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77-542: Los Compadres was a famous Cuban trova duo formed by Lorenzo Hierrezuelo in 1947. At the time Lorenzo had a singing duo with María Teresa Vera , and this partnership continued alongside the new venture. His first partner in Los Compadres was Compay Segundo (a famous trova singer and guitarist in his own right), who became the second voice and armónico player of the duo. Later, when Compay Segundo moved on, Lorenzo teamed up with his brother, Rey Caney , keeping

154-616: A "great performer of "vihuela" and " viola ". On In 1764, Esteban Salas y Castro, became the new chapel master of the Santiago de Cuba Cathedral, and to fulfill his musical duties he counted with a small vocal-instrumental group that included two violins. In 1793, numerous colonists fleeing from the slave revolt in Saint Domingue arrived in Santiago de Cuba, and an orchestra consisting of a flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet, three horns, three violins, viola, two violoncellos, and percussion

231-493: A choir of 200 singers plus a tumba francesa group from Santiago de Cuba . He produced another huge concert the following year, with new material. These shows probably dwarfed anything seen in the island before or since, and no doubt were unforgettable for those who attended. Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th a number of composers excel within the Cuban music panorama. They cultivated genres such as

308-409: A completeness and dynamic richness close to that of a drums, through the use of metal brushes. Another way of playing the cajón is to use an ordinary bass drum pedal, thus turning the cajón into an indirect percussion instrument which can be played with the feet. This enables the player to beat it just like a pedal- bass drum , thus leaving the hands (and one other foot) free to play other instruments. On

385-438: 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

462-560: A later time to Belgium, but José established his permanent residence in Havana, where he acquired great recognition. Vandergutch offered numerous concerts as a soloist and accompanied by several orchestras, around the mid-19th century. He was a member of the Classical Music Association and also a Director of The "Asociación Musical de Socorro Mutuo de La Habana." Within the universe of the classical Cuban violin during

539-564: A long time, and by the 20th century, elements of African belief, music, and dance were well integrated into popular and folk forms. Among internationally heralded composers of the "serious" genre can be counted the Baroque composer Esteban Salas y Castro (1725–1803), who spent much of his life teaching and writing music for the Church. He was followed in the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba by

616-453: A musical ensemble founded in 1969, the cajón began to be more important than the guitar and, indeed, became "a new symbol of Peruvian blackness". After a short 1977 visit to a diplomat’s party and a TV presentation in Lima along with Peruvian percussionist Caitro Soto , Spanish flamenco guitar player Paco de Lucía brought a cajón to Spain to use it in his own music, after being impressed by

693-550: A process of investigation and reevaluation of the Cuban music in general, discovering the outstanding work of Carlo Borbolla and promoting the compositions of Saumell, Cervantes, Caturla and Roldán. The "Grupo de Renovación Musical" included the following composers: Hilario González, Harold Gramatges , Julián Orbón , Juan Antonio Cámara, Serafín Pro, Virginia Fleites, Gisela Hernández , Enrique Aparicio Bellver, Argeliers León , Dolores Torres and Edgardo Martín. Other contemporary Cuban composers that were little or no related at all to

770-405: A second violin. Roldan's compositions included Overture on Cuban themes (1925), and two ballets: La Rebambaramba (1928) and El milagro de Anaquille (1929). There followed a series of Ritmicas and Poema negra (1930) and Tres toques (march, rites, dance) (1931). In Motivos de son (1934) he wrote eight pieces for voice and instruments based on the poet Nicolás Guillén 's set of poems with

847-485: A vocal concert "accompanied at the fortepiano by a distinguished foreigner recently arrived" and in 1832, Juan Federico Edelmann (1795-1848), a renowned pianist, son of a famous Alsatian composer and pianist, arrived in Havana and gave a very successful concert at the Teatro Principal. Encouraged by the warm welcome, Edelmann decided to stay in Havana, and he was very soon promoted to an important position within

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924-424: Is La Bella Cubana , a habanera. During the middle years of the 19th century, a young American musician Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869) came to Cuba. Gottschalk's father was a Jewish businessman from London, and his mother a white creole of French Catholic background. Gottschalk was brought up mostly by his black grandmother and nurse Sally, both from Saint-Domingue . He was a piano prodigy who had listened to

