Title: “Controversia”
Performers: Adolfo Alonso and Justo Vega
Culture/Origin: Cuba
Orchestration: Marimba, Spanish guitar, Cuban tres, laud,
tiple, string bass, clave, guiro, guayo, and two male vocalists
This piece of music is called the punto and is of Cuban decent.
This type of music includes instrumentalists who play rubato inbetween
the verses of the vocalists. The
vocalists are improvising and reacting to each other’s lyrics. Often times the vocalist will jump in with a
response to what the other vocalist has said.
It begins with long stanzas and as the song progresses turns into much
shorter stanzas. The topic of discussion
is often humorous and pokes fun at the other person or a specific topic. Within performing this genre of music, play
is essential. The vocalists are creating
their stanzas as a reaction to what the other person has created. The idea of this happening in this type of
music shows us the importance of play within socialization. We often hear the phrase “Play nice!” as
kids, but the only way for that to occur is to continually socialize through
play with others. When two people have a
conversation, how one responds is based off of what has been asked or stated
previously. This type of music is a way
to have a conversation with each other, hence creating a type of play or
socialization.
