Arsenio Rodríguez Birth name Ignacio Arsenio Travieso Scull Born August 31, 1911 Güira de Macurije, Matanzas Province, Cuba Origin Cuba Died December 31, 1970 (aged 59) Los Angeles, California, United States Genres Son montuno, guaracha, guaguancó, bolero, afro, cha- cha-cha, lamento Occupations musician Instruments tres, tumbadora (conga) Arsenio Rodríguez (born Ignacio Arsenio Travieso Scull, Güira de Macurije, 31 August 1911 – Los Angeles, 31 December 1970)was a Cuban musician, composer and bandleader.He played the tres (Cuban string instrument) in son-based music and tumbadora, or conga, in folkloric rumba. In the 1940s and 50s Rodríguez reorganized the son conjunto (‘son group’) and developed the son montuno, the basic template of modern-day salsa. He claimed to be the true creator of the mambo and was an important as well as a prolific composer who wrote nearly two hundred song lyrics.Early lifeRodríguez was born in Güira de Macurije in Bolondrón, Matanzas Province as the third of fifteen children, fourteen boys and one girl.As a young child, Rodríguez was blinded when a horse (or a mule) kicked him in the head.Rise to FameLater, Rodríguez became a musician, and eventually became one of the most renowned bandleaders on the island earning him the nickname El Ciego Maravilloso (the Marvellous Blind Man). His music emphasized Afro-Cuban rhythm as well as the melodic lead of the tres, which he played. In 1936 he played his own compositions with the Sexteto Boston, led by his cousin Jacinto Scull. The group disbanded in 1937, and he joined the Septeto Bellamar of cornetist José Interián in 1938. In 1939, he recorded with Orquesta Casino de la Playa, the esteemed sonero Miguelito Valdés on lead vocals, the tune “Se va el caramelero”, taking an incredible solo on the tres. This was his first recording. From 1940 to 1947 he led one of the most important bands in Cuba, Arsenio Rodríguez y Su Conjunto Todos Estrellas.Rodríguez then went to New York where he hoped to get cured of his blindness but was told that his optic nerves had been completely destroyed. This experience led him to compose the bolero La Vida es un Sueño (Life is a dream). He went on to play with percussionist/composer Luciano “Chano” Pozo and other great musical artists of what inaccurately became known as Latin Jazz, artists such as Machito, Dizzy Gillespie and Mario Bauzá.InnovationsRodríguez’s chief innovation, his interpretation of the son montuno, established the basic template for Cuban popular dance music and salsa that continues to this day. “It took fifty years for Latin music to catch up with what Arsenio was doing in the 1940s”—Kevin Moore (2007: web).Clave-based structure and offbeat emphasisThe decades of the 1920s and 1930s were a period which produced some of the most beautiful and memorable melodies of the son genre. At the same time, the rhythmic component had become increasingly deemphasized, or in the opinion of some, “watered-down.” Rodríguez brought a strong rhythmic emphasis back into the son. His compositions are clearly based on the key pattern known in Cuba as clave, a Spanish word for ‘key,’ or ‘code.’ 3-2 clave and 2-3 clave written in cut-time.When clave is written in two measures, as shown above, the measure with three strokes is referred to as the three-side, and the measure with two strokes—the two-side. When the chord progression begins on the three-side, the song, or phrase is said to be in 3-2 clave. When it begins on the two-side, it’s in The 2-3 bass line of “Dame un cachito pa’ huele” (1946) coincides with three of the clave’s five strokes.Top: 2-3 clave. Bottom: bass line from “Dame un cachito pa’ huele” (1946). David García Identifies the accents of “and-of-two” (in cut- time) on the three-side, and the “and-of-four” (in cut-time) on the two-side of the clave, as crucial contributions of Rodríguez’s music.The two offbeats are present in the following 2-3 bass line from Rodríguez’s “Mi chinita me botó” (1944). Top: 2-3 clave. Bottom: “Mi chinita me botó” bass line. The two offbeats are especially important because they coincide with the two syncopated steps in the son’s basic footwork. The conjunto’s collective and consistent accentuation of these two important offbeats gave the son montuno texture its unique groove and, hence, played a significant part in the dancer’s feeling the music and dancing to it, as Bebo Valdés noted “in contratiempo” [‘offbeat timing’]—García (2006: 43). Moore points out that Rodríguez’s conjunto introduced the two- celled bass tumbaos, that moved beyond the simpler, single- cell tresillo structure.This type of bass line has a specific alignment to clave, and contributes melodically to the composition. Rodríguez’s brother Raúl Travieso recounted, Rodríguez insisted that his