+

Hispanic Caribbean: History of Spanish and African Influences, Dance Genres

MUS 335 Prof. Donna Kwon

+ Final Research Paper GUIDE (200 pts or 20% of grade)(Due 4/23)

n  Write-up a 6-8 page paper

n  Your paper should always incorporate a clear thesis statement that is clearly supported throughout the paper.

n  Connecting to Learning Outcomes:

n  Demonstrate a grasp of the origins and influence of human diversity and issues of equality in this world by developing a deeper understanding, knowledge and appreciation of various cultures around the world against the backdrop of complex histories of political, religious and economic development and exchange in the region.

n  Develop a better knowledge of major elements of multiple non-US cultures, and their relationship to the 21st century context through ongoing exposure to multiple contemporary musical/cultural traditions around the world.

n  Investigate how local features (economic, cultural, social, political and religious) of urban or rural communities, ethnicities, nations and regions are often linked to global trends, tendencies, and characteristics that often mutually shape one another.

+The Hispanic Caribbean

n What countries make up the Hispanic or Spanish-speaking Caribbean?

n Map Activity, map out these islands, and also identify the capitals

n This book focuses on the Greater Antilles islands of the Caribbean

n Caribbean is difficult to define. Why? (p. 4, 5) n Language n Geography n Colonial histories

+Cuba n Most of the music of Cuba is of European (Spanish) and

African origin. Little left of native Indian traditions. Population was wiped out by Spanish.

n Fernando Ortiz argues that Cuba’s musical innovations have developed through a process of transculturation between European and African musics.

n LONG history of slavery in Cuba, pretty much began soon after its “discovery” by Columbus in 1492 for Spain (from the 16th c. until 1888). Last country in Americas to abolish slavery.

+ Transculturated Cuban Forms

n  Danzon: descendant of creolized Cuban contradanza, picked up African rhythmic influences

n  Punto: sung decima poetry accompanied by guitars or other instruments (part of musica guajira “folk music of rural farmers”)

n  Son Cubano: one of the most important genres of Cuban music. n  Characteristic instruments

n  Tres (Cuban guitar), Spanish guitar n  Bongos n  Claves (Son Clave) n  Double bass (anticipated bass, bass pulse comes before

downbeat) n  Cornet n  Piano

+Dominican Republic

n  A Nation on the island of Hispaniola, shared with Haiti

n  Native Tainos originally occupied island prior to Columbus since the 7th century. Gradually became extinct by mid-1500s. Died due to genocide, smallpox and other diseases.

n  Became the site of first European settlement in the New World. Santo Domingo is the nation’s capital as well as Spain’s first capital in the New World.

n  Became independent in 1821. Dominican slave revolts, along with Haiti, took over until 1844, when Spain took over again. US took over from 1916 to 1924. Thereafter, the country has been led by various leaders and has moved towards a democracy in the late 1970s.

n  Slavery and the sugar industry was crippled shortly after the Haitian Slave Revolt in 1791, although laws changed according to who was in power throughout the 1800s.

+Dominican Music

n  Dominican Salve: Track 6 “India del Agua”

n  Dominican Merengue Track 10 “Amores de Colores”

n  Dominican Bachata Track 21 “Que Vuelva”

+Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

n  Natives call the island “Borinquen” after the indigenous Taino name.

n  Actually an archipelago of islands that includes the main island and a number of smaller islands.

n  Also occupied by Tainos from the 7th century. Also vanished here by mid-1500s.

n  Was a Spanish colony from the time of Columbus until 1898, the end of the Spanish American War.

n  Unincorporated territory of the United States and became a Commonwealth in 1947 although was a colony of the US since the end of the Spanish-American war in 1898.

