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Cuban Music and Dance – The Rumba
The Rumba has been the way for a particular group to enjoy themselves since many centuries ago. This musical genre has many styles or ways of sounding according to the place it is performed. Among those who practice it, the Rumba is not only music but a party; a gathering for drumming, dancing, and singing. In Cuba "rumbear" or "irse de rumba" means to go clubbing or partying. Rumba is referred to as party in Cuba, and even a Rumba Palace has been built in Varadero, despite the fact that all types of music but rumba are played in this club.
There are references to Rumba from the beginning of the 18th century because it was very popular in the countryside and the suburban areas like the small villages constructed near the sugar mills or factories. It was a type of music common to freed slaves and the descendants of African ethnic groups, such as the Lucumi, the Ganga, the Arara, and the Bantu. Men would dance boxing-like dances that have been attributed to the Congo ethnic group, known as the "peanut dance", which could be considered primitive rumba dancing. Three profane drums or yucca drums were used.
Generally speaking, the Rumba is improvised and played using any kind of loud instrument. The rhythm comes, without a doubt, from Africa and there is evidence that the singing, known as well as crying or reveille, was copied from the Andalusian way of singing.
The Rumba performed in the countryside became well known around the last decades of the 19th century in Matanzas, Havana, and other regions such as Ciego de Ávila, Florida and Morón in the former Camagüey province. The rumberos from Matanzas were precisely the ones who spread the genre all over the island during their trips searching for work in the sugar-producing areas of Central Cuba.
During the 1920s, Mario Bauzá and Frank Grillo founded their bands using traditional instruments from Jazz and the Cuban percussion, and they began to reproduce some elements of the Rumba in order to create choreographed dances for couples to dance this genre. This stylish product was called Rumba de Salón (Ball Room Rumba) in opposition to the Box Rumba played and danced in tenement buildings in Havana; this is how the world became acquainted with it.
The Rumba has different styles, but the most famous of all is guaguancó (which comes from the streets). This type of Rumba is more elaborate than the rest of the variants; sung in duets and accompanied by three drums (conga, tumba, and quinto or requinto), the claves, a rattle, a guiro, little guiros made of metal around the wrists of the players and a sound box made of wood.
The guaguancó is also danced in couples. Women dance flirtatiously imitating the gracious movement of a hen with their waists; and men dance imitating a rooster or pigeon, trying to seduce and symbolically possess their female companion when they are not paying attention. This movement is called "vacunao" or "abrochao" and happens when men, moving their pelvis towards female sex organs, try to come as close as possible, a movement that is closely watched by women.
There is a large list of Cuban rumberos; however, among them Chano Pozo, Pello el Afrokán, Tata Güines, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Los Papines, and Celia Cruz are outstanding. The recordings of the unforgettable Celia Cruz, alongside with her presentations around the world have made famous the genuine sounds of the Cuban Rumba.
About the Author
This introduction to Rumba in Cuba was written by a Cuba travel expert from Cuba For Less, a specialist in fully customizable Cuba vacation packages.
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