1001-455: Is also mentioned in the Spanish conquest chronicles during the 16th century. A disciple of famous Spanish guitarist Dionisio Aguado, José Prudencio Mungol was the first Cuban guitarist trained in the Spanish guitar tradition. In 1893 he performed at a much acclaimed concert in Havana, after returning from Spain. Mungol actively participated in the musical life of Havana and was a professor at

1078-496: Is intended to provide electroacoustic music training to the composition students during the last years of their careers. After 1970, Cuban composers such as Leo Brouwer , Jesús Ortega, Carlos Fariñas and Sergio Vitier began also creating electroacoustic pieces; and in the 1980s a group of composers that included Edesio Alejandro , Fernando (Archi) Rodríguez Alpízar, Marietta Véulens, Mirtha de la Torre, Miguel Bonachea and Julio Roloff , started receiving instruction and working at

1155-460: Is known today or in one of its historical versions) has been present in Cuba since the discovery of the island by Spain. As early as the 16th century, a musician named Juan Ortiz, from the village of Trinidad, is mentioned by famous chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo as "gran tañedor de vihuela y viola" ("a great performer of the vihuela and the guitar"). Another "vihuelista", Alonso Morón from Bayamo,

1232-423: Is often used as a bass drum by bands instead of a full drum kit when performing in minimalist settings, as the cajón can simultaneously serve as both a bass drum and a seat for the drummer. Though occasionally played by some bands in place of the bodhrán , the cajón has become a popular instrument in the folk music of Ireland , where the quieter and higher-pitched bodhrán traditional frame drum serves

1309-548: Is undoubtedly entitled at any time". Gonzalo Roig (1890–1970) was a major force in the first half of the century. A composer and orchestral director, he qualified in piano, violin and composition theory. In 1922 he was one of the founders of the National Symphony Orchestra, which he conducted. In 1927 he was appointed Director of the Havana School of Music. As a composer he specialized in

1386-462: The corneta china (Chinese cornet), a Chinese reed instrument still played in the comparsas , or carnival groups, of Santiago de Cuba . The great instrumental contribution of the Spanish was their guitar , but even more important was the tradition of European musical notation and techniques of musical composition . Hernando de la Parra's archives give some of our earliest available information on Cuban music. He reported instruments including

1463-457: The Antilles . These instruments were adapted by enslaved people from the Spanish shipping crates at their disposal. In port cities like Matanzas, Cuba , codfish shipping crates and small dresser drawers became similar instruments. Peruvian musician and ethnomusicologist Susana Baca recounts her mother's story that the cajón originated as "the box of the people who carried fruit and worked in

1540-569: The North American composer Federico Smith arrives in Havana . He embraced the Cuban nation as his own country and became one of the most accomplished musicians living and working in Cuba at that time. He remained in Cuba until his death, and made an important contribution to the Cuban musical patrimony. During the early 1970s, a group of musicians and composers, most of them graduated from

1617-501: The bongos , congas and batá drums are regularly seen (the timbales are descended from kettle drums in Spanish military bands). Also important are the claves , two short hardwood batons, and the cajón , a wooden box, originally made from crates. Claves are still used often, and wooden boxes ( cajones ) were widely used during periods when the drum was banned. In addition, there are other percussion instruments in use for African-origin religious ceremonies. Chinese immigrants contributed

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1694-633: The clarinet , violin and vihuela . There were few professional musicians at the time, and fewer still of their songs survive. One of the earliest is Ma Teodora , supposed to be related to a freed slave, Teodora Ginés of Santiago de Cuba, who was famous for her compositions. The piece is said to be similar to 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century Spanish popular songs and dances. Cuban music has its principal roots in Spain and West Africa, but over time has been influenced by diverse genres from different countries. Important among these are France (and its colonies in

1771-522: The "Groupo de Renovación Musical" were: Aurelio de la Vega , Joaquín Nin-Culmell , Alfredo Diez Nieto and Natalio Galán. Although, in Cuba, many composers have written both classical and popular creole types of music, the distinction became clearer after 1960, when (at least initially) the regime frowned on popular music and closed most of the night-club venues, whilst providing financial support for classical music rather than creole forms. From then on, most musicians have kept their careers on one side of

