VILLANCICOS GUINEOS, IMAGINARY LOOKS ”. AFRO-DESCENDANT EXPRESSIONS IN NOVOHISPANIC MEXICO

Abstract

This paper wants to be a starting point in the reevaluation of the studies about the villancicos de negro (also known as guineos or negrillas) repertoire. For that purpose, four guineos were selected from the manuscript known as Cancionero musical de Gaspar Fernandes, from which the musicologist Aurelio Tello made a study and a posterior critical edition (in which this papers is sustained). But before approaching the analysis of the villancicos guineos, this paper also wants to link this repertoire with its musical and poetical context (villancico de remedo) and its historical context (siglos XVI-XVII: Spanish Siglo de Oro). This historical, social and musicological approach to the subject is necessary for giving an explanation to the musical phenomenon called villancicos guineos in the New Spain. Therefore, this paper seeks a reflection about the following proposal: inside the sacred catholic repertoire in vulgar tongue (villancicos), we can find musical and identity elements from the individuals of African origin who lived inside the Spanish Empire, emphasizing the viceroyalty of New Spain.