(Sp. República de Cuba).
Island republic in the West Indies. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea between North and South America and near to the Tropic of Cancer. It comprises over 1600 cays (low coral banks) and the Isla de la Juventud. The capital city is Havana. Cuba became an independent republic in 1901, and was declared a commubist state in 1961.
GERARD BÉHAGUE (I), ROBIN MOORE (II)
The history of art music in Cuba shows that it surpassed that of any other Caribbean island, although colonial music started much later there than in the larger Latin American countries. Musical activity during the 16th and 17th centuries was apparently limited. At that time sacred music was concentrated at Santiago Cathedral; the earliest reference to music indicates the presence there in 1544 of Miguel Velázquez, a native organist. The post of maestro de capilla was established in 1682, with limited means, by Bishop Juan García de Palacios, and was first held by Domingo de Flores.
Attempts to revive church music at Santiago, begun during the first half of the 18th century, were successful only during the latter part of the century when Cuba produced its first important composer, Esteban Salas y Castro. Before his transfer to Santiago in 1764, Salas was associated with the music of the Havana parish church (which became a cathedral in 1788). His extensive output includes masses, generally in four parts with string accompaniment, Lamentations, psalm settings, motets, litanies and numerous villancicos in the vernacular. His liturgical pieces are in a transitional style combining late Baroque and pre-Classical characteristics. Another Cuban, Francisco José Hierrezuelo, succeeded Salas at Santiago; after his resignation the Spaniard Juan Paris (1759–1845) occupied the post (1805–45). The musicologists Alejo Carpentier and Pablo Hernández Balaguer discovered several of Paris’s works, which include many villancicos. By the 1830s operatic and symphonic music was being performed in the cathedral, much to the disapproval of some local musicians.
Music at Havana Cathedral seems to have reached its peak during the early 19th century, although there have been no specific studies of the historical and musical archives there. The Academy of Music was founded in 1814, and the S Cecilia Academy in 1816; the first music published in Cuba was a contradanza (1803).
Symphonies, operas and piano music, at first in a Classical and then in a predominantly Romantic style, characterized 19th-century Cuban music. Antonio Raffelín (1796–1882) wrote a mass, several symphonies and chamber music works in a Classical idiom. Robredo Manuel Saumell, a prolific composer, cultivated the contradanza with its typical dotted-figure accompaniment, characteristic of the later habanera, danzón and other Latin American popular dance rhythms. Laureano Fuentes Matóns (1825–98) wrote many chamber works, sacred pieces, a symphonic poem América, an opera Seila and several zarzuelas. Nicolás Ruiz Espadero (1832–90) wrote virtuoso piano pieces in a style derived from Liszt and Gottschalk, such as his Canto del guajiro. Gaspar Villate studied at the Paris Conservatoire and had three of his operas given their first performance in Europe (Zilia, Paris, 1877; La czarine, The Hague, 1880; Baldassare, Madrid, 1885).
The first decisive step towards musical nationalism in Cuba was taken by Ignacio Cervantes (1847–1905), the most important Cuban composer of his generation. He was a pupil of Gottschalk and Ruíz Espadero and then of Marmontel at the Paris Conservatoire, and had a successful career as a concert pianist. Among his many works the 45 Danzas cubanas for piano (1875–95), many of them contradanzas, combine folk-music elements of both Afro-Cuban and Guajiro traditions in a Romantic virtuoso piano style. These pieces are the most original contribution to 19th-century Cuban art music. Among the many composers active during the early 20th century Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes, one of the most influential, also advocated a Romantic national style. Later outstanding composers associated with musical nationalism included Amadeo Roldán and Alejandro García Caturla, who found in ‘Afrocubanismo’ the most suitable source of national expression. The stylistic idiosyncrasies of Roldán’s impressive output are best seen in his series of six Rítmicas (1930) for various instruments, the last two for Afro-Cuban and other percussion instruments. García Caturla had several of his works published in Europe and the USA. His skilful and original treatment of Afro-Cuban music is well represented by his La rumba (1933) and Tres danzas cubanas (1937) for orchestra, and particularly by his many settings of Alejo Carpentier’s and Nicolás Guillén’s Afro-Cuban poems. For a time Roldán was leader of the Havana PO, founded in 1924 by Pedro Sanjuán. Previously the Havana SO had been established under Gonzalo Roig, composer of the popular zarzuela Cecilia Valdés. Ernesto Lecuona, a member of the same generation, was internationally renowned for his musical comedies and many popular songs.
