Google Slides tutorial presentation on the the Spanish Legacy on Cuban Music in the Institute of the Caribbean Studies, University of the West Indies, Mona.

1. MUSIC-MAKING IN CUBA
A Spanish Imprint
Group Tutorial Presentation #3
Illustrate the ways in which the Spanish Colonizing
Legacy has left its mark in music making in Cuba.
CAINE, Shakira - 607004850
LEWIS, Marlon - 620068264
MEEKS, Renee - 620087505

2. SPAIN
The Exploration

3. SPAIN CUBASpain’s motives for colonization were threefold:
➔ to locate mineral wealth
➔ to convert the Indians to Christianity
➔ to counter French and English efforts
The Spanish colonization system was highly
successful:
1st - an armed force subdued the natives and
established forts/presidios for future protection.
2nd - zealous missionaries moved in to convert the
Indians to the religion of Spain and teach them the
arts of civilization.
3rd - representatives of the King founded civil
settlements in conjunction with the presidios and
missions.
The Crown controlled the highly centralized process
through a bureaucracy that burgeoned as the empire
expanded. But, the story begins in the first years of
the 16th century, when Spain first realized that
Columbus had discovered, not island outposts of
Cathay, but a New World!

4. CUBA
The Cuban Crucible

5. CUBA
The Spaniards brought their own musical traditions
with them, from rustic peasant songs to genteel
aristocratic dances.
In Cuba, all these musics gradually acquired a
distinctively national flavour, in some cases due to a
clear Afro-Cuban influence.
With the advent of Cuban nationalism in the late
1800’s, these creole forms became symbols of
Cuban patriotism, as opposed to the perceivedly
gallego Spanish forms of music and dance.
The music of white Cuban farmers who are called
guajiros derives from peninsular Spanish & Canary
Island origins, especially as reflected in its reliance
on guitars & mandolin-like instruments.
A popular colonial-era guajiro pastime
was the zapateo, a lively couple dance
featuring fancy footwork accompanied
by a guitar/a similar instrument
playing melodies full of hemiola
syncopations
(1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-and).

6. CUBA
Still popular songs based on the décima, an old
Spanish-derived verse form consisting of 10-line
stanzas usually in the espinela rhyme scheme
abbaaccddc.
Although its use largely died out in peninsular Spain
after the 1600’s, it is widely cultivated in various parts
of Latin America. In Cuba, the musical rendering of a
décima is punto.
Cuban peasants developed various styles of singing
décimas, and would hold frequent contests at rural
fiestas, especially in the western, white populated
tobacco-growing regions of the island.
Singers would often be expected to compose
impromptu décimas, perhaps using a fixed line for
example pie forzado (meaning: forced foot) given to
them on the spot. Such informal performances often
take the form of a duel (controversia) between two
singer-poets attempting to outdo each other in their
clever rhymes & witty insults.

7. BALADA
(ballad)
A sentimental Spanish-Language song in mainstream,
commercial pop style.
GENRE

8. BALADA
Composed by Adrian Von Ziegler

9. CONTRADANSE
A Spanish salon dance and music genre of the late
18th - early 19th century.
GENRE

10. CONTRADANSE
An internationally popular style of music and dance in the
18th century, derived from the English country dance and
adopted at the court of France.
Contradanse was brought to America and there took on
folkloric forms that still exist in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia,
Peru, Panama and Ecuador.
In Cuba during the 19th century it became an important
genre, the first written music to be rhythmically based on an
African rhythm pattern and the first Cuban dance to gain
international popularity, the progenitor of danzon, mambo
and cha cha cha, with a characteristic "habanera rhythm" and
sung lyrics. Composed by Manuel Saumell

11. CONTRADANZA
A 19th century Cuban salon and popular dance and music genre, known more
commonly abroad as Habanera, especially if sung.
GENRE