1848-511: The 1990s. The African beliefs and practices certainly influenced Cuba's music. Polyrhythmic percussion is an inherent part of African music, as the melody is part of European music. Also, in African tradition, percussion is always joined to song and dance, and a particular social setting. The result of the meeting of European and African cultures is that most Cuban popular music is creolized. This creolization of Cuban life has been happening for

1925-411: The 19th century, there are two outstanding Masters that may be considered among the greatest violin virtuosos of all time; they are José White Lafitte y Claudio Brindis de Salas Garrido . Caj%C3%B3n Sheets of 13 to 19 mm ( 1 ⁄ 2 to 3 ⁄ 4 inch) thick wood are generally used for five sides of the box. A thinner sheet of plywood is nailed on as the sixth side, and acts as

2002-468: The Americas are considered to be the source of the cajón drum. Currently, the instrument is common in musical performance throughout some of the Americas and Spain. The cajón was developed during the periods of slavery in coastal Peru. The instrument reached a peak in popularity by 1850, and by the end of the 19th century cajón players were experimenting with the design of the instrument by bending some of

2079-491: The Americas". In the 2000s (decade), the cajón was heard extensively in Coastal Peruvian musical styles such as Tondero , Zamacueca and Peruvian Waltz , Spanish modern Flamenco and certain styles of modern Cuban Rumba . The modern cajón is often used to accompany a solo acoustic guitar or piano . The cajón is becoming rapidly popular in blues , pop , rock , funk , world music , jazz , etc. The cajón

2156-664: The Americas), and the United States . Cuban music has been immensely influential in other countries. It contributed not only to the development of jazz and salsa , but also to the Argentine tango , Ghanaian high-life , West African Afrobeat , Dominican Bachata and Merengue , Colombian Cumbia and Spanish Nuevo flamenco and to the Arabo-Cuban music ( Hanine Y Son Cubano ) developed by Michel Elefteriades in

2233-414: The Cuban musical activity from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. 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

2310-559: The Havana Municipal Conservatory, Isaac Nicola (1916 – 1997) continued his training in Paris with Emilio Pujol, a disciple of Francisco Tárrega. He also studied the vihuela with Pujol and researched about the guitar's history and literature. After the Cuban revolution in 1959, Isaac Nicola and other professors such as Marta Cuervo , Clara (Cuqui) Nicola , Marianela Bonet and Leopoldina Núñez were integrated to

2387-895: The Havana Municipal Conservatory, the National School of Arts, and the Instituto Superior de Arte. Others, such as Manuel Barrueco , a concertist of international renown, developed their careers outside the country. Among many other guitarists related to the Cuban Guitar School are Carlos Molina , Sergio Vitier, Flores Chaviano , Efraín Amador Piñero , Armando Rodriguez Ruidiaz, Martín Pedreira , Lester Carrodeguas, Mario Daly, José Angel Pérez Puentes and Teresa Madiedo. A younger group includes guitarists Rey Guerra, Aldo Rodríguez Delgado, Pedro Cañas, Leyda Lombard, Ernesto Tamayo , Miguel Bonachea , Joaquín Clerch and Yalil Guerra . After its arrival in Cuba at

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2464-581: The Hubert de Blanck conservatory. Severino López was born in Matanzas. He studied guitar in Cuba with Juan Martín Sabio and Pascual Roch, and in Spain with renowned Catalan guitarist Miguel Llobet. Severino López is considered the initiator in Cuba of the guitar school founded by Francisco Tárrega in Spain. Clara Romero (1888-1951), founder of the modern Cuban School of Guitar, studied in Spain with Nicolás Prats and in Cuba with Félix Guerrero. She inaugurated

2541-635: The ICAP Electroacoustic Studio. A list of Cuban composers that have utilized elecotroacoustics technology include Argeliers León , Juan Piñera , Roberto Valera , José Loyola , Ileana Pérez Velázquez and José Angel Pérez Puentes. Most Cuban composers that established their residence outside Cuba have worked with electroacoustic technology. These include composers Aurelio de la Vega, Armando Tranquilino, Tania León , Orlando Jacinto García , Armando Rodriguez Ruidiaz, Ailem Carvajal Gómez and Irina Escalante Chernova. The guitar (as it

