Papers by Norberto Pablo Cirio
After meeting in Buenos Aires in 1958, Colombian sisters Luisa and Chela Escarria opened a photog... more After meeting in Buenos Aires in 1958, Colombian sisters Luisa and Chela Escarria opened a photographic studio on Avenida Corrientes, just a few meters from the city´s main theaters. In a few years, the studio became a laboratory of images that bear witness to the golden age of Buenos Aires musical revue. The took the photographs for the marquees and brochures of the Teatro Maipo. Between 1958 and 2007, and with a Hasselblad camera, they photographed vedettes, models and dancers, comedians, singers, musicians, actors, actresses, contortionists and acrobats, tropical bands and drum bands on stage and in the intimacy of their studio, creating some of the most iconic images of Argentine popular culture.
In 2009, the meeting between photographer Sol Miraglia and Luisa Escarria made possible a process of rescuing more than 40,000 photographs and negatives and their enhancement through the filming of a documentary and exhibitions. The collection constitutes a kaleidoscope that allows us to take a look at the Buenos Aires musical revue scene through its protagonists. In the snapshots of Foto Estudio Luisita, the eroticism, voluptuousness and festive exuberance typical of the genre also reveal the domestic intimacy and warmth of the space where they were taken: a women´s house where they invite a different look that allows an approach to the scene of the Buenos Aires musical revue from new perspectives. The objective of this article, is, from the condition of Afro-descendant of the photographer and gender studies, to deepen from the cleavage, race and nation in a massive spectacle as was the musical revue. This contributes, in turn, to cover the virtual state of vacancy on this genre and the associated documents.
In this article, we put the theory of the European origin of payada origin of the payada is subje... more In this article, we put the theory of the European origin of payada origin of the payada is subjected to epistemological surveillance since it is impossible to refute by not following the scientific method. This theory emerged in line to hegemonic thinking in Argentina, which built its national identity through the exclusion of its internal Others, as is the case with Afro-Argentines of colonial descent. Keeping with a geo-continental view, we bring forth a different understanding of the canto repentista in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, revisiting the early presence of Afro-Argentines as nodal actors of the first literary-musical local genre, the gauchesca, to which the canto repentista or payada belongs.
This article originated as an internal report at the request of said Institute and completes the ... more This article originated as an internal report at the request of said Institute and completes the digitization of part of this music library by the “Carlos Vega” National Institute of Musicology for the project "Conservation and digitization of the INAPL Archive, financed by the Ibermemoria Sonora y Audiovisual program. Given that a good part of this disco is part of what Paul Gilroy calls the Black Atlantic, I begin by considering the criteria that Ortíz Oderigo should have taken to form it. its documentary value and finally, I consider its importance for the field of studies of the African diaspora in general, and Afro-Argentine, in particular, trying to answer the question of the title that, concatenated with the problematization of hair, seeks to elucidate if there is a link between hearing and sight.
In this way I seek to expand the main claim of Afro-descendant communities, visibility, which, although correct, leaves out other ways of perceiving Otherness, such as sound.
The academy understands by cordel or blind literature -among other equivalent terms- texts printe... more The academy understands by cordel or blind literature -among other equivalent terms- texts printed in loose sheets, pamphlets and small books that blind people, vendors, traveling musicians or mendicants in Spain and, due to its colonization, in Latin America, sold in the public space as a way of life, if not subsistence, until well into the 20th century. Its thematic range is wide: from Catholic prayers and incantations to traditional and fashionable songs of an amatory, news, macabre and scatological nature, including satire, politics and humor. They were usually made on rough white paper, with black ink and, despite their elementary workmanship, they were usually illustrated to be more seductive. The use of the past tense is because, despite being a consolidated tradition in the peninsula, in Argentina and Uruguay its production declined towards the eighties of the 20th century, with few being produced today and no longer by printing, but by home computer printing.
The House of Indo-Afro-American Culture "Mario Luis López" was founded in Santa Fe by the marria... more The House of Indo-Afro-American Culture "Mario Luis López" was founded in Santa Fe by the marriage of Lucía Dominga Molina and Mario Luis López in 1988 and since 2002 it has been operating in their home. Despite economic problems and the loss of almost its entire library due to the flooding of the Salado in 2003, it is positioned as a benchmark in the (inter)national framework in this political field and, with more than three decades, it is the oldest Afro-Argentine institution working. Here I expand Afro-Argentine portraiture with a case study in four directions: authorial -it is the work of a single photographer-, spatial -those portrayed are from the "interior"-, temporal -it is contemporary-, and institutional -it is a self-managed undertaking.
