How did Arsenio Rodriguez help create an Afro-Cuban identity through the music of son?

In this essay I will look at how Afro-Cuban artist and band leader Arsenio Rodriguez (1911-1970) helped to change the face of racism in Cuba, through amalgamating afro-cuban diaspora influences with Hispanic cuban influences to create a true representation of national identity through the genre of son music.

It is known that son came from the Oriente province in the east of the Cuban island; from precisely where is unknown and debated, but son has been documented since the mid 19th century. It is thought that perhaps it originated in Santiago as did the tres and the bongos. Both are fundamental to the instrumentation of son and had been known in the city since 1892 (Robbins, 1990). Around 1909 son had spread to the west of Cuba, and to its major cities, Havana and Mantanzas through migration of soldiers and sonorous (musicians). Later son developed internationally in the west of Cuba, due to the fact that musical production was centralised in Havana in Cuba. Son’s musicality is a syncretic of Spanish and African hybrid origins and originated as a vocal, instrumental and dance genre. Considered as a genre for the ‘peasants’, it was primarily derived by people who were mostly of Bantu origin in Africa. Starting out with a tres (a three course chordophone lute), son added the bongo and marimbula to accompanying singing. Due to the racism and oppression that the black diaspora suffered within Cuba, son was originally considered “a music by the blacks and for the blacks” (Robbins, 1990).

Black people in Cuba were penalised, denigrated and discriminated against. Cuban academics and intellectuals ensured the marginalisation of African culture in Cuba. Firstly the government enforced boundaries that dissolved the continuation of afro-traditional experiences, such as suppressing the religions of Santeria, which was a pan-afro religion that in Cuba derived from the Yoruban bantu afro-diaspora , as well as Palo Monte a popular religion among the descendants of slaves from the Congo Basin. Secondly they imposed a ban on playing all of the African traditional drums. The same views are repeated as in all the colonised world: that it is necessary to ‘Christianise and civilise’ the Africans and with this they must suppress their traditions and beliefs. One thing the government did in this process, is to build cabildos. Cabildos were supposed to be Christian houses for afro-cubans and hispanic cubans in which to act ‘christian’. However instead the black community would pray to their Orishas, who were the gods of the Yoruba people from which over 20% of Cuba’s population was derived.

In a more contemporary form of racism and suppression, we also had cultural appropriation. The middle class artists and intellectuals were white, and they would play the music produced by the afro-cubans but they took the music for their own. This is why, for a long time, the African voice within Cuban society had no face or expression, as it was suppressed by the white man. It was more than acceptable in the early 19th and early 20th century to exploit these afro-cuban traditions that were fighting against being quashed. For example, in 1937, an all-white Cuban jazz band covered a song written by Arsenio Rodriguez a black afro-cuban man.

Due to a hurricane destroying the western half of Cuba in 1926, Arsenio Rodriguez’s family decided to move to Mariano which was one of the fastest growing cities in Cuba. Consequently it meant that, during the time from 1926-1930, Arsenio Rodriguez lived in a melting pot of musicians. It was from here, that Arsenio’s brother encouraged a tres player from the famous group ‘Sextetp Habernero’ to teach Arsenio to play the tre. It was here that young Arsenio also experienced playing with black son musicians. Arsenio and his brother Kiki also learned how to play ‘tumbadora’ or conga drums in Mantanzas from legendary rumberos performers. Arsenio engrossed himself in son music by learning to play the marimbula (a large box resonator with tuned metal tongues that are plucked), the botjia (an earthenware vessel wise side whole was blown into and whose top hole was covered and uncovered), and a tres (a traditional cuban guitar with three double coursed strings). Arsenio was also very familiar with the bongos, all learned from when his uncle would take him and his brother Kiki to Mantanzas to hear and play with these rumba musicians. Arsenio would eventually develop a way of playing these tunes in his own unique structure and instrumentation and thisse was called afrocubanos. Within these

afrocubanos, Arsenio would comment on society and the role of the African with Cuba society, along with its racist connotations.

It was in the late 1930’s that Arsenio cemented the addition of a trumpet, a tumbadora and a piano into the musical make-up of son, thus expanding the septeto format and standardising it to what they later, in 1942, first called the ‘conjunto’. In so doing Arsenio added instruments, and adapted the way they interact with one another in the formal structure of the band. Arsenio also importantly instructed his bass players to ‘make the bass sing’ and in doing so created the anticipated bass line typical of the ‘tresillo’ or ‘bolero’ patterns. In emphasizing the off-beats, this allowed for the corresponding notes of the triads. Furthermore in Arsenio’s son, the tres, bass and piano all rhythmically complement the vocal melody, especially during the montuno segment (Sublette, N 2007). These innovations formed a strong basis for the creation of an Afro-Cuban identity.

