Cuestas 1 Carlos Andres CuestasProfessor Peter ManuelMusic of Cuba and Puerto RicoMay 28, 2015

Requinto Playing in Bolero Trios: Influences and Musical OriginsTrios de boleros, or bolero trios, is one of the most iconic sounds of Latin American commercial music in the 1950s and 60s, epitomized in the career of the Trio Los Panchos. With more than 3000 songs recorded (vora 2001,246), the highly stylized guitar playing of the ensembles leader Alfredo El Gero Gil set the musical and instrumental standard for the upcoming wave of bolero trios that subsequently were to invade the market. Though there have been numerous studies on the commercial and social effect of bolero trio music, none have dealt with musical analysis of this guitar-oriented subgenre, nor have they hypothesized about the origins and influences of this highly complex lead guitar style. This article will intend to trace the musical and technical developments of the guitar-oriented genres from which bolero trios may have borrowed, consciously or not, their playing style, particularly the one started by Alfredo Gil and imitated later on.Comment by Carlos Cuestas: Write footnote for examplesIn the great Caribbean basin, and for the scope of this paper, in Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, the guitar has enjoyed much popularity as well as having been a vehicle for the development of many folk musics: Trova Tradicional in Cuba, Trova Yucateca in Mexico, cancin popular in Puerto Rico, and Bachata in Dominican Republic. These genres, directly or indirectly, have contributed to the development, cultivation and favorable reception of the bolero in general, and the bolero trio in particular.Trios de BoleroBy the 1940s, decade in which Trio Los Panchos first came together, the trio format was very well established in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. Before Los Panchos, these ensembles were not dedicated exclusively to the bolero repertoire; their core repertoire was composed of mostly local music. The 1931 Mexican Trio Calaveras, for instance, was first dedicated mostly to rancheras, huapangos, and other local genres. The most important trio at the moment, however, was the Cuban Trio Matamoros, founded in 1925 and of which more will be mentioned later. Matamoross biggest contribution to the genre was the establishment of the bolero-son, a kind of bolero that would travel to the Yucatan peninsula and Puerto Rico where it was appropriated and stylized. The Style of Trio Los PanchosLos Panchos came together in 1944 in New York City. Group leader and requinto player Alfredo Gil established the musical identity of the group by arranging, composing, and creating the well-known requinto introductions to their romantic repertoire. Los Panchos commercial success posited them as the most influential bolero trio after the 1950s, which caused all the upcoming ensembles to model their voices and guitar playing after them, creating the bolero trio movement. Gils guitar playing style gave Trio Los Panchos their identity, as singing in three-part harmony was already common practice. His staple introductions seemed to have been modeled after the violin, trumpet, or flute introductions typical of other ensembles such as the Cuarteto Machn, Cuarteto Marcano, Septeto Nacional, and the like. The instrumental introductions of guitar based trios, such as Matamoros, were usually played on the trs Cubano, yet the idiom of trs introductions at the moment are not virtuosic in character. Rather, these are simple, catchy melodies that set the affect of the song.The inclusion of the requinto in the bolero trioa smaller guitar tuned a perfect fourth higher than the guitar and reminiscent of the nineteenth century Terz guitaris generally attributed to Alfredo Gil. Given its higher register, the requinto assumes the role of leading melodic instrument of the ensemble. Falsely, enthusiastic historians have attributed the invention of the requinto to Gil himself (Abrua Rodriguez 1991), failing to note that guitars, and plucked instruments in general, have always been built in different sizes. Yet, Gils cunning in pointing out the need of a higher texture in the ensemble gave Los Panchos an initially distinctive sound.Born in Veracruz, Mexico, Alfredo Gils talent lies on his undisputable guitar playing. According to Gils own account found in Edna Abrua Rodriguezs Los Panchos, he taught himself mandolin (not specified which kind) and guitar. He claims that once his father gave him a guitar [Yo] agarraba los discos de [Francisco] Salinas y otros clsicos de la guitarra y los sacaba [. . .] as me di cuenta que tocaba mucho ms que ellos y cualquiera de los que actuaban aqu. (Abrua Rodriguez 1991, 36). In Tony voras El Libro del Bolero, the author claims that one of the most influential figures in Gils musical style was the legendary flamenco guitarist Agustn Castellanos Sabicas. Alfredo Gil met Sabicas in New York during his previous experience in the group Los Caporales. Sabicas fue su amigo, le ayud a