In 1899, the Afro-Argentine Jorge Miguel Ford published a book in La Plata in which he reviewed, ... more In 1899, the Afro-Argentine Jorge Miguel Ford published a book in La Plata in which he reviewed, with an elegant pen, fourteen men of what he believed to be the finest in his community, hence the title, Beneméritos de mi estirpe. Being a private edition and limited edition, it became a rarity and in 2002 the Ministry of Culture of the Nation reissued it, under the care of Eduardo Luis Duhalde, although without the portraits. At the beginning of the Prologue he says that he only knows three copies, one of his own, one from the National Library and another from an American university, so “Surely there must be some other copies in the hands of collectors and bibliophiles” (Duhalde: 2002: 9) . In 2010 the fourth appeared, given to Cirio by a man whose grandfather was a music student of Zenón Rolón, one of the biographers, to whom he dedicated it. The worthy ones are in chronological order and the last one, Eduardo Magee (Ford 1899: 123-126), is the one of interest here. In this article we expand her biography with previously unknown written sources and, most suggestively, the oral memory of her granddaughter, María Cristina Magee, who we interviewed in 2022 and 2023 and who treasures her belongings, for which we thank her for the kindness of providing us with her knowledge, accept that we write this text and its final reading.
En este artículo abordo la discoteca del investigador en culturas africanas y afroamericanas de B... more En este artículo abordo la discoteca del investigador en culturas africanas y afroamericanas de Buenos Aires Néstor Ortiz Oderigo (1912-1996), donada por su viuda en 1997 al Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano.
Se analiza el racismo científico aplicado al compositor afroargentino del tronco colonial Roque R... more Se analiza el racismo científico aplicado al compositor afroargentino del tronco colonial Roque Rivero ya que, sin pruebas e indisimulado prejuicio, se lo dio por blanco.
Se analiza un cuadro del artista afroporteño del tronco colonial Rosendo Mendizábal, sin título, ... more Se analiza un cuadro del artista afroporteño del tronco colonial Rosendo Mendizábal, sin título, pintado en Buenos Aires entre 1830 y 1834, perteneciente al Museo Histórico Nacional. Se trata de un iconotexto completo cuya materialidad es una acuarela sobre papel. Tiene gran valor musicológico pues casi no se conoce otra obra plástica del país con partitura. Esto lo posiciona un documento temprano de iconografía musical (afro)argentina que, además, está casi sin estudiar pues no figura en trabajos sobre ese período. En 2019 el Museo lo restauró y prestó para la exposición [In]visibles, en el Museo Pueyrredón (Acassuso, Buenos Aires), para la cual trabajé como investigador y lo incluí en el catálogo.
El Axolote Ilustrado, 2023
Los orígenes del rock argentino aún están dilucidándose, pues una serie de inexactitudes y lugare... more Los orígenes del rock argentino aún están dilucidándose, pues una serie de inexactitudes y lugares comunes difundidos por la prensa dieron certeza a los, aún, pocos investigadores que no consideraron pertinente ir más allá del revistero. En este artículo, de carácter exploratorio, se proponen dos fundaciones, de índole mítica, aunque este adjetivo no debe ser entendido como descalificador, antes bien, potencia la posibilidad de entender múltiples orígenes, de los cuales elijo a los afroargentinos del tronco colonial como protagonistas, buscando deslindarme de una teleología norteamericanizante del género, como usualmente se viene haciendo.
Publicado en: "El Axolote Ilustrado" 5: 5-10. Santiago de Querétaro.
This article analyzes how Sarmiento reconfigured the Buenos Aires carnival from the counterhegemo... more This article analyzes how Sarmiento reconfigured the Buenos Aires carnival from the counterhegemonic perspective of the Afro-Argentines of the colonial trunk based on the dispute in the press in 1858 and with the surrounding society during the celebration until the end of the 19th century. I hypothesize that such reconfiguration was part of the country's project based on Modernity, two of whose pillars were the concepts of race and color. Sarmiento used the carnival to narrow the path of citizen promotion in transit to whiteness, an ideological and geographical north that the Generation of 80 quickly implemented.
