Cuatro (instrument)

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The cuatro is any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller in size than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although the current instruments may have more than four strings.

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[edit] The Venezuelan cuatro

The venezuelan Cuatro
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The venezuelan Cuatro

The cuatro of Venezuela has four single nylon strings, tuned (ADF#B). It is similar in shape and tuning to the 'ukulele, but their character and playing technique are vastly different. It is tuned in a similar fashion to the traditional D tuning of the 'ukulele, but the D and F# are an octave higher. Consequently, the same fingering can be used to shape the chords, but it produces a different inversion of each chord.

[edit] History

The predecessor of the Venezuelan cuatro is the four-string Spanish guitar which disappeared in the 16th century after a short period of surging popularity. In the 1950s, Fredy Reyna documented the evolution of the renaissance guitar into the Venezuelan cuatro, and reinvented the cuatro as a solo instrument, equally capable of rendering traditional Venezuelan music as well as Renaissance pieces. The popularity of the instrument in Venezuela and elsewhere may be due to the simplicity of the instrument, having only four strings, as well as its compact size.

[edit] Playing

The cuatro is particularly designed for strumming: the fingerboard finishes flush with the top of the instrument, and the upper half of the sound board is completely covered by a scratch plate made from hardwood.

Most Venezuelan rhythms rely on the cuatro as their rhythmic and harmonic base. It is used in most genres of the different regions of Venezuela, such as Joropo in the Llanos, Gaita in Zulia, Galeron in the Oriente or calypso in Guayana.

A recent evolution in playing technique has made the cuatro a versatile instrument capable of handling, on its own, solo parts including both melody and harmony. The technical and musical knowledge and expertise required to be able to play the instrument in this way is astounding. The results have made Venezuelan traditional music leap to a whole new level of complexity, many times encompassing the utilization of Jazz harmonic structures and melodic phrasing to enrich many traditional tunes. An example of this is the exceptional technique and knowledge of the instrument demonstrated by Venezuelan Cheo Hurtado.

[edit] Tuning

Traditional Cuatro "reentrant" tuning
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Traditional Cuatro "reentrant" tuning

There are several tunings possible on the cuatro, but they are mostly transpositions of the main one, which may be called upon depending on a singer's range or the tone of the harp. The strings are tuned from top to bottom (we will use the numbers 1,2,3 and 4), to these intervals:

The most popular tuning for the cuatro is (ADF#B) with the B string tuned to a major second interval from the A string (instead of the more "guitar-like" perfect fourth from the F#). This feature where the strings are not tuned from low to high is known as "reentrant tuning" and is believed to have originated as a way to prolong the life of gut strings, which were used until the early 20th century. Reentrant tuning helps to achieve similar sounds between the downstroke and the upstroke on strummed instruments. The 5-string banjo also uses reentrant tuning.

Fredy Reyna Cuatro tuning
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Fredy Reyna Cuatro tuning

In 1948, Fredy Reyna altered the way the cuatro is strung and broke with reentrant tuning. His cuatro, called "solista" (soloist), was tuned in strict ascending pitch order. After trying many tunings, Reyna settled on (EAC#F#) as the one he'd use the most. In doing this, he (inadvertedly at the time) arrived at the stringing and tuning of the Renaissance guitar. His work has been meticulously documented by Reyna himself, but it has not been widely adopted.

A popular way to remember the tuning of the cuatro among Venezuelan cuatro players is to play each string individually from top to bottom, while singing the words "Cam-bur pin-tón" in the same expected notes of the four cuatro strings. (Cambur Pintón means Ripe Banana in Venezuela. The phrase is used mainly because its four syllables are long and because of its easy-to-remember nature). A variation is "Hi-pó-cri-ta", playing the strings from bottom to top.

[edit] The "Venezuelan" cuatro in other countries

The cuatro is also widely used in Trinidad and Tobago to accompany musical bands at Christmas time singing about the birth of Christ. This type of music is called parang, from the word "parranda," meaning "to make merry." Parang music mixed with a calypso flavor has found itself deeply rooted in the culture of the people of this Caribbean country. The language use in the songs is mostly Spanish but Patois and English is used as well. This richly adds to the rhythmic sounds of this versatile instrument. The cuatro, under the name cuarta, is also very popular on the Dutch lesser antilles, Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, where it is used for different types of music, including the traditional tumba, waltz, danza, polka, calypso, bolero, march and several others.

The cuatro is also used in Colombia in the performance of música llanera.

