Back to Noriko Manabe's article

“Reino de todavía” (“Stll the Kingdom,” 1994); in
Domínguez, 1996

This song refers to the difficulties of a collective society adjusting to the advance of capitalism and the threat posed by capitalism and the United States. The verses portend profound change (“Ciertas presiones altas vienen girando,/ en los celajes arremolinaciones”), perhaps even a cataclysmic one (“vienen antecedentes de los cyclones”).  An unnamed or symbolic individual appears engaged in corruption (“Viene girando un ángulo planetario, . . ./descascarando el nácar del inventario,/violentando el remanso de lo prescrito”). Meanwhile, the capitalists (“El sistema invisible”), as symbolized by the stars of the American flag, are advancing (“se aproximan girando las estrellitas”), as evidenced by increased mercantilism (“Nadie las ve avanzando por sobre el ruido/ de las tiendas legales y las proscritas”).

Fig.15-“Reino de todavía,” Lyrics and chord chart

The harmonies of the verse (Ex. 15A), in A mixolydian, circle through a series of falling fourths: first from A (I) to E minor (v), punctuating the rhyme at the end of the second line. The double-plagal progression G (VII)-D (IV)-A (I) follows to take up the next two lines of verse.  These circular, slow-moving progressions lend a static air to the verse. The melody, too, is static; as shown in the Schenker graph (Ex. 15B) it is centered on C#, traces the harmony in parallel fifths, and returns to C#. It is only in the instrumental tag, which leads from E minor to A major (v-VII-I), that the guitar finally resolves the C# down to A. Hence, both melody and harmony exhibit circular, static qualities, which seem in keeping with the fatalistic and pessimistic tone of the text.

Ex. 15A, “Reino de todavía”, Verse

Ex. 15B, “Reino de todavia,” verse, Schenker graph

Given the changes in society noted in the verse, the chorus declares that no one knows what communism – that sacred cow – is anymore, leaving it vulnerable to arbitrary policies such as censorship or corruption.

Harmonically, both of the first two couplets are an elaboration of the VII-I rock cadence, with the first having IV as a neighbor chord and the second progressing from v to VII, with a final neighbor chord in vi. With each line ending in the tonic, the harmonies have a static, circular quality that fits the repeating, circular quality of the text.

Hence, just as the text alludes to capitalists, the United States, and unnamed others turning the stars around Cuba, the circularity of the harmonies and melody seem to suggest a nation suspended in mid-air, waiting for a bigger force to turn it.

Los artículos publicados en TRANS están (si no se indica lo contrario) bajo una licencia Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 2.5 España de Creative Commons. Puede copiarlos, distribuirlos y comunicarlos públicamente siempre que cite su autor y mencione en un lugar visible que ha sido tomado de TRANS agregando la dirección URL y/o un enlace a este sitio: http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/index.htm No utilice los contenidos de esta revista para fines comerciales y no haga con ellos obra derivada. La licencia completa se puede consultar en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/es/deed.es

All the materials in TRANS-Transcultural Music Review are published under a Creative Commons licence (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5) You can copy, distribute, and transmit the work, provided that you mention the author and the source of the material, either by adding the URL address of the article and/or a link to the webpage  http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/index.htm.  It is not allowed to use the contents of this journal for  comercial purposes  and you may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. You can check the complete licence agreement in the following link : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/es/deed.en