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Analyzing pre-Castro Cuban racism through Cuban music
02/27/09
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.
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.
Here
Follow up:
The most famous of these types of songs is “Ojos Negro, Piel Canela” by the great Puerto Rican singer Bobby Capo.
Epoca De Oro: Bobby Capo by English Lyric-Ben Raleigh, Music and Spanish Lyric-Bobby Capo
Johnny Rodriguez with Mulatica:
Beny More with Mulatas del ChaChaCha.
In "Mulata con Cola," Beny More has very specific requirements. Cola was one of Beny More's "29 dimensions of compatibility."
The simple fact that there were so many mulatas indicates that the ultimate racial taboo, miscegenation, had been overcome to a certain extent, and supports the argument that Cuban racism was inconsequential with a very loose racial hierarchy, or at least that "beauty whitened" in pre-rev Cuba.
Grabaciones Completas 1953-1960 by Raul Martinez Rodriguez
It wasn't just blended Cubans who are lauded in pre-rev Cuban music. Cuban men musically lusted after dark black women as well.
La "Negra Leonor" sets Miguelito Valdez' heart aflame (with Xavier Cugat).
Xavier Cugat Orchestra 1940-1942
Trio Habana knows what they wants as well. A veritable laundry list, "Negra Te Quiero."
The next two songs show that pre-rev Cuban black women were confident in their beauty- no-Brown-versus-Topeka-white-doll-preference, self esteem issues here.
"La Cumbanchera de Belen," by the Cuban Aretha Franklin, Celia Cruz.
In La Negrita Sandunguerra, Celia takes pride in the effect her dancing has on the masculine population.
100% Azucar!: The Best of Celia Cruz con la Sonora Matancera
One can counter that the positive appraisals stem from the fact that most of the singers are themselves black. I'll push back by saying that: Cuban music wasn't as racially segregated as the contemporary American music- the songs in this post were mainstream Cuban music, listened to by black and white; American music of the time, even by black singers, has relatively few songs with a "black is beautiful" theme; and even white Cuban performers like Pupi Campo sang the praises of the black female. "Negra Consentida" by Pupi Campo, below.
Black Cuban stereotypes.
It's hard to make a case for a rigid Neil Young-on-Southerners stereotyping of Cuban blacks from listening to the music. The songs neither make general racial statements nor absolutely clear that we're supposed to extrapolate a macro racial belief from the protagonists' actions: they could just be individuals. On the other hand, the characters in the song could have been recognizable to mid-century Cubans as racial stereotypes, "Oh, he's one of those lazy black people."
Blacks are lazy:
Alberto Beltran "Negrito del Batey."
"Negro Nanamboro" by Machito. The negro in question is a shiftless thief.
Trio Servando Diaz with "Bangan." The only hint to the subject's color is his post-prime mulata. It only names an individual.
Counter-examples:
On the other hand, according to Trio Matamoros, blacks are very hard workers, except for Rafael, who's a good-for-nothing liar. “En el Ingenio:”
Grandes Voces del Son Cubano, Vol. 1
In “Se Cansa” by Miguelito Valdez with Noro Morales, the black man does nothing but work. He hopes that the “yanquis” will invent something to eliminate the need for work.
I can say with confidence that most Cubans thought blacks were very musical:
"Rumba Negra," Anselmo Sacasas. Great bongo drumming on this one:
1942-1944 by Anselmo SACASAS, Pedro Berrios
When Cuban music references blacks as a people, the common characterization is one of a noble, worthy, superstitious, slightly simple people. In the rare "Babalu" (here's another version) video below, Miguelito Valdez, the most "African" of Cuban singers despite being of Mexican Indian and Cuban white heritage, earnestly, plainly (simply) wishes for a “negra bembo” to love him.
I could find no evidence of Cuban blacks as intellectually different from white Cubans. There were about as many songs with dumb or foolish white country hicks (guajiros) as there were with black characters. I didn't find any songs that portrayed blacks as especially criminal either, unlike modern American rap.
Overt songs about racism and black identity.
If racism in Cuba was a big problem beyond the a general white preference, it's not reflected in the music of the time, as very few songs address racism. The absence of anti-racism songs doesn't mean that it didn't exist; after all, how many American songs said as much? I did find a few songs that directly addressed this issue.
