The Sound Space of bombo con platillo in Buenos Aires. Between Music, Noise and Invisibility.

Abstract

The presence of the bombo con platillo, typically used by murgas of the of Buenos Aires carnaval, has increased exponentially over the past decades in public spheres. It has become an obvious and ever-present figure. An increasing number of young people are approaching the instrument, refining their performance techniques, adapting constantly, looking for new styles and techniques of aesthetic, kinetic and acoustic differentiation.

The bombo con platillo’s beat marks the city soundscape defining time and space (real or imagined) in which heterogeneous responses (acceptance, revulsion or identification) are configured, depending on the audience. It is, indeed, a sound that provokes mixed feelings in Argentina’s capital, carrying the burden of embodying some disparaged subcultural practices.

The aim of this article is to offer some reflections regarding the motivations that may have contributed to the bombo con platillo’s status of general disrepute. It will examine the various (and mutable) symbolic interpretations activated by the instrument’s sound. The article will also provide some proposal of analysis of Buenos Aires’ current carnaval and its main instrument.