Cajon pa'los Muertos - Thesis by Nolan Warden

[tamboricua]

Congaplace,

This message comes from Nolan Warden.

As some of you might already know, I recently completed my M.A. degree in
ethnomusicology at Tufts University. The thesis that I wrote to complete
the program is entitled "Cajón pa’ los Muertos: Transculturation and
Emergent Tradition in Afro-Cuban Ritual Drumming and Song." It is my hope
that many of you will find this thesis to be original, insightful material
that will be helpful to understand this tradition and related Afro-Cuban
music and culture. It documents over two hundred songs used in Cajón
ceremonies, in addition to the eclectically-arranged drum rhythms used by
Grupo Cuero y Cajón to accompany these songs. The abstract, copied from the
thesis itself, is:

==========
Cajón pa’ los Muertos ceremonies are relatively unknown compared to other
forms of Afro-Cuban religious music. As such, this is the first in-depth
study of these heterodox musical ceremonies for the dead, which combine
Espiritismo, Palo, and Santería, among other religious practices.

Grupo Cuero y Cajón, from Pogolotti, Marianao (Havana), are the case
study for this thesis. Personal fieldwork with them over the past six years
has led to this presentation of the drum rhythms they use as well as over
two hundred songs from their repertoire, analyzed for their cultural and
spiritual significance.

This thesis is written from the framework of transculturation and
foregrounds the role of musicians in the emergence of new traditions through
the use of cohesive acts. It also studies the antecedents of Cajón, issues
of pragmatism in ritual, Cajón as a site of preservation and innovation, and
suffering as expressed in popular religion.
==========

The thesis has been accepted at Tufts for archiving at UMI, so eventually
you’ll be able to order everything through there. That will take months,
though, and will likely be quite expensive. So, I’m willing to make copies
for anyone who is truly interested in reading this work that took me many
months of pure writing and years of research. For better or worse, though,
the thesis is 212 pages long, includes three audio cd’s, and one DVD. This
means a hefty price for copying and binding. So, I’m looking into options
to make a disc-based thesis (PDF for the text portion). I will also upload
the PDF of the text portion somewhere, but that is really only a portion of
the whole package. If you are interested in having a copy of your own,
please email me privately and tell me if you want a hardcopy of the text or
an all-disc version. I’ll compile a list of people who want it and that
will allow me to figure out how much this initial run will cost. I’m not
looking to make money off of this, just to break even with copying,
materials, and shipping. Hardcopies (with CD’s and DVD included) will
probably be between $20-30 total, including shipping. All-disc versions
will be at least $10, but probably less than $15. Please let me know soon
if you want a copy so I can get moving on everything.

I’ll upload the PDF of the text portion soon so that anyone can read
portions before deciding to buy the rest (i.e., audio and video).

I’m looking forward to your reviews of the thesis.

Sincerely,
Nolan Warden

For those interested feel free to contact Nolan @:

nolanwarden@hotmail.com



Edited By tamboricua on 1161625471

[tamboricua]

Congaplace,

Again from Nolan Warden.

If anyone wants to download the text portion of my thesis, it can be
downloaded here:

http://download.xdrive.com/s/283801398NEHTqLeVoQ1lUBUlVyc?partner=plus

It's about 41MB so be warned. If you want the thesis to be complete,
though, you'll still need the audio CD's and DVD. I consider them essential
parts of the thesis, but if you want a bunch of song texts without audio
CD's to know the melodies, then I guess just the written portion is all you
need.

This link will only work for about a week so don't wait too long.

Enjoy!

-Nolan

p.s. Feel free to distribute this message to people not on the list. Again,
if you want the audio CD's and DVD, or a hardcopy of the thesis, let me know: nolanwarden@hotmail.com

[niallgregory]

Have been reading over the download for the last couple of hours .Fantastic work from noel warden .Anyone intrested in this style should download it quick before it dissapears .A wealth of info on cajon the instrument and cajon ceremonies. thanks Noel.

[onile]

Alafia Abure Tamboricua!
Espero que todo este bien contigo mi pana!

¡Felicitaciones mi Pana en cumpliendo tu maestría!

¡Eso tuvo que ser una gran aventura en tu vida que te aya traído mucha satisfacción!

¿Ahora, pa’donde?

Suave!

Onile!

[tamboricua]

Onile,

Saludos mi hermano! Things are fine, thanks!

One huge thing, I think when reading you ommitted the second line of my original post.

As I stated the message was coming from Mr. Nolan Warden. He is the one that wrote the cajon thesis and got his masters.

I'm just helping him out to get the word out there.

You are wright it must had been a wonderful experience for him.

Un abrazo fraternal,

Jorge Ginorio



Edited By tamboricua on 1161626816

[onile]

Disculpa mi hermano!
I should learn to read, I think it can only help me in the future!

Suave Papa!

Onile!

[ozrivera]

Saludos Hermanos
And congratulations to Nolan, Maybe you can create an account on lime wire or kazza and share the dvd, audio and text portion all on one file.
anyone wanting a copy could download it from there.
thanks for sharing.

oz

[ozrivera]

Saludos Hermanos
And congratulations to Nolan, Maybe you can create an account on lime wire or kazaa and share the dvd, audio and text portion all on one file.
anyone wanting a copy could download it from there.
thanks for sharing.

oz

[jorge]

Tamboricua, thanks for posting this.
Excellent work, Nolan. I just skimmed parts of your thesis, read chapter 6, and looked at the pictures. Excellent job and a very interesting original contribution to the literature on Afrocuban religion and music. I look forward to reading the rest, and to getting the CD and DVD. Congratulations on finishing your masters’ thesis, although it looks more like a PhD dissertation to me! I hope you plan to continue for your doctorate.

The first time I saw a cajon was in La Habana in 1985. I had the opportunity to play a short rumba de cajones in the street with Pancho Quinto and some of his group, after a Sabado de la rumba. At that time, although I had been playing rumba for about 12 years, I had never played or even seen a cajon and didn’t know what part to play. They handed me a cajon, and when they saw I had no idea what to play they all laughed at me, but then showed me the same tres dos part I was used to playing in the Central Park rumbas. They showed me a bunch of other parts too, probably guarapachangueo, but I was too dumb to learn more than one part in the 10 minutes or so that we had. Pancho sent a couple of his guys out to watch for police. Apparently it was illegal to play cajones in the street like that, but you could count on Pancho Quinto to buck the system.

I have emailed you also, and want to get copies of the CD and DVD. Thanks for your great contribution.

Jorge