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Afro (genre)
Afro is a genre of Cuban popular music with African themes which gained prominence during the afrocubanismo movement in the early 20th century. It originated in the late 19th century Cuban blackface theatre, where some elements from Afro-Cuban music traditions such as Santería and Palo were incorporated into a secular context. As a result, black themes were occasionally portrayed in a stereotypical and derogatory manner. Nonetheless, many afros accurately depicted the working-class life of black communities in Cuba. Afros are sung in a creolized form of Spanish, often similar to bozal. In the 1940s and 1950s, the genre reached its peak of popularity often mixing with son cubano giving rise to the hybrid style known as afro-son (or son-afro). Compositions not based on the son structure were often labelled as ''canción afro'' (afro-song) or ''canción de cuna afro'' (afro-lullaby); the latter became a popular form, especially due to the popularity of Ernesto Grenet's "Drume negrita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuban Musical Theatre
Cuban musical theatre has its own distinctive style and history. From the 18th century (at least) to modern times, popular theatrical performances included music and often dance as well. Many composers and musicians had their careers launched in the theatres, and many compositions got their first airing on the stage. In addition to staging some European operas and operettas, Cuban composers gradually developed ideas which better suited their creole audience. Characters on stages began to include elements from Cuban life, and the music began to reflect a fusion between African and European contributions. Sound recording and reproduction, Recorded music was to be the conduit for Cuban music to reach the world. The most recorded artist in Cuba up to 1925 was a singer at the ''Alhambra'', Adolfo Colombo. Records show he recorded about 350 numbers between 1906 and 1917. The first theatre in Havana opened in 1775, called the ''Coliseo'', and later the ''Teatro Principal''. The first Cuban ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ned Sublette
Ned Sublette (born 1951 in Lubbock, Texas) is an American composer, musician, record producer, musicologist, historian, and author. Sublette studied Spanish Classical Guitar with Hector Garcia at the University of New Mexico and with Emilio Pujol in Spain. He studied composition with Kenneth Gaburo at the University of California, San Diego. He grew up in Portales, New Mexico, moved to New York City in 1976, and has worked with John Cage, LaMonte Young, Glenn Branca, and Peter Gordon. Music performance As a performer, Sublette is probably best known for fusing country-western and afro-Caribbean styles including salsa, cumbia and rumba, as reflected on the 1999 album "Cowboy Rumba", as well as his 2012 second album ''Kiss You Down South''. He is also a leading scholar of Cuban music. His label Qbadisc releases Cuban music in the United States and he has released music by Latin musicians including Ritmo Oriental and Issac Delgado and has co-produced Public Radio International' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tío Tom
Gonzalo Ascencio Hernández Kessel (5 April 1919 – 10 February 1991), known as (Uncle Tom), was an Afro-Cuban musician who specialized in the rumba and its variant, the guaguancó. Asencio was the author of hundreds of pieces that for decades were sung and danced by Cubans without knowing who created them, except among circles of rumba musicians. Among his most famous compositions are , and . Asencio's uncertain and bohemian lifestyle was exploited by certain “professional” musicians who registered his compositions as their own, stripping him of his author’s rights. Only in 1982 did musicians, writers, and disc jockeys manage to organize a tribute to him, in Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution Cultural Center. Other tributes have followed ever since. Life and career Asencio was born on 5 April 1919 in Cayo Hueso, Havana. His father, Nicanor, was a stevedore on the La Machina dock; his mother, Carmelina, a great pastry cook. Gonzalo as a child worked as shoeshine bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obdulio Morales
Obdulio Morales Ríos (April 7, 1910 – January 9, 1981) was a Cuban pianist, conductor, composer and ethnomusicologist, an important figure in the late afrocubanismo movement. He championed Afro-Cuban music traditions and sponsored artists such as Merceditas Valdés. Career Early life and career Obdulio Morales Ríos was born in Havana on April 7, 1910. He learned piano from an American teacher and furthered his studies at the conservatory. At age 12 he began to play piano at the silent cinema, and a year later he was playing in private dance parties as a reserve pianist. Around the same time, while working as an apprentice for his father, who was a tailor, he began to attend black societies such as the Club Bohemio. In 1924 he joined the first lineup of Los Hermanos Martínez orchestra. 1930s Morales worked for the radio since 1928, specializing in Afro-Cuban music. In 1938 he premiered ''Batamú'' in collaboration with musician Julio Chappottín (father of Félix Chappo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Facundo Rivero
''Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism'' (original Spanish title: ''Facundo: Civilización y Barbarie'') is a book written in 1845 by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a writer and journalist who became the second president of Argentina. It is a cornerstone of Latin American literature: a work of creative non-fiction that helped to define the parameters for thinking about the region's development, modernization, power, and culture. Subtitled ''Civilization and Barbarism'', ''Facundo'' contrasts civilization and barbarism as seen in early 19th-century Argentina. Literary critic Roberto González Echevarría calls the work "the most important book written by a Latin American in any discipline or genre". ''Facundo'' describes the life of Juan Facundo Quiroga, a '' caudillo'' who had terrorized provincial Argentina in the 1820s and 1830s. Kathleen Ross, one of ''Facundos English translators, points out that the author also published ''Facundo'' to "denounce the tyranny of the Argentine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilberto Valdés
