Una Sola Casa: Salsa Consciente and the Poetics Of
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BOSTON UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Dissertation UNA SOLA CASA: SALSA CONSCIENTE AND THE POETICS OF THE META-BARRIO by ANDRÉS ESPINOZA AGURTO B.A., Berklee College of Music, 2006 M.A., University of York, 2009 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 © Copyright by ANDRÉS ESPINOZA AGURTO 2014 Approved by First Reader _______________________________________________ Victor Manfredi, Ph.D. Visiting researcher, African Studies Center Second Reader _______________________________________________ Brita Heimarck, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Music Third Reader _______________________________________________ Victor Coelho, Ph.D. Professor of Music Un barrio que va desde Nueva York hasta la Patagonia (A neighborhood that goes from New York to Patagonia). Rubén Blades Salsa is an idea, a concept, the result of a way of approaching music from the Latin American cultural perspective. Willie Colón. iv A Latinoamérica v Acknowledgements The writing of this dissertation would not have been possible without the help of many people. I would like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Victor Manfredi, for his mentorship and guidance through the process. I feel truly fortunate to have worked with such a knowledgeable, passionate and caring person. I would also like to thank my committee members, Drs. Brita Heimarck, Victor Coelho, James Iffland and Marié Abe for the guidance and thought-provoking suggestions along the way. I would also like to show gratitude to all the musicians and Salsa historians who I interviewed for this work. They were all fantastic to work with, knowledgeable and incredibly generous with their time. Thank you to Eddie Montalvo, Renato Thoms, Jhair Sala, Jose Vázquez-Cofresí, Andy Gonzalez, John Benitez, Pedrito Martínez, Ariacne Trujillo, Yuniel Jiménez, Edwin Perez, Papo Vázquez, Ralph Irizarry, Jose Massó and the whole Orquesta Salsa con Conciencia. In the same category, I need to give special thanks to Felipe Luciano who gave me an incredible amount of first hand ‘lived’ knowledge and breakdown of the whole Salsa consciente movement. His thorough understanding and critical analysis of the subject were crucial throughout the research process. Both of my parents were big inspirations for this work. I thank both of them for instilling discipline and the love of knowledge in me. To my mother, who I saw write her dissertation, I give you my ‘Tesis:’ I am also grateful to my grandparents, mi Nana y mi Tata, and my aunt Ceci who always believed in me. I also need to express gratitude to my United States family, the Rondinas, who have so beautifully received me and supported my pursuits. vi I give thanks in the most heartfelt way to my amazing wife: Ellen Rondina. She has seen this process through and has been by my side all along, cheering me, supporting me, discussing the issues of the work, and helping me continue when the going got rough. I could not have done this without you by my side. I love you and I am forever grateful to have you in my life. Thank you. Finally, I thank Rubén Blades and Catalino ‘Tite’ Curet Alonso for their amazing musical contributions. This dissertation would not exist if I had not heard their amazing music in the first place. I thank music for she inspires me every day. I thank Latin America, mi bella América Latina, even though we are now far, you are in my thoughts every day. I never forget you and I miss you. vii UNA SOLA CASA: SALSA CONSCIENTE AND THE POETICS OF THE META-BARRIO (Order No. ) ANDRÉS ESPINOZA AGURTO Boston University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 2014 Major Professor: Victor Manfredi, Visiting researcher, African Studies Center. ABSTRACT The album Siembra (Fania 1978) by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón marked the arrival of Salsa consciente -- a strain of New York City Salsa inspired by the global youth revolution of 1968 and the cultural nationalism of the Afro-American Black Panthers and Puerto Rican Young Lords, which gave audible form to Latinidad -- the sociopolitical identity of Latinos in the U.S. and beyond. This dissertation analyzes the development of Salsa consciente as a musico-poetic movement that emerged in the mid 1970's and continued as a leading trend at least until 1991. This musical phenomenon expressed the ethnic consciousness of urban immigrants who came to feel that they all lived in una sola casa (one and the same house) or, in the same meta-barrio (urban meta-neighborhood or ghetto), a semiotically constructed abstract meeting space where Latino and Latin Americans interact through the lingua franca of politicized dance music. The style was catalyzed by performers such as Willie Colón, Ray Barretto, Cheo Feliciano, and Eddie Palmieri, following the intellectual lead of composers Rubén Blades and Catalino “Tite” Curet Alonso. viii The term consciente applied to Salsa evokes the idea of class consciousness in the Marxist sense (1971, cf. Lukacs’ History and Class Consciousness) and/or an ethical conscience that rejects consumerist individualism in favor of social solidarity. The artists may have intentionally chosen ambiguity as a means of defying existing political labels. Spread through the media of vinyl records and commercial radio, Salsa consciente was rapidly embraced by communities of various national origins as the socio-musical signature of Latino ethnicity in New York and beyond (cf. Zea, 1986; Padilla 1989; Davila, 2002; Ramirez, 2002; Aparicio, 2003; Caminero-Santangelo, 2007). The genre and its context are documented here through fieldwork combined with textual and sonic analysis of representative tracks, which are linked for this purpose at www.salsaconsciente.wordpress.com. ix Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 Self-reflexivity/Positionality.................................................................................................... 13 Methodological considerations ............................................................................................... 15 Fieldwork ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Textual analysis .......................................................................................................................... 17 Musical transcription and analysis of recorded material. .................................................. 18 Cross referenced catalog of recordings .................................................................................. 18 Chapter outline ........................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 1: Salsa as class consciousness ......................................................................... 19 1.1 Defining Salsa ...................................................................................................................... 23 1.2 Becoming Salsa ..................................................................................................................... 28 1.3 The musical aesthetics of Salsa ......................................................................................... 38 1.3.1 The Clave ............................................................................................................................ 38 x 1.3.2 The Percussion section ..................................................................................................... 40 The timbales ........................................................................................................................................... 40 The bongo ............................................................................................................................................... 41 The conga drums ................................................................................................................................... 42 The Puerto Rican bomba sicá ................................................................................................................. 43 The Afro-Cuban bembé .......................................................................................................................... 44 1.3.3 Bass lines ............................................................................................................................ 45 1.3.4 The piano in Salsa ............................................................................................................. 48 1.4 Latin music consciousness before Salsa .......................................................................... 52 1.4.1 “Aquí como allá.” As performed by Arsenio Rodriguez ........................................................ 61 1.4.2 “Yo nací del Africa” As performed By Arsenio Rodriguez ................................................... 63 1.4.3 “El Negro Bembón.” As performed by Ismael Rivera and Rafael Cortijo ............................ 67 1.4.4 Latino soul and bugalú ..................................................................................................... 69 “¿Y tu abuela dónde está?” As performed by the Joe Cuba Sextet ................................................. 73 1.4.5 From ethnicity to class ...................................................................................................... 75 Chapter 2: Salsa as the engine of Latino