Music de Cuba

 

The Music History de Cuba

            Music is very influential, and inspirational when being influenced by other people around the globe. According to Cuban Music History Article, "The roots of most Cuban musical forms lie in the cabildos, a form of social club among African slaves brought to the island." Cuban Music was brought by Spain since people from Spain came to Cuba as well did African Americans, so their music is definitely inspired by West African music and music from Spain. According to Wikipedia, "Due to the syncretic nature of most of its genres, Cuban music is often considered one of the richest and most influential regional music in the world. For instance, the 'son Cubano' merges an adapted Spanish guitar (tres), melody, harmony, and lyrical traditions with Afro-Cuban percussion and rhythms. Almost nothing remains of the original native traditions, since the native population was exterminated in the 16th century." It is very interesting to see that Cuban Music is considered to be original for how much it still gets played and influence in music in today's age.

Guajiras Cubana

            According to Guajiras Music de Cuba, "Guajira is a music genre derived from the Punto Cubano.' Punto Cubano is known from Spain and the influential aspect had to do with Spain influencing cuban music with Guajira. According to the Cuban Music History Article, "The original guajira was earthy, strident rural acoustic music, possibly related to Puerto Rican jibaro. It appeared in the early 20th century, and is led by a 12-string guitar called a tres (3), known for a distinctive tuning." Guajiras is a genre that uses a mixture of rhythms like 6/8 and 3/4 rhythms, it is known to be the Country music of Cuba. 

            Down below is an attached song that I still listen to this day and is very famous in the cuban culture. According to Wikipedia, Song Guantanamera "Spanish for 'The woman from Guantánamo') is a Cuban patriotic song, which uses a poem by the Cuban poet José Martí for the lyrics. The official writing credits have been given to Joseíto Fernández, who first popularized the song on radio as early as 1929 (although it is unclear when the first release as a record occurred)."

Guajiras Guantanamera

Changui Cuba

            The second genre I picked is Changui because I remember a lot of this music in my childhood. I actually had a Changui Band come to my Birthday Party when I was a little girl. Changui is another form of a different genre called 'son' but it's much faster pace, and emphasizes on the beat. Changui uses more instruments in their songs to incorporate a faster beat. 

Changui

Café Cubano

'Son' de Cuba

According to the Cuban Music History Article, "Son is a major genre of Cuban music, and has helped lay the foundation for most of what came after. It arose in the eastern part of the island, among Spanish-descended farmers, and is thought to have been derived from changui, which also merged the Spanish guitar and African rhythms and to which son is closely related." Son connects to a lot of the Cuban Genres but it's influenced mostly by people that came from Africa.  Wikipedia states 'Son cubano is a genre of music and dance that originated in the highlands of eastern Cuba during the late 19th century. It is a syncretic genre that blends elements of Spanish and African origin. Among its fundamental Hispanic components are the vocal style, lyrical metre and the primacy of the tres, derived from the Spanish guitar."

Son de Cuba

Opinions

            Cuban music has been in my life since I was born. I have defintely been influenced by this music and I love this type of music. The romantic music that flows and also soothes as you dance. I love the instruments that it brings to the music. I enjoy the music a lot and it's really into the cuban culture to have this music play now. There are many authentic cuban restaurants that play old genres like Changui, Guajiras, and Son. I do believe that Son genre really is the formation of all the other genres because it has a mixture of each genre combined into one. I remember my step-dad went to Miami, Fl to visit my family and he did not know there were African folk that speak fluent spanish. I had to explain to him the migration of slaves that came to Cuba that made a huge impact on Cuba as well as surrounding islands and Miami being the central city of hispanics/latinos. They impacted Cuba a lot and in the most amazing ways because our music is shared through out regions and through out people to enjoy.

References

“Guajira (Music).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Oct. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guajira_(music).

“Guantanamera.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Mar. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamera.

“Music of Cuba.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Mar. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Cuba.

Boogalu. “Cuban Music History.” Hosted In Havana, www.hostedhavana.com/resources/cuban-music-history. Accessed 25 Mar. 2024.

“Son Cubano.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Dec. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_cubano.

Innovation and Evolution of the Flute

Flute

Fundamental Information

            Above is a photo to show a better example of what the Keys and Body looks like of a Flute. There is a neck piece, the body and the foot joint. Those sections do come apart when putting it back into the case or the areas to clean it. Usually when purchasing a flute it comes with a rod to clean it. The body has 7 keys but it does vary on what kind of instrument because there are specific flutes that could have more. The joint has 2 keys which all together is 9 but some have 12 keys. The left hand will fall along the A, B G and G# key, the right hand falls onto the F, E, D, and F# key. A musician that plays the flute is called a flautist or a flutist. 

Brief History of the Flute

        According to the Article of History of the Flute, 'The flute is the oldest woodwind instrument, dating to 900 B.C. or earlier. The first likely flute was called the "ch-ie" and emerged in China.' Above is a photo that shows how different the flute became about, it changed and transitioned. There are different forms of the flute now like piccolo or curved head flutes. The flute does fall under woodwind family, regardless if it's wood or not. Earlier in time the flutes were played like a recorder and then it transitioned to playing it horizontally. According to Wikipedia, 'Flutes have been made of metal, wood, glass, plastic, bone, bamboo, reed, and nephrite.' Below is a photo of a flute that's called open holes. The keys have an open hole on it, these would be considered more advance compared to a closed holes. The Flautist have to be careful with their fingers making sure they are closing all the keys. 

                                            

Music

        According to an Article 'Rajesh Cherthala is one of the top ranking Indian flutists of the South Indian music tradition and an outstanding Western music instrumentalist. He is a well known figure in the professional music industry.' He plays the Punam flute which is also considered a flute but it's made of bamboo and it's more of the original flutes that were made prior to the modern flute now. Below is a link to here Rajesh Cherthala music, he has completed playing in over 300 films and has made over 1000 musics compositions to his credit. 

Rajesh Cherthala Punma Flute

Opinion

        I love flute, I have mentioned it before in my previous blog post but I love the flute because it was an instrument that soothes and it is very pretty in music. I also love that in modern time many flautist like to explore to do covers specifically in one instrument. Below are links that I found on youtube of this Flautist who does covers of music that sound very nice with the flute covering the melody. I remember being in the band and remembering that when one specific instrument not being there doesn't sound as good from playing 

Melissa - Shallow

Melissa - Never Enough

References

https://www.theinstrumentplace.com/history-of-the-flute#:~:text=The%20flute%20is%20the%20oldest,was%20called%20the%20transverse%20position.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flute#:~:text=A%20number%20of%20flutes%20dating,modern%20human%20presence%20in%20Europe.

https://punamflutes.com/blogs/rajesh-cherthala

https://punamflutes.com/blogs/about-punam-flutes