Music & Cinema of Paraguay

Music of Paraguay

Folk Music

The Paraguayan polka combines ternary and binary rhythms, where as the European only uses binary. The most famous style of music is the Guarania, created by the Paraguayan musician José Asunción Flores in 1925. The Guarania accomplishes this by using a combination of slow rhythms and melodies of melancholia character.

Other popular genres of traditional music in Paraguay are the zarzuela and the “Paraguayan Songs”, which are derived from the Paraguayan polka.

Instruments

The Spanish guitar and European harp are among the most popular instruments, while dances include the lively polka and distinctive bottle dance, which involves the performer twirling a bottle around her head. Composer and guitarist Agustín Barrios is perhaps the country’s best known export.

Paraguayan Harp

The Paraguyan harp deserves special mention as a popular instrument with a national style associated with it. The harp in South America dates back to at least 1557, possibly as early as the beginning of the 16th century. These harps had 26 to 38 strings, though most typically no fewer than 36. It was frequently used in church music in place of the organ or harpsichord. The Paraguayan harp is a simplified variation of the instrument, with 38 strings tuned to one major diatonic scale.

Rock

Several world-popular genres of music, such as rock are fairly new in the Paraguayan music scene. This is because of the fierce dictatorship enforced by former President Alfredo Stroessner during his mandate from 1954 to 1989, in which he banned all forms of liberal expressions. Despite that, a few rock groups were formed in the 1970s such as The Aftermad’s and The Blue Caps. It wasn’t until Stroessner’s downfall in 1989 that rock groups emerged.

In the 1990s groups such as Chris Patik, Enemigos de la Klase, Deliverans, El Templo, Dogma, Shamán, Turkish Blend and Slow Agony became popular. In the new millennium, Paraguayan rock bands have gained a strong following thanks to the big rock festivals such as “Pilsen Rock” and “Quilmes Rock”, which gather around 60,000 spectators for every edition.

The bands have even gathered some international success by touring throughout Latin America and even making small gigs in the United States. The most popular rock bands as of now are Flou, Revolber, Ripe Banana Skins, Area 69, Paiko,Orchablex and NOD.

Art Music

Jazz

There is a small but vibrant jazz community in Paraguay. Key players include: Palito Miranda (alto sax), Remigio Pereira (trombone), Victor “Toti” Morel (drums),Oswal Gonzalez (drums),Riolo Alvarenga (drums), Jorge “Lobito” Martinez (piano), Carlos Schvartzman (guitar), Carlos Centurión (piano), Gustavo Viera (guitar), Eduardo “Tato” Zilli (bass),Nene Salerno (bass),Ariel Burgos (bass), Victor Morel Jr. (drums), German Lema (organ), Jose Villamayor (guitar), Bruno Muñoz (tenor & alto sax) and others.

Classical Music

The main exponents are Agustín Barrios Mangoré, José Asunción Flores and Juan Carlos Moreno. Silva studied abroad and reproduced, in the guarani vocal form, the indigenous music, based on the European technique. Moreno composed works inspired on popular themes in a romantic classical path.

Cinema of Paraguay

The Cinema of Paraguay is small, however this has begun to change in recent years with films like El Toque del Oboe (1998), María Escobar (2002), O Amigo Dunor (2005) which competed for Best Movie in the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and Hamaca Paraguaya (2006), which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, gaining critical acclaim both in Paraguay and abroad.

Some early footage had been shot in Paraguay by foreigners as early as 1905, though the first Paraguayan film was Hipólito Carrón’s 10-minute-long Alma Paraguaya, made in 1925.

The film industry in Paraguay has suffered from lack of funds, equipment and public interest, as well as the repressive Alfredo Stroessner government of 1954–1989 (the exception to this was the 1978 state-funded film Cerro Corá, which promoted the historical and political views of the Stroessner government).

The situation has been slowly improving since 1990, the year in which the Fundación Cinemateca del Paraguay (Paraguayan Cinémathèque Foundation) was set up and the annual Asunción Film Festival inaugurated.

Several new cinemas have been built both in Asunción and other Paraguayan cities. Funding remains a problem, exacerbated by economic difficulties. In addition, the domestic market is dominated largely by American and Argentine films.