After the premature deaths of Roldán and García Caturla, José Ardévol (1911–81) occupied a leading position as a composer and teacher from the 1930s to the mid-1950s. He gave many young composers a solid technical training, and he founded the Grupo de Renovación Musical (1942) in Havana, which promoted contemporary music and rejected nationalism for its own sake. The group’s manifesto stated, however, that a ‘national factor is indispensable in musical creation, in the sense that all artistic expression occurs within a cultural setting’. As a composer Ardévol moved from a rigorous neo-classical style, which he initiated in Cuba, to a modernistic ‘national’ style.
Ardévol’s pupils who were associated with the group and became prominent included Serafin Pro, composer of choral works, Gisela Hernández (1912–71), Edgardo Martín (b 1915), Harold Gramatges (b 1918) and Argeliers León (1918–91), also noted as an ethnomusicologist in the 1960s. One of the group, Julián Orbón (1925–91), established an international reputation as a composer and a pianist. In the early 1950s he broke away from the group to develop his own artistic ideas. Other 20th-century Cuban composers who developed independently include Carlo Borbolla (1902–90), Félix Guerrero Díaz (b 1916) and Aurelio de la Vega (b 1925). The last-named is the best-known composer outside Cuba. He has written in an atonal idiom and turned to electronic music in the 1960s. He directed the school of music at the Universidad de Oriente, then moved to the USA as professor of music at S Fernando State College, California, where he directs the laboratory of electronic music. Among other composers born in the 1920s and 30s Juan Blanco (b 1929), Carlos Fariñas (b 1934) and Leo Brouwer (b 1939) have used electronic and serial techniques. Brouwer has also drawn on aleatory techniques. Since the 1970s the most significant figures of the Cuban avant garde have been Héctor Angulo (b 1932), Cálixto Alvarez (b 1938), Roberto Valera (b 1938), José Loyola (b 1941) and Sergio Fernández Barroso (b 1946). With the founding of the Instituto Superior de Arte in 1976 a highly individual group of composers emerged, including Jorge Garciaporrúa (b 1938), Carlos Malcolm (b 1945), Juan Piñera (b 1949), José Angel Pérez Puentes (b 1951), Magaly Ruiz (b 1941) and Efraín Amador (b 1947). The substantial output of these composers since the 1970s has confirmed the richness and diversity of contemporary Cuban art music.
See also Havana and Santiago de Cuba.
A.G. Caturla: ‘The Development of Cuban Music’, American Composers on American Music, ed. H. Cowell (Stanford, CA, 1933), 173–4
A. Carpentier: La música en Cuba (Mexico City, 1946)
A. Carpentier: ‘La música contemporánea de Cuba’, RMC, no.27 (1947), 9–16
A. Carpentier: ‘Music in Cuba’, MQ, xxxiii (1947), 365–80
P.H. Balaguer: ‘Panorama de la música colonial cubana’, RMC, nos.81–2 (1962), 201–8
J. Ardévol: Introducción a Cuba: la música (Havana, 1969)
E. Martín: Panorama de la música en Cuba (Havana, 1971)
L. Brouwer: La música lo cubano y la innovación (Havana, 1982)
G. Antolitia: Cuba, dos siglos de música (Havana, 1984)
J.A. González: La composición operística en Cuba (Havana, 1986)
P. Hernández Balaguer: El más antiguo documento de la música cubana y otros ensayos (Havana, 1986)
E. Pérez Sanjurjo: Historia de la música cubana (Miami, 1986)
Music in Cuba often represents a complex synthesis of influences including not only Hispanic and African, but also regional and international styles from a gamut of classical, ‘folk’ and commercial sources. This is especially true of popular music. Cuba has existed as a political entity for over 500 years; it has developed many syncretic national genres that testify to the island's unique cultural history and are enjoyed by nearly all Cubans. Conversely, Cuba is far from homogeneous and many cultural forms have achieved popularity only among limited segments of the population. Music genres associated with Afro-Cuban religious worship, for instance, have never been played consistently in the mass media and are considered non-musical or even offensive to some listeners. Such attitudes are most common among white/Hispanic Cubans, some of whom continue to associate African-derived expression with poverty, ignorance and superstition. Rather than conceiving of Cuban music as a single, monolithic entity, it is more helpful to view it as a conglomerate of distinct styles and tendencies which have affected one another to varying degrees over time.
