Traditional music
In Cuba, music is like air: essential, everywhere, for everyone. Young and old alike sing, play and dance to it with exceptional vitality. It is the fruit of the national history, the result of the crossbreeding between Spanish and African cultures, also nourished by French, Haitian and Italian influences.
At the roots of the Cuban musical tradition, we find of course the African influences, linked to the slavery history of the island. From the ethnic groups present at the time, notably the Yorubas, Bantus, Calabras (Cameroon) and the Araras, Cuban music has kept as a legacy religious dances and songs such as those related to the santería (which have their roots directly in the Yoruba religion) or rhythms such as the clave (played with the instrument of the same name). The latter has its roots in the sub-Saharan tradition and is the core of many Afro-Cuban rhythms as well as of much of the music of the African diaspora.
The habanera is one of the first sung expressions born in Cuba. It is also one of the first national sounds exported outside the island. Derived from the contradanza, whose rhythm it picks up, and mixing Spanish and African influences, it became established towards the end of the first half of the 19th century. Langorous, particularly expressive (as can be heard in La Paloma by Sebastián Yradier), the habanera travels and seduces in its time classical composers such as Debussy, Ravel or Bizet, who integrates it in his opera Carmen
.The Cuban són or simply són is one of the most popular and influential aesthetics of Cuba - indeed, of Latin American music. Emerging in the early 20th century, it is a poetic form, music and dance that originated four centuries earlier. Combining Hispanic (the structure of the Spanish canción) and African (rhythmic, percussion) contributions, enriched with French music, it is one of the pillars of Cuban music. Emerging in the 19th century in the countryside of Oriente de Cuba, the trovadores ("troubadours", itinerant musicians who had a great importance in Cuban music) popularized the genre with the claves (small wooden sticks struck one on the other) and the guitar as main instruments. Choruses and verses are articulated around questions/answers that the main singer and the chorus send back and forth. Fundamentally popular music, it feeds on everyday life. The names that deeply marked the genre and participated in its international take-off in the 1930s are Ignacio Pineiro, the Sexteto Habanero and the famous Compay Segundo. The latter was part of the Buena Vista Social Club, a legendary són group, the subject of a famous documentary (of the same name) by Wim Wenders in 1998.
Predecessor? Heir? We don't know for sure if one or the other is the predecessor, but one thing is certain: són and sucu-sucu are linked. Originating from the Isle of Pines (isla de la Juventud), the genre resembles like two drops of water to a variant of són except that the percussions are very different. The term sucu-sucu refers to both the style of music and the party in which it is played.
Another variation of són, changuy, comes from the Guantánamo region, where it is a specialty (and pride). Combining the structure and elements of the Spanish popular song with African rhythms and percussion of Bantu origin, the changuy is always danced and sung in parties and peñas guantanameras accompanied by the marímbula, the lamellophone emblematic of the genre. An event is dedicated to it, the Fiesta a la Guantanamera, held every December in Guantánamo.
Finally, it is impossible not to mention the bolero. With little connection to the Spanish dance of the same name, this sentimental genre is similar to the habanera or the són and is a descendant of the popular romantic poetry cultivated at the time by the trovadores. The creation of the bolero is attributed to José Pepe Sanchéz -the father of the trovadores- with the title Tristeza
, in 1883. Often accompanied by poetic texts that blend nostalgia, romanticism and thwarted love, it fits perfectly with the Cuban soul... At the end of June, the International Festival of Golden Boleros is held in Havana, created in 1986 by the composer and musicologist José Loyola Fernández, and considered the most prestigious bolero event organized on this side of the Atlantic.Two very good addresses to recommend to anyone interested in Cuban folklore: the Teatro Mella in Havana and the Heredia Theater in Santiago, where it is common to see remarkable performances by the Conjunto Folklórico, a famous ensemble that promotes the national folklore heritage.