2618-623: The ICAP Workshop changed its name to Laboratorio Nacional de Música Electroacústica (LNME) and its main objective was to support and promote the work of Cuban electroacoustic composers and sound artists. Some years later, another electroacoustic music studio was created at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA). The Estudio de Música Electroacústica y por Computadoras (EMEC), currently named Estudio Carlos Fariñas de Arte Musical (Carlos Fariñas Studio of Musical Electroacoustic Art),

2695-651: The National School of Arts and the Havana Conservatory, gathered around an organization recently created by the government as the junior section of UNEAC ( National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba ), the Brigada Hermanos Saíz. Some of its member were composers Juan Piñera (nephew of the renowned Cuban writer Virgilio Piñera), Flores Chaviano , Armando Rodriguez Ruidiaz, Danilo Avilés , Magaly Ruiz , Efraín Amador Piñero and José Loyola . Other contemporary composers less involved with

2772-652: The Santa Cecilia Philharmonic Society. In 1836, he opened a music store and publishing company. One of the most prestigious Cuban musicians, Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963), began studying piano with his sister Ernestina and continued with Peyrellade , Saavedra, Nin and Hubert de Blanck. A child prodigy, Lecuona gave a concert, at just five, at the Círculo Hispano. When he graduated from the National Conservatory, he

2849-467: The contradanza Ojos criollos (Danse cubaine) (1859) and a version of María de la O , which refers to a Cuban mulatto singer. These numbers made use of typical Cuban rhythmic patterns. At one of his farewell concerts he played his Adiós a Cuba to huge applause and shouts of 'bravo!' Unfortunately, his score for the work has not survived. In February 1860 Gottschalk produced a huge work La nuit des tropiques in Havana. The work used about 250 musicians and

2926-593: The country thanks to scholarships granted by the government, like Sergio Fernández Barroso (also known as Sergio Barroso ), that received a post-graduate degree from the Superior Academy of Music in Prague, and Roberto Valera , who studied with Witold Rudziński and Andrzej Dobrowolski in Poland. Three other composers belong to this group: Calixto Alvarez , Carlos Malcolm and Héctor Angulo . In 1962,

3003-504: The creation of electroacoustic musical compositions. In 1970, Juan Blanco began to work as a music advisor for the Department of Propaganda of ICAP (Insituto Cubano de Amistad con Los Pueblos). In this capacity, he created electroacoustic music for all the audiovisual materials produced by ICAP. After nine years working without restitution, Blanco finally obtained financing to set up an Electroacoustic Studio to be used for his work. He

3080-482: The end of the 18th century, the pianoforte (commonly called piano) rapidly became one of the favorite instruments among the Cuban population. Along with the humble guitar, the piano accompanied the popular Cuban "guarachas" and "contradanzas" (derived from the European Country Dances) at salons and ballrooms in Havana and all over the country. As early as in 1804, a concert program in Havana announced

3157-482: The first half of the 20th Century. They both played a part in Afrocubanismo : the movement in black-themed Cuban culture with origins in the 1920s, and extensively analysed by Fernando Ortiz . Roldan, born in Paris to a Cuban mulatta and a Spanish father, came to Cuba in 1919 and became the concert-master (first-chair violin) of the new Orquesta Sinfónica de La Habana in 1922. There he met Caturla, at sixteen

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3234-653: The globe, most notably in Latin America , the Caribbean , West Africa , and Europe . Examples include rhumba , Afro-Cuban jazz , salsa , soukous , many West African re-adaptations of Afro-Cuban music ( Orchestra Baobab , Africando ), Spanish fusion genres (notably with flamenco ), and a wide variety of genres in Latin America. Large numbers of enslaved Africans and European, mostly Spanish, immigrants came to Cuba and brought their own forms of music to

3311-537: The greatest Cuban pianist/composers of the 20th century was Ernesto Lecuona (1895–1963). Lecuona composed over six hundred pieces, mostly in the Cuban vein, and was a pianist of exceptional quality. He was a prolific composer of songs and music for stage and film. His works consisted of zarzuela , Afro-Cuban and Cuban rhythms, suites and many songs that became Latin standards. They include Siboney , Malagueña and The Breeze And I ( Andalucía ). In 1942 his great hit Always in my heart ( Siempre en mi Corazon )