The basic musical form of Arsenio’s afrocubanaos consists of four sections: intro, verse, bridge, and montuno. Arsenio made these famous afrocubanos by achieving a previously un-combined musical structure. He would start with an intro, then a verse followed by a bridge section; these bridge sections were different from standard bridges in that they were marked by a ‘tango-conga’ ostinato rhythm. This form of tango-cuban rhythm had only previously been used in Cuban operas called Zarzuela’s. To end these afrocubanos, Arsenio would conclude with a monunto, which means music from the mountains in Cuba, sections of which are from the origins of basic son rhythms. It was the use of this specific structure by Arsenio, including the tango-cuban rhythms, and concluding with the afro-monunto rhythm, that played such an imperative part in shaping the genre of son and also in successfully developing the afro-cuban identity.

The son monunto had come from the mountains of Cuba, whereas the tango-conga had come from the various afro and mestizaje influences in Cuba. This new son that Arsenio played had new musical elements such as the anticipated bass and the syncopated tres. (Gil, 2017). Arsenios would sing songs in the language of the African born slaves who were called ‘bozales’. This hybrid language had a “Spanish structure with a morphosyntactic frame with an African lexical chore” (Garcia D,2011). Arsenio built all these elements into his repertoire and he therefore became known for writing songs that resonated with the black’s differences to the general population. Outspoken protagonists against the cuban racism issue now found themselves dealing with confrontation. However by masking issues within this new musicality, Arsenio managed to talk about primitivism and the feelings of inferiority from which the afro-cubans and mestizaje cubans were suffering. Considering that at the time, Cuba was made up in part of one third afro-cubans and one third mestizaje, then Arsenio's lexical use of the bozal language was actually a historically accurate representation of the demographic of Cuba at the time. It was however his lyrics that made Arsenio such a protagonist. Knowing so much, and deeply understanding the oppressed traditions of the afro-cubans such as the Santeria and Palo practices, enabled Arsenio to write these songs about their plight with such an intelligence and deep understanding and knowledge. Arsenio would also directly compose songs to coincide with sociopolitical events, for example he wrote a song to go hand in hand with the independence of the Congo, to where he often affiliated his lineage.

In conclusion many factors attributed to Arsenio’s success creating this new son genre that represented this totally afro-cuban identity: a mestizaje identity. Certainly something that helped

Cuba greatly was the invention of radio broadcasting, of which they quickly became a part. This helped the radical popularisation of cuban music, and thus enhanced the pan-influence of Arsenio’s adaption of son. Arsenio continued to make an impact with this empathy and expressed identification with the African experience and the afro-cuban. When he played at the Smithsonian Institute Third Festival of American Folklife he made it clear his pan affiliation to the African community but also to the Cuban community. Arsenio would never publicly engage in political conversation stating that he “takes no sides”, all the while expressing an identity through music. His sole purpose politically and socially was for peace. “He was very critical of the legacy of colonialism and white racial supremacy as manifested in the degradation of African culture and the discrimination against black people throughout the African diaspora.” (Garcia, 2011). It was Arsenio that evolved son to include the mestizaje language from the Western cuban highlands, the hispanic primacy of the tres, the afro lexical musicality with the call and response, the Bantu derived percussive section of the bongos and maracas thus making it representative of the actual

demographic of Cuba, and the diasporas within. Arsenio’s son was then to become internationalised, broadcast globally as the national music of the Cuba people, further spreading his message and the Afro-Cuban identity. It continues, until today to influence many musical genres through son’s, and Arsenio’s, influence such as: salsa, latin music the mamba all the way to reggaeton. Its impact on, and importance to, the musical composition of Cuba is certainly a turning point, transforming a facist Cuba into a Cuba that had no choice but to accept it’s pan nationalism.

References

Arsenio Rodríguez and the Transnational Flows of Latin Popular Music. Temple University Press.

Gil, S. (2017). The Origins of Cuban Music and its Cultural and Spiritual Importance Within the Cuban Diaspora Community. [online] Inquiries Journal. Available at: http:// www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1191/the-origins-of-cuban-music-and-its- cultural-and-spiritual-importance-within-the-cuban-diaspora-community [Accessed 14 Nov. 2017].

Robbins, J. (1990). The Cuban "Son" as Form, Genre, and Symbol. Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana, 11(2), p.182.

Sublette, N. (2007). Cuba and Its Music : From the First Drums to the Mambo. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, pp.362-378, 392-402, 442-452, 478-484.