Danza negra poema: DANZA NEGRA – Poemas de Luis Palés Matos
Danza negra, by Luis Palés Matos
Danza negra, by Luis Palés Matos | Poeticous: poems, essays, and short stories
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Luis Palés Matos
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
El Gran Cocoroco dice: tu—cu—tú.
La Gran Cocoroca dice: to—co—tó.
Es el sol de hierro que arde en Tombuctú.
Es la danza negra de Fernando Poo.
El cerdo en el fango gruñe: pru—pru—prú.
El sapo en la charca sueña: cro—cro—cró.
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
Rompen los junjunes en furiosa u.
Los gongos trepidan con profunda o.
Es la raza negra que ondulando va
en el ritmo gordo del mariyandá.
Llegan los botucos a la fiesta ya.
Danza que te danza la negra se da.
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
El Gran Cocoroco dice: tu—cu—tú.
La Gran Cocoroca dice: to—co—tó.
Pasan tierras rojas, islas de betún:
Haití, Martinica, Congo, Camerún;
las papiamentosas antillas del ron
y las patualesas islas del volcán,
que en el grave son
del canto se dan.
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
Es el sol de hierro que arde en Tombuctú.
Es la danza negra de Fernando Poo.
El alma africana que vibrando está
en el ritmo gordo del mariyandá.
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
El Gran Cocoroco dice: tu—cu—tú.
La Gran Cocoroca dice: to—co—tó.
Ada Pardo
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Other works by Luis Palés Matos …
Guayamesa
Suave como los tallos del papiro,
con una vaga irradiación de fresa
es tu talle de egipcia, en el que…
toda la majestad de una princesa.
El ensueño y el mar, en el zafiro
El beso
El champagne de la tarde sedativa
embriagó la montaña y el abismo,
de una sedosidad de misticismo,
y de una opalescencia compasiva.
Hundiste el puñal zarco de tu alti…
La Guajana
Como si una nube se hubiese dormid…
sobre la esmeralda del cañaveral,
con un gris sedoso, media desteñid…
la guajana flecha la vista espectr…
En su pesadumbre de esfuerzo perdi…
Día nublado
Bajo las nubes plúmbeas y letífera…
brinca el recuerdo, fugitivo y ran…
y en las calmas beatas y somnífera…
palpita una fatiga de cansancio.
Recorta el monte su silueta bruna
Fiebre autumnal
El crepúsculo finge un hervidero
cruento y ardiente… Sobre el mar…
resbala el melancólico y postrero
lampo de sol, como una flecha de o…
El monstruo llora un rictus de arm…
El río
El río es una melancolía estirada…
El río es una irritación de piedra…
Está seco, no tiene lágrimas porqu…
lo ha mirado con pupila penetrante…
El río está sediento… rememora a…
Majestad negra
Por la encendida calle antillana
va Tembandumba de la Quimbamba
—rumba, macumba, candombe, bámbula…
entre dos filas de negras caras.
Ante ella un congo—gongo y maraca—
Fruta prohibida
Era la noche plétora de un delirio…
era una indiferencia sonámbula y f…
la muda indiferencia de los astros…
como un diluvio de ojos parpadeant…
Era un vaho de perfume de hembra e…
Sábado de Gloria
Esta mañana loca de campana,
y una como alegría retozona,
rebosa rica limpidez cristiana
en su franca pureza de madona.
“¡Cristo, Cristo!” resuena en la…
Canciones de la vida media
Ahora vamos de nuevo a cantar alma…
a cantar sin palabras.
Desnúdate de imágenes y poda exten…
tus viñas de hojarasca.
No adulteres el mosto que hierve e…
Neurosis
Yo no sé si soy sonámbulo o neurót…
siento algos en el alma, y no son…
El ambiente me sofoca, como a exót…
en un pueblo enteramente de judíos…
Vivo en ml y no comprendo; hormigu…
Frontis
Lector, vas a beber en una fuente,
donde al bajar el labio y la mirad…
encontrarás tu imagen retratada
en la seda de su onda transparente…
vas a beber el agua de un torrente
La piedra
En su duro letargo concentrada,
redonda, como el cráneo de un giga…
la piedra en la vereda perfumada
es verruga enigmática y punzante.
Quieta, sintió la alegre carcajada…
Matices
Una risotada
en todas las cosas…
sobre la enramada
de las pomarrosas;
en el océano
Preludio en Boricua
Tuntún de pasa y grifería
y otros parejeros tuntunes.
Bochinche de ñañiguería
donde sus cálidos betunes
funge la congada bravía.
