Talk:Son montuno

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[edit] Request for merge

I moved a huge piece from Music of Cuba to already existing Son montuno. Please, someone who knows the topic, merge the two pieces and write a summary for the Music of Cuba#Son montuno section. If no one undertakes this in a week or two, I'll try to do it myself. Mikkalai 20:51, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I apologize to the authors of both articles, but it seems that they start to live their own separate lifes, and it is important to keep information coherent. Mikkalai 20:55, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)

[edit] son vs. son montuno

Isn't son montuno a particular type of son? Its the impression I've picked up reading liner notes, where they make a distinction. I'm not confident enough to make a separate 'son' page though.

I think son is a generic term for many kinds of folk songs. There is something called Mexican son (see Music of Mexico). I'm not really sure though, and have never found a clear explanation. Tuf-Kat 07:14, Sep 4, 2004 (UTC)

I went ahead and split things apart, since most information I found indicated that son montuno = son + montuno sections. Also, I removed the reference to 'toques' as a musical instrument. The only reference I can find to them is as something played on a bata drum. --Johnkarp 22:38, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Alright, here's what I have understood. The terms son and montuno both have several meanings.

• genre:
  • son is a genre (son cubano). It emerged from a combination of Spanish song tradition with African rhythms and instruments (bongó, claves, maracas).
  • montuno is a similar genre, but other than the urban son, this rural (montuno meaning "from the mountains", which in Cuba is synonymous for "from the countryside") form does not have as much of a composition or lyrics. Singers would rather just make up a coro, and improvise pregones. A montuno is basically a 2 to 16 bar form, repeated over and over for new vocal improvisations.
  • son-montuno emerged when the soneros from the cities adapted the montuno and added it to their songs.
• form:
  • The son is the theme of a son-montuno (or salsa, or timba, for that matter) arrangement. A typical song starts with an introduction, then the theme, some sort of trasition, and at a very noticale point, the montuno takes off.
  • The montuno, then, is the place for improvisations, pregones, mambos, moñas etc.
  • son-montuno refers to an arrangement that uses this form.
• rhythm:
  • son, montuno and son-montuno basically refer to the same rhythmic patterns, although frequently different rhythms are played in each section of the song; the bongocero nowadays changes to hand bell (campana) when the montuno takes off.
• patterns:
  • the term montuno also means "the pattern the piano or tres plays in a son-montuno", which is usually rhythmic figures of arpeggiated chords.
• tempo:
  • montuno and son-montuno are sometimes used to indicate slow tempo and are as such synonyms for guajira or guajira-son. A faster tempo is sometimes indicated as guaracha or guaracha-son.
• dance:
  • montuno also refers to a dance, approximately the same tempo as a cha-cha-chá, but more relaxed and calm.

And btw, it's montuno, not montuño, which is more Spanish than Spanish itself ;) Tobias Dammers 09:22, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Capitalization

I don't think this should be capitalized. Music genres are not generally proper nouns in English. Google produces mostly lower-case when not used in a title of some sort. Tuf-Kat 01:34, 4 May 2006 (UTC)