12. CONTRADANZA
Outside Cuba, the Cuban contradanza
became known as the habanera – the
dance of Havana – and that name was
adopted in Cuba itself subsequent to its
international popularity in the late 19th
century, though it was never so called by
the people who created it.
Composed by San Pascual Bailon

13. BANDURRIA
A Spanish-derived, mandolin-like instrument used in Cuban
peasant music (especially punto).
INSTRUMENT

14. BANDURRIA
The bandurria is a Spanish
stringed musical instrument of the
lute family, with a design derived
from the cittern and guitar.
In the Medieval period, it apparently
had three strings.
During the Renaissance they
gained a fourth string, and during
the Baroque period this changed to
5 pairs.
Composed by Tamari

15. BOMBA
Barriles de Bomba
A Spanish drum used in military bands and in Cuban
conga/comparsa processions.
INSTRUMENT

16. The Cuban bomba comes from the Puerto Rican rhythm
called “Bomba”.
They added some Songo and generally toughened it up a
bit.
It is a recent development so it has been designed
specifically for drumset.
It is a very dense rhythm needing a lot of coordination
and if the feeling is not completely relaxed the rhythm
will sound contrived and cluttered.
Composed by Los Hermanos Rosario
BOMBA
Barriles de Bomba

17. COMMERCIAL BREAK
5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Cuban Spanish Word
FRUTA BOMBA!
1. Papaya is a “bad word” in the west part of Cuba and consequently fruta bomba is
used. In the East part of Cuba it is safe to use the word papaya.
2. The papaya resembles a women’s vulva when the papaya is cut open.
3. According to the book Nuevo Catauro de Cubanismos by Fernando Ortiz, Spanish
conquistadores use the word papo as an euphemism for the women’s genitals, later a
“phonetic derivation” in Cuba gave the word papaya the same meaning.
4. In search for a possible explanation on why fruta bomba end up being used as a term
for papaya, Fernando Ortiz in his Glosario de afronegrismos from 1924 indicates that
the word bombo was used by African slaves to refer to the “female sexual organ.”
5. Fruta boba was the word that preceded today’s fruta bomba. In 1876 Miguel
Rodríguez-Ferrer registered this name in his book Naturaleza y civilización de la
grandiosa Isla de Cuba.

18. ACCORDION
a musical instrument played by stretching and squeezing with
the hands to work a central bellows that blows air over metal
reeds, the melody and chords being sounded by buttons or
keys.
INSTRUMENT

19. ACCORDION
The Basque country of Spain often incorporated
accordions into its music. Accordions were
introduced to Basque country from Italy in the 19th
century.
Accordion playing within Basque music is known
as "trikitixa," which means "hand-sound" in
Basque. The style of accordion playing in Basque
music involves rapid melodies and staccato triplets.
Modern-day Basque music is a blend of trikitixa,
tambourine and voice.
Street Accordion Musician in Havana

20. GUITAR
The modern classical guitar was developed from the Spanish
vihuela, a guitar-like instrument of the 15th and 16th
Centuries.
INSTRUMENT

21. GUITAR
The guitar is a plucked string instrument,
usually constructed in wood and played with
fingers or a pick.
The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to
which the strings, generally six in number, are
attached.
Local Man Playing Guitar in Havana, Cuba.

22. GALICIAN GAITA
The Galician gaita is a traditional bagpipe of the Galicia and
Asturias regions in Spain, and northern Portugal.
The Galician gaita has a conical chanter and a bass drone with a
second octave, and it may have one or two additional drones.
INSTRUMENT

23. GALICIAN GAITA
The Galician bagpipe or gaita has been subject to
continuous change through time. The adoption of
the proper pitch scale occurred relatively late,
toward the end of the 19th and beginning of the
20th century. Thus, we know that beginning in the
20th century the bagpipe used strike notes, or
strikes, as almost the primary method of repeating
notes, while today there is a tendency to apply the
grace notes system or even to incorporate other
interpretative forms of the Celtic cultures related to
Galicia. Banda de Gaitas de la Habana in Plaza Vieja
with Galician Musicians
Galician Gaita - Santiago de
Compostela Gaitero

