Pregón, a Spanish word meaning ''announcement'' or ''street-seller's cry'', has a particular meaning in both
Cuban music
The music of Cuba, including its instruments, performance, and dance, comprises a large set of unique traditions influenced mostly by west African and European (especially Spanish) music. Due to the syncretic nature of most of its genres, Cuban mu ...
and
Latin American music
The music of Latin America refers to music originating from Latin America, namely the Romance-speaking regions of the Americas south of the United States. Latin American music also incorporates African music from enslaved African people who were ...
in general. It can be translated as ''a song based on a street-seller's cry'' or ''a street-seller's song'' ("canto de los vendedores ambulantes").
Background
Oral proclamations made in the street were an important form of mass communication throughout Europe and the Americas until the late 19th-century when other forms of communication emerged to replace the town criers. In Spain and Latin-America, those who read these proclamations were known as ''pregoneros'' and their speech as a ''pregón''.
Over time, the official
town crier
A town crier, also called a bellman, is an officer of a royal court or public authority who makes public pronouncements as required.
Duties and functions
The town crier was used to make public announcements in the streets. Criers often dress ...
, who read public announcements sanctioned by governments, disappeared, but the street cries associated with itinerant vendors continued into the 20th-century, and can still be heard in commercial
marketplaces
A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...
and fairs. Street vendors and their cries were known in
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
Europe. The numbers of street vendors working in urban areas increased markedly from the 17th century. These criers or street vendors filled the streets of many European cities including Paris, Bologna, Naples and Cologne. As the streets filled with
hawker
Hawker or Hawkers may refer to:
Places
* Hawker, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Hawker, South Australia, a town
* Division of Hawker, an Electoral Division in South Australia
* Hawker Island, Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarct ...
s,
costermonger
A costermonger, coster, or costard is a street seller of fruit and vegetables in British towns. The term is derived from the words ''costard'' (a medieval variety of apple) and ''monger'' (seller), and later came to be used to describe hawkers i ...
s and other types of the itinerant vendor, competition between them intensified. In an effort to stand out, street vendors began to develop distinctive, melodic cries, which became a standard feature of street life. Each trade developed its own unique type of street cry; a distinctive set of words or a unique tune.
Description
The use of street cries as a basis for song is particularly notable in South America and the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
, where the crier is known as a ''pregonero''. In Spain, the pregón may include flamenco or gyspy-inspired rhythms while in Latin-American pregón is noted for its incorporation of African rhythms such as bolero,
clave,
habanera and rumba. For example, the traditional pregón from Havana "
Castillo mangüé" is often played as a yambú, a type of rumba.
In
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, ethnologist Miguel Barnet noted that cross-fertilization was common as hawkers also often based their pregones on rural tunes or popular genres such as
son
A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative.
Social issues
In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...
and
guaracha
The guaracha () is a genre of music that originated in Cuba, of rapid tempo and comic or picaresque lyrics. The word had been used in this sense at least since the late 18th and early 19th century. Guarachas were played and sung in musical thea ...
. The Cuban music historian
Cristóbal Díaz Ayala has compiled a list of nearly five hundred examples of popular tunes based on hawker songs ‒ most from Cuba, but also from other Latin American countries such as Mexico, Chile,
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
,
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
,
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
, and
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
.
One of the best-known examples of a pregón is the song entitled ''El Manisero'' ("
The Peanut Vendor
"El manisero", known in English as "The Peanut Vendor", is a Cuban son-pregón composed by Moisés Simons. Together with "Guantanamera", it is arguably the most famous piece of music created by a Cuban musician. "The Peanut Vendor" has been recorde ...
" in English) which was written by Cuban musician and composer
Moisés Simons
Moisés Simons (born Moisés Simón Rodríguez; 24 August 1889 in Havana, Cuba – 28 June 1945 in Madrid, Spain),[Rita Montaner
Rita Aurelia Fulcida Montaner y Facenda (20 August 1900 – 17 April 1958), known as Rita Montaner, was a Cuban singer, pianist and actress. In Cuban parlance, she was a '' vedette'' (a star), and was well known in Mexico City, Paris, Miami and ...]
in 1928. The 1930 version recorded by
Don Azpiazú Justo Ángel Azpiazú (Cienfuegos, 11 February 1893 – Havana, 20 January 1943), better known as Don Azpiazú, was a leading Cuban orchestral director in the 1920s and 1930s. His band introduced authentic Cuban dance music and Cuban musica ...
in New York City with
Antonio Machín
Antonio Abad Lugo Machín (11 February 1903, in Sagua la Grande, Cuba – 4 August 1977, in Madrid, Spain) was a Spanish-Cuban singer and musician. His version of ''El Manisero'', recorded in New York, 1930, with Don Azpiazú's orchestra, was the f ...
on vocals became a worldwide hit starting a
rhumba
Rhumba, also known as ballroom rumba, is a genre of ballroom music and dance that appeared in the East Coast of the United States during the 1930s. It combined American big band music with Afro-Cuban rhythms, primarily the son cubano, but also co ...
craze that swept throughout North America and much of Europe in the 1930s. ''The Peanut Vendor'' had a second life as a hit piece when
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...
recorded it as an instrumental in 1947. The song, ''
Yes! We Have No Bananas
"Yes! We Have No Bananas" is an American novelty song by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn published March 23, 1923. It became a major hit in 1923 (placing No. 1 for five weeks) when it was recorded by Billy Jones, Billy Murray, Arthur Hall, Irvin ...
