Introducción
The notes that follow suggest the ways in which the singing groups of a culture reflect the organization of groups in other of the culture's activities. Two elements of group organization are considered - (1) the prominence of a solo or leader part; 2) the type of group organization involved. Solo and leader dominated group singing tends to be more common where males dominate productive systems; group-oriented performance without prominent leaders is clearly more frequent where females are productively dominant. Thus, the northern world of hunting, fishing, pastoralism and plough agriculture is solo or leader-oriented. The warmer world of gardening and horticulture is group-oriented. The group organization a culture employs in song performance seems to vary with economic factors. Interlock, where the parts are most equal, is commonest among acephalous bands of the non-complex producers, especially gatherers. Unison, the simplest technique of coordinating effort is resorted to everywhere, most prominent in the performances of small tribal societies, especially among planters without large herd animals. Overlap of parts is most typical of the larger agricultural societies with large herd animals and a complementary productive system. Alternation, where clear divisions between parts of the performing group are more clearly stressed, is typical of complex productive systems, especially those with plough agriculture (see Lomax et al 1968: 139ff).
Audiciones de entrenamiento (serie 1)
01. Introduction with Georgian chorus - 1'22
02. Solo. N. Europe, England. An early and tragic form of the favorite folk lyric "The Tavern in the Town" - in the performance mode most typical of Northwestern Europe: strophic, solo, and wordy. Female. (Lomax *34, B21) - 0'21"
03. One Soloist after Another. N. America.A Virginia mountain courting duet, belonging to the genre of the medieval "debat" and many similar forms once popular in European cultures. Male and female solos with guitar. (Lomax #16, B10) - 0'53"
04. Social Unison. N. America, Pueblo Taoso. Social unison, the commonest way of coordinating group action in singing, dancing and work, is most frequent in the small acephalous tribal societies of the Americas and Oceania. Male Group.(Rhodes #3, A2) - 0'37"
05. Discoordinated. S. America, Interior Amazon, Jivaro. The babble of independent and dis-coordinated parts in this head-shrinking ritual seems to reflect the extremely loose and individualistic character of this head-hunting society. Female group.(Luzuy, A4) - 0'34"
06. Simple Alternation: Leader-Group. N.Europe, Scotland, Hebrides. A Waulking (tweed-working) song performed in alternation between leader and group. Alternation without overlap, often with a small, but respectful pause between the e clear-cut authoritative leaders. Female solo with mixed group (Lomax #33 B1) - 0'43"
07. Simple Alternation: Group-Group, Central Europe, Asturias. A representative of the early danced ballad style is the danza prima, where the whole community joins hands and dances in processional through the streets singing of valorous deeds of the Moorish wars. Female leader with mixed group. (Lomax #24, A6) - 1'00"
08. Overlapping Alternation: Leader-Group. Afro-America, Bahamas Islands, Andros. Overlap of parts is most frequent in modestly stratified cultures where political leaders and groups are still in daily contact, and is a main stylistic trait of speaking and singing in Africa. Here Bahaman Afro-Americans overlap parts in a ballad about the loss of the vessel Praetoria, in a hurricane. Mixed group/ male group. (Charters, B 3) - 0'49"
09. Overlapping alternation: Group-Group. E.Europe, Caucasus, Dagestan. Female and male choirs in the overlapped harmonized style, traditional in this mountain-valley refuge of early civilization. (Cowell #2) - 0'41"
10. Interlock. Central Africa, Equatorial Rainforest, Mbuti Pygmies, whose sharing, intra-supportive, egalitarian non-authoritarian and complementary society seems to be a survival of one of the earliest human systems, organize their group performances in a tightly built weave of brief interlocked parts. (Turnbull & Chapman) - 0'59"