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Danza Negra | The Dialect
August 8, 2009 at 11:45 pm (Caribbean Languages, English, Spanish, World Languages)
Tags: Afro-Antille Poetry, Español, Spanish, Word Origins
Danza Negra
The following poem is a rhythmic song that’s going to be a really fun piece. First, we are going to learn how to sing the song or poem using a certain cadence. Second, we will read the poem in that manner. Following this, you can read my translation. In translating the poem, I employed my beginner level Spanish skills as well as a heavy dose of artistic license. We will discuss my word choices and interpretation and your preferences in the commentary.
Lastly, there’s a word about what I know of the origins of the poem and my perspective on the subject.
Okay! Here’s how the read the poem: As you read the lines in a rhythmic cadence, the bold text marks the syllable that gets the stress. The syllables in the middle are often squished together as in, “Es el sol de hierro q’arde’n Tombuctú”. So watch out for that. I put an asterisk (*) where I’m not sure how it’s read exactly. Other than that, after you get the rhythm, it should be pretty easy.
Let’s try a verse:
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
El Gran Cocoroco dice: tu-cu-tú.
La Gran Cocoroca dice: to-co-tó.
Es el sol de hierro que arde en Tombuctú.
Es la danza negra de Fernando Póo.*
El cerdo en el fango gruñe: pru-pru-prú.
El sapo en la charca sueña: cro-cro-cró.
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
Great! Now let’s do the whole thing.
***
Danza Negra
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
El Gran Cocoroco dice: tu-cu-tú.
La Gran Cocoroca dice: to-co-tó.
Es el sol de hierro que arde en Tombuctú.
Es la danza negra de Fernando Póo.
El cerdo en el fango gruñe: pru-pru-prú.
El sapo en la charca sueña: cro-cro-cró.
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
Rompen los junjunes en furiosa ú.
Los gongos trepidan con profunda ó.
Es la raza negra que ondulando va
en el ritmo gordo del mariyandá.
Llegan los botucos a la fiesta ya.
Danza que te danza la negra se da.
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
El Gran Cocoroco dice: tu-cu-tú.
La Gran Cocoroca dice: to-co-tó.
Pasan tierras rojas, islas de betún.
Haití, Martinica, Congo, Camerún;
las papiamentosas antillas del ron
y las patualesas islas del volcán,
que en el grave son
del canto se dan.
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
Es el sol de hierro que arde en Tombuctú.
Es la danza negra de Fernando Póo.
El alma africana que vibrando está
en el ritmo gordo del mariyandá.
Calabó y bambú.
Bambú y calabó.
El Gran Cocoroco dice: tu-cu-tú.
La Gran Cocoroca dice: to-co-tó.
***
Jail and Cane
Cane and Jail
The boss man says: tu-cu-tú
The boss lady says: to-co-tó
It’s the sun of irons that burns in Timbuktu (Mali)
It’s the black dance of Fernando Póo.
The swine in the mud grumbles: pru-pru-prú
The stuffed-shirted toad in the pool dreams: cro-cro-cró
Jail and cane
Cane and jail
Beat those that gather in furious ú (ultimar – final, to kill, ultraje – outrage)
The gongs vibrate with profound ó
It’s the Black race that, undulating, goes in the fat rhythm of Mariyandá.
The big bosses gather at the party already.
Dance what you’ll dance, the black he gives.
Jail and Cane.
Cane and Jail.
The boss man says: tu-cu-tú.
The boss lady says: to-co-tó.
They pass the red lands, isles of tar.
Haiti, Martinique, Congo, Cameroon;
The Papiamento-speaking Antilles of rum
And the Patois-speaking Isles of the volcano
How burdened they are with the song they give.
Jail and Cane
Cane and Jail
It’s the sun of irons that burns in Timbuktu (Mali)
It’s the black dance of Fernando Póo.
The African soul is vibrating
In the fat rhythm of Mariyandá.
Jail and Cane
Cane and Jail
The big boss says: tu-cu-tú
The lady boss says: to-co-tó
***
As the Spanish experts out there can tell, I’ve slanted the interpretation toward the more political usages of the words in the poem. Calabó and bamboo are supposedly types of wood found in Africa and/or the Carribean and their selection could be purely cultural or for rhythmic effect but I believe that their use as terms of oppression fit better than neutral terms for mere musical aesthetic.
The term calaboose is an old term in English for jail (calabo in Spanish) and I believe that bamboo in this sense probably refers to its use in administering punishment to those in the calaboose. Now that you know where I’m going with this, you can guess why I chose to interpret the poem the way I did.
