The Paraguayan Harp: From Colonial Transplant to National Emblem

(Hardback)

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How did a music instrument transplated to South America by colonial Jesuit missionaries earn the official designation as Paraguay's cultural national symbol This ethnomusicological and organological study of the Paraguayan diatonic harp in the twentieth century tells its story as an emblematic national musical instrument. First used liturgically by Jesuit missions in colonial times, the transplanted European diatonic harp was transformed and adopted into the folk music vocabulary of Paraguay and the Ro de la Plata region. Following the commercial success of Paraguayan harpist Flix Prez Cardozo in the 1930s in Argentina, the instrument's symbolic value as an icon of social, cultural, and national identity was articulated in local traditions such as popular folk music festivals. It received designation of arpa paraguaya (Paraguayan harp) and, in 2010, official recognition as simbolo de la cultura nacional (cultural national symbol). The author's fieldwork in Paraguay and continuous contact with composers, educators, festival organizers, harp performers, researchers, and festival organizers have provided unique insights into the development of the Paraguayan harp tradition as a cultural icon of the nation.

Reviews

Alfredo Colmans book is written with great clarity, sprinkled with many technical notes in beautiful Guaran, the language of Paraguays native people. His in-situ knowledge and personal experience are essential because, in Latin America, information about music for the lower income masses, with the exception of ceremonial religious music, has always been rather scarce. . . .Tracing the use of the harp in Paraguay among the Guaran people, in the Jesuit reductions, and into the contemporary moment of official recognition, Colmans exposition is well supported by relevant evidence throughout, and this highly recommended book makes a strong case that the harp is deservedly one of Paraguays national emblems. * Journal of Folklore Research *
In the world of Latin American traditional music, the Paraguayan harp is a giant. For the past half century, its international prominence has far outstripped its homelands relatively small population of seven million. It has been adopted by musicians in virtually every country of the mainland Americas, and an authoritative account of its history and ascendancy is decades overdue. Paraguayan musicologist Alfredo Colman is the ideal teller of this story, a story filled with close encounters with pivotal personalities, origin myths unmasked, and the powerful potential of a musical instrument to represent a people. -- Daniel Sheehy, Curator and Director, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Author Bio

Alfredo C. Colman is associate professor of musicology and ethnomusicology at Baylor University.