Literary, and formal structural analysis of four popular songs from Cuenca-Ecuador, representatives of the sixties of the twentieth century

Abstract

A literary, and formal structural analysis is carried out of four popular songs from Cuenca-Ecuador, representative of the sixties of the 20th century, which were widely disseminated on Cuenca radio stations at the time. For this purpose, a methodological proposal is applied that addresses the object of study from poetic, semiotic, thematic, and ideological levels. In turn, a formal structural analysis is applied to aspects such as melody, harmony and rhythm. It is concluded that the ballads El baladí and La calle de los olvidados tell stories of unrequited love, in which women are treated under pejorative stereotypes; while in the ballad Carril de colegiala the theme of adolescent nostalgia is addressed through an imaginary that alludes to the college stage. For its part, El rock de los chinitos uses texts and literary figures that aim to reinforce the rhythm of the song. In the musical, the four songs are characterized by presenting easily assimilable rhythmic, melodic and harmonic structures, in which the influence of Spanish, Mexican and Argentine artists is notorious.