These elegant verses, as sung by the outstanding Cuban folkloric group Yoruba

Andabo, express pride and love for an afro-cuban cultural phenomenon often

ignored or disdained by society at large. Daughter of the African three-drum

ensemble and hispano-moorish vocal esthetics, rumba endures in Cuba and

throughout the world.

Guaguancó, the best known of the three rumba rhythms, emerged in Havana in the

first decades of the 20th century. Born from the secretive cabildos

(Afro-cuban religious associations), it was seen first in enormous coros de

guaguancó and later in the present-day ensemble featuring a half-dozen singers

and percussion: three conga drums, claves, and palitos (sticks which play a

pattern on any hard surface).

The two lower-pitched drums maintain a base of repetitive rhythmic "melodies"

combined with improvised "conversation", all held rigorously to the beat of the

clave. The high lead drum, the quinto, improvises fills and extended solos

working off of the singer, the lead dancer, and the conversations of the other

drums.A chorus of three or four men and women and a soloist provide the

harmonic, melodic, and textual elements. In a party (rumba’s natural element),

a succession of percussionists, singers and dancers compete to defend or

promote their status as the outstanding performer of the moment.

In the guaguancó dance, a single couple participates in a stylized game of

erotic tag, in which a woman must, with all naturalness and grace, attract her

partner yet avoid his "vacunao", a sudden sexual approach with a hand, a foot,

or a pelvic thrust. The vacunao is executed without lewdness or physical

contact, and a good vacunao (or equally, a suave defensive move) excites

laughter and admiration among the spectators.

In rumba columbia, a variation in 6/8 from the province of Matanzas, a single

dancer, traditionally a male, carries out a sequence of moves which in their

competitiveness and stylized qualities share something of contemporary break

dancing. The third common rumba variant, yambú, is usually played on wooden

boxes (cajones) and is slower and more relaxed. Like the guaguancó, it is a

couple dance, but as the singer reminds the dancers from time to time, "el

yambú no se vacuna" (the yambú has no vacunao). Sometime the couple mimes a

story (such as the hawk and the hunter, or the stern grandma and the reluctant

school boy) which the singer narrates. This style is known as yambú de

tiempos de España, or yambú from Spanish (ie, colonial) times.

Rumba texts can be short or long, and in a variety of structures, from unrhymed

narrations to the 10-line décima espinela so loved by Cubans. Typical themes

include songs of praise, boasting, picaresque tales, nonsense verse, and social

commentary. In folkloric groups a specialized singer often sings duets in

harmony with the lead singer, while another adds flourishes called floreos.

After singing the text, the soloist improvises while the chorus repeats a

short refrain. The inclusion of phrases in"lengua" (Afro-Cuban tongues such as

lucumí, abakwá, or palo) is frequent, particularly in the columbia rhythm. The

best singers have an extensive repetoire, a gift for verbal and melodic

improvisation and a knack for choosing, pacing, and putting in optimal order

the most appropriate songs to build energy, participation, and excitement among

the particular group of dancers, singers, and drummers.

A rumba party is participatory by nature--everyone can join in, at least in the

chorus. But it must be noted that in no form of rumba is there general public

dancing as one would expect at a dance party featuring son (salsa), merengue,

or cumbia, for example. In a rumba, individuals step forward one or two at a

time to compete in a public demonstration of their mastery of a highly specific

art form. Furthermore, rumbas must be live. We listen with pleasure to rumba

records, but to dance it we need ambiente and spontaneity, drums, voices and

spirit in a precise and elusive balance. Finally, there are social barriers to

rumba’a acceptance: racist and classist stereotypes (drunkenness, criminality,

illicit sexuality, exaggerated machismo, African primitivism, witchcraft), not

to mention the direct and indirect effects almost 40 years of U.S. government

hostility towards Cuba. Rumba is invisible on Latin TV and little known

outside of small groups of aficionados. As a consequence many who know and

love "salsa" know nothing of the rumba in its subtlety, creativity, and popular

vitality.

Excellent CDs of today’s outstanding folkloric rumba groups (I recommend Los

Muñequitos de Matanzas’ Rumba Caliente 88/77 Qbadisc 1992 [no number]) are on

sale in the Descarga catalog as well as specialized stores such Round World in

San Francisco. Also, in many U.S. cities there are parks, basements, and

dance classes where good rumba can be found. Rumba is a living tradition. Find

it, learn to appreciate its unique voice, and enjoy. As the old guaguancó

insists "la rumba es lo mas sublime para el alma divertir" [rumba is the most

sublime / to satisfy the soul].

FIN San Francisco de California

Saludos--

Felipe (Philip Pasmanick)