3388-611: The guitar department at the Havana Municipal Conservatory in 1931, where she also introduced the teachings of the Cuban folk guitar style. She created the Guitar Society of Cuba (Sociedad Guitarrística de Cuba) in 1940, and also the "Guitar" (Guitarra) magazine, with the purpose of promoting the Society's activities. She was the professor of many Cuban guitarists including her son Isaac Nicola and her daughter Clara (Cuqui) Nicola . After studying with his mother, Clara Romero, at

3465-533: The guitar with his father and after some time continued with Isaac Nicola . He taught himself harmony, counterpoint, musical forms and orchestration before completing his studies at the Juilliard School and the University of Hartford . Since the 1960s, several generations of guitar performers, professors and composers have been formed under the Cuban Guitar School at educational institutions such as

3542-427: The history of Cuban nationalist musical movements." In the hands of his successor, Ignacio Cervantes Kavanagh, the piano idiom related to the contradanza achieved even greater sophistication. Cervantes was called by Aaron Copland a "Cuban Chopin " because of his Chopinesque piano compositions. Cervantes' reputation today rests almost solely upon his famous forty-one Danzas Cubanas , which Carpentier said, "occupy

3619-477: The instrument, enabling them to play it with a single foot. There are also lap cajons (which are smaller and more portable) that sit on the lap of the musician. The instrument has been played not only with hands, but also with plastic and metal brushes, as used for drum kits , for example with the Pen Technique, developed by Patrizio Migliarini, which allows the musician to play jazz and funky rhythms with

3696-429: The interplay ('transculturation') between enslaved Africans settled on large sugar plantations and Spaniards from different regions such as Andalusia and Canary Islands . The enslaved Africans and their descendants made many percussion instruments and preserved rhythms they had known in their homeland. The most important instruments were the drums, of which, there were originally about fifty different types; today only

3773-590: The invisible line or the other. After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, a new crop of classical musicians came onto the scene. The most important of these is guitarist Leo Brouwer , who have made significant contributions to the technique and repertoire of the modern classical guitar, and has been the director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba . His directorship in the early 1970s of the "Grupo de Experimentacion Sonora del ICAIC"

3850-430: The island. European dances and folk musics included zapateo , fandango , paso doble and retambico . Later, northern European forms like minuet , gavotte , mazurka , contradanza , and the waltz appeared among urban whites. There was also an immigration of Chinese indentured laborers later in the 19th century. Fernando Ortiz , the first great Cuban folklorist, described Cuba's musical innovations as arising from

3927-748: The last decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century a new generation of composers emerged into the Cuban classical music panorama. Most of them received a solid musical education provided by the official arts school system created by the Cuban government and graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA). Some of those composers are Louis Franz Aguirre , Ileana Pérez Velázquez , Keila María Orozco, Viviana Ruiz, Fernando (Archi) Rodríguez Alpízar, Yalil Guerra , Eduardo Morales Caso , Ailem Carvajal Gómez , Irina Escalante Chernova and Evelin Ramón . All of them have emigrated and currently live and have worked in other countries. Juan Blanco

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4004-400: The mid-century several were written as light-classical parlor pieces for piano. The first distinguished composer in this style was Manuel Saumell (1818–1870), who is sometimes accordingly hailed as the father of Cuban creole musical development. According to Helio Orovio, "After Saumell's visionary work, all that was left to do was to develop his innovations, all of which profoundly influenced

4081-472: The music and seen the dancing in Congo Square , New Orleans from childhood. His period in Cuba lasted from 1853 to 1862, with visits to Puerto Rico and Martinique squeezed in. He composed many creolized pieces, such as the habanera Bamboula, Op. 2 (Danse de negres) (1845), the title referring to a bass Afro-Caribbean drum; El cocoye (1853), a version of a rhythmic melody already present in Cuba;

4158-449: The national music schools system, where a unified didactical method was implemented. This was a nucleus for the later development of a national Cuban Guitar School with which a new generation of guitarists and composers collaborated. Maybe the most important contribution to the modern Cuban guitar technique and repertoire comes from Leo Brouwer (born 1939). The grandson of Ernestina Lecuona, sister of Ernesto Lecuona, Brouwer began studying

