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Charanga (Cuba)
Charanga is a traditional ensemble that plays Cuban dance music. They made Cuban dance music popular in the 1940s and their music consisted of heavily son-influenced material, performed on European instruments such as violin and flute by a Charanga orchestra. (Chomsky 2004, p. 199). The style of music that is most associated with a Charanga is termed ' Danzón', and is an amalgam of both European classical music and African rhythms. Origins "Scholars agree that Spain and parts of West and Central Africa provided the most crucial influences in the development of Cuban popular and religious music. But in the case of charanga, the contributions of French and Haitian influences cannot be ignored. Charanga began its history in the early nineteenth century when Haitians, both African and French, escaped the island's revolution. They brought with them a love for the French contredanse, a multi-sectional dance form that evolved into the danzón, the quintessential charanga style. ...
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Ray Barretto
Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Latin jazz. His first hit, "El Watusi," was recorded by his Charanga Moderna in 1962, becoming the most successful pachanga song in the United States. In the late 1960s, Barretto became one of the leading exponents of boogaloo and what would later be known as salsa. Nonetheless, many of Barretto's recordings would remain rooted in more traditional genres such as son cubano. A master of the descarga (improvised jam session), Barretto was a long-time member of the Fania All-Stars. His success continued into the 1970s with songs such as "Cocinando" and "Indestructible." His last album for Fania Records, ''Soy dichoso'', was released in 1990. He then formed the New World Spirit jazz ensemble and continued to tour and record until his death i ...
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Son (music)
Son cubano is a genre of music and dance that originated in the highlands of eastern Cuba during the late 19th century. It is a syncretic genre that blends elements of Spanish and African origin. Among its fundamental Hispanic components are the vocal style, lyrical metre and the primacy of the tres, derived from the Spanish guitar. On the other hand, its characteristic clave rhythm, call and response structure and percussion section ( bongo, maracas, etc.) are all rooted in traditions of Bantu origin. Around 1909 the son reached Havana, where the first recordings were made in 1917. This marked the start of its expansion throughout the island, becoming Cuba's most popular and influential genre. While early groups had between three and five members, during the 1920s the ''sexteto'' ( sextet) became the genre's primary format. By the 1930s, many bands had incorporated a trumpet, becoming ''septetos'', and in the 1940s a larger type of ensemble featuring congas and piano beca ...
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Antonio Arcaño
Antonio Arcaño Betancourt (Atarés, Havana 29 December 1911 – 1994) was a Cuban flautist, bandleader and founder of Arcaño y sus Maravillas, one of Cuba's most successful charangas. He retired from playing in 1945, but continued as director of the group until its dissolution in 1958. Despite his early retirement due to health problems, he is considered one of the most influential flautists in Cuba. After leaving La Maravilla del Siglo, a very popular charanga, Arcaño founded La Maravilla de Arcaño, later known as Arcaño y sus Maravillas. The band featured the López brothers, Israel López "Cachao" and Orestes López, composers and multi-instrumentalists that originated the danzón-mambo, the direct precursor of the mambo, through compositions such as " Rareza de Melitón", "Se va el matancero" and, above all, "Mambo", the piece that lent its name to the genre. Arcaño was posthumously inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2000. See also * José ...
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Orquesta Broadway
Orquesta Broadway was an American mid-1960s/late 1980s New York-based salsa band. They issued almost 20 albums between 1964 and 1987. Orquesta Broadway and Típica 73 were two popular New York salsa bands that played in the ''charanga'' format.Cesar Miguel Rondón, ''The Book of Salsa: A Chronicle of Urban Music from the Caribbean'', 2008, p. 186 : "The actual protagonist of this new spin-off was none other than the Orquesta Broadway, rightfully considered the dean of the ... Orquesta Broadway was formed by the three Zervigón brothers and was the only charanga ensemble able to ..." Some of the famous musicians initially involved were Monguito "El Único", a Cuban nasal-voiced singer (he patterned his vocal style on the Cuban sonero Miguelito Cuní), joined in 1962, when he moved to New York from Mexico, Ronnie Baro, 1992, co-founder of Africando and Roger Dawson, conga drummer (bongos are not typically used in charanga bands). Their song "El Barrio del Pilar" is considered a ...
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Orquesta América
Orquesta América is a Cuban charanga orchestra founded in Havana in 1942, and later based in Mexico City and California. The band pioneered the cha-cha-chá in 1953. History The band was founded in 1942 by singer Ninón Mondéjar with Alex Sosa (piano), Enrique Jorrín, Antonio Sánchez, and Félix Reina (violins), Juan Ramos (flute) and others. Mondéjar and Sosa went to Mexico, then later revived Orquesta América in California. Success, in Cuba, came in 1953 with Orquesta America's recording of Jorrín's "La engañadora". However the success of the band led to Mondéjar and Jorrín over whether the bandleader or songwriter should take the credit for the invention of the cha-cha-chá. The band split during a tour of Mexico in December 1954 and Ramos returned to Havana with half of the band to form Orquesta América del '55 in 1955. During that same year Juanito Ramos was replaced by Rolando Lozano flutist (formerly of Orquesta Aragon) and his brother Clemente Lozano also a ...