Este artículo, breve y de carácter exploratorio, procura aportar información original sobre la po... more Este artículo, breve y de carácter exploratorio, procura aportar información original sobre la posible ascendencia africana de María Antonia de San José Paz y Figueroa (Santiago del Esterio, 1730 - Buenos Aires, 1799), conocida en vida como Mama Antula, en vista a su canonización en 2024.
Cuando en 1996 comencé a investigar la música gallega en mi país tracé su estado del arte y adver... more Cuando en 1996 comencé a investigar la música gallega en mi país tracé su estado del arte y advertí que era de virtual vacancia, limitándose a algunos artículos científicos y, los más, de aficionados, del cual di su relación, actualizada, una década después. El haberlo consignado de virtual vacancia fue prudente pues la revisión de bibliografía y repositorios podría aportar novedades. Tal es el caso del objetivo de este texto, dar cuenta una investigación de Diana Fernández Calvo, inédita, realizada en Buenos Aires de 1976 a 1978. Supe de la misma en 2004 al conversar con ella, me facilitó el texto para fotocopiar y me regaló cinco fotografías que le dieron las informantes, una tomada en su investigación y otra de una fiesta de la colectividad donde está su madre, que era gallega. Las cintas de sus registros estaban estropeadas y fue imposible recuperarlas. A modo de homenaje póstumo, deseo contribuir a su reconocimiento como una pionera en el tema.
Libro de un afrodescendiente chaqueño, editado en Resistencia, 2023
In this article I carry out an approach to the literature in loose-sheets in Uruguay to delimit i... more In this article I carry out an approach to the literature in loose-sheets in Uruguay to delimit its analytical potential from the theory of performance. The goal is to address its immaterial dimension, as this format was not an end in itself but a means of sonic expression. For this reason, I problematize its production, circulation and consumption, since those who have mu-sical works, due to the limitation of printers and the wide ignorance of the reading of scores by their public, do not include them.
The choice of Uruguay is because, in this literature, it shares certain characteristics with that of Argentina, the another chosen country in the project in which this text is framed. From the end of the 19th century to. c. 1960 was massive thanks to state policies on schooling and the value that its establishment assigned to criollismo to reinvent its national being. The practi-tioners of the countryside -some, in addition, afro-descendents-, from the traditionalist, gau-cho, nativist or creole trends -which partly overlap- traversed the Río de la Plata in both direc-tions to act, publish and record. For their side, Afros, although their population is higher in Uruguay, their implication in this literature seems to have been less than in Argentina, where they are one of the few groups that continue to produce it, since this literature it has been go-ing through a considerable decrease for decades.
Biografía Eduardo Magee, afroargentino que fue parte de la Armada Argentina, la masonería e incus... more Biografía Eduardo Magee, afroargentino que fue parte de la Armada Argentina, la masonería e incusionó las artes plásticas, en base a la bibliografía conocida, ampliada con la memoria oral y los documentos conservados por una bisnieta.
Síntesis de la investigación, desarrollada desde 2020, para analizar desde la teoría de la perfor... more Síntesis de la investigación, desarrollada desde 2020, para analizar desde la teoría de la performance, la circulación de esta literatura en la Argentina y Uruguay, habida cuenta de que mucha de ella era cantada, por ejemplo por payadores y, así, restituir la dimensión inmaterial de esta práctica, reconstruyendo su faz sonora, pues nunca se publican las melodías con que se externan.
The written sources of musical and sound practices that took place on the Malvinas Islands during... more The written sources of musical and sound practices that took place on the Malvinas Islands during the period 1828-1833 are analyzed. The hypothesis that guides this study is that the town that commander Luis Vernet created in Puerto Luis, with nearly a hundred inhabitants, represented a sociocultural microcosm of Buenos Aires, on which it depended. The testimonies indicate that it included gauchos, indigenous people, afros and european immigrants, who interacted with musical and aural practices. Despite the advance in Argentine musicology, this territory has not received attention, so what is analyzed here contributes to completing our sound map.
More than two decades after the advancement that meant, in Durban, the formerly referred to as bl... more More than two decades after the advancement that meant, in Durban, the formerly referred to as blacks, to self-identify with the term Afro-descendants, part of this group of/in Argentina continues to use the color that provided the original meaning in order to address the State and make itself visible (which I designate the politics of color). This collective voices their de-mands through by portraying themselves in the way they had been represented historically. The State also delves into this logic abundantly but only to neutralize or minimize said demands. Our hypothesis is that this is counterproductive, as it reduces everything to a nonde-script picturesque which restricts the State from successfully addressing their issues.
