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[edit] Cuban Folk Music
[edit] Introduction
Cuban Folk Music is very diverse and has been influenced by many different cultures. The coming together of Spanish peoples, slaves from Africa, and the remaining indigenous populations of the Caribbean created many different cultural groups through out the Caribbean. To understand the influences on the music one must understand how the island was colonized.
[edit] A Brief History of Cuba
In 1492 a Spanish merchant was contracted by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the rulers of Spain, to find a passage to the East Indies. At this time in Spain the royal families would contract merchants to travel to the East, China and the East Indies, to bring goods back to Spain; goods such as porcelain, fine textiles, silk, spices, as well as many other resources. Cristóbal Colón was this merchant contracted by the Spanish royalty to go to the East and bring back such goods. On his voyage they got lost and ended up in the West Indies, also known as the Caribbean.
In 1511 the island was officially mapped and the first trade settlement was built. A few years later the city of Havana was established. Cuba was under the rule of Spain for hundreds of years. There were many battles back and forth between Spain and Cuba; with Cuba trying to gain its independence. In 1898, after many years of fighting Cuba gained independence from Spain. It wasn’t until 1902, however, that Cuba was officially recognized as independent. At this time the United States and the United Fruit Company controlled the resources and money that went into and out of Cuba.
[edit] The Taino People
By the time the Spaniards colonized Cuba 99% of the native populations had died due to the disease the Spaniards brought with them. Because these natives had never been in contact with these foreign diseases they had no immunity to them and a large portion of their population died. One of the indigenous groups was the Taino people. The ancestors of the Taino were originally from South America. For thousands of years the Taino peoples lived through out the Caribbean. There are little remnants of their culture left today, due to the large scale changes to the landscape that the Spanish plantations brought.
[edit] Spain's Colonization of the Caribbean
As Spain colonized the islands of the Caribbean, they drastically changed the landscape of each island. Each island was set up with plantation agriculture, meaning each island was essentially one large plantation. They grew fruit, cotton, tobacco, sugar, cocoa and many other things. After these goods were harvested they were sent back to Europe to sell. Because each island was colonized in this manner each island of the Caribbean had, essentially, a different culture. Because the majority of the indigenous population had died out the plantation owners needed laborers from elsewhere. The Spaniards brought in slaves from Africa to work the plantations. Because the Spanish brought few women with them, they intermarried with the remaining indigenous peoples as well as the slaves which assisted in the creation of these new cultures.
[edit] Private Clubs
We now turn the focus to Havana. By the 1940’s many of the cities had grown greatly. There were many members’ only clubs, such as cigar rolling clubs, or base ball clubs, as well as music clubs. Entrance to these clubs was based on ethnicity. One such club was the Buena Vista Social Club. People would go there to dance and sing and listen to traditional Cuban Folk Music.
[edit] Instruments
Many of the instruments played in the Cuban Folk Music Tradition are still played in modern Cuban Folk Music. Instruments such as the Congas and the bata drums were brought to Cuba by slaves from Africa. As well as the marimbula this is related to the mbira from Africa. Other instruments such as the guitar and the laud were brought over with the Spanish. Today they still play these drums and the guitar and the laud. They also play slide guitar and bass guitar as well as maracas and clavs.
[edit] Rhythms
When you listen to the music you can hear the influence of the many different cultures. Many of the rhythms used in Cuban Folk Music originated in Africa. Many other music styles influenced this music such as jazz, mambo, conga, tango as well as Ghanaian High-life, West African Afro-beat and Spanish Nuevo-flamenco.
One of the main styles they use is the Son. The son consists of many repeating sections and features much improvisation. The most well known son is La Bamba. Another rhythm style is known as Changui. This style consists of a repeating head with a B-section. The B-section is mainly improvisation. In the B-section there is instrumental improvisation as well as vocal improvisation. Changui originated in the early nineteenth century in the Guantanamo Providence in Cuba. It originated on the sugar plantations which had a high concentration of African slaves. It combines the Spanish elements of guitar with African rhythms as well as percussion.