corregir errores y se preocup de ensearle algunos secretos de su estilo incomparable (vora 2001, 243). Of all the influences that may have played a part in Alfredo Gils guitar playing style, the mandolin may have been the most important one. Because of its double courses, the mandolin is played with a plectrum, which Gil admits to have used in his solo playing. Video footage, however, shows Alfredos playing style relying solely on rest-stroke fingerpicking, common in both flamenco and classical guitar techniques. This shows his concern with keeping a carefully crafted tone production through his right hand technique. The melodic gestures as well as his left hand technique, however, seem derived from the mandolin. Virtuosic, fast-paced scales and arpeggios spanning the width of the requintos neckas opposed to a vertical motion more common in classical guitar because of its concern with bass accompanimentmay have been borrowed from the mandolins own idiom. In light of this, his introductions, interludes, and interjections feature an unseen guitar playing style up to that time that would capture the attention of audiences and upcoming groups alike. Meeting Colombian composer and orchestra director Terig Tucci was profitable for the musical style Los Panchos are known for (vora 2001, 243). Tucci advised Gil on how to better harmonize in three parts and to have a more interesting harmonic discourse in their repertoire (243). This fruitful meeting may not have been about the guitar necessarily, but the indirect influence of these concepts could have leaked into Gils stylish playing. Los Panchos style is a reflection of the urban trend Latin American society was gravitating towards in the second half of the twentieth century. Always elegant, crisp, and stylish, their music reflected their businessman look. Gone were the traditional attires internationalized by the orchestras and ensembles, with puffy sleeves and neckerchiefs, once used to sell Latin music as exotic to a predominantly Anglo and urban audience. Before the commercial exoticism and suited-up ensembles, however, the guitar playing style of boleros has roots in two similarly urban traditions: the trova tradicional cubana from Santiago de Cuba, and the trova yucateca from Merida, two genres that greatly impacted bolero trio guitar technique. Cuba and the Trova TradicionalLegend has it that the first bolero ever written was Jos Pepe Snchezs Tristezas, still championed as such in most of the sources on boleros. Whichever the case may be, the larger social circle that Snchez was a part of and the musical movement to which he belonged is more relevant than the genesis and genealogy of the bolero. Comment by Carlos Cuestas: List sources as a footnoteSantiago de Cubas leading musicians Pepe Snchez (1856-1918), Sindo Garay (1867-1968), Manuel Corona (1880-1950), Alberto Villaln (1882-1955), Rosendo Ruiz (1885-1983), and Patricio Ballagas (1879-1920) are considered the most important figures of the Trova Tradicional Cubana movement of the late nineteenth, early twentieth century (Caizares 1992, 29). In Caizaress La Trova Tradicional Cubana, all references towards these musicians state that they were primarily guitarists of varying skills, whereas piano playing, so prominent in the East side of the country, is not mentioned. This is particularly significant when researching extant musical scores of trova tradicional, for most of the findings are stylized piano transcriptions (Figure 1).

Tristeza[s], Pepe Snchez Figure 1An initial sense of the traditional troveros guitar playing styles can be traced in early recordings, such as the remastered version of Sindo Garays La Bayamesa. This version features one guitar and two voices, one of them Garay himself. There is an eight measure instrumental introduction, mostly strummed, with a simple melodic gesture in the last measure. The accompaniment throughout the song is strummed (Figure 2). The same technique is used in Maria Teresa Vega and Manuel Coronas [ca.] 1920s recording El Yamb Guaganc. Comment by Carlos Cuestas: Provide TranscriptionComment by Carlos Cuestas: Provide transcriptionStrumming accompaniment on the guitar was by far the most used among most of the early troveros. Alberto Villaln, on the other hand, was known for his accompaniment patterns of alternating basses with chords, called bordear or bordoneo, that would link, through chromatic passing tones, one harmony to the other (Caizares 1992, 47). This is evidenced in Villalns accompaniment of the recited poem Regino por la Isla, recited by the same author Regino Lpez (Figure 3). Comment by Carlos Cuestas: Provide transcriptionComment by Carlos Cuestas: Give recording source citation Memorias de la Habana vol. 1).La Bayamesa Figure 2Regino por La Isla, Figure 3

