04 Sep
The Spanish influence on Cuban music and Afro-Latin American music (including all Karibbean countries) goes back to the Spanish guitar as well as to the Bongos, which come from North Africa, the Maracas (one of the few single instruments in the world) and an important guitarart with three doppelgangers from the Kanarischen Inseln, the “Timple”, which was created by pioneers from the Kanarischen Inseln. In order not to use the instrument, there are also “El Cuatro” from Puerto Rico and “El Cuatro” from Venezuela, “El Charango” from the Andes and “El Tiple” in Colombia. They all have a similar sound, but they are not the same. The greatest of all these instruments was certainly the “Spanish Vihuela”, which in the Renaissance in Spain and Portugal in the 16th century was very popular.
The “Tres” is played in the rural areas of Nordkubas and was popular at the end of the 19th century, where it was used in folkloristic genres such as Changüí and Son, whose songs are found among others in Nengón and Kiribá of Baracoa. There are references to this instrument in the “Feldzugstagebüchern” of 1868, during the Unabhängigkeitskriege, as the “guateques campesinos” were kept on the kubanischen Land, which were used to support the Mambi-Truppen.
The main purpose of this instrument is a modified guitar with six voices, which are divided into three parts. Some ethnologists are of the opinion that this instrument is not a Cuban-made instrument, but already exists in Spain.
In order to understand the role of the keys in the Salsa, it is important to know the importance of these instruments.
Its beginnings date back to the year 1816, when the French pianist Juan Federico Edelmann, who as “Vater der Pianistik in Kuba” (father of pianism in Cuba) opened the Academia Santa Cecilia. In the first decades of the 19th century, Italian and Spanish pianists were born in Kuba, and they were not professors. Some of them are housed in this institution, others informally in their homes.
In its beginnings, the key, the rhythmischen Figuren and Guajeos of the Tres can be imitated, but after and after it develops further, by means of double melodies, Arpeggien and Blockakkorde as well as Oktaven and an unlimited number of rhythmischen and harmonischen Möglichkeiten.
Around 1920 the popular music in Kuba was made from sextetten with Tres, guitar, Kontrabass, Bongos, Bongos and two Sängern, which played Maracas and Claves. Later on the Septet was put on and the trumpet was played.
In 1940, Arsenio Rodríguez, who in the first half of the first decade of the 20th century, was a new format, which, besides many trumpets, also included keyboards and congas. It is a new format called conjunto típico. Dies ist das erste Mal, dass das Klavier Teil der Gruppen und Ensembles wird, die kubanische Rhythmen spielen.
The complete game with multiple voices was not easy for Tres, so that the game could be played on the basis of its many opportunities for meaning.
At that time the klavier was already a very popular and fundamental instrument in the jazz big bands of the United States, and even in Argentinean tango it was already in use. It was meant to remain and to consolidate itself as the main instrument of harmony and as a basic instrument for composition and arrangement.
DIE ERSTEN PIANISTEN der kubanischen Musik
- Manuel Samuell Robredo (1817-1870): Kubanischer Pianist, damals Spanier, spezialisiert auf spanische Contradanzas und die Bearbeitung von Opern. He played piano in Kirchen, wrote critiques in the press and had an interest in his work. The Musikkonservatorium in Havana was founded after him. In some of its Contradanzas, the rhythms of the Cuban folk music of the 19th century were played for the first time.
- Ignacio Cervantes (1847-1905): Geboren in Havanna. Gilt als der wichtigste Einfluss auf die kubanische Musik des 19. Jahrhunderts. He was a wunderkind and studied at the Paris Conservatory. He came from the island, because he performed concerts to collect money for the separatist movement, and went to the United States, where he developed his musical career and performed operas, Kammersinfonien, Zar-Zuelas and his famous Cuban dances. He uses his music as a symbol of the camp and shows a nationalistic attitude.
- Antonio María Romeu Marrero (1876-1955): Geboren in Jibacoa, Kuba. Kubanischer Pianist, Komponist and Orchesterdirigent. Spezialisiert auf die Aufführung von Danzón, war er mehr als 30 Jahre lang Leiter des Charanga-Genres. In the “Orquesta Cervantes” he played in one of several Charanga-groups, which were formed at the beginning of the 20th century and were the first known group, which introduced the Cuban folk music into the Cuban music. In 1910 he founded his own orchestra. He wrote more than 500 Dan-Zones. Some of them were original, others were works of art. His most important work was the Danzón “Tres lindas cubanas”, a work of an old song.
- María Cervantes (1885-1981): Geboren in Havanna, Pianistin und Komponistin, Tochter von Ignacio Cervantes.
- Ernesto Lecuona, Ernesto Sito de la Asunción Lecuona Casado (1895-1963): Born in Guanabacoa, Cuba. His first concert took place at the age of 5 years, and at the age of 13 he wrote his first composition. After the closing of the National Conservatory in Havana, he went to New York, where he studied with Maurice Ravel. Er gilt als einer der herausragendsten kubanischen Musiker. He read a great contribution to Zarzuela and to orchestra composition.
- Ignacio Jacinto Villa Fernández, “Bola de Nieve”. (1911-1971) Born in Guanabacoa, Cuba. As a singer, composer and pianist, he made the Cuban folk music in the whole world, also thanks to his work in television and radio.
- Anselmo Sacasas (1912-1998) Manzanillo, Kuba, war Bandleader, Komponist und Arrangeur. As a pianist, like Arsenio Rodriguez, he was inspired by the Cuban musicians who, as a soloist in the Cuban music scene, inspired him in his own language.
- Pedro Nolasco Jústiz Rodriguez, “Peruchín”. (1913-1977). Born in Holguín, Cuba. He began his career in 1933 with the “Orquesta de Chepin”. He was a member of Orchestern in Havanna. He worked with his group in Cabaret Tropicana. Seine Klaviersoli waren sehr beliebt und bewundert und wurden auf mehreren Schallplatten aufgenommen. He also worked as Arrangeur and Orchestrator for the Benny Moré Orchestra.
- Lino Frias, Ezequiel Lino Frias Gomez (1915-1983). Born in Matanzas, Cuba. He was a great composer, he founded the group “Son de la Loma” and worked with “La Sonora Matancera”. One of his most famous compositions is “Mata Siguaraya”.
- LilÍ MartÍnez. Luis Martinez Griñan (1915-1990). Kubanischer Pianist, who specialized on the Son Montuno. He worked with Arsenio Rodriguez and the Conjunto Chappottín together. He was involved in the development of modern Cuban music in the 1940s and had a great influence on pianists such as Eddie Palmieri, Pappo Lucca and Larry Harlow, only a few to mention.
- José Curbelo (1917-2012). He was a Cuban pianist and orchestra conductor. He played a key role in the development of Son Montuno and Mambo and was an important figure in the “Latin” band scene in the United States.
