Cana Quema

lead vocals - pregon (improvises the verses)

chorus vocals - coro (sing fixed refrains in 2 parts)

guitar

• chordal accompaniment in both songs
• syncopated chords during plucked double bass

double bass 

• plucks a small number of notes mostly from dominant an tonic chords

cuatro 

• mixture of solo melodic lines - adventurous, covers wide range, includes slides/chords/individual notes
• strummed chords 
• 4 pairs of tuning = thicker sound, with upper octaves causing bright ringing 
• plays a guajeo as an intro for both songs and acc to singing

uses limited vocal range:

• lead vocals - minor 6th
• chrous - minor 9th 

all instruments 

wider range for lead vocals:

• 12th in bolero section 
• restricted range in son section
• repeated octaves on note E in chorus

all instruments

Latin American style

continuous maracas continuous quavers

improvised bongo patterns 

3:2 Son clave rhythm in 'Se quema la chumbamba'

mostly 2:3 Son claves rhythm in 'Alla va candela'

4-bar cuatro intro (guajeo) - used throughout the song

alternating

• 8-bar changing/varied pregon 'verses'
• 8-bar unvaried coro 'refrains'
• slight change to the pattern by the pregon singing an unchanged version of the coro refrain 

cuatro solo - long and involving a bongo improvisation ; for variety 

short coda based on the coro refrain to end piece 

NO KEY CONTRAST OR MODULATION

1-39 = Bolero:

• 1-2 cuatro
• 3-13 guitar/bass/percussion join as cuatro pre-echos vocal melody 
• 15-23 lower tessitura VOCAL IDEA A
• 25-31 idea overlaps into son section VOCAL IDEA B 

39-143 = Son:

• 32-38 tempo increases VOCAL IDEA C
• 39-60 VOCAL REFRAIN 
• repeat of 33-62 (at bar 62)
• 62-67 CUATRO GUAJEO LINK
• 68-119 CUATRO SOLO 
• 120-123 CUATRO GUAJEO LINK accompanies bongo 
• 124-137 VOCAL REFRAIN (from 39-60)
• 138-144 VOCAL IDEA C 
• 145-163 VOCAL REFRAIN 

diatonic 

G minor 

no modulations 

diatonic 

Emajor 

no modulations 

limited repeating 4-bar chord pattern = I and V7 in G minor 

richer harmony created by use of Eb over D7 (implies dom 9th chord OR dim 7th chord)

cuatro solo:

wider range of chords e.g. maj subdom chord (C major)

sliding parallel progressions 

wide range of chords in bolero section:

• mainly E and B7 
• A and F#7 to have variation 
• E7 at bar 28

simple E and B7 alternating in son section 

cuatro solo has effective harmony vocabulary:

• chromatic inflections in melodic line
• some extensions e.g. E6 and B7/9 created by high C# 100-104 

cuatro riff intro = 2 related phrases with rising and falling 3rds 

important balanced 2-bar or 4-bar vocal phrases

'Candela' vocal refrain' similiar each time:

• bar 1 of 1st phrase = begins on 3rd or 5th
• bar 2 of 1st phrase = lands on unprepared 7th (C) 
• bar 1 of 2nd phrase = begins on supertonic 
• bar 2 of 2nd phrase = leaps to dominant before falling to the tonic 

improvisatory pregon phrases: move to upper dominant (D) then (sometimes) to Eb before falling to tonic

cuatro solo melody is the most varied:

• uses all notes of harmonic G minor scale 
• chromatic C# is used frequently - as a chromatic inflection onto the dominant 
• use of E and F as player becomes further away from vocal section's implied harmony 

same basic structure in CUATRO MELODY (4-12) and VOCAL IDEA A (15-23) ; triadic shapes, up and down stepwise movement, upward 4th repeated/emphasised.

VOCAL IDEA B (25-31) low and stepwise except from upward 5th (27) and downward 5th (31)

VOCAL IDEA C wide range, ascends octave in a 2nd inversion arpeggio of E major (1st phrase) then descends to its starting note(for next section)

VOCAL REFRAIN simple repetition of E major triad notes and outer notes of B major triad

CUATRO GUAJEO (39-40) large intervals e.g. descending 6th, notes outside the harmony e.g. C# bar 39

CUATRO SOLO flexible melody:

• triadic shapes
• stepwise motion
• large leaps (85-6)
• chromatic inflections (69,72)
• all notes of chromatic scale (82-3)

2 in a bar feeling + heavily syncopated = position of first beat is disguised

son claves 3:2 rhythm - all rhythms fit to this

anticipation bass - bass line anticipates beat by putting root chord on 4th crotchet beat 

cuatro solo varies rhythmic divisions of beat using:

• triplet crotchets/quavers
• syncopation 

vocal phrases:

• each one begins on 2nd crotchet of bar 
• 4th bar of each always uses 3 'straight' crotchets to anchor rhythm to beat briefly 

4/4 BUT opening bolero is heard in 2/2 metre at medium tempo (80bpm)

son section moves into 2 in a bar metre (90bpm)

percussion rhythms underpin rhythms:

• 2-bar 2:3 clave rhythm 
• sometimes move to 3:2 clave rhythm (in irregular length sections)

bass line - 'square' rhythm in bolero AND syncopated line in son

vocal lines - syncopated throughout, sometimes creating cross-rhythms

cuatro solo has most complex rhythms:

• frequent syncopation
• triplets
• hemiola figures (103-4)
• rapic quaver figures