Until the 1920s, the guitar playing style in Cuba consisted mostly of block chord-playing with limited use of arpeggiation or bordoneo. Neither was the guitar being used melodically. Cubas proximity to the Yucatan peninsula, however, allowed for an important cultural trade that would influence many aspects of music, including guitar playing. In the words of Argeliers Len conectado con el patron rtmico de las danzas y de las habaneras es que fue surgiendo, en el siglo pasado, un nuevo estilo de acompaamiento guitarrstico, mezcla de rasgueado y punteado, que, a no dudarlo, nos llegaba nuevamente por el camino de renovados contactos con sones yucatecos (Len, cited in Caizares 1992, 89). It was precisely in the 1920s that Cienfuegos (Cuba) native Eusebio Delfin Figueroa (1893-1965), a wealthy banker, amateur guitarist and singer, institutionalized a new style of guitar accompaniment that consisted primarily of broken arpeggiation. This style would become increasingly popular, determining a new way of accompanying Cuban guitar-based music. Delfins style was also characterized by adding a rest on the last sixteenth-note of every measure, a kind of caesura, which would become a stylistic trademark on Cuban music guitar accompaniment, as well as influenced bolero trio accompaniment (Figure 4). The popularity of this style may be in part thanks to Delfins aristocratic social standing. His performances in well-to-do gatherings and social circles were very well received and may have been the catalyst of an unforeseen enthusiasm for the guitar amongst the Cuban wealthy. At this stage, the guitar stopped being the instrument of the poor and instead, it became one of the representative instruments of Cuban identity. Comment by Carlos Cuestas: transcriptionLos MatamorosIn 1925 Miguel Matamoros, Raul Cueto, and Siro Rodrguez formed the Trio Matamoros and quickly became one of the leading Cuban ensembles. The Matamoros gave an enormous notoriety to the trio format, institutionalizing the trio trovadoresco cubano (Giro, cited in Caizares 1992, 99). The bolero at this point was a flexible genre not associated with a specific instrumentation, but the Trio Matamoros international appeal and successful early recordings started establishing the bolero to a three-voice, guitar-based genre. It is worth noting, however, that the kind of bolero the Matamoros were most associated with was the bolero-son, derived from the son cubano. Altogether lighter and danceable, the romantic thematic material is the same as the posterior bolero trio, and keeps the eight-bar introduction and two sixteen-bar sections characteristic of earlier boleros.Eusebio Delfn Accompaniment Pattern, Figure 4Prior to the Trio Matamoros, the usage of the guitar in ensembles was purely rhythmic. With a great deal of confidence, the Trio Matamoros relied on the trs cubano (and sometimes the guitar) to carry out all the instrumental introductions to their songs. This practice was not unknown, of course, but there is something to be said for the establishment of the same. Before the Matamoros, introductions and interludes were carried out primarily with melodic instruments such as the trumpet or violin. Iconographic evidence, as well as early recordings, of ensembles such as the Septeto Nacional, Orquesta de Julio Cueva, Sexteto Occidente, to name a few, support this claim. Trio Matamoros, therefore, paved the way, on the powerful commercial level, to massively accept the melodic roles of plucked instruments, a road that would eventually lead to the intricate, stylish melodic guitar and requinto incursions so mastered by the bolero trios of the 1950s. Son de la Loma, Bolero Son. Figure 5TROVA YUCATECAOnly 130 miles separate the northern Cuban coasts from the beaches of Yucatan, making it easier to travel between Havana (even Santiago de Cuba) and Merida than from the Yucatan capital to Mexico City. This reality has facilitated the commercial and cultural trade between Cuba and Yucatan for well over five centuries. During the second half of the nineteenth century, many theater companies (compaias de bufos) would periodically stop in Yucatan bringing with them the latest musical trends of the island and picking up influences from the yucatecos. During Cubas tumultuous independence and occupation years, musicians such as zarzuela legend Benito Pealver (Daz Ayala 1999, 72) would settle in Merida, as well as classically trained musicians Marino Cuevas Rodriguez, who would found the first Yucatan Sinfonic Orchestra in 1905 (72). One of the founders of the trova tradicional in Cuba, Alberto Villalna student of Sindosarrived in Merida first in 1902 and then again in 1904. As discussed above, Villalns bordoneo playing style, so different from the predominantly strumming accompaniment, was greatly influential in the trova movement. The significance of his visit to Mexican ground is best described in voras account: Este temprano contacto influy decisivamente en el desarrollo posterior del bolero: los troveros yucatecos abandonaron los valses y danzas para crear bambucos colombianos, as como claves y boleros al estilo cubano (vora 2001, 204).It is worth noting that the Colombian bambuco is a guitar-centered genre in triple meter, either 3/4 or 6/8, usually played on guitar and tiple, a Colombian steel-string, four-course guitar. Like the baroque guitar, the reentrant tuning of the tiple makes it an exclusively strumming instrument, leaving the guitar as the provider of melodic and bass textures. The favoring of the guitar in Yucatn was a definitive step towards the standardization of the guitar-centered bolero trios. Colombian bambuco indirectly contributed to this instrumental preference in the peninsula, which makes it an unintentional contributor to the romantic genre. Claves, bambucos, and boleros were the genres cultivated at the beginning of the century by Yucatan composers such as Cirilo Baqueiro Chan Chil (1849-1910), and Fermn Pastrana Huay Cuuc (1857-1925).