One of them is by Miguelito Valdez, again. It's called "Sangre son Colora" from the same album as "Se Cansa." It's basic conceit is that all people bleed red.
Another one is "Angelitos Negros" sung by the appropriately angel-voiced Xiomara Alfaro. It's the closest to an American "affirmative action" sensibility in that it demands inclusion, similar to how some minority groups lobby for representation in movies and corporate boardrooms. In "Angelitos Negros," the singer admits to the painter of a religious scene on a church that the Virgin may have been white, but asks if he can paint some black angels. After all, "blacks go to Heaven as well." Theology aside- Angels are pure spirit, not a race, and humans don't become Angels, it's a good question.
Lo Mejor de Xiomara Alfaro, Vol. 1
Arsenio Rodriguez had gone to New York from Cuba to seek a cure for his blindness. He noticed that American blacks also experienced racism. In "Aqui Como Alla" Arsenio's sister states that blacks suffer from racism in America as they do in Brazil, Haiti, and all over the hemisphere.
Black self-reference.
Cuban blacks had a habit of referring to other blacks as "negro" or "negra" similar to modern America blacks' habit of calling each other "nig***" with the difference being that "negro" wasn't a derisive term. Blacks were a significant minority at the time, perhaps a third of the population. I find it hard to believe then that saying, "It was the negro" would have been of any practical use. Calling each other by their race could have been a reaction to feeling out of the mainstream or as a way to purposely set themselves apart.
Trio Antillano with La Negra Florinda. It's on the Cuban Trios album.
"Chacha la Negra," from Celia Cruz.
La Irresistible: 15 Top Hits 1946-1950
Cuban black nationalism.
Cuban music from the thirties up until the revolution gives evidence of a Cuban black nationalist movement, concurrent with the similar American Harlem Renaissance, that celebrated black culture and history and stressed ties to Africa.
I found several songs on the plight of African slaves in colonial Cuba. The common theme is the slaves' life of toil and suffering. The slaves are noble, slavery unjust.
The one difference between the Cuban and American black pride movements is that the Cuban version crossed over into popular music while the white American mainstream was having none of it.
At the forefront of the Afro-Cuban music movement is "el ciego maravillosos" Arsenio Rodriguez, the blind writer of many important Cuban songs often sung by others like Casino de la Playa and Miguelito Valdez.
Como Se Goza En El Barrio: 1953
Rita Montaner was a wonderfuly chirpy singer. To prove my crossover thesis above, Rita was probably the most recognized Cuban singer in Latin America from the late thirties to the early fifties.
Antonio Machin, again. "Lamento Esclavo."
Orquesta de O. Estivil. with "Libre no Soy."
How's this for the proof of the popularity and acceptance of black people amongst whites. The singers of the song below, "Fue en la Africa Lejana" wherein a woman sings of her lost African love, are white. It's on the Cuban Trios album. "Fue en la Africa Lejana" differs from Al Jolson and other pre-sixties Americans who adopted a black persona in that it contains a a politically conflictive theme and not just a black personality.
Songs of Africa:
"Africa" by Celia Cruz.
Orquesta Casino de la Playa and Miguelito Valdez with a song written by Arsenio Rodriguez, "Adios Africa."
A lovely suite or tone poem by Gilberto Valdes called "Sangre Africana."
Conclusion:
If an alien anthropologist (he could be an earthling, but aliens are more fun) were to excavate the official Cubanocast CD collection in the far distant future and try to infer from them the state of inter-racial relations in pre-revolutionary Cuba, he'd say that blacks and whites intermingled up to the most intimate levels-indeed, that Cuban beauty standards favored those of mixed ancestry, but that white Cubans enjoyed a broad social-status advantage. He'd say that Cubans respected the black experience and empathized with the plight of the Cuban slave. He'd also say that there's evidence for some overt racism.
For another view from somebody who knows what he's talking about, click here.
Tags: afro-cuban, afrocuban, contrast american racism, ethnomusicology, history, how were black treated in cuba, racism in cuba, racismo en cuba
), 05:26:29 pm, 2130 words PermalinkCategories: Pre-1959 Cuban Music, Contains video :: 2 comments »
2 comments
Very interesting take on Cuban society. Felt as if I've just read a history text. Good site. Love the music. 
Nicely done. A very interesting read. 
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