Music of the Caribbean Exam 1

Bembé

-a party for the orishas, invitation for “mounting/possession”

-lighthearted atmosphere

-room for improvisation

Rumba Guaguancó

-2 section form: Canto (solo) and Montuno (call and response with solo drums)

-tertian hamronies

-Ostinati for Clave, Shekere, Palitas, and two of the congas/tumbas

Camila Cabello

-born in Cuba and raised in Miami

-American Singer-songwriter

-got her start in a pop girl group called Fifth Harmony

-left to pursue her solo career of latin/dance pop music

Bad Bunny

-Puerto Rican singer/rapper/songwriter/producer

-Reggaeton, latin trap, latin pop

-got famous off of sound cloud

Tito Puente

-American Latin Jazz musician, composer, banbd leader, and percussionist

-fused Afro-cuban rhythms with jazz

-”king of mambo”

Ivy Queen

-Queen of Reggaeton

-Puerto Rican

-writes impactful lyrics and focuses on feminism

Gloria Estefan

-Cuban Merican singer-songwriter and performer

-lead singer of Miami Sound Machine in the 1980s

Arturo Sandoval

-Cuban American trumpeter, jazz musician, and composer

-influence by American jazz

Chanito

-Cuban decimist and “king of Cuban Punto”

-turned to music after a farm accident

-settled in Havana and composed, performed and wrote novels in decima form

Arsenio Rodríguez

-Cuban musician, composer, and bandleader

-pioneered the conjunto form and modernized son montuno

Celina González

-cuban singer-songwriter of the Punto Cubano

-early workes focused on guajiro music with decima forms often in the punto cubano style

-later she incorporated son and guaracha forms

Machito

-Cuban American bandleader, singer, and pioneer of Afro-Cuban jazz

-blended big band swing, cuban rhythms, and jazz improv

Ramito

-Puerto Rican singer-songwriter known as “El Cantor de la Montana” and the King of Jibaro music

-nationwide fame through work in radio

-many tours in the U.S.

-popularized several seis subgenres and invented a subgenre called seis de enmrada

Manuel Jiménez (“Canario”)

-Puerto Rican composer, vocalist, and band leader

-toured U.S. with a trio in the 1920s, then his Orquesta Puerto Rico in the 30s

• Celebrated Puerto Rican heritage and was successful in both U.S. and P.R.

Rafael Hernández

-Puerto Rican composer

-Young prodigy

-Played in James Reese Europe’s U.S. Army “Harlem Hell Fighters” band in WWI

Johnny Pacheco

-Dominican born producer, composer, bandleader, and musician

-moved to NYC

-named the genre salsa

-founder of Fania Records and Fania All-stars

Celia Cruz

-World famous Cuban born signer

-Queen of Salsa

-Quimbara style

Jerry Rivera

First salsa musician to go triple platinum

Creolization

-roots in the caribbean

-emergence of new cultural forms from prolonged encounter between two or more culture

Batá drums

-part of African-derived Yoruban “Lucumi” in Cuba

Lucumí

-African-Derived Music in Cuba

-Santeria

-Bata Drums

-blend Yoruban religion and Roman Catholicism

-ceremonies take place in casas de santos

-rume

-toque de santo

Orisha

any of numerous gods or spirits worshipped by the Yoruba people of southern Nigeria, also figuring in folk religions such as Santeria of South America and the Caribbean.

Bembé

Toque de Santo

a ceremony for a specific orisha

T/F a Toque de Santo is a serious Atmosphere

True

Clave

an instrument AND a term for an asymmetric “key” coordinating rhythm/phrasing referent

What are the 3 main types of Claves

Son, Rumba, and Bossa Nova

Conga

Shekere

a percussion instrument consisting of a dried gourd with beads woven into a net covering

Palitos

small wooden sticked used as a percussion instrument used to strike together

Santería

a sacred genre (regla de ocha, regla Lucumi)

Yemayá

-orisha

-a mother figure and water deity

What Ritual symbols does Yemaya have?

-blue

-7

-shells

-fish

-cane syrup

-flour

-watermelon

Platt Amendment

U.s. legislative measure enacted in 1901 that established conditions for U.S. intervention in cuban affairs and limiting Cuba’s sovereignty

Los Munequitos

Rumba

Secular genre that is uniquely Cuban

What instruments are used for Rumba?

Congas, Claves, Shekere, palitos, and voices

How many dancers are used in Rumba?

one or two

3 subgenres of Rumba

-Yambu

-Guaguanco

-columbia

Guajiro

Guitars and other plucked lute chordophones

What dances use a Guajiro?

Dances for couples: contradanza, danzon, bel canto, cuban punto

What is a Contradanza?

group dance with orquesta tipica ensemble

What are the origins of a Cuban contradanza?

Franco-Haitian and/or Spanish

What form is Contradanza and normally how long are the phrases?

Binary form with 8-16 bar phrase lengths

What is a Danzon?

most popular pairs dance in Cuba prior to the Son

What for is the Danzon?

Rondo form common

How is the Danzon performed?

1. Orquesta Tipica: aerophone heavy ensemble

2. Charanga ensemble: flute, violins, piano, bass, guiro, maracas, and timbales

T/F the Danzon is a couples dance?

what is Bel Canto

a singing style that is used in musical theater

Cuban punto

song for voice, plucked lute chordophone (usually guitar, tres, tiple, or laud), and idiophones (usually clave and guiro or other scraper)

What form does the Cuban Punto follow?

Decima form: 10-line stanza with an espinela rhyme scheme

What are some attributes of the Cuban Punto?