bass players make the bass “sing.”Moore states: “This idea of a bass tumbao with a melodic identity unique to a specific arrangement was critical not only to timba, but also to Motown, rock, funk, and other important genres.” In other words, Rodríguez is a creator of the bass riff. Breaks (‘cierres’) Rodríguez’s “Juventud amaliana” (1946) contains an example of one of his rhythmically dynamic unison breaks, strongly rooted in clave. Unison break from “Juventud amaliana” (1946), beginning on the three-side of clave. Most of Arsenio’s classic tracks from the golden period of 1946-1951 feature a virtuousic and highly-polyrhythmic solo by either Luis “Lilí” Martínez Griñán on piano, Arsenio himself on tres, or occasionally Félix Chappottín or one of the other trumpeters. The solo usually ends with Arsenio’s signature [break] lead-in phrase: . X X X X . [first measure in the example above]. The figure is usually played on the two-side in 3-2 clave and on the three-side in 2-3 clave, and leads directly to what most timba musicians call a bloque but which in Arsenio’s day was called a cierre. It consists of everyone in the band playing the same series of punches, creating extreme rhythmic tension with a combination of cross-rhythms and deceptive harmonies. As [David] García points out, the first four beats of the actual [break] have a rhythm [below] which was used repeatedly in the subsequent decades, most famously by Tito Puente and later Carlos Santana in “Oye Como Va”—Moore (2007). Moore is referring to the second and third measures of the break in the previous example. Here is that figure in relation to 2-3 clave. When the pattern is used as a type of block chord guajeo, as in “Oye Como Va,” it’s referred to as ponchando. 2-3 clave (top) with ponchando figure (bottom). Layered guajeos Rodríguez introduced the idea of layered guajeos (typical Cuban ostinato melodies)—an interlocking structure consisting of multiple contrapuntal parts. This aspect of the son’s modernization can be thought of as a matter of “re- Africanizing” the music. Helio Orovio recalls: “Arsenio once said his trumpets played figurations the ‘Oriente’ tres- guitarists played during the improvisational part of el son” (1992: 11).Oriente is the easternmost province of Cuba, where the son was born. It is common practice for treseros to play a series of guajeo variations during their solos. Perhaps it was only natural then that it was Rodríguez, the tres master, who conceived of the idea of layering these variations on top of each other. The following example is from the “diablo” section of Rodríguez’s “Kila, Quique y Chocolate” (1950).The excerpt consists of four interlocking guajeos: piano (bottom line), tres (second line), 2nd and 3rd trumpets (third line), and 1st trumpet (fourth line). 2-3 Clave is shown for reference (top line). Notice that the piano plays a single celled (single measure) guajeo, while the other guajeos are two-celled. It’s common practice to combine single and double-celled ostinatos in Afro-Cuban music. Four interlocking guajeos, with 2-3 clave (top line) for reference. Excerpt from Arsenio Rodríguez’s “Kila, Quique y Chocolate” (1950). During the 1940’s, the conjunto instrumentation was in full swing, as were the groups who incorporated the jazz band (or big band) instrumentation in the ensemble, guajeos (vamp-like lines) could be divided among each instrument section, such as saxes and brass; this became even more subdivided, featuring three or more independent riffs for smaller sections within the ensemble. By adopting polyrhythmic elements from the son, the horns took on a vamp-like role similar to the piano montuno and tres (or string) guajeo”—Mauleón (1993: 155). Expansion of the son conjunto The denser rhythmic weave of Rodríguez’s music required the addition of more instruments. Rodríguez added a second, and then, third trumpet—the birth of the Latin horn section. He made the bold move of adding the conga drum, the quintessential Afro-Cuban instrument. Today, we are so used to seeing conga drums in Latin bands, and that practice began with Rodríguez. His bongo player used a large, hand-held cencerro (‘cowbell’) during montunos (call-and-response chorus section).Rodríguez also added a variety of rhythms and harmonic concepts to enrich the son, the bolero, the guaracha and some fusions, such as the bolero-son. Similar changes had been made somewhat earlier by the Lecuona Cuban Boys, who (because they were mainly a touring band) had less influence in Cuba. The overall ‘feel’ of the Rodríguez conjunto was more African than other Cuban conjuntos. Piano guajeos Rodríguez took the pivotal step of replacing the guitar with the piano, which greatly expanded the contrapuntal and harmonic possibilities of Cuban popular music.