+Puerto Rican Music

n  Puerto Rican Seis chorreo Track 3

n  Puerto Rican Bomba Sica rhythms Track 8

n  Puerto Rican Plena Track 15

n  Puerto Rican Nueva Cancion Track 23

+Shared Histories and Characteristics

n  Domination by Foreign Powers

n  Emergence of new cultural forms as a result of the context of forced slave labor

n  Blending of European traditions and African derived or other musical traditions.

n  Common families of instruments (strings, percussion)

n  Commercial genres shared on all islands like reggae, salsa, merengue, reggaeton

+Shared Rhythms

n  Particular Rhythmic cells or building blocks believed to be of Kongo origin (Bantu-Kongo tribes originating in present-day Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo) appear in the music of circum-Caribbean.

n  Tresillo, cinquillo and habanera rhythms are all extremely common.

n  They appear in the Cuban son and rumba guaganco, danza and danzon, Puerto Rican bomba and bolero, and in the Dominican merengue. Also in early jazz via New Orleans. n  St. Louis Blues, Louis Armstrong

n  Explore the Tresillo and Cinquillo in Activity 1.3

n  Also can be felt in Reggaeton in Track 22

n  Explore Activity 1.4: Afro-Cuban Bata example

+Terms and Concepts

n  Race

n  Racial Formation

n  Racial Project

n  Ethnicity

n  Tri-ethnic heritage

n  oppositionality

n  Creolization

n  Diaspora

+Native-Spanish Encounter

n  Although most of the indigenous peoples disappeared within 100 years of Columbus’s arrival, there are still some traces of their music. n  Areito events (communal music-and-dance events) n  Slit drum mayohuacan n  Maraca like shakers n  Conch shell trumpets n  Notched gourds (guiro)

n  Spain alone controlled the entire Caribbean region for 150 years of colonial period

n  Then other countries arrived such as the Britain, France, the Netherlands

+Spanish Musical Influences

n  Forms n  Religious music (Catholic) involved in the conversion of both

indigenous groups and Africans n  Secular music: epic narrative ballads and strophic songs, poetic

forms like the couplet and quatrain n  Dances like the waltz, contradance, schottische, influenced other

dances like salsa, son, etc.

n  Instruments n  European-derived instruments: guitar, accordion, violin, piano n  These models influenced the development of new instruments

like the Puerto Rican cuatro

n  Spain already a multicultural mix of European, Greek, Roman, Arabic influences.

+Puerto Rican Seis (lit. “six”)

n  Stems from a Spanish dance genre that derives from Seville, Spain, where groups of six children danced in religious activities in front of the church alter during celebrations of Corpus Christi and the Immaculate Virgin. Has sacred origins but now a very secular genre.

n  Dance style includes a stiff torso with movement primarily of waist and feet. Related to Zapataeado (from zapato for “shoe”). Similar to flamenco or Mexican folkloric dancing. Dancer’s feet slide along the floor so they look like they are “chorreando” or “flowing.” n  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5CENxcZ7Ho

n  Instruments: Voices, cuatro, the guitar and the Guiro (gourd with grooves that are scraped).

n  Simple harmonies (I-V, I-IV-V or Andalucian cadences also common, I-bVII-vVI-V)

+Puerto Rican Seis

n  Part of the Musica Jibara rural genre

n  Lyrical/Poetic Form

n  Usually there is a 4- line rhyme scheme is abba

n  Decima poetry 10 line in Espinela form (abbaa, cddcc)

n  “Una Viagra que Camine” (A Viagra pill that walks), used as a pie forzado or “forced foot”

n  Listening guide p. 40

+Cuban Punto

n  Part of the Musica Guajira rural genre, equivalent to Musica Jibara of Puerto Rico (music of “farmers” or guajiros) n  Guantanamera a good example (Wyclef Jean and Celia Cruz)

n  Punto is the term used in Cuba to refer to sung decima poetry, with guitars and other instruments n  Also can include the folk guitar called the tres n  Laud and bandurria (other string instruments) n  Maracas, clave and conga drums

n  Verses often improvised, uses common stock phrases

n  In “Controversia” two singers “duel” and improvise lyric n  This example in “free punto”, pulse not regular and slows down and

speeds up. Alternates with a livelier tempo in triple meter n  Abba, cddc rhyhme scheme with two bridge lines with an ac rhyme,

+Folk Catholicism and the Dominican Salve

n  Folk Catholicism strongest in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic due to higher proportion of Spanish colonists.

n  Many festivals for the patron saints (nine-day celebratory periods called novenas)

n  Dominican Salve strongly influenced by original Spanish tradition takes its name from the Catholic chant known as the Salve Regina or “Save the Queen” (Virgin Mary)

n  Salves are like liturgical chants

n  Integral to the life of Catholics and performed often, but not well-known outside of the Dominican Republic