24. Are traditionally made of castana wood, although they can
also be made of metal, and consist of two cups that contain
slightly curved dips on one side. The two cups are drilled to
give off a distinct sound, with one being slightly higher in
pitch and one being lower.
INSTRUMENT
CASTANETS

25. CASTANETS
Castanets are a percussion instrument
used to accompany the jota; an up
tempo folk song which originates
from the North-eastern region of
Aragon. Castanets are a pair of
concave shells, traditionally made from
hardwood, joined on one edge by
string. Castanets are held in the hand
and used to produce clicks.
A Castanet-Holding Demonstration
Flamenco: Last Of The
Castanet Makers
Cuban Flamenco

26. FLABIOL I TAMBORI
The flabiol is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes. It is
one of the 12 instruments of the cobla. The flabiol measures about 25 centimeters in
length and has five or six holes on its front face and three underneath.
The tambori is a percussion instrument of about 10 centimetres diameter, a small
shallow cylinder formed of metal or wood with a drumhead of skin.
INSTRUMENT

27. FLABIOL I TAMBORI
The flabiol is normally played by the left
hand while the player uses the right
hand to beat a small drum (called
tamborí) attached to the left elbow.
All sardanes played by a cobla begin
with a short introduction (introit) from
the flabiol which is terminated by a
single tap of the tamborí.
A Flabiol & Tambori
Demonstration

28. GRALLA
Also known as gralla de pastor, xaramita o xirimita, is a traditional
Catalan double reed instrument in the oboe family.
Like the dolçaina from Valencia - a very similar instrument which many
experts consider a variety of the gralla - the gralla comes from the
ancient xeremies a medieval instrument largely used until the Baroque.
INSTRUMENT

29. GRALLA
Probably, the name of the
instrument comes from its strident
sound similar to the sound of a
native bird of Catalonia and the north
of Spain called gralla too.
The gralla is also very popular
because it is the traditional
instrument used during the
ascención and descención of human
towers or castells and other
traditional festivities. A Gralla Sketch
Gralla: Polca d'Ours

30. REFERENCES
5 Things You Didn't Know About the Cuban Spanish Word FRUTA BOMBA. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.speakinglatino.com/fruta-bomba/
A. (2012, November 23). Spanish Guitar Music - Balada. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cedpkl8U0X4
B. (2014, September 21). Flamenco: Last of the castanet makers? BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxTmv7EAtgU
C. (2011, May 07). Banda de Gaitas de la Habana in Plaza Vieja with Galician Musicians. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbBB0T0x9Sc
D. (2011, August 14). Santiago de Compostela: Gaitero. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n0_sZeQMM0
D. (2014, May 04). Manuel Saumell: Contradanza "La Suavecita". Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0BphygMFlM
E. (2016, October 27). Contradanza cubana - San Pascual Bailon. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UjQS734lTY
Els instruments: Flabiol i tamborí. (2014, November 01). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bmNgPeusuE
Foxo, X. (2007). The Celtic Legacy of the Gaita in Galician Music. Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies: The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula, Volume 6,
851-902.

31. REFERENCES
Manuel, P., & Largey, M. D. (2016). Caribbean Currents: Caribbean music from Rumba to Reggae. Temple University Press.
M. (2011, April 18). Merengue Bomba - CUBA. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTP6d4EFlAs
Spanish Bandurria Demo - 2016) .‫ספרדי‬ ‫בנדוריה‬ ‫,הדגמת‬ June 04). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYpJodYjZ8g
R. (2014, January 01). Travel to Cuba: My Trip to Cuba - Street Accordion Musician in Havana. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miGgnHVMR3k
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.legendsofamerica.com/spanish-explore/
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://zssucha.pl/comenius/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Spanish-Traditional-Instruments.pdf
T. (2011, October 05). GRALLA - Polca d'Ours.mpg. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjSqRJhF7i0