CAMPING BUS RECORDS

Day of recording: 16^th of july 2011. Location: Route 12, km 3 ½, City of Puerto Iguazu.  Traditional choirs oth the guarani culture. Choir “Kuaray mini” conducted by Wilson, with 9 members. Choir “Takuaju Poty (the golden flower of the bamboo)” by Francisco, with 15 members. Choir “Yyriapu Poty (flower of Yyryapu)” by Agapito, with 12 members

We knew little about the Guarani aboriginals in Misiones, Argentina. That was before we met the songwriter Joselo Schuap in the province of Posadas and the journalist Claudio Salvador in Iguazu, who introduced us to the actual history of this culture.
The community Mbyá Guaraní Tekoa Yyryapú is located on the Route 12, km 3 ½, in the city of Puerto Iguazú. The current population is approximately 400 inhabitants and covers an area of ​​265 Hectares.
Guarani communities can be found in northeastern Argentina, Paraguay, southern Bolivia and southern and southwestern Brazil. They used to inhabit the forests, also practiced hunting and slash and burn agriculture. Many of these activities they can’t do anymore, since one of the main problems faced by these people is the constant displacement and landlessness.
One tradition that has survived, in addition to their language and handmade artworks, is the “singing”, which is practiced in nature way since ancient times, when the grandparents used to gather the children to sing. Joselo told us about his interest to help the community Yyryapú as he keeps a friendship with one of the chiefs, Francisco Javier. He commited himself to record these choirs. By donations and playing concerts, he’s trying to collect the money to produce a CD. In this way the community can help itself financially and at the same time promote its special legacy, which are the choirs. For Camping Bus Records it was a great privilege to help Joselo and record the choirs, not only becasue it was exciting for the project, but also an experience of working together with others for social work.
Together with our friend Claudio we visited this community the fist time. We met with Francisco, Wilson and Agapito, who are the community leaders, and animate the singing among the people of the community, “Anyone who wants to sing in the choir is welcome, regardless of age,” says Francisco. We made several trips with them along the paths to find the best place for the recording. All trails are nice to walk, with trees “palo rosa” over 30 meters high, surrounded by vegetation that is unusual for us.
The recordings with the choirs of Wilson, Francisco and Agapito took place the next day. We had to take advantage of every hour of daylight because we were with all our stuff in the middle of the jungle. Above all the forecast prognosis estimate rain. The children of the choir helped us to carry the whole equipment to the place of recording. Meanwhile we had time to talk about the songs, their meanings and their instrumentation. The girls sing and play an instrument that is proper for women, called “takuapú.” It is a hollow cane of bamboo, which varies in the length depending on the height of the child; they take the cane like a “stick” and beat him on the ground, producing a bass sound, following the rhythm of the song. The boys also accompany by singing, or may play a percussion instrument. Normally the instruments they play are a small drum, which also goes with the pulse of the song, maracas, violin and guitar of 5 strings. These last three instruments are influences of the cultural exchange that occurred at the time of the Jesuit missions.
The songs are improvised. They believe in the spirits of the forest, and the lyrics always reflect the nature: the “Che ru Ñamandú” (my father the sun), rain, fish, trails, “takupú” (the cane of bamboo). The lyrics are very simple, but manage to convey joy.

Camping Bus Records invites you to listen to the choir recordings of the Yyryapu. Who wants to know more about the community Mbyá Guaraní Tekoá Yyryapú can visit the website www.proyectomate.org. The project “MATE” is getting realized since 2006 and is based on the dialog and the conversation between cultures to reinforce the Guarani identity.

Location: Cordoba, Argentina, Day of Recording: 20^th of May, 2011. Folk songwriter (chacarera, samba and other regional music)

Born in “la Pampa”, Argentina, Facundo Campora now lives in Cordoba, second largest city in Argentina, after Buenos Aires.

As an autodidact musician he devoted a big part of his life to “Argentine folklore” and especially to study the music of the region “Santiago del Estero”, known as the birthplace of the “chacarera”. Fascinated by the culture, music and nature, in 2006, Facundo went to these lands of northwestern Argentina to learn more about the origins of the musical styles, bringing a rudimentary recorder, capturing traditional songs from some provinces like “Salavina” .

Very little is known about the origins of this traditional music. The word “chacarera” stands for “chacarero”, that was the way to call the farmer who worked the “chacra,” which is the piece of land used for farming or raising livestock.

There are several styles of “chacarera”. Among the most traditionals, are the simple and double, which differ by the number of bars, keeping the same style of strumming. Chacarera can be accompanied by guitar, violin, accordion, bass drum “bombo legüero”. Actually different formations are accepted.

Facundo not only introduced us to the world of the “folklore santiagueño”, he also accompanied us on our journey for 2 weeks and took us through these provinces, where people talk also about the ancient myth of the “Salamanca”, a hidden space, used for teaching and sharing knowledge. Also said to be the place where witches get together with the devil. This myth is mentioned in many popular lyrics from the North of Argentina, also the way how to find it; the Salamanca may be in a cave, deep in the mountains, or the plains. Any musician in the quest to perfect their singing or instrument, can be trapped. In the countryside, it is also rumored that the devil may appear, open the earth and bring the musician to a secret location. Once inside, nobody can leave, the soul is sold but the person becomes a gifted musician.

The experiences of these travels inspired him to compose his own songs. Drawing beautiful landscapes with his lyrics, and singing with an extraordinary voice, Facundo takes you to his own world. It remains undeveloped and we do not know if Facundo on his journeys stumbled across the salamanca, but listening to his music it seems very likely.