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The Latin music
we hear today has its origins in Cuba where the blending of
African drum rhythms and Spanish guitar evolved into a
variety of Latin American music: Son, Danzón, the rhythms of
Carnival, Cha cha cha, Mambo, Salsa.....even Tango came out
of Cuba.
During the war
in Cuba in 1898 US Soldiers got a taste for Cuban music.
Later, during Prohibition in the USA, Americans went to Cuba
where drinking alcohol was legal and they became infected
with the Latin rhythms.
As early as
1909 radio recordings came out of Cuba. In 1932 American
Radio came to Cuba to record Orquesta Anacoana. This amazing
all-female orquesta consisted of 10 sisters. They were the
first females in Cuba to openly play percussion, horns and
other instruments. Locked in the house for days at a time
during the war, they had nothing to do but practice. This
group evolved into one of Cuba's leading orchestras and one
of the first to get top billing in New York. One sister,
Graciela, went on to become the lead singer for Machito's
orchestra.
It wasn't
long before musicians in the USA began incorporating Latin
rhythms into their own music. In 1900, W.C. Handy visited
Cuba and began our legacy of Latin jazz here in the USA.
Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie
"Bird" Parker, Stan Getz and Cal Tjader have all followed
the tradition by blending and evolving Latin jazz. Gillespie
added a Cuban drummer named Chano Pozo to his band in 1938
and they began to compose together.
Even the less
esoteric forms of music in the USA have sampled Latin
rhythms and incorporated them with great success. Sam Cooke,
The Diamonds, Johnny Otis, Elvis Presley, Bo Diddley and Nat
King Cole all helped popularize Latin music with hits
containing elements from Cuban music. Gloria Estefan is one
of the most well-known contemporary popularizers of Latin
music in the USA. She has very successfully blended English
lyrics and and rock and roll style with her Cuban musical
heritage.
To find the
roots of Cuban music we look to West Africa where the slave
trade thrived. The Yoruba, Congo and other West African
people created rhythms in ancient times to call forth
various gods. Sadly, these wonderful rhythms were brought
over to the New World under dire circumstances. One drummer
named Ijibwa was taken captive and placed on a slave ship
for America. He was forced to play on deck to keep up the
spirits of the prisoners so that the "merchandise" would
arrive alive.
The slaves
used the drum rhythms in Christian worship too. Slaves were
forced to adopt Christianity upon arrival in the new World,
but often called their own gods by Christian names so as to
avoid punishment. A similar practice was the progenitor of
the "Yo Mama is so..." jokes in existence today among
African-Americans. "Mama" was actually a code word for
"Master". Hardly anyone telling these jokes today remembers
what "Mama" actually stood for in slave times. In Latin
music most of the listeners are not even aware that the drum
rhythms we dance to are actually religious in meaning,
dedicated to various African gods. Cabillolos (secret
societies) still exist in Cuba and keep alive over 200
different rhythms for different African gods.
Troubadours
from Spain brought Flamenco guitar music to Cuba. Out of
this came Son. Rural Cubans brought the folk guitar to
Havana after the war in 1898. Isaac Oviedo was one of the
originators of son. He taught himself the guitar by watching
other musicians and started the group Santiga Casana, a
charuquita group; kettle drum (timbál), ceramic jog,
accordion and guitar. In 1926 Oviedo brought the Matanza
Sextet to Havana. Later on Emilio Orfe created the danzón
style with violin, cello, flute and African drums. He
started his first orchestra at age eleven!
Oreste Lopez
helped create Mambo by combining danzón with African rhythms
from the street. The dancing itself came out of rehearsals
where couples would come over and improvise. Lope put
together Arcanos Orchestra in 1938.
Xavier Cugat
was another important figure in popularizing Mambo. Born in
Spain and raised in Cuba, Cugat was initially trained in
classical violin beginning at age 8. His music was a unique
blend of Afro-Cuban and Flamenco influences. Cugat spent
time in New York and Berlin before giving up music to become
a cartoonist for the LA Times (!), but in the 1940's Charlie
Chaplin dragged him out of his musical retirement to compose
a score for the Chaplin film City Lights. Cugat formed a
group, "Cugat and the Gigolos" and found that he could make
a living in Hollywood doing tropical music for films. He
created a smooth Latin blend of music that was very popular
with Busby Berkeley and Fred Astaire.
Don Aspiazu
started the Rumba craze in 1930 with his Rumba dance team
and full orchestra. Anglo-Americans were in a frenzy over
the "fiery tempo and barbaric melody" and thought of Latin
music as daring and fascinating. The film industry continued
to popularize Latin music with Desi Arnaz and his orchestra
singing such songs as "Babalu" and "Cumbanchero". In 1940 he
popularized the conga line dance.
Tito Puentes'
contribution to Mambo is well-known, as are the
contributions of Willy Colon and Celia Cruz. Cruz was
recorded on Cuban radio at age 7 and made her first record
in 1951. One lesser-known figure is Arsenio Rodriguez, one
of the true fathers of Salsa. A blind drummer in Cuba, he
began to evolve the Salsa sound from Mambo in the early
1960's.
People
continually argue about the difference between Mambo and
Salsa. Some say they are the same thing. Some say Salsa is
something you eat! Some think Salsa is a generic label for
all different types of Latin music. But if you listen to the
early Mambo of Tito Puente, Machito, Beny More, Tito
Rodriguez and the many greats who started playing before
1960, and then listen to some of the newer folks on the
block, you'll find a distinction there easily enough. As to
whether to move the body or feet on the first or second
beat, that is a whole subject all on its own. |
