FINAL STUDY GUIDE Two types of Afro Cuban music o Sacred music in the santeria ceremony o Secular dance music Four main focuses of Cuban music o Nueva trova o Cuban hip hop o Santeria folkloric and religious o Cuban reggaeton o Cuban son o Cuban salsa Similarities and differences between o Cuban hip hop and U S mainstream hip hop o Cuban hip hop and Cuban reggaeton o Nueva trova and Cuban hip hop o Folkloric santeria and Religious Santeria GENERAL CUBAN HISTORY Socialism political and economic system Capital Havana Cuba ruled by communist party but they are socialist Old Havana has become tourist attraction since 90s Many Latin American countries developed their own versions of instruments such as tres 3 string guitar leading to country nationalism 1898 o Spanish American War o US gov t involved in Cuban politics puppet government o US wants to secure natural resources o Havana a tourist destination o Cuba government promotes the Son as a national symbol 1959 o Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro Che Guevera overthrow the current government Attempt to minimize class differences and race distinction Nationalized economy Cuba took ownership of its own government and the US got upset Eliminated Discrimination Socialist Government run by Communist party 1989 o Cuba puts a lot of into the arts o Cold war ends o Economic crisis o o Return of tourism o cuba has to embrace aspects of capitalism to survive socio capitalism Didnt he say something about the dependence on tourism institutions including prostitution and tourism music SUB SAHARAN MUSIC FEATURES o Ostinato phrase that repeats over and over o Call and response respond to each other o Core and elaboration parts that are steady and repeated the parts that add variation o o Thick dense sound Interlocking overlapping of sounds when one is playing the other is not WHY AFRO CUBAN TRADITIONS SOUND MORE AFRICAN THAN US AFRICAN TRADITIONS o Greater retention of African music in Cuba o Different policies regarding slavery during colonial period o West African tradition with Catholicism religious syncretism o Cubiertos in Cuba mutual aid societies after slaves bought freedom could practice musical traditions out in the open CULTURAL POLICY ETHNIC POLICY SLAVERY RELIGIONS CUBA COLONIAL PERIOD Allowed to celebrate their ethnic culture musical and religious festivities flexible Mutual aid societies divide the blacks along ethnic and religious lines for less revolts help people of the same ethnic groups Slaves could buy their freedom Syncretic belief system mixture of Catholic Methodism and West African traditional religion US COLONIAL PERIOD Repressing their ethnic culture repressive Mix of Africans of different ethnicities Not easy to buy freedom Not encouraging any belief systems of Africa Santeria flourished in mid 20th century in US and sacrifice legalized in 1993 Reduced by 1800 English IMPORT OF SLAVES LANGUAGE Mainly 1800 1860 Mixture CONT In Cuba music was preserved via religious ceremonies and cultural elements o o o o 1 in countries colonized by Spanish slaves could purchase their freedom manumission resulted in communities of freed slaves and mutual aid societies cabilvos organized according to ethnicity people could practice their traditions freely 2 differences between catholic and Protestant missionization strategies how to force slaves to adopt their religion encouraged syncretism for Catholics while Protestants made Africans drop their beliefs and adopt Protestant ones 3 slavery lasted longer in Cuba than in US in terms of the slave trade and the number of slaves arriving 4 In Cuba slaves were encouraged to organize around their ethnicity maintain their ethnicities in cubiertos while this was discouraged in the US so the slaves would not unify and revolt US also encouraged rivalries among ethnic group split up families to maintain control Rumba secular pelvic thrust dance associated with it RUMBA VS SANTERIA SANTERIA RUMBA INSTRUMENTS Conga cowbell tambourine STYLE ORIGIN CONTEXT FUNCTION call lead vocalist and response crowds in circular formation core and elaboration improv on lead drummer polyrhythmic talking drum Brought to Cuba from Africa Religious sacred For a status of trance and possession Conga tapped sticks lead singer and chorus call and response between lead singer and chorus polyrhythmic core clave rhythm by sticks and elaboration improve by conga and singer use of nonsense syllables Originated in Cuba in late 1800s Fiesta social gatherings secular folkloric contexts such as competitions or shows entertainment RUMBA VS SON o Rumba no trumpets or bass all percussion o Son trumpets bass mixed instrumentation helps unify o Both have clave core and bongos elaboration call and response as singing CUBAN HIP HOP history other o Government supports it o Emergence in post 89 era after Soviet Union collapsed o Cuba loses big ties with Soviet Union causes economic crisis after 89 was a special period because they had to embrace aspects of capitalism in order to survive so they were socio capitalist o Things came back to cater to tourists prostitution contemporary forms of son o Perform for local community centers try to make it participatory with wholesome family entertainment allow free styling for audience members who come onstage o THEMES constructive criticism lyrics consistent with socialist ideology of anti materialist do the right thing because it s the right thing lets make Cuba better and stronger everyone is supposed to be equal so eliminate racism o Use socialist symbols show that there is no question of political orientation and they are on o Socially conscious rap don t talk about sex or violence o Unity of people comes up a lot of people of African descent of all Cubans socialists the right side socially conscious artists o Government funding but never harassed o Originated in poor areas o CHE GUEVARA prominent symbol of idealism hardcore Marxism everyone trying to be like him quote him in songs Was the reason for the victory at Santa Clara Revolution is like love commit 100 or it won t work he died young and is viewed as a Martyr right hand man of Fidel Castro CUBAN REGGAETON Criticized in Cuba because it is the opposite and enemy of hip hop Dance party music that embraces materialism in lyrics About sex love wanting to be famous Prominent dem bow rhythm CUBAN HIP HOP VS CUBAN REGGAETON CUBAN HIP HOP VS US HIP HOP Similarities Differences o Both originated in poor areas US Bronx with addressing hardship o Cuban