The first known inhabitants of Cuba were the Siboney and Arawak groups living on the island at the time of the Spanish conquest. The little that is known of their musical practices has been taken from the accounts of travellers such as Bartolomé de las Casas and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo. Instruments employed by native groups included the mayohuacán, a hollowed-out log slit-drum similar to the Aztec teponaztle; wooden and conch-shell trumpets, the latter known as guamos or cobos; flutes; and wooden rattles similar to maracas. The maraca appears to be the only instrument employed in Cuba today which may derive from the indigenous past.
One of the most important forms of Siboney expression was the areíto, a communal religious event involving music, dance, ritual tobacco smoking and the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Dance movements of the areíto are not well documented, but seem to have involved ring formation and were at least in part mimetic. Responsorial song, a crucial element in ceremony, was led by a tequina or musical specialist chosen by the tribe. Colonial officials banned areíto performance in 1512; this, combined with the brutal nature of the conquest in the Caribbean and resultant decimation of the indigenous population, led to the early demise of such activity.
These musical traditions have existed in Cuba since the earliest days of the conquest. While most national genres demonstrate some influence from Spain, the punto and décima are most closely associated with such heritage. These forms of expression, known loosely as música guajira (music of rural Hispanic farmers), have remained strong into the 20th century due to government-subsidized immigration from the Canary Islands in the 1910s and 20s. The punto and décima are primarily song and string instrument traditions. They employ the laúd, tres and bandurria (variants of Spanish instruments developed in Cuba) as well as the guitar and maracas or other hand-held percussion. Strictly speaking, punto is a term used to describe instrumental music which usually accompanies song. Décima, by contrast, refers to the poetry most commonly associated with música guajira. It can be pre-composed or spontaneously improvised. Décima form first developed in medieval Spain. It consists of ten eight-syllable lines with the espinela rhyme scheme (ABBAACCDDC). The melodies associated with música guajira are stylized and formulaic. Emphasis is primarily on the text, with music in a supporting role. Punto and décima have lost favour, especially among the young, who consider them old-fashioned. Nevertheless, television and radio shows continue to promote them.
One of the most exciting aspects of improvised décima performance is the fact that it often occurs in the context of controversias or poetic song-duelling between two artists. Décima improvisers are required to respond quickly to the challenges of their opponent and to sing their own responses within strict metric conventions. The Spanish-derived romance or lyric ballad also exists in Cuba, as do other Iberian genres.
Adopting the terminology of author Miguel Barnet, the music and dance of the santería ceremony can be regarded as the ‘fuente viva’ of much of Cuba's cultural inspiration. As in the case of North American black gospel, the sacred music of santería has never enjoyed commercial mass popularity (though this may be changing), yet it has been of fundamental importance to the development of most Cuban popular music and to the strength of African cultural retentions generally. A fusion of Yoruban beliefs with aspects of Catholicism, santería is the largest of several Afro-Cuban religions including arará and palo monte (derived from Ewe/Dahomey and Congo groups, respectively) as well as espiritismo and abakuá ritual. Virtually all Afro-Cuban religious devotion involves music and dance: the orichasò (ancestor divinities) can only be invoked and worshipped by playing songs dedicated to them.
Various types of music are associated with Afro-Cuban religions. These include formal performance events closed to non-initiates in which batá drumming and singing predominate, as well as more open celebrations in which an ekón (bell) and one or more unconsecrated conga drums are more typically used, sometimes in conjunction with chéqueres (dried gourds shaken within a net of beads; fig.1a) or even violins. The batá, perhaps the best known of santería instruments, consist of a set of three double-headed, hourglass drums of different sizes. The most common names of these drums, in descending order of size, are iyá, itótele (fig.2) and okónkolo. Batá drums are considered sacred and are believed to contain a spiritual force (añá) which facilitates religious communication.
