Cubanocast

Popular music can be a powerful sociology tool because it's most often an unconscious, organic reflection of prevailing attitudes (an soon-to-be-updated analysis of Cuban attitudes towards America is here) The last couple of months having been a time to meditate on race, I wanted to see what Cuban popular music of the time can tell us about race relations in pre-revolutionary Cuba.

Methodology.

Pre-revolutionary Cuban music is more reliable for this purpose because it wasn't a government propaganda tool. The songs I've assembled for this post are representative of the general themes in Cuban music in pre-Castro Cuba- not exceptions. I will use no other sources except the music, a story, and my own brain.

Blacks' place in Cuban society.

One of the first items on my father's “to-do" when he arrived in Miami, Florida in the late fifties was to acquire a driver license. He set out to accomplish that task one fine tropical morning and, upon entering the Miami DMV, noticed that one side was bustling with people while the other side was empty. Neither a fool nor the only man in history who wished to extend his DMV experience, my father went to take the test on the empty side. The security guard gently nudged him back to the populated side and pointed to a sign. The sign indicated that side was for “colored” people. The experience surprised my father.

Blacks, you see, were generally regarded as being of lower social status in Cuba, but their status wasn't codified into law. In the American South, black inferiority was a legal reality. Cuban blacks had a greater amount of social mobility than American blacks- their race was an inhibition, not an impenetrable barrier.

The pre-fifties Cuban approach to race was encapsulated in the terms, "money whitens" and negro fino (literally, "fine black person" to be read as "classy" or "articulate."). All things being equal, whites had a social advantage. Of course, all things are never equal (money, looks, talent, etc.). The song above, "Negro de Sociedad" by Orquesta America tells of a black wife who embarrasses her black husband at an upscale affair by dancing the rumba, the “blackest” Cuban dance, seen by the party attendees, apparently, as uncivil.

The song's very name and that the singer's embarrassed shows the black disadvantage, that the black person is there in the first place proves the possibility of black social mobility, and that Orquesta America makes a joke about it says that people didn't take the “money whitens” concept completely seriously. One imagines the situation closer to a modern black businessman's rapping cousin busting a few rhymes at a corporate cocktail party than a turn-of-the-century Alabama woman bringing her black boyfriend home to pa'.

Cuba Morning: Great Bands of the Fifties

“De Que te Vale,” by Antonio Machin asks, “What good is it to be blanco y rubio ("white and blond") when you have no shame?” Both physical traits, then, were good ones to have in pre-rev Cuban society. Like any moderately well-ordered society, however, character trumps phenotype and race.

Ese Soy Yo by antonio machin

Black and white beauty.

In “Negra Bembon” by Arcano y sus Maravillas, a girl puts on airs because her hair is straighter and her skin color lighter than the rest of the people in the solar (ghetto). The narrator doesn't criticize her for thinking that lighter and straighter is better- the concept. He mocks her inaccurate self-image. She is, in fact, big-lipped and black, “just like him.” One can interpret "Negra Bembon" as the singer both acceding to white superiority in appearance and not questioning its justice. His only complaint is the woman's false pride.

The Best of Cuba

A white beauty standard, then?

Not quite. There are far more pre-revolutionary songs celebrating the beauty of the Cuban mulatta* (literally, "mule." It's a person of mixed black and white heritage.) than there are songs lauding white features.

Similar to how the Rolling Stones see black women in Brown Sugar, classic Cuban music praises mulatas for their beauty, dancing ability, and warmth, the last of which may be a euphemism.

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Tags: afro-cuban, afrocuban, contrast american racism, ethnomusicology, history, how were black treated in cuba, racism in cuba, racismo en cuba

R.I.P.

I received the message below the fold from Descarga.com. I remember how I'd see his LPs way back in college during the late 80s, at the Rhino records in which I mis-spent my youth. Ahh, good times. Anyways, I thought I'd put up the songs mentioned in the email. First is "Push, Push, Push." "Yes, I'll go get it- and place it on top, as my podcast."

I found a youtube video of him playing perhaps his most famous song, "Bang, Bang."

"El Pito (I'll never go back to Georgia)" I've been to Georgia. I found it to be a lovely place, from the Atlanta airport, at least. Maybe he had a bad meal at the Waffle House. It's been known to happen. Anyways, the pito refers to some whistle, I'm sure.

"Arinanara"

"Sock it to Me."

Bang! Bang! Push, Push, Push

DIGGIN'THE MOST by JOE CUBA

Descarga.com email:

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Are Cubans romantic? Ha! Below are my favorite Cuban love songs. To qualify, the songs have to be of 1, a caballero wooing a senorita (I'll give the young lady the benefit of the doubt.) or singing of his very special chica or 2, a senorita's amorous rapture- no cheating, loveless lust, unrequited or lost love, just the powerful pull of that most delicious emotion between two equally enthusiastic participants. Warning: To avoid embarrassment (irresistible PDA urge), make sure you're not in a public place while listening:

1. Como Fue, Beny More: The song I chose for my wedding dance. How good a singer was Beny More? For the movie Mambo Kings, an actor lip-syncs Beny's original instead of trusting it to another singer. Beautiful, molasses-thick melody and scorching, romantic singing.

