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Guaracha
The guaracha () is a genre of music that originated in Cuba, of rapid tempo and comic or picaresque lyrics. The word had been used in this sense at least since the late 18th and early 19th century. Guarachas were played and sung in musical theatres and in low-class dance salons. They became an integral part of bufo comic theatre in the mid-19th century. During the later 19th and the early 20th century the guaracha was a favourite musical form in the brothels of Havana. The guaracha survives today in the repertoires of some trova musicians, conjuntos and Cuban-style big bands. Early uses of the word Though the word may be historically of Spanish origin, its use in this context is of indigenous Cuban origin. These are excerpts from reference sources, in date order: A Latin American carol "Convidando esta la noche" dates from at least the mid 17th century and both mentions and is a guaracha. It was composed or collected by Juan Garcia de Zespedes, 1620-1678, Puebla, Mexico. This ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Of Cuba
The music of Cuba, including its instruments, performance, and dance, comprises a large set of unique traditions influenced mostly by west African and European (especially Spanish) music. Due to the syncretic nature of most of its genres, Cuban music is often considered one of the richest and most influential regional music in the world. For instance, the son cubano merges an adapted Spanish guitar (tres), melody, harmony, and lyrical traditions with Afro-Cuban percussion and rhythms. Almost nothing remains of the original native traditions, since the native population was exterminated in the 16th century. Since the 19th-century Cuban music has been hugely popular and influential throughout the world. It has been perhaps the most popular form of regional music since the introduction of recording technology. Cuban music has contributed to the development of a wide variety of genres and musical styles around the globe, most notably in Latin America, the Caribbean, West Africa, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ñico Saquito
Benito Antonio Fernández Ortiz (13 February 1901 – 4 August 1982), better known as Ñico Saquito, was a Cuban trova songwriter, guitarist and singer. He is widely considered the most prolific and successful composer of guarachas, most of which he wrote during his stint as a member of Los Guaracheros de Oriente. Among his most enduring compositions are "Cuidadito compay gallo", "María Cristina", "Adiós compay gato", "Al vaivén de mi carreta", "Camina como Chencha" and "Amarrao compé". Life and career Saquito was born on 13 February 1901 in Santiago de Cuba, the capital of the Santiago de Cuba Province (known as the Oriente Province between 1905 and 1976), notable for its traditional ''trova'' music. From an early age Saquito was a keen baseball player, using a jute sack as his baseball glove, from which his nickname originated (''ñico'' from Antoñico, diminutive of his name due to his short stature, and ''saquito'' meaning small sack). By the age of 15 he had already at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manuel Corona (musician)
Manuel Corona Raimundo (17 June 1880, in Caibarién – 9 January 1950 in Marianao, Havana) was a Cuban trova musician, and a long-term professional rival of Sindo Garay. He came to Havana when the Cuban War of Independence broke out, and worked as a bootblack and a cigar-roller. His supervisor at the cigar factory taught him the guitar, and in 1905 he set up in a café in the red-light district of ''San Isidro''. The district was controlled by the chulo (pimp) Alberto Yarini Alberto Yarini y Ponce de León (1882-1910) was a Cuban racketeer and pimp during the period of the Cuban War of Independence against Spain. Yarini was well known in his time, is Cuba's most famous pimp, and came to symbolize the concept of Cub ... (1882–1910), who became famous for introducing French prostitutes (putas francesas) willing to perform more salacious acts than even the Cubans were used to. The francesas cut heavily into the profits of the Cuban putas, and the result was a gang w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danzón
Danzón is the official musical genre and dance of Cuba.Urfé, Odilio 1965. ''El danzón''. La Habana. It is also an active musical form in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Written in time, the danzón is a slow, formal partner dance, requiring set footwork around syncopated beats, and incorporating elegant pauses while the couples stand listening to virtuoso instrumental passages, as characteristically played by a charanga or típica ensemble. The danzón evolved from the Cuban contradanza, or habanera ('Havana-dance'). The contradanza, which had English and French roots in the country dance and contredanse, was probably introduced to Cuba by the Spanish, who ruled the island for almost four centuries (1511–1898), contributing many thousands of immigrants. It may also have been partially seeded during the short-lived British occupation of Havana in 1762, and Haitian refugees fleeing the island's revolution of 1791–1804 brought the French-Haitian kontradans, contributing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contradanza
''Contradanza'' (also called ''contradanza criolla'', ''danza'', ''danza criolla'', or ''habanera'') is the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of France. Contradanza was brought to America and there took on folkloric forms that still exist in Bolivia, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. In Cuba during the 19th century, it became an important genre, the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African rhythm pattern and the first Cuban dance to gain international popularity, the progenitor of danzón, mambo and cha-cha-cha, with a characteristic "habanera rhythm" and sung lyrics. Outside Cuba, the Cuban contradanza became known as the ''habanera'' – the dance of Havana – and that name was adopted in Cuba itself subsequent to its international popularity in the later 19th centu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
José Marín Varona