In any type of Yoruban-derived ceremony, Afro-Cuban religious devotion typically involves the performance of orus, strictly ordered sequences of percussive rhythms and songs to the orichas. Solo vocalists, referred to as akpwon, lead the singing and are responded to by a chorus of initiates. Lead singers and chorus members can be men or women; women, however, constitute the majority of santería devotees. The musical characteristics of traditional Afro-Cuban music, both sacred and secular, include the predominance of voice and percussion instruments; cyclic, interlocking musical segments which are repeated to provide an underlying musical texture; complex polyrhythms; responsorial singing; descending pentatonic vocal melodies; and a tendency for some instruments to play static, unchanging figures while others improvise.
Because it incorporates many of the same instruments used in religious events, the Afro-Cuban rumba sounds similar to music of the santería ceremony. Rumba is, however, distinctly secular. It developed in the Havana and Matanzas provinces, and its rhythms are said to be of Bantu origin. Similar genres (most notably the tumba francesa of Oriente) exist in other areas. As in the case of batá drumming, rumba performers (traditionally men) most often employ three drums, conga, tumbadora, quinto or salidor (in order of decreasing size and rising pitch) as well as claves and the palitos or cáscara (Literally ‘shell’, this term refers to the wooden extension of a drum, a wood block or another resonant object beaten with sticks). Rumba can also be performed on wooden boxes (cajones) or other instruments instead of drums. In contrast to batá performance, it is the highest drum in the rumba ensemble which improvises, and the lower drums, along with the clave and cáscara, which provide the more static musical texture.
Numerous antecedent genres are mentioned in the literature (for example tahona, papolote, yuka, calinda) and new forms are constantly emerging. Three major subgenres are most commonly found today: the yambú, guaguancó and columbia, each associated with distinct rhythms and body movements. The yambú and guaguancó are couple dances. Yambú, an older form, is performed at a slower tempo and involves mimetic gestures characteristic of the 19th-century rumba (rumba del tiempo de España). Guaguancó, probably the best-known variant, has inspired many commercial dances in cabarets and theatres. The choreography represents a stylized form of sexual conquest suggested by pelvic thrusts from the male dancer (referred to as the vacunao) and covering of the groin by the female (the botao). Columbia is a fast, virtuoso male solo dance associated with secret brotherhoods (abakuá or ñáñigo groups, a tradition derived from Efix culture).
Comparsa (or conga) music represents yet another Afro-Cuban genre which has had a significant impact on national traditions. Comparsas, groups of primarily Afro-Cuban street musicians that perform in street parades, developed around the beginning of the 20th century. They derive from 19th-century ensembles of slaves and free blacks who were allowed to perform their tango congo music publicly on Epiphany (El Día de Reyes) each year. This event was specifically for black Cubans, who were often not allowed to participate in Carnival. At the conclusion of the Wars of Independence (1868–98), Carnival finally became a more ethnically integrated event. Controversies over the comparsas continued for many years, however, and bands were actually barred from participation in Carnival again from 1914 to 1936.
While comparsas in the 19th century tended to be organized by cabildo (societies representing particular African ethnic groups), those in the 20th century have been organized by city district. Neighbourhoods with well-known comparsas in Havana include Belén, Atarés, Jesús María and Cayo Hueso. Each comparsa has its own theme song as well as dance movements and costumes. Instruments are often made at home by participants or improvised from inexpensive materials. They include stave drums (made with long strips of wood) of various shapes and sizes, bells, frying pans, tyre rims, trumpets and other brass instruments, as well as the corneta china (a double-reed aerophone brought to Cuba by Chinese indentured servants). Through the 1940s, comparsas were frequently hired by Cuban politicians in an attempt to attract black voters. Dance band ‘salon congas’ inspired by street comparsas began to achieve popularity in Cuba and abroad in the 1930s.
European ballroom genres have been danced in Cuba for centuries (e.g. the minuet, gavotte, quadrille and waltz) and over the years have blended with Afro-Cuban influences to produce new styles. Among the first syncretic ballroom genres to gain popularity in the early 19th century were the contradanza and danza, fusions of predominantly European musical forms with light percussive accompaniment and featuring an isorhythmic pattern brought to Cuba by Haitian refugees in the 1790s. This pattern is known as the cinquillo (ex.1). The growing popularity of the contradanza and danza met with fierce opposition by many middle-class critics who denounced the cinquillo as a ‘savage Africanism’. The danzón, direct successor to these genres, encountered similar opposition a few decades later. Considered by many to be the first widely popular form of national music, it developed among the black and mulatto middle classes of Matanzas province in the 1870s. Band leader Miguel Faílde (1852–1921) is especially remembered as one of its important innovators.