The poem uses onomatopoeia and made up words called jitanjáfora to establish a beat. I don’t believe that they are meaningless words however; I think they reference a few things that add to the message. I came up with some good words for what I think the dangling syllables (tú, tó, prú, ó, etc.) allude to but only wrote down the juicy one(s).
Danza Negra was written by Luis Palés Matos’ who is from Puerto Rico. He was a prominent poet in the movement around Afro-Antille poetry, la poes’a afroantillana, in the 1920’s and 1930’s. I know next to nothing about this subject but I’m willing to suppose that this poetic movement had a lot of connections to Pan-African social movements at that time and therefore chose political double-entendres purposefully.
In the case of this poem, I believe Palés Matos chose words that evoke the slave trade and class relations in the Carribean colonies. Any suppositions I have, however, were gleaned from just a quick glance over the material in these two links:
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1997/1/97.01.03.x.html
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/cultural_critique/v047/47.1colon.html
I can’t wait to hear your reactions and corrections. Hope this was fun!
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The Art of Hearing the Dance: Practices of Foreign Schools of Audio Description / “Un Certain Regard”
Listen to the publication
Tiflocommentary: color photograph. The figure of a red-haired dancer frozen in a jump against the backdrop of the sea. She has lush red hair and a slender three-quarter body. The girl is wearing a short tight-fitting black top with a closed neck and bare shoulders, shorts and a long translucent black skirt fluttering in the wind. She lifts the edge of her skirt with straight outstretched arms.
The dancer seems to be standing in the air on her left knee, her right leg is bent and raised high up. She tilted her head slightly and looked down.
“Dance is a poem, every movement in it is a word.” This statement is attributed to the famous adventurer and dancer Margareta Gertrude Zella, whom the whole world knows under the name of Mata Hari. But the words of such a poem are not available to everyone. Already from the very definition of the word “dance” – the art of plastic and rhythmic movements of the body – it is obvious that vision plays a big role in its perception. What remains if you do not see the movements of the dancers? Music? Strained breathing? Rustle of clothes? The sound of footsteps? Can all this interest the viewer and give him pleasure?
Audio description (which in our country is called audio commentary) is a way to convey the beauty of dance to people who, for one reason or another, cannot see it. Joel Snyder, one of the leading experts in this field, calls audio description a form of literary work and likens it to a haiku.
With just a few words, the audio descriptor creates a verbal copy of the visual image, translates the visible into the audible. Bright, figurative words draw vivid pictures before the mind’s eye of the listener.
“Dance is not just movement,” says Iris Permuy Hercules de Solas, audio descriptor for dance TV shows on a Spanish TV channel. “Dance conveys feelings and moods. This is artistic art. The dancer draws pictures with his whole body, creates ephemeral masterpieces that the audio descriptor must have time to consider and describe.
“The entire visible universe is movement,” said dance teacher and theorist Rudolf von Laban. To describe this movement to someone who does not see it is not an easy task. However, it is quite doable.
Anne Hornsby, one of the UK’s first audio descriptions, has described many theater productions, including the famous Mamma Mia! and Les Misérables, believes that special choreographic education is not required: “Only the usual skills of verbal description are needed.
The ability to briefly, but figuratively express their thoughts; attentiveness and observation; the ability to convey the mood of the work; the ability to meet the allotted time – that’s what really matters. At the same time, the soundscape and music cannot be drowned out – the viewer must hear their breathing.”
Do all dances need to be described? In the back of the hall, a barefoot girl is dancing a contemporary dance. She wears knee-high athletic trousers and a loose gray T-shirt. She stands on a straight right leg, the left straight leg is raised to the level of the waist and laid aside, the body is tilted to the opposite side, the right arm bent at the elbow is raised up, the left is wound behind the back. The operator shoots the girl’s dance on a video camera.
If we are not talking about an independent dance production, but about an episode of a play or a film, then, on the advice of the leading specialist in audio description of dance, the author of the Talking Dance manual, Louise Fryer, you need to ask yourself an important question: what role does this dance play? Is it necessary for the development of the plot? Perhaps he somehow reveals the character of the characters? Maybe he tells about the relationship between the heroes of the production? Do these relationships change after or even during the dance? Or does the dance simply fill in a pause in the play so that the actors can change for the next scene? Does dance contribute to creating a certain atmosphere? For example, it can immerse us in a historical era.
During the same performance or film, we can see different types of dance that serve completely different purposes. The audio descriptor must understand the intent of the scriptwriter and director and, depending on this, choose a way to describe this or that dance. “The choreographer and director can help a lot by sharing their vision,” says Louise Fryer. “It’s also good to be present at the rehearsal.”