[footnoteRef:1] In 1909, the two song collections El Ruiseor Yucateco and El Cancionero were published, amounting to 447 songs, 147 of which were Cuban guarachas, danzn, or danza. The collections also feature songs by Baqueiro and Pastrana (Daz Ayala 1998, 73; vora 2001, 204). At the same time, Mexican nationalistic composer Manuel Maria Ponce (1882-1948) composed several popular songs that would later become associated with the romantic spirit so common in Mexican music. Works such as Estrellita, Por Ti Mi Corazn, and Las Maanitas Mexicanas captured the imagination of composers and songwriters all over the country, Yucatan included. A musical melting pot, Merida was home of the Mexican bolero embodied in the figure of Guty Crdenas. [1: Chan Chil (Centipede) and Huay Cuuc (Diabolical Squirrel) were the Mayan names of these composers. ]

Crdenas (1905-1932) lived a short but productive life. Murdered at twenty-six, he recorded 176 songs in New York during 1928 and 1931 (Daz Ayala 1998, 73). His music captures all of the musical influences of 1900s Merida. His famous song Coconito is based on Colombian bambuco; Para Olvidarte is a Cuban danzn; A que Negar is a bolero-son; Ojitos Chinitos is a ranchera; and Maanitas is one of the many early Mexican boleros of which Crdenas is a pioneer (Figure 6).The music of Guty Crdenas features the guitar almost exclusively as both the accompaniment and melodic instrument. His introductions, mostly played on a nylon string guitar with fingerpicking technique (the same technique Alfredo Gil would use in the 1950s), have a more lyrical character than the ones heard in the contemporary Trio Matamoros. Crdenass legacy, therefore, is not only as a figurehead of the bolero genre but also as a guitarist who would exploit the lyricism of the guitar in a melodic role when applied to this genre. Bolero trios seized this lyric, stylized way of playing the guitaralbeit on the requinto and featuring more technical prowessand the sound that would capture the hearts and minds of a heartbroken audience. Maanita, Figure 6After the death of Cardenas, the most important composer of Mexican bolero was pianist Agustn Lara. All of his songs were composed at the piano, but the popularity of the bolero guitar trio was taking an irreversible hold, and the guitar was on its way to become the most important exponent of bolero music. In 1931, the Trio Calaveras was founded, and the next decade saw the birth of the Puerto Rican Trio Vegabajeo in 1943, Trio San Juan and Los Panchos in 1944, and then a tsunami of trios took over the continent. Groups such as Los Tres Caballeros and Los Trs Diamantes in Mexico, Trio San Juan and Johnny Albino y su Trio in Puerto Rico, and a great number of other groups were in direct competition or directly influenced by Los Panchos, all featuring a virtuoso requinto player.ConclusionBolero trios of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s modeled every aspect of their style after the monumental commercial success Los Panchos achieved in the course of their career. Alfredo Gils requinto played a definitive role in this accomplishment and his playing style was imitated and developed by all the trios to come. These ensembles were in direct completion with Los Panchos for a spot in the music market of the period. As it has been surveyed, Alfredo Gils playing styleand lead guitar bolero style in generalis the summary of two urban traditions, Cuban trova tradicional and Yucatan trova yucateca, plus other influences that he was exposed to in New York City. These influences further intensified the cosmopolitan style of bolero and may explain the appeal the bolero trio had for such a wide audience in the mid 1900s.

ReferencesAbrua Rodriguez. 1991. Edna. Los Panchos, La mejor agrupacin de todos los tiempos. Miami.Caizares, Dulcila. 1992. La Trova Tradicional Cubana. Habana: Letras Cubanas.Daz Ayala, Cristobal.1999. Cuando Sal de la Habana. 1898-1997: Cien Aos de Msica Cubana por el Mundo. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Fundacin Musicalia.Daz Ayala, Cristobal. 1998. La Marcha de los Jbaros. 1898-1997: Cien Aos de Msica por el Mundo. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Editorial Plaza Mayor.vora, Tony. 2001. EL Libro del Bolero. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.