Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music
Page 20
strument known as claves , but it eventually came to define a rhythmic pattern that is
beat on a hardwood or iron idiophone or clapped. The clave may be plainly defined
as a timeline, sometimes called a cycle length or just a cycle, made up of four equi-
distant basic pulses. It may be broken up into an equal number of segments, either into
two or multiples of two (a binary time span) corresponding to a 4/4 measure, or
98
|
Clave
three and multiples of three (a ternary time span) corresponding to a 12/8 measure.
But most frequently, claves are formed in asymmetrical patterns where not all of the
time values coincide with basic pulses. As a result, more often than not, there is a
rhythmic clash, or cross-rhythm, between divisive (symmetrical) rhythms and addi-
tive (asymmetrical) rhythms. Claves are usually five-stroke or seven-stroke patterns;
for example, the son clave, which is the most widespread and universally known
rhythmic pattern, is a five-stroke pattern whose time values are unevenly distributed
within the time span. It consists of three short (S) strokes and two long (L) ones ar-
ranged the following way: S-S-L-S-L. It is mainly the specific phrasing of vocal and
instrumental parts that determines the manner the clave is to be performed, that is,
either in its straight form, as S-S-L / S-L called a 3–2 clave, or in its reversed form,
as S-L / S-S-L called a 2–3 clave. It should be emphasized that melodic designs cor-
responding to the S-S-L segment are prone to containing additive rhythmic motifs,
while the S-L segment is more likely to exhibit divisive rhythmic motifs.
The origin of clave rhythms is undeniably African, but not all claves arrived in
Latin America as readymade patterns. The son clave does not seem to have existed
in traditional African music, though it does exist in some African popular genres
owing to the pervasive influence of Cuban music. On the other hand, the structural
similarity of the clave to an extremely widespread time line in West and Central
Africa (the standard pattern, especially in its five-stroke version) suggests a genetic
link between the former and the latter. Thus, it also suggests a Latin American
transformation of the ultimate African ternary model.
There are various ways of notating the claves using the standard music notation.
Nevertheless, a variant of the Box Notation Method, also called TUBS (Time Unit
Box System), is especially apropriate for the transcription of time lines. In that vari-
ant, one symbol for the strike and another for the pause are used. One may, thus,
notate the son clave as follows: (16) [x . . x . . x . . . x . x . . . ]. Another important
clave rhythm played with the claves is that of the rumba , whose notation is: (16)
[ x . . x . . . x . . x . x . . . ]. The number in parentheses, or cycle number (16), indi-
cates the total number of strikes and rests in both binary time spans. It is worthwhile
noting that both claves are used in secular contexts. Moreover, there are ternary
claves as well, having 12 as their cycle number, like the five-stroke abakuá clave,
used in the rituals of a male secret society in western provinces of Cuba and played
with a clapperless bell: (12) [x . x . . x . x . x . . . ], as well as the very widespread
seven-stroke bembé clave, generally used in Cuban cult music and played with any
iron idiophone. Its notation is: (12) [x . x . x x . x . x . x]. Still, there exist clave
rhythms, which are performed with the claves in an utterly different context, like
some patterns used for the punto, a secular rural Cuban genre, which owes a great
deal to the Spanish legacy, but has, nonetheless, borrowed some African musical
traits, like, the use of a timeline. Here is one of the main clave rhythms in the punto,
which are often subject to variations, as are seven-stroke other ternary claves:
Clave | 99
(12) [x . x x . xx . x . x . ]. It should be pointed out that this clave is a reversed ver-
sion of an African timeline from the Guinea Coast known among the Arará (Ewe-Fon)
descendants in Matanzas Province in Cuba that goes: (12) [x . x . x . x. x x . x].
The reversal of the clave is a significant aspect of this topic, which, as shown
above, is not exclusive to the son clave. In order to discuss this, the concept rhyth-
mic density will prove helpful. Rhythmic density is related to the relative length
of time values within the time span. The shorter the time values, the higher the
rhythmic density; the longer the time values, the lower the rhythmic density. Ar-
guably, when the greater rhythmic density of the melodic design fits the structure
of the usually additive structure of the first three strokes of the clave, the 3–2 mo-
dality is used; but if that greater rhythmic density accommodates the usually divi-
sive structure of the last two strokes of the clave rhythm, the 2–3 clave modality
will be suitable for use. Very often, the melodic phrases corresponding to the 2–3
clave are acephalous ones, that is, they do not start on beat 3 of a 4/4 measure,
but off-beat.
In Cuban genres such as rumba and conga , the 3–2 clave prevails; however, the 2–3 clave is more frequent in more melodic genres such as bolero and urban traditional song. The son and salsa use both, and sometimes switch from one modality to another within the same musical item, according to the specific phrasing in each
section of the piece. But according to experienced Cuban composer and conductor
Ricardo Leyva, the 3–2 clave is more Cuban than the 2–3 clave, the latter being
more characteristic for salsa music.
