From Transcription to Transformation. A Necessary Action on Carlos Guastavino’s La siempre viva

Abstract

Transcription was a frequent technique that Carlos Guastavino applied to his own music. In his popular songs,
transcribing the piano accompaniment to guitar was a fundamental step that enabled a more fluid circulation of these works within the so-called “folklore boom” that was typical of Argentina in the 1960s. I consider that the transcription
of La siempre viva (1965), revised and fingered by Roberto Lara, presents problems in the arrangement of musical elements and specifically in the meter of the guitar part, significantly affecting the performer's decoding and, therefore,
influencing the reception by an audience enculturated in the rhythms of the Argentine Littoral, particularly the chamamé. I conclude that transforming the transcription would enable better communication between composer's intentions and performer's action, preserving the stylistic correspondence with the original.