Six Strings, Infinite Stories: Spanish Influence & Latin American Guitar
From Mexico to Argentina, the guitar is the preeminent instrument in Latin America and an extraordinarily versatile vessel for musical invention. But how did this instrument, originating in Europe, come to symbolize the people of countries throughout the Americas, thousands of miles away?
Though theories of its origins vary, the guitar and its predecessor, the Spanish vihuela, were already documented in images and poetry of late Medieval Europe, and the guitar was well established by the Renaissance, becoming especially prominent in Spain. The guitar crossed the Atlantic in the early years of Spain’s conquest of the Americas, and as early as 1521 a vihuela school had been established in Mexico. The guitar’s popularity spread rapidly enough that several celebrated Spanish guitar builders had set up shop in Peru and Mexico by the mid-1500s.
Since the time of the Spanish conquest, the guitar has developed a lot in Latin America. European musical traditions mixed with local cultures and folk music, creating a very rich and unique musical language. Composers such as Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla, and Barrios are now an essential part of the guitar repertoire. We have masterpieces such as the 12 Etudes by Villa-Lobos, which have become fundamental pieces for classical guitarists.
Despite the guitar’s broad popularity, the instrument had largely faded in classical music by the late 19th century. But once again, Spain played a key role in the guitar’s reemergence as a classical instrument in the 20th century. The Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia played the most significant role in this process.
“Historically, the guitar has been somewhat marginal in terms of repertoire and the number of composers writing for it,” says Feuillâtre. “This is one of the reasons why Andrés Segovia commissioned so many new works for the instrument. After Segovia, there was a kind of golden age for the guitar, especially from the 1940s to the 1980s, with artists such as the Presti-Lagoya duo, Julian Bream, John Williams, and many others.”
Segovia made his debut in Mexico in 1923, and soon developed relationships with Latin American composers to help build the guitar’s modern repertoire. The Mexican regional styles of Son jarocho and mariachi both feature the guitar in an essential role, along with hybridized instruments that evolved from the guitar after it reached Latin America. In both genres, the guitar performs a double function, creating harmony to support the music’s soaring melodies while its strumming drives each style’s dance rhythms.
Los Vega Son Jarocho are among the leading practitioners of the style, carrying on an impressive legacy. The group includes the daughter and four grandchildren of Don Andrés Vega, a respected bearer of son jarocho tradition.
“When my grandfather came home from working in the fields, and we were about five or six years old,” recalls musician Freddy Naranjo Vega, “he would cool off by having a glass of water or a cafecito. Then he would pick up his requinto and sit beneath a mango tree or a coconut palm and start playing. As he played, we would stay nearby, playing while listening to him the whole time.”
Son jarocho originates in the Atlantic coastal state of Veracruz, and prominently features the distinctive sesquiáltera rhythm that is found throughout Latin America. The interlocking instruments of son jarocho bring this rhythm to life.
“Each instrument is played in conversation with the others, allowing every one of them to express its own voice,” says Vega. “Together, the musicians gather around the tarima and make what we call a llamado, or a musical call.”
Like son jarocho, mariachi is rooted in the guitar. The bright sound of multiple trumpets is a trademark of contemporary mariachi, and some ensembles even add marimbas or saxophones. But in its original form in the state of Jalisco, mariachi ensembles were made up exclusively of string instruments, and developed from the canción ranchera (“ranch song”) which was often accompanied by a single guitar.
Whatever their instrumental make-up, today’s diverse mariachi ensembles continue to be driven by the guitar and its strummed sesquiáltera rhythm.
"I like to be present in language, but timeless with the traditional," Mexican singer and mariachi artist Camila Fernández told The Latin Times. "I defend mariachi because it's in my blood. I'm happy to keep it alive for new generations, including my daughter's."
Just as Los Vega advances their family’s musical legacy, Fernández carries the history of mariachi in her family’s story. Even casual mariachi fans know the music of her grandfather, Vicente Fernández, the iconic “El Rey de la Música Ranchera,” and her father, Alejandro Fernández, an enormously popular singer in his own right.
History and legacy are woven into Spanish guitar music, further imbuing Latin American genres with an incredible range of influences from the past. “This music has been passed down from generation to generation,” says Vega. “It carries an incredible wealth of knowledge, and there is always more to learn from it.”