The apparent similarity between the ternary African standard pattern (which may
also be notated as 22323) and the binary son clave (accordingly 33424) is outstand-
ing, as is the resemblance between the ternary abakuá clave, another version of the
standard pattern, and the binary rumba clave. The standard pattern (1) and the son
clave (2), which partition the space in a very similar fashion (S-S-L-S-L, regard-
less the mathematical ratios of their respective time values), can be more accurately
compared “by expressing duration in units of 1/48th of a cycle,” the lowest com-
mon denominator, as Jeff Pressing does:
(1) 8+8+12+8+12/48
(2) 9+9+12+6+12/48
Pressing has identified five rules of rhythmic transformation, among them there
is one rule that refers to “maximally similar analogue aproximation, as for example
the ratio of 22323 to 33424.” He concludes that “[t]hose transformations are more
common and basic which preserve the pattern in a holistic sense,” as with the clave.
Rolando Pérez Fernández poses the following hypothesis that due to psychologi-
cal and social variables, African ternary rhythms in Latin America, including claves,
have undergone a generalized process of binarization resulting in an overwhelming
100 | Claves
predominance of binary rhythms in secular music, while religious and ritual music
have mostly maintained the African preference for ternary rhythms.
Further Reading
Loza, Steven. “Review—essay La binarización de los ritmos ternarios africanos en
América Latina.” Latin American Music Review, 11(2): 296–310, Autumn-Winter 1990.
Nketia, J. H. Kwabena. 1974. The Musi
c of Africa. New York/London: Norton &
Company.
Pérez Fernández, Rolando A. La binarización de los ritmos ternarios africanos en
América Latina. Havana: Casa de las Américas, 1986.
Pressing, Jeff. “Cognitive Isomorphisms in Pitch and Rhythm in World Music: West
Africa, the Balkans and Western Tonality.” Studies in Music, 17 (1983): 38–61.
Rolando Antonio Pérez Fernández
Claves
Claves are a percussion mu -
sical instrument, known in
more formal terms as a struck
idiophone. Claves con sist of
two cylindrical dowels made
of wood, plastic, or fiberglass,
measuring about 8–10 inches
(20–25 centimeters) in length
and 1 inch (2.5–3 centime-
ters) in diameter. They may
be solid or hollow in the
center, which amplifies their
clear, high-pitched, penetrat-
ing sound. One stick serves
as the striker while the other
stick acts as the resonator.
To play claves, the resona-
tor stick is held by the finger-
tips of the nondominant hand
with the palm facing up. The
other stick, which acts as the
Musical duo Machito and Graciella Grillo perform
striker, is held in the dominant
at Glen Island Casino, New York, NY, in 1947. Graciella
hand by the thumb, pointer,
is seen here playing the claves. (William P. Gottlieb/Ira
and middle finger. The player
and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Divi-
sion, Library of Congress)
then uses the striker to hit the
resonator clave in the center.
Colombia
|
101
Claves originated in Cuba, emerging from contact between African slaves and
Spanish indentured servants several centuries ago. Similar percussive instruments
can be found in Europe, North America, Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and
Polynesia. Claves are also used throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, par-
ticularly in countries whose music has a strong African influence. Nevertheless,
claves are most commonly found in Afro-Cuban musical genres, such as the son
cubano and salsa .
Claves are used to play repeating rhythmic patterns or ostinatos in Cuban music,
which are known as clave rhythms. There are several different clave rhythms, including the son clave, rumba clave, and 6/8 clave.
Further Reading
Sublette, Ned. Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo. Chicago: Chi-
cago Review Press, 2004.
Erin Stapleton-Corcoran
Colombia
Colombia, the northernmost country in South America, was a Spanish colony from
the founding of the city of Santa Marta in 1526 until gaining independence in 1819.
Nearly 300 years of Spanish rule left a strong social hierarchy influenced by ances-
try, education, skin color, and geography that exists to some extent to the present
day. Colombia’s population is primarily of mixed heritage mestizo, mulatto, and
zambo (African and Indian ancestry), and of European, Indian, and African descent.
The country is one of the most biologically diverse in the world and features abun-
dant geographical variety including three separate chains of the Andes Mountains,
Amazonian rainforest, grasslands, and, unique to South America, both Atlantic and
Pacific coasts that define its five main regions. In spite of the fact that a majority of
the country’s over 43 million inhabitants live in the Andean region, Colombia has
distinct regional cultures as opposed to a dominant national culture. Colombia’s
popular music traditions emanate from four of these regions (save the Amazonian
region), reflecting this regional diversity that has typified the country’s political,
social, and cultural history.
