by FRANK M. FIGUEROA
When Cuban music first arrived in New York City in the late 1920s, it was given the generic title "Rhumba." Spelling it with an h was dressing it with a top hat to make the rumba more acceptable among cafe society. In those days, such diverse Cuban genres as the pregón, the canción, and the bolero were all classified as rhumbas. In fact, what has been considered the U.S. rhumba of all time, El manisero, was really a pregón. For most people in the United States and in other parts of the world, the rhumba is a dance genre that came from Cuba in the early 1930s and was popularized by society bands such as the Xavier Cugat Orchestra. In recent times, those who are well-informed about Cuban music have begun to use the term rumba according to its original meaning.
Rumba sin hache, [rumba without an h], the authentic Cuban dance form, is completely African in origin. Its development in Cuba dates back to the mid-19th century in what has been referred to as El tiempo de España [the colonial period]. In addition to being a music and dance genre it is a general attitude and atmosphere. The rumba is a party in which everyone participates. At first, it was performed outdoors in patios [back yards] and empty lots. Eventually it moved indoors into small rooms and clubs. Following the African tradition, those present must play, scrape, rattle or beat something. It could be a drum, a wooden box, a chair, sticks, spoons, or maracas. It is a participatory ritual in which the audience is encouraged to clap their hands, sing and dance. These parties go on even today in Cuba, in the streets of Havana and Matanzas and are called rumbones or rumba festivals. These rumbones spring up for a variety of occasions such as: holidays, birthdays, baptisms, weddings, or whenever a group of people get together for a good time.
There are three main variants of the rumba, the guaguancó, the columbia, and the yambú. The instrumentation for the rumba includes: three tumbas or conga drums and two sticks or palitos. Two of the drums, the tumbadora and the segundo or tres golpes, play the basic rhythm and the quinto, which is a higher pitched drum, plays improvised beats to guide the dancers.
The best known of the three styles of the rumba is the guaguancó. It is more of a city dance typical of Havana than the other two variants of the rumba. Generally, the singing is done entirely in Spanish instead of using African expressions and vocabulary. The tempo of the guaguancó is slightly slower than that of the columbia and faster than the yambú. The dancer's purpose in the guaguancó is the vacunao, or the vaccination. In her book Rumba, Yvonne Daniel presents a graphic description of the dancers in the guaguancó. She compares the choreography of this dance to "a rooster chasing a hen, preening himself, puffing his chewst oput, strutting about, and relentlessly pursuing his potential mate." As the performance continues, the couple goes through several dance steps simulating a process of attraction and rejection. At the appropriate time, the male dancer executes a vacunao by gesturing with a pelvic thrust toward the woman. She responds with an accepting gesture and the ritual is consummated.
The original guaguancó was made up of three sections. The first part was the diana, a melodic fragment in which the lead singer improvised some la la las or syllables non-lexical meaning. Next, the singer introduced the theme of the song. The text of the guaguancó referred to everyday happenings or to specific persons or things. The verses could be décimas (ten-line octosyllabic stanzas,) pareados, (two-line stanzas) or even prose. In the third section all members of the group joined in. The group would yell se rompió la rumba (the rumba has broken loose). In this section, as in all call and response formats, the coro repeated a set pattern of phrases while the lead singer improvised.
In recent times, the vocal part of the guaguancó has overshadowed the dancing component of the genre. Outside of Cuba, the modern ballroom version of the guaguancó bears no resemblance to the original. It is now danced by multiple couples who are free to do a variety of steps to the rhythm. The amalgamation of guaguancó, son, guaracha, and other genres is such that one can hardly recognize a guaguancó. To further complicate matters, today's soneros do not differentiate. They sing dianas in all types of songs.