Danzones remained controversial for many years because of the cinquillo pattern, the predominance of Afro-Cuban musicians performing them, and their incorporation of couple dancing, then a new practice in Cuba and considered immoral. Little distinguishes the danzón from the contradanza and danza in a musical sense; its uniqueness lies primarily in its complex choreography, involving a number of distinct steps: the paseo, cadena, sostenido and cedazo. Danzón structure most typically consists of a rondo (ABACAD). Its popularity is closely associated with the Wars of Independence in Cuba and nationalist sentiment generated during the struggle for autonomy from Spain. The danzonete and chachachá of the 20th century are fusions of the danzón with influences from the son, as is the repertory of the charanga band. The ensembles performing mid-19th-century ballroom music were known as orquestas típicas. Their instrumentation included güiro (a gourd scraper; fig.1c), timbal (derived from the drums of Spanish military bands), clarinet, cornet, trombone, bassoon and tuba. At the turn of the century, the flute, piano, string bass and violins began to replace the aforementioned wind instruments.
Variously called teatro bufo, teatro criollo, teatro vernáculo or teatro de variedades, blackface theatre developed largely from Spanish theatrical forms such as the tonadilla and from North American minstrelsy. While not discussed at length in most literature, blackface shows were the most popular forms of entertainment from the 1860s to at least the 1920s. Almost invariably, character interaction on stage took place in the working-class neighbourhood or urban slumhouse (solar). Standard characters included the comic black man (negrito), the light-skinned black woman (mulata) and the Spanish shopkeeper or businessman (gallego). Parodies of traditional Afro-Cuban rumba, comparsa, son, and guaracha, played by Western orchestral ensembles, represented the mainstay of musical accompaniment. The cornet, violin, clarinet, acoustic bass, keyboard and timbal were among the instruments most commonly employed.
As is the case in most other Latin American countries, a significant amount of popular music in Cuba has tended to be slow sentimental song rather than dance music. Sentimental genres include the canción, bolero and trova tradicional (also known as vieja trova). They are characterized by extended chromatic harmonies, moderate duple metre, stylistic influences from German Lieder or Italian light opera and lyrics alluding to love or personal relationships. A number of turn-of-the-century habanera compositions are also essentially love songs, although the genre was initially intended for dancing. Cuba's vieja trova tradition is of particular interest, as it involved primarily black and mulatto working-class performers in Santiago de Cuba with no formal training who nevertheless demonstrated strong art music influences in their compositions.
Operatic influences are also apparent in the many popular zarzuelas (nationalist light operas) which first gained popularity at the turn of the century, and remain well represented. Cuban zarzuelas derive from the Spanish genre of the same name but their plots are based on themes and imagery specific to Cuba. The works tend to be set in the 19th century and revolve around white and black male suitors competing for the love of a mulatto woman. The peak of their popularity came in the 1920s and 30s during a movement concurrent with (and in some respects similar to) the Harlem Renaissance and known as afrocubanismo. Famous Cuban zarzuela composers include Ernesto Lecuona, Jaime Prats and Gonzalo Roig.
The Cuban Son (not to be confused with its Mexican counterpart) and the Salsa music derived from it are recognized to be among the most important forms of Caribbean music of the 20th century. The scope of their international influence rivals that of reggae, blues and rock. Sones are highly syncretic, representing a fusion of African and Hispanic cultural influences. In the 1920s they became an important symbol of national identity in Cuba, although they originated as a regional music in the province of Oriente. Son is difficult to define precisely, as numerous sub-classifications exist (e.g. son montuno, changüí, sucu-sucu, Guaracha, conjunto format and Mambo), as well as hybrid forms which fuse son-derived characteristics with other musics (e.g. son-guajira, son-pregón, guaracha-son and afro-son). Structurally, traditional sones tend to be in duple metre, based on simple European-derived harmonic patterns (I–V, I–IV–V) and alternate initially between verse and chorus sections. Short instrumental segments performed on tres (folk guitar) or trumpet are also frequently included between strophic repetitions. The montuno, the final section of most sones, is performed at a faster tempo and involves relatively rapid alternations between a chorus and an improvising vocal or instrumental soloist. Phrases in this section are generally referred to as inspiraciones. The cyclical, antiphonal and highly improvisatory nature of the montuno bears a striking similarity to the formal organization of many traditional West African musics, whereas the initial strophic sections of sones (known as canto or tema) more closely resemble European musics.
