AN ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL STUDY OF CUBAN MUSIC by Maria del Carmen Calzon A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Education Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida August, 19?4 ~0 \ © 1974 MARIA DEL CARMEN CALZON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii AN ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL STUDY OF CUBAN MUSIC by Maria del Carmen Calzon This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate's thesis advisor, Dr. Kenneth H. Robinson, Department of Curriculum and Instruction. It was submit­ ted to the faculty of the College of Education and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My most sincere appreciation and thanks to Dr. Kenneth H. Robinson, Professor of Education at Florida Atlantic University and advisor of my master's degree program. His help and encouragement as well as his sin­ cere guidance has meant a lot during the difficult years as an undergraduate and has been essential during my graduate studies at Florida Atlantic University. He has always been there, ready and willing to help, anytime he was needed. To all the people who kindly gave of their time and effort to help in the preparation of this study, es­ pecially Dr. Rosa Abella, Acquisitions, University of Miami Library, my most grateful thanks. To my family, my parents for their support, my sister, Puri, for many hours spent correcting and recheck­ ing this work, to my brother, Frank, who started me in music many years ago, my thanks and love. But most special in her help, my ten-year-old sister, Mary Ann, to whom I dedicate this work; may music bring into her life as much happiness as it was brought into mine. iv ABSTRACT Author: Maria del Carmen Calzon Title: An Ethnomusicological Study of Cuban Music Institution: Florida Atlantic University Degree: Master of Education Year: 19?4 The study of Cuba's music has been a source of the utmost neglect, even though its influence is felt world­ wide through the use of native Cuban instruments and forms. It is rare to see credit given where it is due. This thesis was prepared as an introductory text into the area of Cuban music through the compilation and cata- gorization of the basics, influences in the music, native musical instruments, musical forms and composers. The research included intensive translations of rare, out of pr int books, as well as massive analizations of musical compositions. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I . INTRODUCTION . 1.. II . INFLUENCES ON THE MUSIC . 3 Indian European African III . NATIVE INSTRUMENTS . 12 Tumbadora Bongo a Timbales Maracas Claves GCliro I Cencerro I Quijada ( Tiple I Tres Religious Drums IV. MUSICAL FORMS . 23 x Vals Tropical < Contradanza Habanera '- Danza Danz6n <- Danzone t e I( Son x Zapateo Guajira Pun to Cr io lla Clave Canci6n Pregon Bolero Guaracha Rumba Conga Pachanga Tango Congo Comparsa Cha - cha-ch6. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Chapter v. COMPOSERS • . 38 Alonso Mor on, Porras , and Ortiz Miguel Velazquez Teodora Gines Esteban Salas Juan Par(s Antonio Raffel {n Manuel Saumell Robredo Jose Wh ite Ignacio Cervantes Kawanagh Gaspar Villate y Montes Miguel Failde Gumersindo Garay Gaspar Aguero Eduardo S6nchez de Fuentes Antonio Mar{a Romeu Jorge Anckerman Ernestina Lecuona Luis Casas Romero Noises Simons Gonzalo Roig El iseo Grenet Ernesto Lecuona Amadeo Roldan Alejandro Garcia Caturla Jose { to Fernandez VI . INFLUENCES UPON JAZZ . VII . CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS • . BIBLIOGRAPHY . 55 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The study of Cuba ' s music has been a source of the utmost negZect, even though its infZuence is feZt world-wide through the use of native Cuban instruments and forms . It is rare to see credit given where it is due. Remember the Rumba Symphony by HarZ Mac Donald and from Gershwin, his Cuban Overture . And the overture to the orchestr al version of Saudades do BrasiZ , which the French composer Milhaud developed from a theme of a Cuban danz6n by Antonio Romeu • ••• let's mention separately Edgar Varese, who uses in his symphony, Ionization, the percusive Cuban instruments known as claves,guiros, maracas, and bong6. 1 The Zist of composers who have used the Cuban instru- ments is very Zarge, so much so that these instruments are rarely thought of as Cuban any more. Much the same has happened with the typicaZ Cuban rhythms, the great dissem- ination has made them an innate part of jazz and rock, as well as classical compositions. 