Programme Notes / Performance Details :

Perchacareando is a musical piece based on a type of argentine folk dance called "Chacarera. This dance as well as the "Zamba" and the "Gato" -others typical dances- share the same type of rhythmical construction, despite their differences in structure and other characteristics.

Their similarity in construction is due to de juxtaposition of different metrics: 6/8 and 3/4. Some instruments goes in 6/8- generally de voice or the melodic parts- and some others goes in 3/4, such the guitar basses and the head of the "bombo leguero". The "bombo leguero" is THE rhythmical instrument of argentine folk music.

Its construction is very simple. Its like a 16" or 18" drum, similar to a floor tom. The good "bombo leguero" are made from the gutted trumk of an "ombu"- typical argentine tree. Their heads are made of cow-hide and it has wooden rims. The bombo leguero has a very dark and sustained sound, without high or medium overtones. The best way to replace it, if it were necessary, woul be using a floor tom with a towel over the head. However this other sound tends to have more attack, but it would work pretty well. In fact, many actual argentine groups use this other alternative.

"Perchacareando" is not a "chacarera"; it is in fact an "Aire de Chacarera" (a chacarera air), which could be a musical piece only reminiscent of that traditional dance. "Perchacareando" keeps the chacareras rhythmical richness so typical of the mixture of Spanish and Argentine indigenous cultures. Although the score is written in 3/4 for sake of simplicity, it keeps all the same character of 6/8 through its natural accentuations.

Extra Performance Notes: Marimba player requires 4 mallets.

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