Popular music
The late 1940s and 1950s were prodigiously prolific in Cuba. The composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín signed the birth certificate of the cha-cha-cha in 1953 with La engañadora , in which he combined two Cuban rhythms, the danzón and the montuno (a rural variant of the són), keeping the syncopation of the són but simplifying it to make it more danceable. It was an immediate success in Cuba and abroad. Antonio Arcaño and his group Las Maravillas, the brothers Israel and Cachao Lopez, Antonio Sanchez and Félix Reina entered the breach. Here, we remember Brigitte Bardot, in the film And God Created Woman in 1956 dancing to a cha-cha-cha tune sung by Darío Moreno. Carried by its success, the cha-cha-cha will also inspire the New Yorker Tito Puente, the Panamanian star Ruben Blades or even our national Charles Aznavour
In the early 1950s, Dámaso Pérez Prado, pianist and conductor, created a new genre, the mambo, with his successive hits MamboNo. 5, MamboNo. 8 and the Chula Linda. Evolving in parallel to the cha-cha-cha, and coming from the same nucleus, the mambo also evolves from the danzón to which it adds North American influences, especially jazz, the genre being destined to be played by orchestras in big band format very rich in brass instruments. Cuban music greats such as Bebo Valdés and Beny Moré were largely inspired by the mambo before the genre disappeared, supplanted by the success of the cha-cha-cha
At the end of the 1960s, in parallel with the nueva canción in Latin America, the nueva trova was born in Cuba. Young, committed and poetic song, the nueva trova offers an unprecedented political dimension to the trovador. The trovador, as a reminder, is a nomadic singer accompanied only by his guitar, an essential figure of Cuban culture. He will convey and popularize certain forms, such as the bolero in the 19th century. Some trovadores are very talented composers, like Sindo Garay, the author of many Cuban standards and the emblem of the genre. After the Cuban revolution, the nueva trova consecrated the renewal of the genre, carried by musicians who would become important such as Pablo Milanés or Silvio Rodríguez and focused on themes such as socialism, injustice, sexism, colonialism, racism, etc. If the style reached its peak in the 1970s, it quickly declined afterwards
It is more or less at the same time that one of the most famous Cuban genres in the world is popularized: salsa. Literally meaning "sauce", salsa is a new fusion of the Cuban són, this time with jazz, mambo or other Caribbean rhythms such as merengue or cumbia. Today it is one of the favorite music of Cubans. However, the term salsa does not originate from the island but from the United States. The genre was born in New York at the end of the 1960s, in the poor Latino neighborhoods, with a social message. From then on, figures of international stature, such as Celia Cruz, contributed to establish the style. Although it designates a genre with its own specific codes, the word salsa has gradually become a generic term for all Latin music, from danzón to mambo, via the old són, and even the more recent Latin house. In short, salsa is a generic and marketing term that encompasses a wide range of Latin American music that often has little to do with... salsa
While salsa was emerging in New York, at the same time, a parallel modernization of són was being carried out by Los Van Van - the "Cuban Rolling Stones" - with their famous songo, a rock and electric rumba revival. The songo is important because it gave birth to the timba, one of the most danced Cuban styles - and often confused with salsa in the ear.
The last hyper-popular genre on the island: the rumba. Originally associated with the poor neighborhoods of large cities such as Havana or Matanzas, it has gradually left its traditional cradle to invade the entire country. Three variants exist: the slow columbia, accompanied by percussion; the fast and erotic guaguanco, accompanied only by percussion; and the yambu. Improvisation, intricate dance steps and polyrhythmic drums (mirroring African rhythmic traditions) are key elements of all rumba styles. Some local groups have become pillars of the style, such as Los Papines, Clave y Guaguancó and Yoruba Andabo
Apart from these few genres, the Cuban Pantheon has some names that are important to know or recognize. The first of them is of course Beny Moré. Fabulous improviser and virtuoso tenor, he has graced all Cuban musical genres with his talent, excelling in the Cuban són, the mambo and the bolero. He is a bit like Frank Sinatra of the island, and his legend lives on thanks to the greatest salsa orchestras that cover his songs and keep them unavoidable. Another Cuban monument and not the least, Celia Cruz was the queen of the salsa. Her success has strongly contributed to popularize the genre among the general public and internationally. From 1950, her career took off with the Sonora Matancera, a legendary group with which she toured throughout Latin America for fifteen years. Then, opposed to the Castro revolution, she moved to the United States in 1960. Her texts and interviews nevertheless reveal a deep nostalgia for her country. Linked to Tito Puente, she recorded eight albums with him before accompanying the famous flutist Johnny Pacheco. With several gold records, she has been the greatest ambassador of salsa in the world. Last Cuban essential, Compay Segundo is inseparable from the Buena Vista Social Club. If he has always been a pillar of the local scene, it is really this album produced in 1997 under the direction of Ry Cooder - where he appears alongside other Cuban luminaries such as Rubén González, Ibrahim Ferrer or Eliades Ochoa - that reveals him to the international public. A great representative of són, he accompanied his singing with an armonico, a kind of modified guitar. We owe him a certain number of key titles of the Cuban culture like Chan Chan.
