From Cinematic Imagery to the Symphonic Poem Kukuli: Elements of Oral Tradition Music as a Paradigm of Regionalist Composition in the Work of Armando Guevara Ochoa

Abstract

This article analyzes the symphonic poem Kukuli and demonstrates how Armando Guevara Ochoa uses elements of oral tradition music, which serve as a compositional paradigm in his regionalist style, reflecting a sound world linked to the music he was exposed to since his childhood. It also allows us to understand and explore Guevara Ochoa's nativist discourse, which distances him from the ideas of indigenous composers who proposed the continuity of Inca music in their imaginary.

On the other hand, this paper provides a first exploration of the little–discussed aspect of Armando Guevara’s life as an audiovisual composer, offering insight into his creative processes in the incidental music created for the film Kukuli, and its subsequent transformation into a formal work, the symphonic poem of the same name.

It also examines the orchestral treatment, both harmonic and textural, that Guevara Ochoa employs to recreate a sonic imaginary. In this work, the harmonic treatment applied to pentatonic melodies, recreated from oral tradition, can be observed, representing in sound the nostalgia of his experiences in the Andean world. This feature clearly distinguishes him from the so–called indigenous composers who preceded him and, at the same time, distances him from the compositional avant–gardes developed by his contemporaries.