The catá or guagua is a Cuban

percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

which originated in the eastern region of the island. It is classified as a directly struck idiophone, traditionally made out of a hollowed

tree trunk In botany, the trunk (or bole) is the stem and main wooden axis of a tree, which is an important feature in tree identification, and which often differs markedly from the bottom of the trunk to the top, depending on the species. The trunk is the ...

, which the player hits with wooden sticks or mallets. The resulting sound is dry and penetrating, similar to that of the

claves Claves (; ) are a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of short, wooden sticks about 20–25 centimeters (8–10 inches) long and about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in diameter. Although traditionally made of wood (typically rosewood, ebony o ...

, although with a different pitch. Of Congolese origin, it is an essential instrument in

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 ...

yuka Yuka may refer to: *Yuka (music), an Afro-Cuban style of music *Yuka (mammoth), mammoth specimen found in Yakutia, Russia *Manshu Yuka Kogyo K.K. Ssuningkai, a Japanese-German pre-WWII industrial co-operation People *Yuka (name), a Japanese perso ...

and some

rumba The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba ...

ensembles.

Use

The catá is primarily used in the

tradition from eastern Cuba, which originated in the early 19th century. Its role in tumba francesa is to provide the main rhythm in the form of a ''

cinquillo A cinquillo is a typical Cuban/Caribbean rhythmic cell, used in the Cuban contradanza (the " habanera") and the danzón.Mauleón, Rebeca (1993: 51). ''Salsa Guidebook: For Piano and Ensemble''. Petaluma, CA: Sher Music. The figure is also a common ...

'' pattern. In fact, in

Saint Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the islan ...

(current

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

), from where the tumba francesa was imported, the word catá (of

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

origin), denoted this rhythm. The catá is considered a reconstruction of idiophones from the Congo region, brought by slaves to the Caribbean. The catá has been incorporated into

Cuban rumba Rumba is a secular genre of Cuban music involving dance, percussion, and song. It originated in the northern regions of Cuba, mainly in urban Havana and Matanzas, during the late 19th century. It is based on African music and dance traditions, ...

, where it "locks" with the

, establishing the

clave rhythm The clave (; ) is a rhythmic pattern used as a tool for temporal organization in Cuban music. In Spanish, ''clave'' literally means key, clef, code, or keystone. It is present in a variety of genres such as Abakuá music, rumba, conga, son, ma ...

. In the context of rumba, the term ''guagua'' is more common, as in

guaguancó Guaguancó () is a subgenre of Cuban rumba, combining percussion, voices, and dance. There are two main styles: Havana and Matanzas. Percussion * battery of three conga drummers: the ''tumba'' (lowest), ''tres dos'' (middle, playing a counter-cl ...

, or ''

palitos Claves (; ) are a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of short, wooden sticks about 20–25 centimeters (8–10 inches) long and about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in diameter. Although traditionally made of wood (typically rosewood, ebony o ...

'', which refers to the sticks. Nonetheless, these have been replaced by the ''caja china'' ( wood block) or the more durable

jam block A jam block is a percussion instrument developed as a modern, hard plastic version of the woodblock. They are popularly used for their durability when compared to the traditional woodblock. They were created by Martin Cohen, founder of Latin Per ...

, made of plastic. The guagua is also used in

, one of the oldest genres of Afro-Cuban percussion. Musicologists from

Guantánamo Guantánamo (, , ) is a municipality and city in southeast Cuba and capital of Guantánamo Province. Guantánamo is served by the Caimanera port near the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, site of a U.S. naval base. The area produces sugarcane and cotton ...

, such as Ramón Gómez Blanco, hypothesize that the catá pattern was adapted by the

marímbula The marímbula () is a plucked box musical instrument of the Caribbean. In Cuba it is common in the changüí genre, as well as old styles of son. In Mexico, where it is known as marimbol is played in son jarocho; in the Dominican Republic, w ...

players in

changüí ''Changüí'' is a style of Cuban music which originated in the early 19th century in the eastern region of Guantánamo Province, specifically Baracoa. It arose in the sugar cane refineries and in the rural communities populated by slaves. ''Chang ...

, highlighting the common Bantu roots of tumba francesa and changüí.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cata Central American and Caribbean percussion instruments Idiophones struck directly Unpitched percussion instruments Cuban musical instruments

Use

See also

References