Very Best of Beny Moré: 40 Tracks

The Mambo Kings

2. Junto al palmar del bajio, Guillermo Portabales. Guajiro love. A picturesque song of a country boy preparing his choza or "hut" for his love.

AQUELLAS LINDAS MELODIAS

3. Amor en gua gua, Trio la Rosa. What do forward-looking women do as soon as they meet a suitable mate: Amor en gua gua is the plan. Trio la Rosa is one of the most romantic groups in Cuban music and choosing just one song caused me a fair amount of psychic pain. I'll put more from this wonderful trio later, but here's another one for now.

Esto Si Que Esta Gracioso by TRIO LA ROSA

4. Piel canela, Bobby Capo. Probably the best ode to Caribbean beauty.

EPOCA DE ORO by BOBBY CAPO

5. Sabor a mi, Rolando Laserie. A lovely conceit: That no matter the eventual course of their lives, the love they shared will unite them forever. It's written by a Mexican.

DE PELICULA 16 EXITO by ROLANDO LASERIE

6. Aunque me cuesta la vida, Alberto Beltran. This man would risk his life to find his true love.

Alberto Beltran by Marcus Winter

7. Loca pasion, Beny More. Another torch song from Beny.

8. Cita en el platanal, Celina y Reutilio. Quite a naughty song, actually, and I feel bad for corrupting you. No doubt disobeying her father, this young guajira is planning to sneak out to the banana fields to meet her guajiro.

Yo Soy el Punto Cubano

9. Bajo un palmar, Barbarito Diez. A man sits under a tree and composes a poem for his sweetheart.

Barbariot Diez. Joyas Musicales.

10. El solterito, Carlos Argentino. A man tired of the single life and looking for commitment. It happens all the time (ahem).

OK, OK, Bonus songs:

11. De ti enamorado, Sonora Matancera. The reformed bad boy, a romance novel classic.

12. Adoracion, Machito featuring Graciela. A well sung ballad.

Lucho Gatica, pioneer in the breathy style that dominates modern Latino pop, with Besame Mucho.

Coleccion Suprema by Eugenia Alvarez

By request, Perfidia by Chico O'Farrill

Fiebre Tropical: All Star Afro-Cuban Orch.

Tags: best caribbean love songs, best cuban love songs, best latin love songs, famous cuban love songs, hispanic love songs

Frutero Moderno

Award shows cause me psychic pain so I missed the Grammys; however, I thought it would be fun to listen to the nominees for the Tropical Latin category and did so thanks to the miracle of Rhapsody. I now present my findings. First up is Frutero Moderno by Gonzalo Grau y La Clave Secreta.

The reference in the album's title is to Cuban style pregones, or songs based on the calls of street vendors (this soon-to-be-updated post).

Clave Secreta knows how to play and Gonzalo Grau is a fine singer. Except for a dirging, wince-inducing "Amanecer en Clinthea," the music is mostly free of pretension, as are the traditional mulata and dance lyrics. "Alarma," the one in the podcast, is an anti-Castro, reporter-style vignette of police-state Cuba.

What Frutero Moderno lacks are memorable melodies: You get chant-montuno-rap over a solid Salsa beat, but nothing you'd put on a playlist. Particularly offensive in this regard is "Mujer Divina:" Love songs should be melodic to facilitate swaying or other, non-dancing activities. "Mujer Divina" is percussive piffle.

The lack of original melodies is most apparent when the songs echo classic Cuban songs like "Frutas del Caney," below, and "Buche y Pluma."

La China en la Rumba

"Amanecer en Calithea" actually caused me to wince.

Tags: grammy review, review

Dinah Shore, herself a wonderful singer, demonstrates some Cuban instruments, including the guiro and claves on her show in 1960.

Youtube video

The Best of Perez Prado: The Original Mambo No. 5

Havana 3 A.M.

Perez Prado, along with early Beny More and Machito were the greatest Mambo musicians. My favorite of his compositions is "Que Rico Mambo" or "Mambo Jambo," in English. It's today's podcast.

Tags: demonstrate cuban instruments, guiro, popular cuban instruments, what is a guiro

One of the reasons I tend to like older Cuban music is that the older stuff is, well, more musical. Older Cuban music is to a greater extent a Spanish-African mix, the Spanish part tempering some of the Afro funk with fuller melodies. The lyrics in older Cuban music lean towards romance and cohere thematically. Modern Cuban music has more chanting and oblique metaphors sap the cleverness from the lyrics.

In pre-revolutionary Cuba, you were likely to hear something as lovely as "La Sitiera" by Barbarito Diez in the more "proper" Danzon style. The song's above. Below is a performance of "Donde Estas Corazon" by the same Diez.

Antologia Cubana: Barbarito Diez

Modern Cuban music has very few new, pretty ballads that traverse Cuba's borders, like the ones of previous decades. There is the "Nueva Trova," singer-songwriter movement of people like Silvio Rodriguez, but I'm convinced that people mostly like it for political reasons. It tends to be as wordy and unmemorable as American issue-oriented singer-songwriters.

Cuban music is more African nowadays, for better and worse. Here's one I like from Los Terry called "Son Wambari." The Communist Cuban government encourages expressions of African nationalism, and Los Terry sing about their African heritage here. The album is one of the best collections of modern Cuban Music.

Cuba Si: Pure Cuban Flavor