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Orquesta Aragón
Orquesta Aragón is a Cuban musical band formed on 30 September 1939, by Orestes Aragón Cantero in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The band originally had the name ''Ritmica 39'', then ''Ritmica Aragón'' before settling on its final form. Though they did not create the ''Cha-cha-cha'', they were arguably the best charanga in Cuba during the 1950s and 1960s. Their trade-marks included high-class instrumentalists playing in tight ensemble style, and rhythmical innovations which kept their sound up to date. Over the years they progressed from their start as a danzoneria to play a wider variety of styles, danzón, then cha-cha-cha, then onda-cha, pachanga and son fusions. They still perform today, based in Havana. History Originally, the orchestra consisted of eight musicians: Orestes Aragon (double bass), Filiberto Depestre (first violin), Hilario René González (second violin) Rufino Roque (piano), Efraín Loyola (flute), Orestes Varona (timbales), Noelio Morejon (güiro) & Pablo Romay (voca ...
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Twoubadou
Twoubadou (, french: Troubadour) music is a popular genre of guitar-based music from Haiti that has a long and important place in Haitian culture. The word comes from ''troubadour'', a medieval poet-musician who wrote and sang songs about courtly love. Like the troubadours of old, the Haitian twoubadou is a singer-composer who accompanies himself on songs that tell about the bitterness and humor of love, often using risqué or suggestive lyrics. History Twoubadou was developed in the early 20th century. It combined music derived from the ''guajiro'' traditions of Cuba, (which is related to the ''jibaro'' musical tradition of Puerto Rico) with a Haitian musical style called méringue. Twoubadou was brought back by Haitian migrant laborers who went to work as cutters on sugar plantations in Cuba who traveled back and forth to harvest the seasonal crop at the turn of the century. The instruments in the ensemble are portable, since most twoubadou had to carry all of their posses ...
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Mambo (music)
Mambo is a genre of Cuban dance music pioneered by the charanga Arcaño y sus Maravillas in the late 1930s and later popularized in the big band style by Pérez Prado. It originated as a syncopated form of the danzón, known as danzón-mambo, with a final, improvised section, which incorporated the '' guajeos'' typical of son cubano (also known as '' montunos''). These ''guajeos'' became the essence of the genre when it was played by big bands, which did not perform the traditional sections of the danzón and instead leaned towards swing and jazz. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, mambo had become a "dance craze" in the United States as its associated dance took over the East Coast thanks to Pérez Prado, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez and others. In the mid-1950s, a slower ballroom style, also derived from the danzón, cha-cha-cha, replaced mambo as the most popular dance genre in North America. Nonetheless, mambo continued to enjoy some degree of popularity into the 1960s ...
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Tumba Francesa
Tumba francesa is a secular Afro-Cuban genre of dance, song, and drumming that emerged in Oriente, Cuba. It was introduced by slaves from the French colony of Saint-Domingue (which would later become the nation of Haiti) whose owners resettled in Cuba's eastern regions following the slave rebellion during the 1790s. The genre flourished in the late 19th century with the establishment of ''sociedades de tumba francesa'' (tumba francesa societies), of which only three survive. Characteristics Tumba francesa combines musical traditions of West African, Bantu, French and Spanish origin. Cuban ethnomusicologists agree that the word "tumba" derives from the Bantu and Mandinka words for drum. In Cuba, the word tumba is used to denote the drums, the ensembles and the performance itself in tumba francesa. Instrumentation Tumbas francesas are directed by a mistress of ceremonies called ''mayora de plaza''. Performances generally begin with improvised solo singing in a mixture of Spa ...
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Music Of Haiti
The music of Haiti combines a wide range of influences drawn from the many people who have settled on this Caribbean island. It reflects French, African rhythms, Spanish elements and others who have inhabited the island of Hispaniola and minor native Taino influences. Styles of music unique to the nation of Haiti include music derived from rara parading music, twoubadou ''ballads'', mini-jazz ''rock bands'', rasin movement, hip hop Creòle, the wildly popular compas, and méringue as its basic rhythm. Haiti did not have recorded music until 1937 when Jazz Guignard was recorded non-commercially. One of the most current popular Haitian artists is Wyclef Jean. His music is somewhat hip hop mixed with worldbeat. Haitian music is influenced mostly by European colonial ties and African migration (through slavery). In the case of European colonization, musical influence has derived primarily from the French. One of Haiti's musical traditions is known to outsiders simply as comp ...
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Arcaño Y Sus Maravillas
Arcaño y sus Maravillas was a Cuban charanga founded in 1937 by flautist Antonio Arcaño. Until its dissolution in 1958, it was one of the most popular and prolific danzón orchestras in Cuba, particularly due to the development of the danzón-mambo by its two main composers and musicians: Orestes López (piano, cello, bass) and his brother Israel López "Cachao" (bass). Such upbeat version of the danzón served as a precursor of the mambo popularized by Pérez Prado, as well as the chachachá created by Enrique Jorrín, a violinist who started his career in the Maravillas. Other important musicians in the Maravillas were pianist Jesús López (unrelated to Orestes and Israel), timbalero Ulpiano Díaz, violinist Félix Reina and flautist Eulogio Ortiz. Antonio Arcaño, former member of singer Fernando Collazo's La Maravilla del Siglo, founded his orchestra in November 1937 under the name La Maravilla de Arcaño, featuring many of the members of Collazo's group. Collazo hi ...
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Timbales
Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfico y técnico''. Entries for ''Paila criolla''; ''Timbal criollo''. They were developed as an alternative to classical timpani in Cuba in the early 20th century and later spread across Latin America and the United States. Timbales are struck with wooden sticks on the heads and shells, although bare hands are sometimes used. The player (called a ''timbalero'') uses a variety of stick strokes, rim shots, and rolls to produce a wide range of percussive expression during solos and at transitional sections of music, and usually plays the shells (or auxiliary percussion such as a cowbell or cymbal) to keep time in other parts of the song. The shells and the typical pattern played on them are referred to as ''cáscara''. Common stroke patterns inc ...
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