4235-438: The organization were José María Vitier , Julio Roloff , and Jorge López Marín. After the Cuban Revolution (1959), many future Cuban composers emigrated at a very young age and developed most of their careers outside the country. Within this group are the composers Tania León , Orlando Jacinto García , Armando Tranquilino, Odaline de la Martinez , José Raul Bernardo, Jorge Martín (composer) and Raul Murciano. During

4312-406: 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

4389-570: The place that the Norwegian Dances of Grieg or the Slavic Dances of Dvořák occupy in the music of their respective countries". Cervantes' never-finished opera, Maledetto , is forgotten. In the 1840s, the habanera emerged as a languid vocal song using the contradanza rhythm. (Non-Cubans sometimes called Cuban contradanzas "habaneras.") The habanera went on to become popular in Spain and elsewhere. The Cuban contradanza/Danza

4466-479: The planks in the cajón's body to alter the instrument's patterns of sound vibration. After slavery the cajón was spread to a much larger audience including Criollos . Given that the cajón comes from musicians who were enslaved in the Spanish colonial Americas, there are two complementary origin theories for the instrument. It is possible that the drum is a direct descendant of a number of boxlike musical instruments from west and central Africa, especially Angola , and

4543-443: The popular song and the concert lied , dance music, the zarzuela and the vernacular theatre, as well as symphonic music. Among others, we should mention Hubert de Blanck (1856-1932); José Mauri (1856-1937); Manuel Mauri (1857-1939); José Marín Varona ; Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes (1874-1944); Jorge Anckermann (1877-1941); Luis Casas Romero (1882-1950) and Mario Valdés Costa (1898-1930). The work of José Marín Varona links

4620-410: The ports," putting it down to play on whenever they had a moment. Another theory is that enslaved people used boxes as musical instruments to subvert Spanish colonial bans on music in predominantly African areas, essentially disguising their instruments. While early 20th century versions of the festejo appeared to have been performed without the cajón, especially due to the influence of Perú Negro ,

4697-534: The priest Juan París (1759–1845). París was an exceptionally industrious man and an important composer. He encouraged continuous and diverse musical events. Aside from rural music and Afro-Cuban folk music, the most popular kind of urban Creole dance music in the 19th century was the contradanza, which commenced as a local form of the English country dance and the derivative French contredanse and Spanish contradanza. While many contradanzas were written for dance, from

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4774-463: The purpose of improving and literally renovating the quality of the Cuban musical environment. During its existence from 1942 to 1948, the group organized numerous concerts at the Havana Lyceum in order to present their avant-garde compositions to the general public and fostered within its members the development of many future conductors, art critics, performers and professors. They also started

4851-558: The rhythmic possibilities of the instrument. According to percussion historians, it was Pepe Ébano who introduced the cajón into Spanish flamenco, later used with Paco de Lucía in the percussion of " Entre dos aguas ". In 2001, the cajón was declared National Heritage by the Peruvian National Institute of Culture . In 2014, the Organization of American States declared the cajón an "Instrument of Peru for

4928-559: The same name for the duo. Both partnerships made many recordings and toured widely in Latin America and the United States. Ramon Goose y Los Compares is a latin influenced band from London, England. This article on a Cuban musician is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a Cuban singer is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Music of Cuba The music of Cuba , including its instruments, performance, and dance, comprises

5005-411: The same purpose, and has a unique playing style. The player sits astride the box, tilting it at an angle while striking the head between their knees. The percussionist can play the sides with the top of their palms and fingers for additional sounds. Some harder hitting players use protective drumming gloves to protect their hands from bruises and blisters. Some percussionists attach a bass drum pedal to

5082-417: The same title. His last composition was two Piezas infantiles for piano (1937). Roldan died young, at 38, of a disfiguring facial cancer (he had been an inveterate smoker). After his student days, Caturla lived all his life in the small central town of Remedios, where he became a lawyer to support his growing family. His Tres danzas cubanas for symphony orchestra was first performed in Spain in 1929. Bembe