José Marín Varona (Camagüey, March 10, 1859Havana, September 17, 1912) was a Cuban composer, conductor, pianist and professor.Marín Varona, José: Orovio, Helio: uban Music from A to Z, DukeUniversity Press, Durham, U. S., 2004 Biographical note José Marín Varona was born on March 10, 1859 in the city of Camagüey, where he began his musical studies with professor Mariano Agüero. At a later time, Varona established his residence in Havana. In 1896, the composer included in his zarzuela "El Brujo" the first Cuban guajira which has been historically documented. About this piece, composer Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes said: "The honest critique of a not very far day will bestow the author of the immortal guajira of "El Brujo" the honor to which he is undoubtedly entitled at any time".Sánchez de Fuentes, Eduardo: Artículo en “Folklorismo”editado por Imprenta “Molina y Compañía”, Ricla, Num 55-57, La Habana, 1928. Shortly after the premiere of "El Brujo", Marín V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habanera (music)
''Contradanza'' (also called ''contradanza criolla'', ''danza'', ''danza criolla'', or ''habanera'') is the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of France. Contradanza was brought to America and there took on folkloric forms that still exist in Bolivia, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. In Cuba during the 19th century, it became an important genre, the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African rhythm pattern and the first Cuban dance to gain international popularity, the progenitor of danzón, mambo and cha-cha-cha, with a characteristic "habanera rhythm" and sung lyrics. Outside Cuba, the Cuban contradanza became known as the ''habanera'' – the dance of Havana – and that name was adopted in Cuba itself subsequent to its international popularity in the later 19th centu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, as a " librettist". The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of expression. Rappers can also create lyrics (often with a variation of rhyming words) that are meant to be spoken rhythmically rather than sung. Etymology The word ''lyric'' derives via Latin ' from the Greek ('), the adjectival form of '' lyre''. It first appeared in English in the mid-16th century in reference to the Earl of Surrey's translations of Petrarch and to his own sonnets. Greek lyric poetry had been defined by the manner in which it was sung accompanied by the lyre or cithara, as opposed to the chante ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jorge Anckermann
Jorge Anckermann (22 March 1877 – 3 February 1941) was a Cuban pianist, composer and bandleader. Havana-born, he started in music at eight with his father. At age ten he was able to substitute in a trio. In 1892, he went to Mexico as musical director of the bufo company of Nachos Lopez, visiting various Mexican states, and touring California. Anckermann lived in Mexico City for a number of years, teaching music. In Cuba, he was for many years the musical director of leading theatres. He composed and produced pieces for zarzuelas, reviews and comedies. He also composed boleros, and was apparently the originator of the guajira. The grand theatre ''Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the ...'' was the scene of his greatest hits, such as ''La isla de cotorras''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alejo Carpentier
Alejo Carpentier y Valmont (, ; December 26, 1904 – April 24, 1980) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French and Russian parentage, Carpentier grew up in Havana, Cuba, and despite his European birthplace, he strongly identified as Cuban throughout his life. He traveled extensively, particularly in France, and to South America and Mexico, where he met prominent members of the Latin American cultural and artistic community. Carpentier took a keen interest in Latin American politics and often aligned himself with revolutionary movements, such as Fidel Castro's Communist Revolution in Cuba in the mid-20th century. Carpentier was jailed and exiled for his leftist political philosophies. With a developed knowledge of music, Carpentier explored musicology, publishing an in-depth study of the music of Cuba, ''La música en Cuba'' and integrated mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bolero
Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has been called the "quintessential Latin American romantic song of the twentieth century". Unlike the simpler, thematically diverse ''canción'', bolero did not stem directly from the European lyrical tradition, which included Italian opera and canzone, popular in urban centers like Havana at the time. Instead, it was born as a form of romantic folk poetry cultivated by a new breed of troubadour from Santiago de Cuba, the ''trovadores''. Pepe Sánchez is considered the father of this movement and the author of the first bolero, "Tristezas", written in 1883. Originally, boleros were sung by individual ''trovadores'' while playing guitar. Over time, it became common for trovadores to play in groups as ''dúos'', ''tríos'', ''cuartetos'', etc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sindo Garay
Sindo Garay (born Antonio Gumersindo Garay García; Santiago de Cuba, 12 April 1867 – Havana, 17 July 1968) was a Cuban trova musician. He was taught by Pepe Sánchez. Garay was one of the ''four greats of the trova''. He was of Spanish and Arawakan descent. Life & work Garay was the most outstanding composer of trova songs, and his best have been sung and recorded many times. ''Perla marina'', ''Adios a La Habana'', ''Mujer bayamesa'', ''El huracan y la palma'', ''Guarina'' and many others are now part of Cuba's heritage. Garay was also musically illiterate – in fact, he only taught himself the alphabet at 16 – but in his case not only were scores transcribed by others, but there are recordings as well. For a long period he sang in a duo with his eldest son Guarionex; he had two other sons and a daughter, and gave them all Indian names. In the 1890s Garay got involved in the Cuban War of Independence, and decided a stay in Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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