The second variant of the rumba is the columbia. It developed in the interior regions of Cuba among the Afro-Cubans who worked in the sugar plantations. The columbia is sung in a dialect composed of Spanish and African words. According to Cuban writer Argeliers Leon, this music was given its name from an old housing complex in Matanzas called "Columbia." It is considered a very old type of rumba derived from the rituals of the Abakuá societies in Havana and Matanzas. In this style of rumba there is only one dancer, a male who dances with rapid, acrobatic movements. Argeliers León says that this dance may include various steps imitating the movements of a cripple, an epileptic, riding a bicycle, flying a kite, fishing, etc. The dancer performs in front of the quinto drum and challenges the drummer to see who can come up with the most complex rhythmic patterns. The tempo of the columbia is faster than that of the guaguancó and the yambú.
The third variant of the rumba is the yambú. This is a slow tempo rumba in which the dancers imitate the slow, shaky movements of the elderly. The rhythm of the yambú is slower than that of the guaguancó and the columbia. The instrumentation for this style of rumba is very similar to that of the guaguancó and the columbia. There is no vacunao in the yambú. The lead singer often calls out: En el yambú no se vacuna. [There is no vaccination in the yambú.] He also sings a diana in which he sets the pattern for the coro. The lyrics are usually taken from old stories and happenings. One well-known yambú is Mama Güela. It tells the story of a young boy who doesn't want to go to school. When his grandmother finds him playing and dancing in the streets instead if being in school she scolds him and tries to force him to go back to the classroom. In this mimetic rumba, the boy while dancing around his grandmother even makes the vacunao gesture. She goes into shock and they exit with the boy fanning the grandmother in an attempt to revive her. The yambú is the least remembered of the three styles of rumba.
Some of the best rumba composers are: Calixto Callava, Agustín Pina "Flor de Amor". Gonzalo Asencio "Tío Tom", Roberto Leyva, Chano Pozo, Silvestre Méndez, Antar Dali and Pablo Milanés. "Tío Tom" was the nickname given to Gonzalo Asencio who is considered "The King of Guaguancó." This Tío Tom (Uncle Tom) had nothing to do with the famous character of Harriet Beecher Stowe that has become a symbol for the subservient "good negro" of the U.S. southern plantations. In total contrast, the Cuban Tío Tom was a rebellious, outspoken black man who is the author of many guaguancós. Among the best remembered are: Consuélate como yo (Find Consolation as I Did) and Los cubanos son rareza (The Cubans Are a Rare Thing). Although Tío Tom died in 1991, his mission is carried on today by younger writers such as Pablo Milanés.
At present, the rumba is alive and well. It continues to be practiced throughout the provinces of Havana and Matanzas. Many educators, musicologists, and tourists from abroad witness and participate in rumba festivals in Cuba regularly. For more information about these trips you may contact: Caribbean Music and Dance Programs by calling (510) 444-7173. Fortunately for us, the musical history of the rumba has been well preserved in recordings. In addition, today's technology allows us to listen to some of the early artists with almost the same clarity as today's performers. The following selected discography of the rumba includes material that is available in some record shops.
Afro-Cuba, Musical Anthology, Rounder 1088 (1994).
Guaguancó Matancero, Conjunto and Los Papines. Guaguancó, Cuban Rumba (Antilla 565).
Clave y Guaguancó. Songs and Dances, Green Linnet 4023 (1990).
Los Papines. Oye, Listen men . . . Guaguancó, Bravo 105.
Muñequitos de Matanzas, Los. Rumba caliente. 88/77, Qbadisc 9005 (1977-1978).
Muñequitos de Matanzas, Los. Guaguancó, Columbia, Yambú, Cuban Rumba (Vitral 277).
Muñequitos de Matanzas, Los. Vacunao, Qbadisc 9017 (1995).
Santamaría, Mongo. Changó, Tico LP 137. (1952) Includes: the guaguancó Margarito, and the columbias, Caumbia and Columbia.
Santamaría, Mongo. Drums and Chants, Tico LP 1149.
Various Artists. Real Rumba from Cuba. Corasón 110 (1994).
*Aché is the central concept of the Yoruba religion. It is the Power itself, the Supreme Power. It also means "blessing", "graces", and the "soul."