O paradigma do tresillo

• Main Author: Carlos Sandroni
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação em Música 2002-02-01
• Series: Opus
• Online Access: http://www.anppom.com.br/revista/index.php/opus/article/view/142

This paper purposes an interpretation of a theme that recurs in the literature on printed music when it deals with certain South and Central American dance styles of the second half of the 19th century, namely, the formal and semantic relationships between rhythmic formulae known as "síncope característica", "habanera rhythm" or "tresillo". The relative equivalence between these formulae and between the genres in which they appear as well as the linking of formulae and genres to a complex of extra-musical meanings have been stated in the literature. They have not, however, given rise to any questions or tentative explanations. African music studies (particularly those of Simha Arom) and the author’s own ethnographic fieldwork are brought together in this interpretation.