'' first published in 1923, was inspired by the idiom of a Long Island fruitseller.
["No Bananas," ''Time Magazine'', 2 July 1923.]
Other well-known pregones and their writers include the following:
*''Frutas del Caney'' ("Fruits from El Caney") by Félix B. Cagnet – Cuba
*''El yerberito'' ("The herb vendor") by
Benny Moré
Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré Gutiérrez (24 August 1919 – 19 February 1963), better known as Benny Moré (also spelled Beny Moré), was a Cuban singer, bandleader and songwriter. Due to his fluid tenor voice and his great expressivity, he was k ...
– Cuba
*''Rica pulpa'' by
Eliseo Grenet
Eliseo Grenet Sánchez (12 June 1893 in Havana – 4 December 1950) was a Cuban pianist and a leading composer/arranger of the day. He composed music for stage shows and films, and some famous Cuban dance music.Giro, Radamés 2007. ''Diccionar ...
– Cuba
*''El afilador'' ("The knife grinder") by Agustín Magaldi – Argentina
*''El botellero'' ("The bottle-man") by Gilberto Valdés – Cuba
*''El carbonero'' ("The charcoal seller") by Iván Fernandez – Cuba)
*''El frutero'' ("The fruit vendor") by Cruz Felipe Iriarte – Venezuela
*''El limpiabotas'' ("The shoeshine boy") by Los Cuates Castilla – Mexico
*''El pregón de las flores'' ("The flower seller's cry") by
Ernesto Lecuona
Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (; August 7, 1896 – November 29, 1963) was a Cuban composer and pianist, many of whose works have become standards of the Latin, jazz and classical repertoires. His over 600 compositions include songs and zarzuelas as ...
– Cuba
*''La violetera'' ("The girl who sells violets") by Eduardo Montesinos López, 1958 – Spain
*''Se va el dulcerito'' ("The sweet seller is leaving") by
Rosendo Ruiz
Rosendo Ruiz Suárez (1 March 1885 – 1 January 1983) was a Cuban singer, guitarist and composer, considered one of the founders of the trova. He wrote over 200 songs in a variety of styles ranging from canción and bolero to guajira and bambuco. ...
– Cuba
*''Claveles de Galipán'' ("Carnations of Galipan") by Francisco de Paula Aguirre – Venezuela
*''El mielero'' ("The honey vendor") by
Billo Frómeta
Luis María Frómeta Pereyra most known as Billo Frómeta (15 November 1915, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – 5 May 1988, Caracas, Venezuela) was a Dominican orchestra conductor, arranger and composer
Billo's compositions achieve internati ...
– Dominican Republic
*'' El aguacate guarenero'' ("The guarener avocado") by Benito Canónigo – Venezuela
*''Pastelero'' ("The pastry seller") by
Guaco
Guaco, huaco, vejuco and bejuco are terms applied to various vine-like Central American, South American, and West Indian climbing plants, reputed to have curative powers. Several species in the genus ''Mikania'' are among those referred to as gua ...
– Venezuela
*''Yo vendo unos ojos negros'' ("Some black eyed (peas) for sale") – Chile (pre-1910, unknown composer; arranged by Pablo Ara Lucena)
*''El mercado de Los Buchones'' ("Los Buchones market") by Astolfo Romero- Venezuela
See also
*
Costermonger
A costermonger, coster, or costard is a street seller of fruit and vegetables in British towns. The term is derived from the words ''costard'' (a medieval variety of apple) and ''monger'' (seller), and later came to be used to describe hawkers i ...
*
Peddler
A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a chapman, packman, cheapjack, hawker, higler, huckster, (coster)monger, colporteur or solicitor, is a door-to-door and/or travelling vendor of goods.
In England, the term was mostly used fo ...
*
Street cries
Street cries are the short lyrical calls of merchants hawking their products and services in open-air markets. The custom of hawking led many vendors to create custom melodic phrases to attract attention. At a time when a large proportion of the p ...
*
Street vendor
A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with costermonger or peddler. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells inexpensive goods, handicrafts, or food items. Whether stationa ...
*
Street market
A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pregon
Latin American styles of music
Cuban styles of music
Street cries