EVERY GENRE PROJECT - May 22 - Murga

Genre of the Day - Murga

Album of the Day - Murga Argentina by Cáceres (2004)

May 22, 2024

The defining factor across most South American music genres that have developed in the past four hundred years is the influence of ships shrinking the Atlantic Ocean. One does wonder what music genres would exist if humans had existed on Pangea, on a giant land continuum. As the continents rest today, though, the movement of people across the Atlantic is the foundation of post-Columbian South American history, bringing the conquistadors and Portuguese over along with hundreds of thousands of west African slaves. Therefore, we overwhelmingly find Indigenous, African, and European musical influences converging in various combinations of rhythm, instrumental influence, and environmental background. Because so much folk music was developed among the lower class, though, it’s often life-affirming, whether celebratory and grateful for the joys of life or defiant and incisive. Today’s genre toes the line between both, all while celebrating Carnival.

Carnival is most often associated with Brazil here in the US, but the colorful, raucous celebration is celebrated across Catholic countries of the Americas. The closest thing we have is the day that bookends the Carnival season, Mardi Gras, though a plane ticket to New Orleans is all but required to truly enjoy it. Carnival asks: why not shake off the impending gloom of that Lent guilt in a brazen, kaleidoscopic display of debauchery? Naturally, Carnival aligned with some of the traditional celebrations of indigenous and African peoples and followed as a hotbed of musical mixing.

Though murga’s musical influences stem generally from the three intermixing cultures of the Rio de la Plata region of southern South America (a terribly uncatchy region name, thus why the Southern Cone is so often used), more specifically it takes significant influence from the visual and musical stylings of Carnival in the Spanish city of Cadiz. The city developed a particularly Technicolor, sarcastically humorous take on the holiday stemming from Genoese influence involving performances called chirigotas that made it distinctive from other cities’ celebrations. Cadiz’ distinctive style had reverberations echoing through Spain, but soared in popularity in the early 20th century in Uruguay and Argentina after a performance in Montevideo. As it developed further in these countries, it was shaped by elements of candombé, a traditional Afro-Uruguayan rhythm played by a drum ensemble, the tongue-in-cheek nature of chirigotas, and group male harmonies.

Juan Carlos Cáceres is probably someone who would love the Every Genre Project—still looking for an abundance of those. I digress! Please subscribe! He didn’t begin releasing music until his 50s, driven by his passion for the history of Argentinian musical styles and the African rhythmic influence on genres like tango that are integral to the country’s cultural landscape. However, he found the time in his later years to delve into several musical styles as a jazz-trained musician, including tackling murga on this set. The opener “Guariló” is something of a feint with the jazz piano introducing the song, but its union with militaristic drumming and his pontificating about Argentina eventually lays the murga influence bare from the jump. 

Diverse in instrumentation and tone, he pairs the steady, marching drum rhythms of murga with loungey piano on “Barrio” and the languid horn at the heart of “Sabor Compadre”, although ditching the drums for springy guitar as on “Asado Con Cuero.” Like any good show, the album draws out its excitement tactfully, reaching Maximum Murga on the cauldron of whistles (a classic feature of murga), horn breakdowns, and his theatrical, vibrant voice on “Miremos Al Manana”, achieving an excellent, raw synergy. It’s a rousing album, really only matched by its visual Carnival counterpart in color and joy. So consider switching out those New Orleans tickets for Uruguay and experience the music beloved by a different drunken Carnival crowd.