Photo: Tim Gouw
Tiflocommentary: seashore, cloudy sky and bright orange rays of the setting sun. Five girls dance on the platform, they run one after another in a circle: the left hand is raised up, the hand is turned with the palm to the sky, the right hand is bent at the elbow and directed forward with the palm away from you. All of them are in white corsets tightened on the back with thin straps. Four girls are wearing light long light skirts with a fluttering frill at the bottom, while the fifth girl is wearing a more fluffy light skirt with rows of frills along the entire length.
She rises high from quick movements, under the skirt of the dancer there are light tights with lace.
Audio description is a kind of translation (intersemiotic or intersemiotic, according to the classification of R.O. Jacobson). As Bruce Metzger wrote: “Translation is the art of choosing the right thing to lose.” These words fully apply to the description of the dance. Depending on its goals and the plot of the work, sometimes you need to focus on the technique of the dancers, sometimes on the costumes, sometimes on the behavior of the characters during the dance, and in some cases it is enough just to say that the characters are dancing without going into details, so how they can distract from the development of the plot.
The well-known film translator Aleksey Kozulyaev repeatedly emphasizes that the audio descriptor is part of the “collective author” of an audiovisual work, and each addresses the viewer in his own language: costume designers – in the language of costumes, the composer – in the language of music, actors – in the language of words, facial expressions and gestures, the director – in the language of images, etc.
All together they create a single work. The task of the audio descriptor is to merge into the structure of this collective author so that his “language” organically fits into the general choir.
It must be remembered that a person comes to a performance or a cinema to relax and enjoy. Therefore, you can not overload the viewer with an abundance of details. An overly detailed description can be accurate, but it also confuses viewers and distracts from the plot.
Choice of word
The dancers themselves say that when you dance for real, you involuntarily discover that you don’t have enough words, and there are not enough concepts in any language of the world to convey your feelings. Isadora Duncan, for example, said: “If you could explain something in words, there would be no point in dancing it.” No wonder they say that dance is like love: this state can be felt, but it is very difficult to describe.
“You need to create verbal pictures of the movements of the dancers,” says Ann Hornsby, “but in a way that does not sound like a dry description of physical exercises.
” Iris Permuy Hercules de Solas adds: “It takes a rich vocabulary to describe it colorfully, gracefully, energetically, sadly, just like the dance itself.”
Tiflocommentary: color photograph. Scene. The dancer in a black suit stands with his back to the audience, his right leg is set aside on his toe, his left hand is extended to the dancer, who is flying back in a jump with her arms spread apart. She looks at the dancer and smiles broadly. She is wearing a white suit: a tutu with a flat skirt, a leotard with thin straps with golden embroidery in the center, white leggings and pointe shoes. The dancers are watched by performers dressed as villagers. In the depths of the stage, in the blue twilight, there are scenery with buildings and the silhouette of a tilted ship.
The choice of the right word is the most important moment in the description of the dance, according to all specialists. “For people who are far from choreography, the most terrible thing is the special terminology,” says Louise Fryer.
– Knowledge of professional terms will not hurt. Describing, say, architecture, we want to show the difference between the Norman arch from the Gothic or the Ionic order from the Corinthian. By the same logic, it is important for us to know whether this ballet rotation is a pirouette or not. Of course, not everyone may know what a pirouette is (although there may be experts in the auditorium), however, if we use a special term, we thereby emphasize that it is ballet on stage, and not ballroom dancing.
Anne Hornsby stresses that the meaning of the terms must be clarified. Sometimes, when describing a ballet, it is useful to make an introduction before it begins and explain there what the words “pirouette”, “arabesque”, “fuete”, etc. mean.
Ann Hornsby explains: “The meanings of some words are clear without explanation. However, if possible, brief explanations do not hurt. But what you should not do is just list professional terms and dance moves. The viewer simply does not have time to comprehend all this in a short time.
In addition, such a technical description will not say anything about the quality of the movement, its speed, the plot of the dance, the emotions of the hero and his motives.
Laban’s movement analysis
The well-known choreographer, dance theorist, teacher Rudolf von Laban developed a movement analysis system that is still used today. He discovered that any dance step exists in four dimensions, or factors: space, time, dynamics and flow. Therefore, the process of motion analysis begins with finding out the following main points: where the motion occurs; why the movement occurs; how the movement occurs; What are the traffic restrictions? All this will help the audio descriptor to find the right words.