Acoustic sones employ various instruments including the tres, guitar, maracas (fig.1d, bongo drum, güiro and botija (jug bass), marímbula (large lamellophone) or acoustic bass. Modern dance bands often use an electric bass, substitute electric keyboard for the guitar and tres and add conga drums (tumbadoras) and timbales as well as a horn section. Son lyrics utilize European-derived poetic forms such as coplas, cuartetas and décimas. Among the most distinctive musical characteristics of the genre are its prominent clave pattern, highly syncopated figures played by the tres and/or keyboard which outline the chordal structure of the piece, a tendency for the guitar strum and bongo to emphasize the fourth beat of the bar more strongly than the first and a unique bass rhythm accenting the second half of the second beat and the fourth beat of the bar, generally referred to as an anticipated bass (ex.2). The syncopated bass pattern of the son as well as its ambivalent stress pattern has been fundamental to the creation of modern salsa.
With the exception of some música guajira, canciones, traditional trova and boleros, virtually all Cuban music contains a repeating figure known as clave which provides a rhythmic foundation to the piece. The term clave is confusing since it can refer both to a diversity of characteristic two-bar rhythms as well as to the concussion sticks on which some clave rhythms are performed. In a more general sense, the phrase ‘being in clave’ is used to imply the awareness of a clave time-line (not necessarily performed) which relates musicians' rhythmic and melodic performance to one another. The clave patterns of Afro-Cuban religious repertory, often performed on a bell or other metal object, tend to be in 6/8 time, while those in secular genres are more frequently in duple metre.
The political changes resulting from the socialist revolution in 1959 have had a dramatic impact on Cuban musical activity. Support of culture and the arts in various forms has been a priority for the government; the ENA (Escuela Nacional de Arte) and ENIA (Escuela Nacional de Instructores de Arte) were created by the Castro government in 1961 at almost exactly the same time as the Bay of Pigs invasion. As in the case of most Marxist states, culture has been highly politicized in Cuba. Countless forms of musical expression have flourished on the generous support of government agencies while others have been marginalized, censored and persecuted. The musical panorama is complex and contrasts attributes such as free education, health care and relatively high salaries for many performers with limitations on personal expression, lack of adequate materials for study and difficulty in travelling. It must be emphasized, however, that artistic activity in general increased after 1959 and that the island continues to produce performers of exceptional quality.
One of the best-known forms of musical expression associated with revolutionary Cuba is referred to as nueva trova. The term trova derives from trovador (troubadour), a name given to early 20th-century guitarist composers. Nueva trova is a form of protest music incorporating stylistic influences from Cuban traditional and popular genres, jazz, rock, European classical music and other sources. It emerged as a recognizable movement in the late 1960s among younger performers, although its direct antecedents can be found in compositions by Carlos Puebla, Eduardo Saborit and traditional trova artists. Nueva trova represents part of a pan-Latin American protest song phenomenon which extended to the USA and Europe.
Song lyrics of the nueva trova repertory vary in style but represent an attempt to escape from commercial banality, often referring to political injustice, sexism, colonialism and related issues. Pablo Milanés, Silvio Rodríguez, Noel Nicola, Pedro Luís Ferrer and other early figures appeared on stage in street clothes and in other ways minimized the divide between performer and audience. Far from being wholeheartedly embraced by the establishment, nueva trova artists throughout the mid-1970s maintained a tense relationship with government officials who considered their long hair, ‘hippie’ clothing and interest in rock a manifestation of capitalist decadence. By the late 1970s, however, many of the same artists had achieved widespread support and were transformed into international icons of socialism. Later Cuban protest singers, including Carlos Varela, Amaury Pérez and Gerardo Alfonso, have been more heavily influenced by rock and have criticized government policies more openly than their established counterparts.
