Murga
As Murga refers to a form of the South American carnival, mainly in the Rio de la Plata region of Uruguay and Argentina will be held.
Murga in Uruguay
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The Murgas are composed of a (mainly male) choir and a musical accompaniment. The classic accompanying instruments are the
- Bombo (bass drum),
- the platillos (basin) and
- the Redoblante (snare drum).
Murgas traditionally appear in the district stages , the so-called tablados . Their performance, called Cuplé , encompasses a broad spectrum of social issues and is a sweet and sour chronicle of the events that move society. The satirical texts are often underlaid with music classics.
This genre has grown a lot in recent years. Due to their enormous political relevance, more and more young people are listening to the Murgas , and the characteristic Murgasound has long since found its way into pop music . Bands like La Vela Puerca from Uruguay or Bersuit Vergarabat take up murga impulses very strongly in their work. The Murga has long since left the tablados. Antimurga BCG is one of those groups that breaks the classic boundaries between the Murga and the carnival as a place of activity and the classic theater business.
Murga in Argentina
A very special variant is the Murga as a carnival in Buenos Aires, Argentina and in the entire estuary of the Río de la Plata . Here "Murga" not only refers to the groups of dancers, singers and drummers, but also to the carnival itself, which lasts all summer and for weeks mainly defines the streetscape of the poorer districts in the Argentine capital. More than 150 years ago, European immigrants from the Rhineland brought the traditions of the popular Cologne Carnival with them to the Río de la Plata, where they merged with the music of the former black slaves to form an independent folk culture. Beating cans and buckets with sticks and "armed" with flour, eggs and paint, the carnivalists marched through the streets, singing and dancing loudly and with suggestive slogans dragging authorities and high society through the cocoa. Under dictatorial rule, the rebellious Murgas were banned, so in 1840 under the governor of Buenos Aires Juan Manuel de Rosas and most recently under the military dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla 1976 - 1983 . However, they could never be completely suppressed.
Today there are more than a hundred Murgas in the Argentine capital alone, and now also in the more affluent neighborhoods; each Murga has its own traditions, has special colors and mascots . Typical outfits of a "Murguero" are silk tailcoats , gloves and a hat - a reminder of the time when black slaves secretly put on their clothes in the absence of their "masters" and made fun of them by cutting grimaces in funny contortions. For the Argentine Murgas, the imaginatively decorated, self-sewn tails are almost more important than dance and music. The stage appearances always follow a strictly defined choreography of songs, chants and dances, which are rather grotesque contortions; Political and social issues are sarcastically targeted in the texts. Modern Murgas also experiment with current musical trends and borrow from experimental theater . They also take part in political demonstrations and work with children in the slums to get them off the streets. The highlight of every Murga show is a huge spray can battle with Christmas tree snow: a sentimental reminder of the real snow at Carnival time in Cologne.
Origins of the Murga
There is a discussion about the origins of the murga. It is clear that it makes use of elements of the carnival in Cádiz in southern Spain and the carnival of the Canary Islands. The murga as such was first mentioned as early as 1876, when the Montevidean newspaper El Ferrocarril mentioned the term murga. The decisive factor was that in addition to the classic elements of the Spanish Carnival, the Afro-Uruguayan element penetrated these groups. The origin of the Murga can be seen in the metamorphosis and in the blending of the individual influences; and although the name comes from Spanish, the murga is a new genre, the music of a multicultural society in Montevideo in the late 19th century.