[edit] Ibrahim Ferrer
Two well known artists that played at the original Buena Vista Social Club are Ibrahim Ferrrer and Ruben Gonzalez. Ferrer was born at a dance. His mother died when he was twelve. After his mother died he was forced to drop out of school and make a living. He made a band with his cousin called “Jovenes del Son” which helped to make ends meet. In the 1940’s he sang at the Buena Vista Social Club. When the club closed and his Bolero singing went out of style he was forced to shine shoes for a living. When Ferrer was found for the Buena Vista Social Club documentary he was shining shoes in the streets of Havana. He was seventy years old. The Buena Vista Social Club documentary brought him fame. After the film was released he released his first solo album in 1999 and then in 2000 he was nominated for a Latin Grammy for best new artist at the age of seventy-two.
[edit] Ruben Gonzalez
Ruben Gonzales was a piano player at the club. He began playing piano at seven years old. He studied piano all through school. When he got out of school he didn’t want to become a concert pianist because he was quite fond of the traditional Cuban music, “particularly son, a guitar-led fusion of African percussion and Hispanic harmonies that underpins most modern Latin American dance forms.” After he graduated, at age fifteen, he played with many, many people and bands. He has been acknowledged as one of the leading pioneers of Cha-cha-cha and the Mambo in the early 1960’s. In the lat 1960’s he was in an organized band called “Orquesta de Enrique Jorrín” for twenty-five years, when the bands conductor died. Gonzalez took over and conducted for two years and then he retired in the 1980’s. After he retired he released a few solo albums with the help of Ry Cooder and took part in the documentary “The Buena Vista Social Club”.
Cuban Folk Music traditions are still alive today, thanks to in part, the Buena Vista Social Club documentary. Many of the men and women that were in the film did not get recognition for their traditional music until right before their deaths. When you listen to this music you can hear a strong sense of nationalism. There are no political songs, they are all about love affairs of the heart as well as disappointment and infidelity. Cuban Folk Music had many different influences, such as jazz, and salsa as well as West-African Afro-Beat, and Spanish Nuevo-Flamenco. It also has developed new styles such as the Mambo and Cha-cha-cha.
[edit] Bibliography
Lemonick, Michael D.; Michael, D.; Dorfman, Andrea. Before Columbus. Time Magazine. October 10, 1998 Vol. 152 Issue 16.
White, Timothy. String of Pearls: Cuba’s Music Revolution. Billboard. February 19, 2000.
Chanan, Michael. Play it Again, or Old-Time Cuban Music on the Screen. New Left Review. No. 238. Nov/Dec 1999.
Brozensky, Jennifer; Cabrera, Esperanza; Collins Kristi. Cuba and its Music. Online document. Accessed March 15, 2007. http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/soc/ccameron/soc215/cuba/cuba.htm
Music Of Cuba. Wikipedia. Online Document. Accessed March 15, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Cuba.
Changui. Wikipedia. Online Document. Accessed March 16, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changui
Christopher Columbus. Wikipedia. Online Document. Accessed March 16, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus
Milward, John. The Latin Invasion. Online Document. Accessed Aprill 1, 2007 http://www.salon.com/ent/music/feature/1998/07/16feature.html
Ruben Gonzalez. Obituary. Online Document. Accessed April 4, 2007. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/10/db1002.xml
Cooder, Ry. Buena Vista Social Club. September 16, 1997.
Ferrer, Ibrehim. Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrehim Ferrer. June 8, 1999.
Gonzalez, Ruben. Introducing…Ruben Gonzalez. September 16, 1997.
Leymarie, Isabelle. Cuban Fire: The Story of Salsa and Latin Jazz. London; New York Continuum, 2002.
Manuel, Peter Lamarche. Essays on Cuban Music: North American and Cuban Perspectives. Lanham, Md. : University Press of America. 1991.
Brock, Lisa. Between Race and Empire African-Americans and Cubans before the Cuban Revolution. Temple University Press. Philadelphia, PA. 1998
