.

The scholarships are long enough to reach (approximately) from the upper half of the back until the point of the vee sits on the chest. The scholarships of the tunas of Valladolid are particularly different from the rest, since they are longer (so that they cross over the back and their ends reach below the doublet belt) and have a ring at one end (perhaps as a souvenir of a hat that was sewn to the scholarship).

There are some curiosities: the Tuna Compostelana (does not wear a scholarship, wears an embroidered Cross of Santiago sewn on the doublet) and the Tuna of the District of Granada (carries the shield of the University of Granada on its chest), the one known as Tuna de Peritos de Seville (or Tuna de Peritos e Ingenieros Técnicos Industriales) wears a white sash imposed in honor of their annual act of offering to the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception (act that is part of the traditional festivals of Seville, on the night of 7 to 8 December).

• Another important garment in tuno or tuna clothing is the layer which is a long and loose garment, without sleeves, open ahead, which is worn on the dresses. It's nothing but the manteum of ancient students, of ecclesiastical origin. The layer, in addition to the faithful protector of the tune in its cold nights, represents two of the fundamental conditions of the same: that of unfatigable travelers and that of galan. The shields of the cities and countries that have traveled on their runners are displayed on their layer. It also shows multicoloured tapes embroidered with affectionate dedication by women who thus show the tune their affection or their love, which they carried in their hair and delivered them during the serenades. Proceed from suitors, from a mother, or from friends, as the song prays Tuna Compostelana: “every ribbon that adorns its cape keeps a small piece of heart”. At present, ladies don't wear ribbons in their hair, so wearing ribbons in the layers stops having a historical-cultural backing, yet it continues with that tradition.

I'm wearing ten tapes on my student layer, ten illusions, ten dreams floating in the air.

There is another prickly pear clothing typical of the Portuguese tunas. They wear the black student outfit and the black cape. Instead of tapes, they let people who are important to them rip their capes off.

Music

The current instruments of the tuna are mainly called of pulse and púa, the Spanish popular: laúd, guitar and bandurria and the pandereta, and before the vihuela, of peñola or arc, ancestor of the violin. These instruments appear in the Book of Good Love.

The guitar that is used as a harmonic accompaniment of the melody. The melody is created by the voices and the songs, which are supported by the bandurria (first voice) and the Spanish lute (second voice). The double bass has now become a common instrument in many tunas, harmonically complementing the string ensemble. We cannot forget, however, another characteristic instrument of student music: the tambourine, as well as the tambourine and castanets.

In addition to the basic instruments, without which tuna music could not be created, they use many others that give it a very special richness. These have arrived thanks to the fusion with the culture of many towns, and also many times by the own regional instruments of the localities of origin of the tuna. Among the most outstanding we find the timple canario, the bandola and the charango. The Venezuelan cuatro, Cuban tres, Puerto Rican cuatro and the accordion are also often used in tunas around the world to increase the variety of sounds. At present, wind instruments such as the quena and the transverse flute have also been added. In conclusion, the tuna gathers the musical culture of each country and/or region that it visits and adopts it in its repertoire.

Portuguese Estudiantinas often use mandolin instead of bandurria and lute; they also traditionally include the bandoneon and the Portuguese guitar.

Most of the tunas and estudiantinas in Mexico adapt two basic mariachi instruments such as: the Mexican vihuela and the guitarrón, this in order to further enrich the melodies. It is worth mentioning that some parish students also use the accordion to harmonize the piece of music. Even some tunas and estudiantinas from Mexico make use of violins when they interpret pieces of Mexican folklore such as mariachi songs or some sones and huapangos, especially the tunas and Estudiantinas from the states of Hidalgo and Veracruz.

The repertoire of the Tuna is mainly student song, starting with the genre itself that is the song of round, which appears from the first European lyric songs, which has its version in popular music, where there are always songs of serenata and the raisins etc. with its elements that we see elsewhere. Much of the tunantesco repertoire, the most popular, have no known author.

Since his songbook has been enriched with popular Spanish songs, as well as pasodobles and waltzes, and regional folklore, such as jotas, isas, malagueñas, etc. Also, due to his traveling nature, Tuno has enlarged his repertoire with songs from all over the world in thousands of languages, always to be able to surprise and brighten each party in which they are.

Some tunas are singer-songwriters of their own songs. For example, the Law Tuna of Seville is a singer-songwriter of songs such as Rumor en los Balcones, Las Plazas de Mi Sevilla, Tus Ojos or Cornstarch. It is worth noting the legacy of the Tuna de Medicina de Salamanca, with Tuno Galeno (in reference to his profession), El Trovador (which speaks of the gallant facet of the tuno) or La Solera de mi Menda (talking about her clothing). We can also find the Tuna de Magisterio de Málaga as the author of Tradición, Málaga woman, Luna negra, Noche sin final i>, Aires de Libertad or De tu piel, among others. Many of these songs and lyrics can be found collected in the Museo del Estudiante. Since its foundation in 1982, the Tuna de Derecho de Alicante (TDA) has made an important contribution to the current songbook, thanks especially to the prolific and long-lasting work of Juan Carlos Berrueco, "Charly", with compositions such as The stars will cry or Cumbres del Teide, as well as Isidoro Vila, Luckyand his laureate Plazas y Calles de Chueca, and the musical commitment of several generations of members who, in addition to their professional tasks, participate in other musical projects, including close collaboration with other tunas in their city.