Gilberto S. Valdés (21 May 1905, in Jovellanos, Matanzas – 12 May 1972, in New York City) was a Cuban music director and composer who specialised in the afro genre of Cuban popular music. Valdés was one of the first popular bandleaders to introduce African melody, rhythm and traditional themes into his music."El Concierto Afro-Cubano de Gilberto S. Valdés," 344 Estudios Afrocubanos , 1 (1937), 139-145. His Afro-Cuban compositions first gained attention in 1935, when Rita Montaner, accompanied by the pianist Rafael Betancourt, presented his songs "Bembé", "Baró", "Tambó" y "Sangre africana" in the Teatro Principal de la Comedia. Discography *''Cuban ballet'' Orquesta de Cámara de Madrid dir. Gilberto Valdés LP Montilla 92: *''Hi Fi in the tropics'' LP Montilla 94 *''Gran Orquesta Típica Nacional'' LP Puchito SP-114: *''Rezo de santo – Ritmo de santo de la tierra de África en Arará. '' LP Maype 180 *''La música del maestro Gilberto Valdés – Con su orquesta'' LP Pana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernesto Grenet
Ernesto, form of the name Ernest in several Romance languages, may refer to: * ''Ernesto'' (novel) (1953), an unfinished autobiographical novel by Umberto Saba, published posthumously in 1975 ** ''Ernesto'' (film), a 1979 Italian drama loosely based on the novel * Hurricane Ernesto (other), several hurricanes or People *Ernesto Abella, Filipino businessman, politician, and writer * Ernesto Aguero (born 1969), Cuban weightlifter *Ernesto Alonso (1917–2007), Mexican actor, director, cinematographer, and producer * Ernesto Amantegui Phumipha (born 1990), Thai footballer *Ernesto Basile (1857–1932), Italian architect * Ernesto Cesàro (1859–1906), Italian mathematician * Ernesto De Curtis (1875–1937), Italian composer *Ernesto Farías (born 1980), Argentine footballer *Ernesto Figueiredo (born 1937), also known as "Ernesto", Portuguese footballer * Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (1928–1967), also known as "El Che" or "Che Guevara" *Ernesto Geisel (1908-1996), Brazilian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drume Negrita
Drume ( cyrl, Друме; sq, Drume) is a village in the municipality of Tuzi, Montenegro. It is located close to the Albanian border. Demographics According to the 2011 census, its population was 164, all but one of them Albanians The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se .... References Populated places in Tuzi Municipality Albanian communities in Montenegro {{Montenegro-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arsenio Rodríguez
Arsenio Rodríguez (born Ignacio Arsenio Travieso Scull; 31 August 1911 – 30 December 1970)Giro, Radamés 2007. ''Diccionario enciclopédico de la música en Cuba''. La Habana, v. 4 p. 45 et seq. was a Cuban musician, composer and bandleader. He played the tres, as well as the tumbadora, and he specialized in son, rumba and other Afro-Cuban music styles. In the 1940s and 1950s Rodríguez established the ''conjunto'' format and contributed to the development of 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 songs. Despite being blind since the age of seven, Rodríguez quickly managed to become one of Cuba's foremost ''treseros''. Nonetheless, his first hit, "Bruca maniguá" by Orquesta Casino de la Playa, came as a songwriter in 1937. For the following two years, Rodríguez worked as composer and guest guitarist for the Casino de la Playa, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruca Maniguá
"Bruca maniguá" is an afro-son composed by Arsenio Rodríguez in 1937. It was first recorded by Orquesta Casino de la Playa featuring Miguelito Valdés on vocals in June 1937. Ever since it has become a Cuban son standard, with famous versions by Abelardo Barroso, Sierra Maestra, Buena Vista Social Club and Ibrahim Ferrer. The song, which has been called "a landmark in the development of Cuban popular music" by Ned Sublette, was Arsenio Rodríguez's first hit and an example of his Afro-Cuban style of son within the afrocubanismo movement. History Both the lyrics and the music of the song were written in 1937 by Arsenio Rodríguez, who at the time was 25 years old and the ''de facto'' musical director of the Septeto Bellamar, which he had joined in 1934. The popularity of the group made him become acquainted with important musicians such as Antonio Arcaño and Miguelito Valdés. The latter was the singer of the famous big band Orquesta Casino de la Playa and in June 1937, Valdés ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margarita Lecuona
Margarita Lecuona (1910–1981) was a Cuban singer and composer who is remembered for composing Afro songs such as "Babalú" and "Tabú". Biography Born in Havana on 18 April 1910, Lecuona was the daughter of Eugenio Lecuona, the Cuban consul in New York. She attended the Colegio Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes and the Colegio Sepúlveda in Havana before embarking on her secondary education at the Instituto de La Habana which she left after her first two years. She studied singing under Julia Lucignani and the piano under Eulalia Santana before attending the Escuela de Guitarra de Pro-Arte Musical to study the guitar under Clara Romero de Nicola. She studied dance at the Escuela de Ballet under the ballet master Nikolai Yavorsky, performing in a number of his works. In 1930, while still studying, she wrote "Soñadora" which she sang playing the guitar. After performing in a number of stage productions, in 1942, she first created a duo with Olga Luque and then a group called the L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babalú
"Babalú" is a Cuban popular afro song written by Margarita Lecuona, the cousin of composers Ernestina and Ernesto Lecuona. The song title is a reference to the Santería deity Babalú Ayé. Lyrics In the song's lyrics, originally written in Spanish creole, the singer wonders aloud what to do with a statue of Babalú Ayé, now that a Santería rite had been invoked by others. He suggests that seventeen candles be lit up, in the shape of a cross, and that a cigar and aguardiente be brought to him, as to pay homage to the deity. He then requests good luck, love from his beloved woman, and safety and protection to both. History The song was first published in the United States in 1939 by Peer International. The first publication with an English translation (by Sydney King Russell) was in 1941. "Babalú" was the signature song of the fictional television character Ricky Ricardo, played by Desi Arnaz in the television comedy series ''I Love Lucy'', though it was already an established ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