[edit] Some famous Venezuelan cuatro players

  • Hernán Gamboa – Founding member of Serenata Guayanesa. Left in the 1980s to pursue a solo career.
  • Cheo Hurtado of Ensamble Gurrufío (http://ensamblegurrufio.com.ve/)
  • Leonardo Lozano – Uses the alternate stringing/tuning from the school of Fredy Reyna.
  • Fredy Reyna – took the playing capabilities of the instrument to new heights, and created a method of teaching the cuatro. Famous soloist.
  • Raúl Landaeta – Member of the group Rucan-Age. Recorded a solo CD that includes some interesting arrangements of guitar pieces (the well-known "Venezuelan Waltz #3" by Antonio Lauro and the "Canción Caroreña" by Rodrigo Riera).
  • Rafael Brito

[edit] The cuatros of Puerto Rico

The cuatro is the national instrument of Puerto Rico. It belongs to the lute family of string instruments. Very little is known about the exact origin of the Cuatro. However, most experts believe that the Cuatro has existed on the island in one form or another for about 400 years. The Spanish instrument that it is most closely related to is the vihuela poblana (also known as the Medieval/Renaissance guitar), which had 4 courses, 2 strings each for 8 strings in total as well as the Spanish Medieval/Renaissance 4 course citola and the Spanish laud.

The cuatro of Puerto Rico has ten strings in five courses, tuned from low to high B, E, A, D and G, with B and E in octaves and A, D and G in unisons.

[edit] Types of Puerto Rican cuatros

There are three main types of cuatro: cuatro antiguo of 4 orders and 4 strings, the "Southern" cuatro of 4 orders and 8 strings, and the cuatro "moderno" of 5 orders and 10 strings.

  • The 4-string "cuatro antiguo": This is the original Puerto Rican Cuatro. It was made from a single block of wood and used 4 gut strings. This instrument may have evolved from the Vihuela Poblana. It was used to mostly play Jibaro music.
  • The 8-string "Southern" cuatro: This Cuatro evolved from the old 4 string cuatro. It was made like a guitar and had 4 pairs of steel strings. It was used to play salon genres like the mazurka, danza, waltz, polka, etc.
  • The 10-string cuatro "moderno": This cuatro evolved from the baroque era 10-string Bandurria and Laud from Spain. It is made from a single block of wood and it has 5 pairs of steel strings. It is the most common used today and is used to play jibaro music, salon genres, salsa, pop, rock, classical, jazz, and even American blue grass and many more styles.

[edit] Cuatros shapes and sizes

Sound Box designs:

  • The antiguo design: This box resembles a medieval keyhole, also known as cuatro cuadrao, or cuatro araña. This shape has been found on some old dotars and citolas. 4 string, 8 string and 10 string Cuatros were made using this design. This was the very 1st design and the oldest and it might be 400 years old, sometimes some 10 string Cuatros are still made with this design.
  • The aviolinado design: This box resembles a violin. It is the most common shape used today and most cuatros made today use this design. 8 string and 10 string Cuatros were made using this design starting in the 19th century.
  • The dos puntos design: This box looked like some old mandolinas made by Martin in the US during the 20th century. However it was first used in the 19th century in Yauco, Puerto Rico. 8 string Cuatros were made using this design.
  • The tulipán design: This box looked like the antiguo design but with no straight lines and all curves and thus resembled a tulip. 8 string and 10 string Cuatros were made using this design during the 1900s near Yauco and Ponce.
  • The higuera design: This is the rarest design. This box was shaped like an organic oval. This was because the soundboxes were made from domed gourds instead of wood. 4 string Cuatros were made using this design in the 19th century in Puerto Rico by enslaved Africans on the island. Now they are made with 10 metal strings and often have designs carved onto their backs.
  • Besides these, many other lesser known and one of a kind designs also exist.

[edit] Cuatro orchestras of Puerto Rico

The original cuatro orchestra from the 1960s consisted of the following:

  • Primero Cuatro Concertino
  • Segundo Cuatro Concertino
  • Cuatro Bajo
  • Cuatro Rítmico
  • Cuatro Tradicional

The modern cuatro orchestra consist of the following:

  • Cuatro Soprano
  • Cuatro Tenor
  • Cuatro Alto
  • Cuatro Bajo

[edit] Resources

Over 10 yrs of research have led to de production of several video documentaries that capture the history of the cuatro and Jibaro music.

  • Nuestro Cuatro: The Puerto Ricans and their stringed instruments, Vol. 1. An unprecedented documentary that reveals the emotional story of the development and the history of the music and stringed instruments traditions of Puerto Rico. Written, produced and directed by the Puerto Rican Cuatro Project.
  • Nuestro Cuatro: Volumen 2, Un Concierto Historico/ A Historical Concert. The conclusion of video documentary Nuestro Cuatro, a cultural and musical history of the Puerto Rican cuatro and Puerto Rico's stringed instruments/ La conclusion del documental NUESTRO CUATRO, una historia cultural y musical del cuatro y los instrumentos de cuerda nativos a Puerto Rico. Written, produced and directed by the Puerto Rican Cuatro Project.
  • La Décima Borinqueña/ The Décima Borinqueña An Ancient Poetic Song Tradition. The tradition of the décima of the Puerto Rican jíbaros and it's singing troubadours can be traced back to popular poetic forms of the Island's colonial past. In them, one can discover medieval Spanish and Moorish roots.


[edit] References

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