+African Influences: Atlantic Slave Trade

n  From colonial period to late-nineteenth century, approximately 12 million Africans brought were forcibly brought to the Caribbean as slaves

n  Triangular Trading Route (center of all commerce in Western Hemisphere) n  First leg from Europe to Africa (manufactured goods, weapons, textiles, etc.)

n  Middle Passage from Africa to Americas trading slaves for tobacco, rum coffee, sugar, and other goods

n  Ships returned to Europe, turning a profit a third time on the sale of plantations goods to British merchants.

n  As a result colonial settlements often consisted of more Africans than Europeans (esp. in the Caribbean and Brazil)

n  Brazil 39%, Caribbean 40%, Central/North/South America 21% (5% US)

+Translantic Slave Trade Map (www.slavevoyages.org)

+African Groups on the West Coast of Africa n  Three major African cultural groups figure prominently:

n  Muslim influenced cultures of the savannah regions (Ashanti, Mandinga, and Wolof) associated with Guinea, the Sudan, northern Nigeria, the Gambia, and Sierra Leone

n  Bantu-Kongo tribes from the area that now comprises Angola, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo

n  Groups associated with the rain forest of coastal regions of present-day Cameroon, Nigeria and Benin (Yoruba, Ewe, Ashante, Fon and Ibo)

n  Colonial powers tended to acquire slaves from different areas

n  British tended to acquire slaves from the first region.

n  Bantu groups were taken to Portuguese and Spanish colonies (largest numbers overall)

n  Yoruba prominent in Cuba and Brazil, whose slave trade reached its peak in final decades before abolition.

+African Cultural Retention

n  Factors that worked to suppress African heritage n  Young age n  Intense labor, low life expectancy n  Intentional mixing of ethnic groups n  Breaking up or absence of family life, sense of community n  Low numbers of women and low birth rates

n  However, many groups (especially more recent ones) managed to retain a distinct ethnic identity, especially in Cuba where slave trade lasted longer or where slaves successfully revolted (Haiti) and were able to retain more of their culture, language and music.

n  Not as much retention in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic where slavery ended relatively early. Same issue in areas of British colonization like the US for example.

n  Africans often organized in “brotherhood” organizations called cabildos or cofradias, encouraged by colonials

+Afro-Cuban “Toques de Guiros” (Playing of the Gourds)

n  Within the Afro-Cuban Yoruba-derived Santeria religion, the toques de guiros may be organized to thank an oricha for divine intervention in daily life, to celebrate anniversary of becoming an initiate, etc.

n  Instruments: two conga drums, metal bell, and three chequeres (shaken gourds with a net of beads)

n  Series of songs praising the Orichas – Eleggua (guardian of the crossroads) addressed here. Also Ogun, Ochosi and Inle.

n  We can try the primero, segundo and bell parts on p, 60, Activity 3.3

n  Could try singing along to melody on p. 62

+Afro-Dominican Salves

n  Here, folk catholicism fused with traditions from the Kongo but also from Afro-Haitian forms such as Vodu (with roots in Benin and Dahomey)

n  Creolized form of the salve Catholic chant

n  Uses call and response in singing “Marinero, ay ombe marinero”

n  Lead singer uses longer, European derived couplets or quatrains

n  Could use various percussion instruments like the panderos, small drums held between the knees, the balsie, the tambora, and the guira (see p. 70)

n  Can include dancing to reach a state of transcendence or “subido” (raising or heightening)

n  “India del Agua” by Enerolisa Nunez, discuss a supernatural underwater spirit associated with the native Tainos. Listen on page 73

n  Just the percussion parts, p. 75

+Puerto Rican Bomba

n  Bomba means “drum” and is a secular dance form

n  Has a long history. Developed in coastal areas in 1600s, peaked in late 1700s.

n  Bomba incorporates at least two drums, wider and shorter than a conga called a buleador, sticks called the cua

n  Listen to the Bomba Sica rhythms, p. 78

n  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J09tYXHH0uk

+Questions for Discussion

n  What did Spain and Europe contribute to the music of the Hispanic Caribbean?

n  What do these musical examples say about the history of colonization and creolization in the Caribbean? Especially in comparison to the United States.

n  Will turn to creolized dance genres next

n  What is creolization again?

n  How does the author differentiate between creolized genres and transnational genres?

n  Or what is the difference between creolization and transnationalism?