It is relatively easy to describe a dance that has a story. However, as von Laban noted, “modern dance may lack a clear story. It is often impossible to convey the content of the dance in words, although the movements themselves can always be described.
He further explains: “An actress playing the part of Eve can pick the forbidden fruit in different ways, while her movements will express different emotions.
She can seize the fruit greedily and quickly, or slowly and sensually. But when we describe movement as “greedy,” “sensual,” or “dispassionate,” we are not really talking about what we see. The viewer at this moment sees a fast and sharp or slow and sliding movement of the hand. And already the imagination interprets the actions of Eve as greedy or sensual.
Joel Snyder notes that von Laban is essentially referring to the fundamental principle of audio description: “Describe only what you see.” “It’s important to be precise,” Snyder explains, “but the description needs to be alive so that the listener paints the picture in their own mind. You need to be objective, using precise and figurative words, while avoiding interpretation. That is, our Eve “plucks an apple with a sharp, impetuous movement of her hand,” and not “with a mixed expression of greed and guilt on her face.”
Tiflocommentary: color photograph. Light walls, gray door, padlocked. To the left, a diagonal of a metal staircase with a railing rises up.
Halfway up, a ballerina in a black leotard with lace-trimmed straps and a cutout at the chest. She stands on her right leg, with her right hand extended forward, holding on to the parapet, her left leg and left arm raised at an angle of 45 degrees and laid parallel back. The body is turned towards the viewer, the back is strongly concave. Her hair is pulled back into a bun, and on her feet are flesh-coloured pointe shoes.
Dance is the language of tradition
Description of traditional dances is a separate line of audio description. Dr. Doning Liang of the Hong Kong Audio Description Association has extensive experience in describing Chinese dances, in particular the famous Lion Dance. One of the difficulties is that completely different people will listen to the description: both those who are familiar with this dance and those who hear about it for the first time.
“I’m not just describing the dance,” says Doning, “I’m sort of acting as a teacher for blind people.
The Lion Dance is one of the world’s most famous performances of Chinese traditional culture. Everyone should have the opportunity to learn more about him.”
Rudolf von Laban stated: “Everything that happens in the theater is not limited to what is happening on the stage and in the auditorium: between these two poles there is a continuous flow of magnetism.” But what if this interaction between the stage and the audience is interrupted because the audience cannot fully perceive the action taking place? Audio description is a way to restore the lost connection and redirect this flow of energy from the actor to the viewer.
BLACK MAN – Repertoire – Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theater
For the first time in its almost century-old history, Sergei Yesenin’s poem “The Black Man” is embodied in a musical and theatrical form, combining opera and ballet into a single artistic whole thanks to the composition of the composer Oleg Prostitov and the creative imagination of Vladimir Lande (musical director of the production), Natalia Bobrova ( choreographer), directors Sergei Bobrov and Viktor Vysotsky, Tatyana Koroleva (artist), Dmitry Khodosh (choirmaster).
The poem was conceived by Sergei Yesenin during his foreign trips: rough sketches appeared in America, and the first, rather voluminous version – at 1923 year. But the final, abridged text was completed in 1925, which was the last in the life of the poet. Prolonged depression, a mental crisis, a break with Isadora Duncan – all this left a special stamp of increased expression with a touch of mystical sound on the poem. Its main feature – the theme of disappointment in oneself, in love and creativity – is revealed in the poet’s dialogue with his alter ego, the Black Man, who “sits on my bed … does not let me sleep all night … runs his finger over a vile book … reads to me life … bringing melancholy and fear to the soul. Yesenin seems to be looking at himself from the outside, hearing how his second “I” says terrible things about him, but they are all true, albeit very unpleasant. The poem, according to researchers, appears as a kind of public repentance of the poet.
The dialogical nature of the text reveals obvious theatrical features that are also manifested in the composition: it can be divided into a prologue, two parts and an epilogue. These features of The Black Man seem to provoke the creation of a theatrical version of the poem. One can recall the brilliant stage readings of Yesenin’s text by Sergei Bezrukov, a solo performance by Tatyana Smirnova for a reader and an instrumental ensemble. However, the most original and original solution is offered by the composer Oleg Prostitov, well known to Krasnoyarsk residents as the author of the anthem to the city. He creates a dance monodrama in two scenes, seven scenes with a prologue and epilogue for baritone, dancer, mixed choir, chamber ballet and large symphony orchestra. The essay was written in Krasnoyarsk at 1996 to the 100th anniversary of the great Russian poet, however, only twenty-six years later it saw the light of the ramp and, alas, after the death of the composer.
Thanks to the close creative cooperation of the directors of the “Black Man” by S.