-Frequent use of cross rhythm

-vocal style alternates between songlike and speechlike

-lyrics may be precomposed or improvised and are often humorous or social commentary

Charanga

a Cuban dance-music ensemble featuring flute, violins, piano, bass, and afro-Cuban percussion

Cinquillo ostinato

a repeating, syncopated five note-rhythm pattern that forms a core pulse in Cuban Danzon, and contradanza

Son

-popular dance from 20th c. to present

-a more virtuosic dance than danzon

-a style that came from the province of Oriente

What are some characteristics of Son?

-son clave as basis of rhythm (2-3 or 3-2)

-syncopated or “anticipated bass (tumbao bass)

-layered ostinati

-two part form

-tertian harmonies

what layered ostinati does Son use?

-conga tumbao pattern

-Guajeos

Son-montuno form

Guajeo

a cuban musical ostinato that is stypiclaly a syncopated, repeating melodic or harmonic pattern played on instruments like the piano or tres

Conjunto ensemble

-refers to a the group who emerges in the 1940s as a sexteto and septet

-they played and earlier version of the son

-guitar/tres, bass, maracas, trumpet, bongos, and voice

Mambo

energetic dance music developed by Latin-American musicians in NYC in the 1940s

What characteristics are included in a Mambo?

-large ensemble (big band jazz influence)

-up tempo rhythm in straight subdivision

-driven by son clave

-layered ostinato

-limited singing

Palladium Ballroom

a NYC jazz night club that was popular during the mambo craze

Cha-cha-chá

a dance style that was developed by Enrique Jorrin and Orquesta America in Cuba in the 1950s-it intended to be more accessible than mambo

Who was the Cha-cha-cha popular with?

tourists and quickly spread to the U.S.

What characteristics does the cha-cha-cha have?

-Early flute and strings charanga influence that was later replaced by big band

-intentionally less syncopated than mambo

-moderate tempo

-rhythms in straight subdivision

-less reliance on clave for unity, greater reliance on downbeats

-light overall sound

“Special Period”

-1991-present

-decrease in state involvement with the arts

-internationalism: tourism in Cuba, Cuban touring bands, international music via el paquete

-dance and pop music are important: rap, reggaeton, and timba

What is “el paquete”?

a USB drive that people used to share music

Timba

Dance fusion of many Cuban styles with some characteristics of American pop styles

Who created Timba?

NG La Banda and the band leader Jose Luis Cortes in the late 1980s

When was Timba significant?

it was economically significant during the “special period” because of it’s popularity with both Cubans and tourists

What instruments are used in Timba?

Drum set, Synthesizers, Extended bass, sections of rap, virtuosic horn lines, bass “break downs”

who is a Jibaro?

countryside people/subsistence farmers

What is the historical importance of a Jibaro?

-used as a symbol of Puerto Rican identity

-remembered as wide, and content with simple pleasures, hardowrking, warm/friendly, and self sufficient

What instruments does the Jibaro include?

cuatro, guitar, and maracas

what are the three sub genres of Jibaro?

Sies, Aguinaldo, and Corridos

Seis

dance music originally for 6 couples, similar to contradanzon

What characteristics does Seis have?

-for solo voice, cuatro, and guiro

-wide variety of lyric topics

-can be performed in poet-singer contest w/ improvised lyrics

When does Seis occur?

for Christmas, saint festivals, harvest dances and other community celebrations

Aguinaldo

-a type of Jibaro music specifically associated with end of year holidays

-considered a musical gift

What holidays is an Aguinaldo performed and for who?

-Christmas, New Years, and Three Kings Day

-performed by strolling parrandas (informal groups who travel to homes of friends and family)

Cuatro (instrument)

Bomba

a Neo-African music and dance considered that is considered the first original Puerto Rican music of the colonial era

Where did Bomba originate?

17th century puerto rican plantations

Characteristics of Bomba?

-Close interaction between Bomba drummers and dancers

-highly conversational

-moderate tempo

What instruments are included in Bomba?

voices, Cua, maraca or guira, abnd barriles de bomba (drums)

steps of Bomba?

-Sica (basic), Paseo, Salut, Carrerita (quick steps), and Piquetes (improv)

Plena

Bomba-influenced Puerto Rican genre that originated around 1900 in Ponce

Characteristics of Plena?

-Duple meter

-More creole or syncretic than bomba

-Narrative lyrics that are often satirical

-verse-chorus format

What instruments are included in Plena?

voices, panderos, guiro, cuatro, maracas, and accordion

Bomba drums

barriles de bomba is Puerto Rico’s traditional African inherited instrument and is wooden with one end covered with animal skin

Guiro

a Latin percussion instrument made from a hollow gord and played by scraping sticks along it’s notched surface

Pandero

a traditionally hand held percussion instrument that is similar to a tambourine used in spanish, latin, or brazillian music

Diaspora

Fania Records

-a Label founded in 1964 by Johnny Pacheco and later purchased by Tico Records

-promoted and defined Salsa

Salsa

a combination of Latin American dance genres-literally means mixture/sauce

Origins of the Salsa

Cuba and Puerto Rico dance genre but developed in the U.S. (Miami/NYC) from late 1950s to the present

How is salsa unlike other regional styles?

it does not refer to a specific rhythm or instrumentation

Salsa romántica

-”soft salsa” genre from the mid 1980s-present

characteristics of Salsa Romantica?

-typically moderate or slow tempo

-romantic lyrics

-synthesized sounds and soft orchestra