The World & I Magazine

Issue Date: January 2002

Chinese immigrants, who first arrived in Cuba in 1847, introduced the Chinese cornet (corneta China in Spanish), a shrill-sounding, double-reed instrument used in the pentatonic music of China. As testimony to the high level of acculturation present in Cuba, this exotic instrument has become widely associated with seasonal folkloric events and a signature sound of the annual carnival celebration in Santiago.

The importation of African slaves, which began in the early 1500s and reached its peak in the late 1700s, provided a cultural element that in time, particularly through the rhythmic traditions of West African tribal groups, influenced virtually every aspect of Cuban music, from simple folk styles to classical works.

Street bassist at the Casa de la Trova.

Of particular importance to Santiago, however, is the undiluted style of Spanish folk music brought by the earliest immigrants, primarily from Andalusia and the Canary Islands. These purely Hispanic styles, devoid of African influences that would begin to reshape popular music after the presence of slaves in the country had been become widespread, reflect the cultural genesis of popular Cuban music idioms. The transplanted Spanish variants survive to this day virtually unaltered in an earthy form Cubans call mœsica campesina, or country music.

Vocalist Mar¡a Ochoa, one of the leading practitioners of the country style, traces her family's roots to the Canary Islands. "Yes," she explains, "the music I do comes from the Canary Islands. The Spanish d‚cima [a metric combination of ten octosyllabic verses] was born there. Here, we call it the punto Cubano [Cuban point], but it is the same thing. The verse relates to controversy between a man and a woman. It is like arguing--I tell the man that he's no good anymore, that he is old. And he tells me that I'm the one who's no good, who is too old. And so it goes. We argue and fight, all in the d‚cima style."

Stories to tell

Although traditional Cuban country music survives to this day, through the missionary-like zeal of Ochoa and other Santiago-based purists, a style that has come to be recognized as Cuba's first indigenous music idiom, the son, has exerted a much more far-reaching influence on the popularity and dissemination of Cuban music. "From the eighteenth century on, African rhythms began to establish themselves," comments Santiago guitarist and composer Vincente Machado El¡as on the origins of the son. "From a musical standpoint, it has a question-and-answer format, the question being asked by the lead singer and the answer provided by the chorus. Like our country music, it is social history. But son takes from both the European and African cultures."

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