1Recuerdense la Rumba Symphony de Harl Mac Donald y, de Gershwin, su Cuban Overture . Y la obertura de la version orquestal de Saudades do Brasil , que el compositor frances Milhaud desarrol l6 sobre el tema de un danz6n cubano de Antonio Romeu • ••• citemos aparte a Edgar Varese, quien emplea en su sinfon{a Ionization los instru­ mentos percusivos cubanos conocidos por claves, guiros, maracas y bongo. Fernando Ort{z, La African{a de la Musica Folklorica de Cuba (Habana : Publicaciones del Ministerio de Educacion, 1950) , p . 122 . 2 This thesis was prepared as an introductory text into the area of Cuban music through the compilation and catagorization of the basics, influences in the music, native musical instruments, musical forms and composers. The research included intensive translations of rare, out- of-print books, as well as massive analyzations of musical compositions. The main purpose of this thesis is to bring out the importance that Cuban music has had and presently has in contemporary music through an intensive study of its background, components and character. We Cubans have exported with our music more dreams and delights than with tobacco, more sweetness and energies than with sugar. Afro-Cuban music is fire, taste and smoke; it's syrup, ele­ gance and comfort; like a sounding rum that you taste through your ears, that with its contact equalizes and unites people and through the senses livens life. The intense musicality of the Cuban people can not be denied.2 2 , . Los cubanos hemos exportado con nuestra musLca mas ensonaciones y deleites que con el tabaco, mas dul­ zuras y energ{as que con el azucar. La musica afrocubana es fuego, sabrosura y humo; es alm{bar, sandunga y alivio; como un ron sonora que se bebe por los o{dos, que en el trato iguala y junta a las gentes y en los sentidos dinamiza la vida. No se puede negar la intensa musical­ idad del pueblo cubano. Ibid., p. 2 . CHAPTER II INFLUENCES IN THE MUSIC Cuba's population consists of a mixture of Asians, Africans, and Europeans . Asians--mainly Chinese--make up less than 1 percent, while blacks make up one-eighth of the total population, and Mulattos, one-seventh. The re­ mainder--or three- fourths--is white , mostly of Spanish descent . There is no trace of Indian, since the original population of the island was made extinct by the Spaniards when they colonized the island in the 16th Century . The Indians , though not physically present, still influence modern Cubans through their legacy of the use of several plants , among them the tobacco and cassava; and of their unique houses, the bohio, a rustic dwelling with a dirt floor and a thatched roof, found today still in use throughout the interior of the island. The Indian influence upon Cuba ' s modern music is very slight and deals only in the realm of instrumenta­ tion. Actually the only indication that can be found that they had any kind of music at all is found in letters and journals of the period when Indians were still found on the island. One such source is a letter from the Bishop of Sarmiento to the King of Spain~ 3 4 If the Indians did not have things to do, they will only bother themselves with "are{tos" and other vices • ••• If they were free, they would only loaf and make "are{tos", and then lives will be lost, owners~ their ranches, and Your Majesty, the island.~ In the chronicle of Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, there is an account of how are{tos were danced: These people had a good and gentle manner to commemorate things past; and this was in their son9s and dances, which they called areytos", which is the same which we call singing while dancing . 4 These are{tos produce a lot of speculation as to their form and manner of performance since none survived the death of their makers. Other than knowing that they were antiphonal in character and that they were used to retell old stories while dancing, not much is known about them. Even their name is a product of evolution from the Spanish description of them, 'airitos', or little airs. Oviedo also mentions a drum more or less in the style of the hollow logs used in Africa: Sometimes they would mix with their singing the sound of a drum, which is made from a round log, hollow, concave, and as thick as a 3como los indios no tengan que hacer, no se ocuparan sino en are{tos y en otros vicios y disoluciones • ••• Como sean libres, no haran sino holgar y hacer are{tos; y en ello perderan vidas y animo, y los vecinos sus haciendas, y Vuestrc Majestad la isla. Alejo Carpentier, La M~sica en Cuba (Habanc Editorial Luz-Hilo, 1961), p. 20. 4 , Tentan estas gentes la buena y gentil manera de re- memorar las cosas pasadas e antiguas; y esto era en sus can­ tares y bayles, que ellos llaman areyto, que es lo mismo que nosotros llamamos baylar cantando. Ibid. 5 man ••• but they do not put skin on it, instead carve holes, like rays, through it, because of which it would resound very badly.