Panamanian music in relation to African heritage
“The song Adios Florencita Blanca is a very popular song in panama.”(Smith-Ronald, 1991, p.1)It utilizes many different components of some of the popular songs of panama. It is a tamborito which means that it is a certain type of song.The song adios Florencita Blanca uses the many different traits such as short simple melodies, percussion instruments and call and response to connect the Panama culture to that of the african heritage. they connect by using similar instuments such as drums and maracas and using similar styles of call and response.
The muscial trait that i will be talking about in this connection is the use of percussion instruments and how my song uses percussion instruments to connect to the instuments used in the african heritage. “In african music it is very common to hear percussion instruments being played.”(Lara-Putnam 2016 p.5)the most common and most popular instrument that is played and heard is the drum. now there are many different types of drums that are used in african music ranging from bongo drums to conga drums. when these drums are played they are usually played fast with swift strikes to them. this allows for short quick melodic phrases to be played. with in my song there are many different percussion instruments. the most prevelant one is the drum. the drum is really used to complement the singer of my song. once the singer starts singing the drum is there to help her flow along in the song. as the song progresses the louder the drums become. along with the drum the maracas are also paired with the song as well. in this song the drum is played quickly and has short time between each note so that it creates short quick melodies. this is very similar to that of the african heritage in terms of the use of short quick melodies and short quick strikes of the drums to create a fast paced up beat melodic song. this song is very similar to that of the african heritage because it utilizes similar instruments to that of the african heritage. when the song is played and hear it begins to sound a lot like a song that was created within the african heritage. with the combination of call and response and the percussion instruments used in the song to create the short melodic phrases it allowas the song to connect to african heritage.
The musical trait that i am going to identify is the use of call and response within the song. “In african culture it is very common for the main singer to utilize the musical trait of call and response”.( Zien-Katherine, 2014 p.8)usually what happens is the singer will sing and then the background singers or maybe even the audience will repeat what the singer has said. this will go on for a while and then the singer will start the chorus. during the chorus the background singers may either continue the call and response sound or just stop singing all together. this occurs in the typical african song. that means there are many other songs that are an exception to this typical trait. some may do a reverse of this typical way or they could just not do it at all. in my song adios florencita there is a use of call and response. this happens very early in the song and it occurs throughout the entire song. the main singer sings and the background singer or the audience repeats what she says. there is a connection because both cultures are using the same musical trait which is call and response. the main singer is singing and the extra singers are responding to what the main singer is saying. this is very similar to that of the african culture in when they use call and response. the african culture will also have the main singer sing and the extra singers will respond to when the main singer is singinging. usually when this happens the extra singers are not repeating the exact same thing the extra singers are saying. they will usually say something different in response to what the main singer is singing. this is exactly what is happening in my project song.
in conclusion the song Adios Florencita Blanca uses many different traits that allow it to connect to african heritage. the use of short simple melodies, percussion instruments and call and response help connect the Panamanian culture to the african heritage. they connect by using similar instuments such as drums and maracas and using similar styles of call and response.
Works cited
Putnam, Lara. “Jazzing Sheiks at the 25 Cent Bram: Panama and Harlem as Caribbean Crossroads, circa 1910–1940.” Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies (13569325), vol. 25, no. 3, Sept. 2016, pp. 339–359. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/13569325.2016.1167020.
Author: Lara Putnam
Zien, Katherine. “Sounding Sovereignty: Performance and Politics in the 1999 Panama Canal Handover.” Identities, vol. 21, no. 4, July 2014, pp. 412–428. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=97315802&site=eds-live.
Author: Katherine Zien
Ronald R. Smith. “Street Music of Panama: Cumbias, Tamboritos, and Mejoranas Michel Blaise.” Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana, vol. 12, no. 2, 1991, p. 216. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2307/780092.
Author: Smith Ronald
