- Tuna (music)
A University Tuna is a musical group in
Spain ,Portugal ,Central America orSouth America , made up of maleuniversity students. It is also known as a Tuna or Tunas if it is in plural. A "Tuno" is a member of a University Tuna, or may also be called a "Sopista", which is an ancient appellation of the tuno.History
Despite the lack of documents to find the tuna's origins, we can assert that the
Goliard s from the 10th to 13th century, and medievaltroubadour s andminstrel s underline the beginning of the traditional university music groups that nowadays we know with the name of Tuna [http://www.geocities.com/latunaes/historia.htm "Historia de la Tuna"] "a tribute to the Tuna", Retrieved on2007 -06-23 (in Spanish)] .At the beginning the tuna was made up by
troubadours andminstrels who sometimes had to sing to earn enough to live on, or when returning home from a long journey after their vacations. The name "tuna" comes from French "roi de Thunes"" [http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?LEMA=tuno Tuno] " in theDiccionario de la Real Academia Española .] , "king ofTunis ", a title used by leaders of vagabonds.In
medieval poetry , from the11th century , theLatin school songs created a specialgenre which characterized them. Thestudents known as "Goliards" appeared all overWestern Europe composing and interpretingsong s, of which thesubject matter did not fit in with the scale of values of the society of that time. The songs were typically devoted towine andprofane love , by defending theintellectual pre-eminence against theknights , usingliturgical elements in an opposite sense to how they were normally employed.From its origins to the present day, from and through of the Tunas,
Universities have the honor and glory of their continued cultivation with popular instruments such as thebandurria ,lute ,guitar andtambourine , instruments which are named in the Spanish book "Libro del Buen Amor" byJuan Ruiz (c. 1283 - c. 1350).For these occupations, they took their
guitar s andbandurrias and sang popular songs. The "tunos" or "sopistas" also showed abilities for music, and in courting ladies that they had been wooing to [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuna "Tuna"] "Tuna - Wikipedia in Spanish", Retrieved on2007 -06-23 (in spanish)] . The "sopistas" were poor students that with their music, friendly personality and craftiness scoured the cheap eating-houses,convents ,streets and squares for a dish of soup (in Spanish, "sopa") from which they derived their name "sopista", and for a few coins which help to finance their studies [http://www2.ull.es/extenuni/actividades/tunas/filologia/historia.htm#Historia%20de%20la%20Tuna "Historia de la Tuna"] "Tuna History", Retrieved on2007 -06-23 (in Spanish)] .Clothing
The clothing of the Tuna is derived from that of Iberian students of the 16th and 17th centuries. It is called a "grillo" ("cricket" in Spanish) and consists of a
cloak ,doublet , beca,shirt ,stockings ,baggy trousers or "gregüescos" andshoes orboots .* The
doublet is a tight-fitting jacket which is worn over a white shirt with bigcuffs andcollar , commonly finished at the corners.
* The shirt is always white with a generous collar and cuffs.
* The pants are baggytrousers or "gregüescos" normally short and wide, it is fitted at the end of the trousers.
* Theshoes andtights are garments which cover the foot and the legs to waist.
* The beca is the band with a color identifying the university from which the wearer comes. It's worn on the breast and shoulder, over thedoublet . The seal of the university isembroidered on the beca, which identifies the school, faculty or university of the Tuno.The Beca is a distinction received from the tuno's partners when they considered that theaspirant could reach a sufficient grade of experience.
* One important garment of the tuno is thecloak which is long and loose, without sleeves, open in front and it's worn over the clothes. Over thecloak are displayed seals and shields of the cities and countries that the tune scoured from all over the world. Likewise multicoloredribbon s and shreds are worn on thecloak in a sign of affection, expressing feelings or love. These can be presents from their pretenders, mothers or friends.It's translated as: "every ribbon that decorates my cloak saves a piece of heart".
Musical instruments
As far as the music is concerned, there are two basic instruments. One is the
guitar which comes with the tuno and his melody. The melody is created by voices and singing. Musical instruments likelute andbandurria are also used. (Portuguese tunas usually play instruments likemandolin instead of bandurria and lute). The other important instrument which characterized the student music was thetambourine .Besides these basic instruments, the use of others instruments gives the tuno's music a very special richness. These elements were blended thanks to the different cultures and people where tunos perform. Among the distinguished instruments are the timple canario and
charango . It uses, moreover, the Puerto Rican cuatro,accordion anddouble bass to increase the variety of sonority.External links
* [http://groups.msn.com/TUNAUPLA/_whatsnew.msnw University Tuna UPLA] from
Los Andes Peruvian University
* [http://www.tunaceu.com Tuna University Madrid - San Pablo CEU] fromSpain -España Footnotes
[http://www.uspceu.com/usp/tuna/Actividades/IndexActiv.htm History of the music group Tuna]
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