5159-411: The striking surface or head. The striking surface of the cajón drum is commonly referred to as the tapa . A sound hole is cut on the back side. The modern cajón may have rubber feet, and has several screws at the top for adjusting percussive timbre . The cajón is the most widely used Afro-Peruvian musical instrument since the late 19th century. Enslaved people of west and central African origin in

5236-467: The zarzuela, a musical theatre form, very popular up to World War II. In 1931 he co-founded a bufo company (comic theatre) at the Teatro Martí in Havana. He was the composer of the most well-known Cuban zarzuela, Cecilia Valdés , based on the famous 19th-century novel about a Cuban mulata. It was premiered in 1932. He founded various organizations and wrote frequently on musical topics. One of

5313-499: Was also an important influence on the Puerto Rican Danza, which went on to enjoy its own dynamic and distinctive career lasting through the 1930s. In Cuba, in the 1880s the contradanza/Danza gave birth to the danzón, which effectively superseded it in popularity. Laureano Fuentes (1825–1898) came from a family of musicians and wrote the first opera to be composed on the island, La Hija de Jefté (Jefte's daughter). This

5390-632: Was appointed as Director of the Studio, but under the condition that he should be the only one to use the facility. After a few months, and without asking for permission, he opened the Electroacoustic Studio to all composers interested in working with electroacoustic technology, thus creating the ICAP Electroacoustsic Music Workshop (TIME), where he himself provided training to all participants. In 1990,

5467-597: Was awarded the First Prize and the Gold Medal of his class by unanimous decision of the board. He is by far the Cuban composer of greatest international recognition and his contributions to the Cuban piano tradition are considered exceptional. Bowed stringed instruments have been present in Cuba since the 16th century. Musician Juan Ortiz from the Ville of Trinidad is mentioned by chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo as

5544-644: Was founded. During the transition from the 18th to the 19th centuries, the Havanese Ulpiano Estrada (1777–1847) offered violin lessons and conducted the Teatro Principal orchestra from 1817 to 1820. Apart from his activity as a violinist, Estrada kept a very active musical career as a conductor of numerous orchestras, bands and operas, and composing many contradanzas and other dance pieces, such as minuets and valses. José Vandergutch, Belgian violinist, arrived at Havana along with his father Juan and brother Francisco, also violinists. They returned at

5621-557: Was instrumental in the formation and consolidation of the Nueva trova movement. Other important composers from the early post-revolution period that began in 1959 were: Carlos Fariñas and Juan Blanco , a pioneer of "concrete" and "electroacoustic music" in Cuba. Closely following the early post-revolution generation, a group of young composers started to attract the attention of the public that attended classical music concerts. Most of them had obtained degrees in reputable Schools outside

5698-499: Was later lengthened and staged under the title Seila . His numerous works spanned all genres. Gaspar Villate (1851–1891) produced abundant and wide-ranging work, all centered on opera. José White (1836–1918), a mulatto of a Spanish father and an Afrocuban mother, was a composer and a violinist of international merit. He learned to play sixteen instruments, and lived, variously, in Cuba, Latin America, and Paris. His most famous work

5775-500: Was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song; it lost out to White Christmas . The Ernesto Lecuona Symphonic Orchestra performed the premiere of Lecuona's Black Rhapsody in the Cuban Liberation Day Concert at Carnegie Hall on 10 October 1943. Although their music is rarely played today, Amadeo Roldán (1900–1939) and Alejandro García Caturla (1906–1940) were Cuba's symphonic revolutionaries during

5852-403: Was premiered in Havana the same year. His Obertura cubana won first prize in a national contest in 1938. Caturla was murdered at 34 by a young gambler. Founded in 1942 under the guidance of José Ardévol (1911–1981), a Catalan composer established in Cuba since 1930, the "Grupo de Renovación Musical" served as a platform for a group of young composers to develop a proactive movement with

5929-429: Was the first Cuban composer to create an electroacoustic piece in 1961. This first composition, titled "Musica Para Danza", was produced with just an oscillator and three common tape recorders. Access to the necessary technological resources to produce electroacoustic music was always very limited for anyone interested. For this reason, it was not until 1969 that another Cuban composer, Sergio Barroso , dedicated himself to

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