Two addresses to note in Havana: first the Casa De La Trova, a must for lovers of live Cuban music where you can attend salsa, són or trova concerts, and the Teatro Karl Marx, a huge building (5,000 seats) reserved for concerts that attract crowds and stars like Descemer Bueno. So it is often here that you can see Cuban legends
The instruments
From the 18th century onwards, instruments of African origin such as the bongo, until then confined to black slaves, became popular among whites.
anakue
. Instrument made of two metal cones, filled with dry seeds or gravel, joined together at the top.bandurria.
Stringed instrument widely used in Guajira music.bombo criollo.
Drum of European origin, as its name indicates; it is played during carnivals.bongo.
Small drums joined in pairs, held between the knees of the percussionist, who plays seated. It is an omnipresent instrument in any salsero orchestra.botija.
A kind of jug that gives a low sound, used as a bass for the són.campana.
The campana consists, in its most basic version, of a bell of some kind, recovered in rural areas to make it an authentic instrument. It is struck with a piece of wood to give rhythm to the music of an improvised group. The bell used in salsa orchestras can have several different tones, depending on where it is struck. Today it is an official percussion instrument of a salsero orchestra, associated with timpani.clave
. Another percussion made with the means of the edge to satisfy the need of the rhythm. Born in the port of Havana, it consists of two cylindrical pieces of hard wood that are struck against each other. But its simplicity should not elude its originality and importance. It has thus become a foundation of Latin music and gives rhythm to the salsero group.conga
. Large drum of African origin, often in pairs, which the conguero plays standing up.ekon.
Used in Abakuá ritual music, this metal bell without a clapper and with a handle is struck with a piece of wood.maracas.
Two small closed calabashes with a handle and filled with dry seeds. They are shaken in cadence like a rattle, and generate a characteristic, soft and discreet rustle. They are often entrusted to the singer or to a chorister.quinto.
A drum of African origin, with a smaller striking surface than the conga, the quinto produces a high-pitched sound.reja.
A rudimentary percussion instrument consisting of a piece of metal and a large nail used to strike the metal. The reja is mostly used in street carnivals.tahona.
A small traditional drum that is widely played in the Oriente.timbales.
Snare drums joined in pairs, mounted on a stand, and enriched with bells or other accessories, including sometimes a bass drum operated by a foot pedal. The timbalero plays standing, tapping the skin with long, light sticks.tres.
A typical Cuban instrument, very present in guajira music and són orchestras, it is shaped like a small guitar with three doubled strings; it produces a small high-pitched sound and is still mainly used today in traditional orchestras.tumba. Drum (but the term also refers to the dance associated with it) used in Cuba, especially in its eastern region.
Classical music
It is too often forgotten in Cuba, but learned (or so-called "classical") music also has its importance. One of the first notable composers of the island is Manuel Saumell (1818-1870), sometimes considered the father of Cuban musical nationalism because he creolized the learned music of his time with local traditional music. Better, but less recognized, Saumell had prophetic views in his compositions, inventing before the time certain rhythms that would only really see the light of day after him. Contradanza, habanera, danzón, guajira, criolla, clave...: so many rhythms appeared for the first time in the hands of this visionary.
After him appeared Ignacio Cervantes (1847-1905), the "Cuban Chopin". This pianist and composer remains famous for his 41 danzas, the Cuban equivalent of Dvořák's Slavonic Dances .
Around the same time, composer and violinist José White (1836-1918), whose father was Spanish and whose mother was Afro-Cuban, gained international fame (he lived in Paris, among other places). His most famous work is La Bella Cubana, a habanera.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the driving forces of national composition were Gonzalo Roig (1890-1970), one of the founders of the National Symphony Orchestra and a pioneer of the Cuban symphonic movement, and Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963). The latter is widely considered one of the greatest Cuban pianists and composers of his century, author of more than 600 pieces, including zarzuelas and suites, most of them in a Cuban vein. He inspired the world of Latin American music in the same way that Gershwin did in the United States.
His contemporary was Joaquín Nin (1879-1949), a composer known for his arrangements of Spanish popular music and especially for being the father of the writer Anaïs Nin.
After the Cuban revolution, in the early 1960s a new generation of classical musicians appeared on the scene. The most important of these was the guitar virtuoso and conductor Leo Brouwer, who made an enormous contribution to national music as well as to the modern classical guitar repertoire. But Leo Brouwer's influence and importance extends far beyond the guitar. His output includes over 300 pieces for all instruments and he has conducted some of the world's most prestigious ensembles, including the Paris Ensemble in 1981. Ten years earlier, in the early 1970s, he was the director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, still the most prestigious (and almost the only) in the country. The ensemble performs regularly at the Gran Teatro De La Habana. Built in 1833, it has seen the greatest glories in the history of entertainment, including Caruso and Sarah Bernhardt. Excellent acoustics and original architecture.
