Page 37 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

A POR TR AIT OF CUBA  35

Cuban Musical
Guaguancó, a fast rumba, Instruments
enacts a breezy battle
between a man and
woman who tries to
parry his insistent
advances. In effect, Claves
this dance is a thinly
disguised simulation
of the sexual act. Tres
Güiro
The voice was the original
element of the rumba,
which began as song. There are several
The percussion instru­ exclusively
ments, the basis of this
A batá covered with Tumbadora or musical genre, were Cuban musical
canvas and seashells conga added at a later stage. instruments.
Among the
stringed instruments
are the tres, a small guitar,
always used in son bands,
with three pairs of metal
strings, and the requinto,
another small, high­pitched
guitar that is used in trios to
play melodic variations.
Typical Cuban percussion
instruments are the
tumbadora, a tall wooden
and leather drum played
with the hands, which is used
in all musical forms, including
jazz; the bongó, two small
round drums; the claves, two
wooden cylinders played by
striking them against one
another; the güiro, the gourd
of the güira fruit which is
Rumba stroked with a small stick;
The African soul of Cuban music, the rumba originated in the and the marímbula, a rarely
used small piano.
warehouses of Matanzas as a voice of rebellion against slavery
and segregation. It then became a form of political satire and
social criticism, as well as the poignant expression of an unhappy
love affair. Columbia is country-style solo dance, while yambú
and guaguancó are the urban varieties, with dance rhythms
that are sensual and dynamic, or sad and slow.
Los Van Van have dominated
the Cuban musical scene for
over 30 years and are world­
famous for their new rhythms
and sounds (they invented a
new genre, the songo).

Silvio Rodríguez, a singer and
songwriter who defends the Buena Vista Social Club, Wim
ideals of the Cuban Revolution, Wenders’ film (1998), brought into the
founded the Nueva Trova with limelight traditional son interpreters
Pablo Milanés (right) in the over 80 years old, such as the late
late 1960s, revitalizing the guitarist and singer Compay Segundo,
style and repertory of the the late pianist Rubén González, and
trova, a rural musical genre. the late singer Ibrahim Ferrer.

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