Afro-Cuban Lullaby - Elisio Grenet (arr. Parkening)

[@stevensaullsguitarist]

There has been, for many years, an on-going controversy (including long-heated discussions) over the arrangements of Leo Brouwer and Christopher Parkening's Afro-Cuban Lullaby (Drume Negrita). Below is a summary of the facts regarding the origins of this controversy followed by Google Group links that shed some light on this topic:
An unidentified guitarist simply known as Antucco claimed that a friend of his made a Xerox copy of what is now believed to be Brouwer's hand written arrangement of Drume Negrita from the late 60s or early 70s. In the early 1970's, Mr. Parkening was given a copy of this arrangement. This copy had no composer, no arranger credits, and no copyright information on it. Therefore, Parkening assumed (and was told) that the tune was in "public domain" and was a traditional lullaby.
He gave it to his cousin, Jack Marshall, who made some small changes to it, and Mr. Parkening then recorded it. A couple of years later, Brouwer did finally published this same arrangement in 1978 under the title: "Deux Themes Populaires Cubains" through Editions Max Eschig.
Because Parkening's arrangement was published first, everyone assumed, including Parkening himself, that this was, for the most part, his own original arrangement. At that time he had no knowledge of who composed or arranged the first version even though later reliable resources (including a recording before Parkening's) verified that this original manuscript was indeed Brouwer's arrangement. However, no copyright laws were broken due to the fact that Brouwer's arrangement was published after Parkening's and that harmonizations and chord progressions used in arrangements cannot be copyrighted (as proven by the recently failed lawsuit against Led Zeppelin and the song "Stairway to Heaven").
groups.google.com/g/rec.music.classical.guitar/c/XjcXjpiJ-zE/m/4-DF50dJ594J?pli=1
groups.google.com/g/rec.music.classical.guitar/c/NrZxfugDFOE/m/3fwBr2gACJkJ
groups.google.com/g/rec.music.classical.guitar/c/29PX36Wl2zU

[@juanmiguelsuarez]

I didn’t know this arrangement before. Interesting that Parkening’s transcription wouldn’t give credit to Brouwer, even if he based a lot on him. There’s even also the harmonic variation in the middle section. Anyways, great playing as always Steven!

[@stevensaullsguitarist]

Thank you for your encouraging comments and another visit to my TH-cam channel! Please see the comments above regarding the controversy surrounding Leo Brouwer Christopher Parkening's arrangements of "Drume Negrito".

[@juanmiguelsuarez]

@@stevensaullsguitarist Oh, now I see! Thanks for the additional light on the matter.

[@Toddlane43]

Very nice piece and played with excellence it’s almost got a Japanese sound to it

[@stevensaullsguitarist]

Thanks Todd! Yes, perhaps the use of pentatonic scales and the double stops in parallel 4ths give this piece it’s exotic character.

[@Toddlane43]

@@stevensaullsguitarist I agree with this observation