By the early 19th century, established European dances such as minuets, qua-
drilles, waltzes, and contradanzas were popular in the salons of the elite classes
in Colombia’s urban areas and were usually played on piano or string instru-
ments. Eventually, this repertoire expanded to include newer European styles
including polkas and mazurkas as well as creolized versions of European styles
such as the pasillo , based on the waltz, and urbanized versions of indigenous
folk genres such as the bambuco. Beginning in the 1840s, military-style wind
bands became popular and helped spread these styles of music to urban working
102 | Colombia
classes, smaller towns, and rural areas, many of which formed their own mu-
nicipal bands.
Música andina, the music of the Andean highland region is a style altogether
distinct from the panpipe-based música andina of the rest of South America. It
consists of vocal duos or trios accompanied by guitar, the mandolin-like ban-
dola , and the tiple , a native guitar-like instrument with 12 strings in four courses.
Representative genres include bambuco, pasillo, guabina, and torbellino. As music became integrated into discussions of Colombian nationhood toward the end of the
19th century, bambuco in particular was given a preeminent role as an emblem of
national identity. Emilio Murillo, Jorge Añez, and the duo Wills and Escobar were
among the important second generation musicians who cemented the popularity of
música andina through national and international tours and recordings produced
mainly in New York during the 1910s and 1920s.
Municipal wind bands of the early 20th century in La Costa, Colombia’s north-
ern Caribbean coast, began to incorporate into their repertoire adaptations of re-
gional folk genres of flute and drum-based conjunto de gaita ensembles such as
porro, cumbia, gaita, mapalé, and bullerengue. Jazz bands specializing in North American and Cuban music in the 1920s continued this adaptation as well as orchestras that adapted folk genres to a dance orchestra format in the late 1930s.
Bandleaders such as Lucho Bermúdez, Pacho Galán, composer and singer José Bar-
ros, and later Edmundo Arias were the innovators of this style, alternately known
as música tropical, música costeña, or simply porro. The popularity and spread of
música tropical was greatly aided by the radio and recording industries, both of
which began in La Costa. The recording industry remained centered in La Costa
through the end of the 1940s, by which time the style had become the preeminent
national and international music. By the 1960s, as a result of the waning popular-
ity of dance orchestras and a recording industry shift to Medellín, a simplified ver-
sion of música tropical had become popular and was marketed internationally as
cumbia. It was derided within Colombia as a degraded representation of música
tropical and referred to as chucu-chucu or raspa. Cumbia would become the basis for local variations in countries such as Mexico and Peru.
Vallenato was another important musical genre from the Colombian coast. It
originated from the sung oral poetry tradition of La Costa that included baladas, coplas, and décimas (10-line stanzas). Songwriters such as Rafael Escalona, Emiliano Zulueta, Tobías Enrique Pumarejo, and Freddy Molina who were all from the elite
classes in La Provincia, the area around the city of Valledupar, began composing
>
songs in these styles. They were recorded by guitar-based groups led by Guillermo
Buitrago and Julio Boveo beginning in the 1940s and later by accordionist-singers
including Chico Bolaños, Alejo Durán, and Leandro Díaz. Aided by folklorists and
journalists such as Gabriel García Márquez, and the initiation of the Festival de la
Colombia
|
103
Leyenda Vallenata (The Festival of the Vallenato Legend) in 1968, vallenato began to find a significant audience in the 1970s. It vaulted to national popularity in 1978
when El Binomino de Oro (the Golden Pair) combined vallenato with romantic pop.
This vallenato romántico (romantic vallenato) continued its popularity into the 21st
century with recording artists such as Jorge Celedón and Pipe Peláez.
El Litoral Pacifico, the tropical rainforest region on the Pacific Coast, is pre-
dominantly Afro-Colombian with a strong Afro-Colombian culture. It has been
largely isolated for much of the nation’s history in spite of the fact that the city of
Buenaventura has long been Colombia’s most important Pacific port. The region’s
two most prominent musical expressions are chirimía and música de marimba.
Chirimía, from the northwestern province of Chocó, is a fusion of the European
wind band with African styles and esthetics, similar to the blends of tradition that
transpired in costeño genres. Música de marimba, from the southern Pacific region,
is a style played by marimba and hand drum-based ensembles, typified by poly-
rhythmic rhythm currulao.
In the 1950s and 1960s, there was an effort in Buenaventura to adapt currulao
to the dance orchestra format. While the trend achieved only regional success, it
did launch some artists, most notably singer Leonor González Mina and composer
Petronio Álvarez, to widespread prominence. Multiple factors led to increased vis-
ibility for the Pacific culture beyond the region during the 1980s and 1990s. Some
of these factors included mass urbanization especially to Cali in the 1980s and the
official recognition of Afro-Colombian territorial rights in 1991. The inauguration
in 1997 of Cali’s Petronio Álvarez Festival, an annual festival of music from the
Pacific that features both traditional and urbanized versions of música de marimba,