Jazz
If jazz penetrated the island in the 1920s and influenced Cuban music, the reciprocal was very quickly true. Some of the compositions of Dizzy Gillespie's big band, in particular, bear witness to this. Cuban musicians such as percussionist Chano Pozo, saxophonist and trumpeter Marío Bauza, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, saxophonist Paquito de Rivera and the fabulous pianist Chucho Valdés have all, in their own way, participated in establishing and propagating Afro-Cuban jazz. The last one mentioned, Chucho Valdés, is a particularly interesting case. Son and disciple of the Cuban musician Bebo Valdés, he grew up in an environment impregnated with the new trends of Cuban music. Mixing the influences of classical piano and folkloric tradition, he became familiar with the sounds of Ernesto Lecuona and Beny Moré. His career began in 1957 when he joined the group Sabor de Cuba, directed by his father. In addition to his activities as a jazz musician, in 1963 he became a pianist in the orchestra of the Teatro Musical of Havana. In 1973, he created the Irakere ensemble with four other musicians and quickly established itself as an essential group. A group that has become mythical in Cuban music, Irakere has, for several decades, successfully alternated the popular Cuban repertoire with Latin jazz.
Another phenomenon of Cuban jazz to know absolutely: Roberto Fonseca. When Ruben Gonzalez had to be replaced at the piano in the famous Buena Vista Social Club, the great singer Ibrahim Ferrer imposed a young pianist whose talent he was certain of. Roberto Fonseca was only 26 years old and his career was about to take off. He is now known all over the world and particularly in France where he is highly appreciated by jazz lovers and considered as one of the best pianists on the planet. His concerts are impressive, not only in terms of technical perfection but also by their scenography.
Harold Lopez Nussa is considered by many to be one of the most talented musicians of his generation. After a solid classical training at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory in Havana, Harold completed his musical studies at the Instituto Superior de Arte. He quickly developed a passion for jazz and, after accompanying some of the greatest Cuban names, he forged his signature at the crossroads of jazz and popular Cuban music.
A Cuban talent to watch: trumpeter Yelfris Valdés, surprising by his proposal, between jazz, world and electronic music.
As jazz lovers already know, the Havana International Jazz Festival, since 1978, has been one of the major events of the genre in the region, both in terms of technical level and programming. Also, in Havana, the Jazz Café is a privileged address to see a concert. The group Irakere and its leader Chucho Valdés have often performed there.
Current music
There are many different kinds of music and genres that coexist in Cuba. A lot of them. But if there is one that takes the lion's share of the youth's attention, it is reggaeton (as everywhere in Latin America). The genre has even been renamed "cubaton" (a contraction of Cuba and reggaeton). The leading group of the field is by far Gente de Zona. They have a string of hits, you can hear them absolutely everywhere in Cuba and the biggest Latin stars knock on their door: Enrique Iglesias, Marc Anthony or Pitbull... El Chacal, Joker, Jacob Forever and his famous hit Hasta que seque el Malecon or Srta Dayana on the female side are the rising stars to watch closely.
On the electronic music side, the compilation Havana Cultura: ¡Súbelo, Cuba! piloted by the indefatigable London DJ Gilles Peterson tells very well the vivacity of the current Cuban underground where traditional and electronic aesthetics are mixed. We meet DJ Jigüe, a highly respected pioneer of the island who has been mixing house and techno with Afro-Cuban rhythms and other Caribbean sounds for ages. This musical signature called "tropical Afro-futurism" has inspired many young producers of the new scene.
Other artists of Cuban origin are the twin sisters Ibeyi (twins in Yoruba), who have become a sensation in France in recent years. Born in Paris in 1994, Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi are of Venezuelan origin on their mother's side and of Cuban origin on their father's, the percussionist Anga Diaz, a member of the group Buena Vista Social Club who died in 2006. Very young, they are bathed in the world of Cuban music and in 2015, they released a first album Ibeyi which is a nice success then Ash in 2017 where they sing in English and Spanish. The album is doing well in France but also abroad.
To appreciate the best of today's music, head to the Bertolt Brecht Center in Havana, with concerts, DJ sets and a rather (very) trendy clientele, as well as, in the same city, the Fabrica De Arte Cubano, the trendy place, very design-oriented and contemporary creation.