Audiciones de entrenamiento (serie 2)
11. Solo. C. Asia, Kazakhstan. From this old seat of pastoral empire comes a song in the bardic style, typical of Old High Culture - wordy, precise, ornamented, strophic, with a raspy, tense delivery, and a lute accompaniment. (Russia #7, 1) - 0'47"
12. Alternating Solos. S. Europe, Sicily. In Trapani, whose salt-works were manned by slaves in Roman times, salt porters continue an ancient tradition of rhyming about the number of bags they have carried, in wordy, precise, loud and forceful, narrow-voiced, raspy-nasal style, using wide intervals and free rhythm. (Lomax #29, B1) - 1'08"
13. Social Unison. E. Europe, Central Russia. A Molokan church Sunday School, singing a Protestant hymn in the style that is distinctive of Midde European hymns and chorales. On the one hand, it is explicit (wordy and precise) and on the other, it is highly cohesive - wide voiced, well blended and harmonized. (Pushkarow, A 6) - 0'52"
14. Discoordinated. E. Asia. Recorded during a bear totem ceremony of the Ainu who are a Paleo-Siberian, acephalous, non-stratified, non-solidary, hunting-fishing culture. A repetitive, slurred, rhythmically free, raspy performance, in a nasal, totally individualized and non-unified style with much gilottal and tremolo. Mixed group. (Kondo) - 0'36"
15. Simple Alternation: Leader-Group. N. America, French Canadian farm girls from the typical West European, centralized, stratified urbanized, non-complementary, non-solidary, intensive, mixed farming economy. The wordy, precise, intermittently raspy and nasal, strophic, unaccompanied, metrically regular, rather individualized, unison type of West Europe. (Barbeau, B 2) - 0'36"
16. Simple Alternation: Group-Group. E. Europe. State Siberian Russian Folk Choir singing an arranged, Russian peasant ditty. The communal and complementary agricultural villages of East Europe favoured this wordy, precise, strophic, metrically regular, forceful, wide-voiced, highly unified, polyphonic style. (Russia. #5, B 1) - 0'55"
17. Overlapping Alternation: Leader-Group. W. Africa, Senegal, Wolof. The context is an economy with cattle-herding and hoe agriculture. This is the West Sudanese praise-song type - 50% repeats, moderate enunciation, some free rhythm, litany, raspy, rather individualized often polyphonic. (Nikiprowetzky #1, A7) - 0'53"
18. Overlapping Alternation: Group-Group. Bulgaria, Rhodope. A chain dance involving the whole village in a regional variation on the East European style: litanies with wide intervals, sung with precise enuncation, some repetition, regular meter, moderate dynamics, much coordination and polyphony. (Raim & Koenig, B2) - 0'48"
19. Interlock. C. African, Mbuti. Pygmies, we are told, men, women, and children treat each oteer as equals. Their social egalitaritarianism seems to be reflected in the way they organize participation in song and speech, where all parts tend to be equal and brief. Mixed group. (Turnbull, B20) - 1'34"
Tests
20. Test #1. E. Europe, Bulgaria, Sofia. A Koledo (Christmas carol, probably pre-Christian) by a trained city sextet, whose use of harmony may represent an urban innovation. Mixed group. (Lloyd #1, B 33) - 0'35"
21. Test #2. Africa, Central Bantu. A dance song of the Nsenge, cattle-herders and planters of maize, who live in a moderately centralized, stratified complementary society. Female lead and mixed group with drums. (Blacking & Apthorpe, B2) - 0'48"
22. Test #3. East Asia, Japan. The Eastern-most bastion of Old High Culture with its usual pattern of irrigation, cities, centralized government and subordination of women. Two female singers with samshin. (Masu, B15) - 0'51"
23. Test #4. W. Africa. The Kpelle are complementary, modestly stratified, cereal agriculturalists of Liberia. This song (which shows clear Pygmy influence) is for cutting brush. (Okieg A2) - 0'41"
24. Test #5. Australia, N. Arnhemland. The aborigines were small, nomadic, acephalous bands of Stone Age gatherers, held together by the authority of the elder male clanheads, channeled through elaborate rituals, such as this one summoning the souls of departed heroes. Male solo with sticks. (Elkin #1, B6) - 0'21"