After the onset of economic crisis in 1989, musicians actively sought recording and touring contracts abroad, making their work more internationally accessible. Circumventing the American economic embargo in various ways, both they and the Cuban communist party used music as a means of generating hard currency after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Jazz artists on the island (and in exile) have received widespread recognition for their excellence, as have dance bands. Groups such as Los Van Van and Angelitos Negros experiment with international influences including rap, hiphop and Brazilian music, and combine them with Cuban genres in innovative ways. Unique fusions of Afro-Cuban religious drumming and song with son, salsa and rumba have become quite common in the wake of liberalized policies towards religious practitioners. Cuba continues to be a dynamic site of musical creation despite the severe economic hardships and political isolation experienced by its people.
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M.T. Linares: Introducción a Cuba: la música popular (Havana, 1970)
J.S. Roberts: The Latin Tinge: the Impact of Latin American Music on the United States (New York, 1979)
C.M. Rondón: El libro de la salsa (Caracas, 1980)
J. Gómez, ed.: Canciones de la nueva trova (Havana, 1981)
N. Galán: Cuba y sus sones (Valencia, 1983)
S. Feijóo: El son cubano: poesía general (Havana, 1986)
B. Collazo: La última noche que pasé contigo (Puerto Rico, 1987)
A. Martínez Malo: Rita la única (Havana, 1988)
O. Martínez: Ernesto Lecuona (Havana, 1989)
V. Aguilar: Muy personal: Pablo Milanés (Mexico, 1990)
C. de León: Sindo Garay: memorias de un trovador (Havana, 1990)
J. Robbins: Making Popular Music in Cuba: a Study of the Cuban Institutions of Musical Production and the Musical Life of Santiago de Cuba (diss., U. of Illinois at Urbana, 1990)
R. Mauleón: Salsa Guidebook for Piano and Ensemble (Petaluma, CA, 1993)
Y. Daniel: Rumba: Dance and Social Change in Contemporary Cuba (Bloomington, IN, 1995)
C. Díaz Pérez: Silvio Rodríguez: hay quien precisa (Madrid, 1995)
R. Giró, ed.: Panorama de la música popular cubana (Cali, 1995)
C. de León: Ernesto Lecuona: el maestro (Madrid, 1995)
S. Rodríguez: Canciones del mar (Madrid, 1995)
R. Moore: Nationalizing Blackness: Afrocubanismo and Artistic Revolution in Havana, 1925–40 (Pittsburgh, 1997)
The Cuban Danzón: its Ancestors and Descendants, coll. J. Santos, Folkways FE 4066 (1982)
What's Cuba Playing At?, BBC videotape, dir. M. Dibb (London, 1985)
Live in Havana, perf. G. Rubalcaba, Messidor MSDR 15960 (1986); reissued as MSDR 15830 (1995)
Rumbas y comparsas de Cuba, ICAIC videotape, dir. O. Valdés, H. Veitía and C. Diego (Havana, 1986)
Antología integral del son, coll. D. Orozco, i: Bases históricos, Siboney LD–286 (1987)
Machito: a Latin Jazz Legacy, videotape, dir. C. Ortiz, Icarus Films (New York, 1987)
Misa negra, perf. Irakere, Messidor 15972 (1987)
Congas por barrio, perf. Pello el Afrokan, EGREM LD–4471 (1988)
Rumba caliente, perf. Muñequitos de Matanzas, Qbadisc 9005 (1988)
Routes of Rhythm, Cultural Research and Communication videotape, dir. E. Roscow and H. Dratch (Santa Monica, CA, 1989)
¡Sabroso!; Havana Hits, Earthworks CAROL 2411–2 (1989)
Cecilia Valdés: zarzuela cubana en dos actos, perf. G. Roig, Artex CD–036, (1991)
Sextetos Cubanos: sones 1930, coll. C. Strachwitz and M. Avalos, Arhoolie Folklyric 7003 (1991)
Cancionero, perf. P. Milanés, World Pacific CDP 0777 7 90596 2 2 (1993)
Grandes orquestas cubanas de los años 50, EGREM CD–0036 (1993)
Como los peces, perf. C. Varela, Ariola 25754 (1994)
El inigualable Bola de Nieve, perf. I. Villa, EGREM CD 0011 (1994)
Rita de Cuba, perf. R. Montaner, Tumbao TCD–046 (1994)
Sacred Rhythms of Cuban Santería, Smithsonian Folkways SFCD40419 (1995)
Septeto Habanero: 75 Years Later, Corason COCD 126 (1995)
Música y revolución, Producciones UNEAC CD 020600 (1996)