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Papers by Norberto Pablo Cirio
In 2009, the meeting between photographer Sol Miraglia and Luisa Escarria made possible a process of rescuing more than 40,000 photographs and negatives and their enhancement through the filming of a documentary and exhibitions. The collection constitutes a kaleidoscope that allows us to take a look at the Buenos Aires musical revue scene through its protagonists. In the snapshots of Foto Estudio Luisita, the eroticism, voluptuousness and festive exuberance typical of the genre also reveal the domestic intimacy and warmth of the space where they were taken: a women´s house where they invite a different look that allows an approach to the scene of the Buenos Aires musical revue from new perspectives. The objective of this article, is, from the condition of Afro-descendant of the photographer and gender studies, to deepen from the cleavage, race and nation in a massive spectacle as was the musical revue. This contributes, in turn, to cover the virtual state of vacancy on this genre and the associated documents.
In this way I seek to expand the main claim of Afro-descendant communities, visibility, which, although correct, leaves out other ways of perceiving Otherness, such as sound.
Publicado en: "El Axolote Ilustrado" 5: 5-10. Santiago de Querétaro.
The choice of Uruguay is because, in this literature, it shares certain characteristics with that of Argentina, the another chosen country in the project in which this text is framed. From the end of the 19th century to. c. 1960 was massive thanks to state policies on schooling and the value that its establishment assigned to criollismo to reinvent its national being. The practi-tioners of the countryside -some, in addition, afro-descendents-, from the traditionalist, gau-cho, nativist or creole trends -which partly overlap- traversed the Río de la Plata in both direc-tions to act, publish and record. For their side, Afros, although their population is higher in Uruguay, their implication in this literature seems to have been less than in Argentina, where they are one of the few groups that continue to produce it, since this literature it has been go-ing through a considerable decrease for decades.
In 2009, the meeting between photographer Sol Miraglia and Luisa Escarria made possible a process of rescuing more than 40,000 photographs and negatives and their enhancement through the filming of a documentary and exhibitions. The collection constitutes a kaleidoscope that allows us to take a look at the Buenos Aires musical revue scene through its protagonists. In the snapshots of Foto Estudio Luisita, the eroticism, voluptuousness and festive exuberance typical of the genre also reveal the domestic intimacy and warmth of the space where they were taken: a women´s house where they invite a different look that allows an approach to the scene of the Buenos Aires musical revue from new perspectives. The objective of this article, is, from the condition of Afro-descendant of the photographer and gender studies, to deepen from the cleavage, race and nation in a massive spectacle as was the musical revue. This contributes, in turn, to cover the virtual state of vacancy on this genre and the associated documents.
In this way I seek to expand the main claim of Afro-descendant communities, visibility, which, although correct, leaves out other ways of perceiving Otherness, such as sound.
Publicado en: "El Axolote Ilustrado" 5: 5-10. Santiago de Querétaro.
The choice of Uruguay is because, in this literature, it shares certain characteristics with that of Argentina, the another chosen country in the project in which this text is framed. From the end of the 19th century to. c. 1960 was massive thanks to state policies on schooling and the value that its establishment assigned to criollismo to reinvent its national being. The practi-tioners of the countryside -some, in addition, afro-descendents-, from the traditionalist, gau-cho, nativist or creole trends -which partly overlap- traversed the Río de la Plata in both direc-tions to act, publish and record. For their side, Afros, although their population is higher in Uruguay, their implication in this literature seems to have been less than in Argentina, where they are one of the few groups that continue to produce it, since this literature it has been go-ing through a considerable decrease for decades.
Argentina) hacia fines del siglo XIX logró hegemonía a partir de la invisibilización de la población de
origen criollo, indígena y afrodescendiente. El caso del Cementerio de los Manecos, de Ing. Sajaroff -ex
La Capilla- (Dpto. Villaguay), asociado a un grupo de afrodescendientes que mantiene una oralidad que los
vincula a esclavizados huidos desde Brasil durante el siglo XIX, puso a discusión aquel relato a partir de
su amplia difusión en medios locales y un proceso de patrimonialización iniciado por el gobierno provincial.
En el presente trabajo se comunican los avances de las investigaciones en curso, desarrolladas en torno al
pasado y presente de las familias afroentrerrianas involucradas, atendiendo a aspectos idiomáticos,
musicales y religiosos. Se pone en diálogo información proveniente de documentos históricos, entrevistas
orales, material literario, historiográfico y sonoro.