25. Test #6. S. America, Interior Amazonia. The Iawa are a small non-centralized, nonstratified, semi-nomadic, non-solidary, complementary fishing-gardening tribe.This is a song of fishing magic. Mixed group. (Flornoy, A 3) - 0'19"
26. Test #7. Africa, Nilotes. The Luo are cattle herders and agriculturalist,: living in small villages in Kenya. The sandbagger likens the chief to a rock in the lake which stops the fish from passing (and thus feeds the people). Male solo with mixed group, stamping with legbells. (Tracey #2 :TR-167, B7) - 0'35"
27. Test #8. Polynesia. Cook Islanders live by horticulture and ocean fishing. Their groupy, somewhat stratified, complementary culture is reflected in the highly integrated performances of choreographed song dances in forceful, wide-voiced style. Male group and female group. (Beckett) - 0'40"
28. Test #9. The Balkans, Montenegro. This is a culture of mountain herders and small farmers, living on the edge of an empire - a stratified, though solidary and complementary society. In this dance song the village girls challenge the lads to seize them. Male group and female group. (Kennedy #1, A22) - 0'42"
29. Test #10. Europe, Spain, Castile. The individualistic monogamous, wheat farmers and shepherds of Spain created more ballads than any other people in Europe. This is a somewhat embellished rendition of an old romance (ballad) about the daughter of the emperor of Rome. Male and female solos. (Lomax #25 B9) - 0'58"
30 Test #11. S. Asia, India, Benares. A Hindi religious folk song about Krishna and his love for the lovely milkmaid, Radha, in the energetic style of the male village chorus. (Danielou #2, A2) - 0'56"
31. Test #12.. S. Africa. A Shona boy singing to his mbira (hand-held ideophone of tuned iron strips, thumb-plucked). His herding-cultivator people belong to a nation of over a million. (Tracey #1, A 13) - 0'33"
32. Test #13. S. Europe, N. Sardinia. The mountain shepherds in some hilly areas preserve many traces of antique culture, including this unique polyphonic, brass-voiced singing style. Male solo with male group. (Lomax and Carpitella #29, B 37) - 1'00"
33. Test #14. Africa, Equatorial Bantu. The Topoke are a modestly centralized, complementary tribe of jungle gardeners of the North Congo Basin. Here Topoke women perform their traditional duty of mourning the dead, each wailing on her own. Female group. (Camps, B3) - 0'29"
34. Test #15. Central Europe, N.E. Italy. Friuli. Here on the green slopes of the Italian Alps one finds a choral tradition like those of Tyrol and Austria and handling as a native folk product the melodic and harmonic style that gave rise to the mainstream of European classical music. This is a group of villagers, improvising one of a string of brief melodies called villanelli. (Lomax & Carpitella) - 0'43"
35. Test #16. E. Africa. A Topoke song celebrating a young mother's return to the village from the isolation hut in which her baby has been born. The hectic tempo is typical of this region of Africa. Female group. (Camps, A 4) - 0'34
36. Test #17. E. Europe. Georgia, in the mountain-locked Caucasus, has retained many antique traditions including this cannonic, contrapuntal polyphony with a yodeled leader's part - another example of a widely distributed and ancient style, most frequent among African pygmies. (Russia. #1, C1) - 0'39"
37. Test #18. E. Africa, Kenya Highland Bantu. Meru mountain herder-agriculturalists - neighbours of the Kikuyu - organized into petty chieifdoms - perform a dance song about a cattle raid. Male solo, with female group and male group. (Tracey #2: TR 153, A6) - 0'53"
SOLUCIONES A LOS TESTS - 1. Social Unison/ 2. Overlap Alternation: Leader-Group/ 3. Alternating Solos/ 4. Interlock/ 5. Solo/ 6. Discoordinated/ 7. Simple Alternation: Leader-Group/ 8. Overlap Alternation: Group-G/ 9. Simple Alternation: Group-G/ 10. Alternating Solos/ 11. Simple Alternation: Leader-Group/ 12. Solo/ 13. Overlap Alternation: Leader-Group/ 14. Discoordinated/ 15. Social Unison/ 16. Simple Alternation: Group-G/ 17. Interlock/ 18. Overlapping Alternation: Group-Group
