Latin American Folk Music

The following pieces are taken from the Play-Along Album for violin “World Music -Argentina” (Universal Editions), which I recommend purchasing because it really is an excellent collection. These are compositions or arrangements by Diego Collati but are presented here in versions for cello, with some “improvements” and modifications in the cello part as compared to the original violin part.  The original CD accompaniments are still perfectly valid for the cellofun cello versions.

1: ZAMBA

We know that the Sarabande was an import from Latin America.  On listening to this Zamba – also a slow dance in 3/4 with a strongly expressive second beat  – it is hard not to wonder if perhaps the Sarabande was not derived from this “Zamba” dance form. The cello part has been somewhat filled out in this cellofun version, notably by the addition of eight bars of music at the very beginning. We will play it twice, the second time being one octave higher than the first. For an “Easier Version” simply play it twice in the lower octave.

This piece is actually a duo for cello and violin with accompaniment, as we will hear when we play it with the Collati accompaniment audio.

Zamba: Edited Version           Zamba: Clean Version

Here is a play-along audio accompaniment:

2: CHACARERA

This is a much livelier piece. Just like the “Zamba” this is a duo for cello and violin with accompaniment. It consists basically of one 16-bar tune that is repeated eight times in total. To give it some more variety, in this cello version we play it in both a lower and higher octave, and we have also replaced one of the eight melodic repeats with a 16-bar phrase of walking-bass style improvisation. The “Easier Version” always plays in the lower octave.

Chacarera: Edited Version         Chacarera: Clean Version     Chacarera: Easier Version