Cuban Rumba

Rumba (1878)

With the abolition of slavery in Cuba, the Black slaves moved to the outskirts of the towns and cities, giving rise to the Solares. In the Solares, the distinct African tribes brought to Cuba by the Spanish mixed with the salaried whites who worked in the small shops. In this environment appeared the collective and secular celebration called Rumba. At its beginning, the instruments used in Rumba were the very furniture and utensils of the home or of the workplace. In a short time, people moved on to using the Cajones (boxes) and a singer who also played the clave. Later the cajones were replaced by the tumbadores. This structure grew larger with a performer who struck the wooden body with two sticks: Cáscara. Cuban Rumba has three different stages that can be grouped in general terms as follows: Diana – an introductory melodic fragment without lyrics; Décima – the singer improvises a text in which he presents the theme that gives the motif to the Rumba; Rompe la Rumba – the percussion instruments come in, a pair of dancers or a single dancer (in the Columbia) comes out onto the floor in front of the musicians, and the singer highlights in his text certain phrases that will be used as a refrain for the chorus. In Rumba there are three styles, namely:

The Columbia, a fast Rumba that is danced by a single man, consisting of acrobatic and convulsive movements, as in the Puerto Rican bomba. It is believed that its origin dates back to the populations of the interior, in an old hamlet of Matanzas called Columbia. It is cultivated in Cuba but has no following in the rest of the Caribbean.

The Guaguancó, the most important style of Rumba, is distinguished by a game of attraction and repulsion between the couple. The man tries to “vaccinate” (vacunar) the woman with possessive pelvic movements while she covers herself to avoid the “vaccination” (vacunao).

The Yambú, a slow Rumba in which the dancers make gestures typical of old age, or the woman mimes domestic virtues. In the singing the phrase “en el yambú no se vacuna” (in the yambú one does not vaccinate) is interspersed to distinguish the way in which it is to be danced.

Bomba (1800)

In Puerto Rico, from Ghana (tobacco and sugarcane plantations) Maracas + 2 Bombas (1 constant rhythm + virtuosic flourishes) Same structure as Rumba: slow – medium – fast (syncopated steps) Bomba + Calypso = Plena Guaguancó + son = mambo, Cuban salsa Columbia + Bomba y Plena = Puerto Rican salsa