‘Ey-m’ acá!’ Cantigas Performance Practice in Non-Specialist Settings: An Ethnomusicologist-Performer-Educator Perspective

Abstract

Educated as an ethnomusicologist, the author gained much familiarity with oral traditions; this in turn influenced her approach to the Cantigas de Santa Maria as a long-standing professional performer. Beliefs were formed, and questions raised regarding contemporary performance practice. Problems confronted include the relationship with audiences; conflicts between musical and textual accents; stylistic options and their cultural associations; the integrity of the song and the role of the refrain; the use of instruments; and contemporary appropriations under the ‘World Music’ or ‘Fusion’ labels. Some of the responses suggested by contemporary experience might also illuminate imagined performance practice in the medieval past.