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123-541: The founding of the band dates back to the 1940s. Its founder Arsenio Rodríguez was one of the country's most renowned band leaders with major influences on the Latin jazz and Salsa music of the next decades. With his Conjunto he was the first to add reed and brass instruments to a Latin band at that time. When Arsenio Rodríguez left Cuba in 1950 to undergo an ophthalmological intervention in New York to treat his eye disease, he handed

246-573: A Category 4 hurricane in 1926, Arsenio and his family moved from Güines to Havana , where he started playing in local groups around Marianao (his older brother Julio had already been living and working there). By 1928 he had formed the Septeto Boston which often performed in third-tier, working-class cabarets in the area. His father died in 1933 and sometime in the early 1930s, Arsenio changed his stage name from Travieso (which means "mischievous" or "naughty") to his mother's maiden name, Rodríguez,

369-493: A yambú using a quinto is augmented by a tres, bass, and horns. In 1956, Rodríguez released the folkloric rumbas "Con flores del matadero" and "Adiós Roncona" in Havana. The tracks consist of voice and percussion only. One of the last recordings Rodríguez performed on was the rumba album Patato y Totico by the conguero Carlos "Patato" Valdés and vocalist Eugenio "Totico" Arango (1967). The tracks are purely folkloric, except for

492-451: A "dual soul-mind," or mwèla-ngindu , they are able to exist and live in both realms during the different moments of their lives. Even while in Nu Mpémba, a muntu still lives a full life as they prepare for Kala time once again. The right side of the body is also believed to be male, while the left side is believed to be female, creating an additional layer to the dual identity of a muntu. For

615-405: A circle with a cross inside. In this cosmogram or dikenga, the meeting point of the two lines of the cross is the most powerful point and where the person stands." The creation of a Bakongo person, or muntu , is also believed to follow the four moments of the sun, which play a significant role in their development. Musoni is the time when a muntu is conceived both in the spiritual realm and in

738-615: A fairly common Spanish surname. After dissolving the unsuccessful Septeto Boston in 1934, Rodríguez joined the Septeto Bellamar, directed by his uncle-in-law José Interián and featuring his cousin Elizardo Scull on vocals. The group often played at dance academies such as Sport Antillano. By 1938, Rodríguez was the de facto musical director of the Septeto Bellamar and his name had become familiar to important figures such as Antonio Arcaño and Miguelito Valdés . His acquaintance with

861-462: A harmonic standpoint, is "Guaragüí'"s opening progression: imi – IV – bVII – imi (Ami – D – G – Ami). It's the same progression, but in minor, with the IV and bVII inverted Leonardo Acosta is not convinced by Rodríguez's claim to have invented the mambo, if by mambo Rodríguez meant the big-band arrangements of Dámaso Pérez Prado . Rodríguez was not an arranger: his lyrics and musical ideas were worked over by

984-501: A hit) and "Se va el caramelero", which included Rodríguez's first recorded performance, a remarkable solo on the tres. In 1940, on the wave of his success with Casino de la Playa, Rodríguez formed his own conjunto , which featured three singers (playing claves , maracas and guitar ), two trumpets , tres, piano , bass , tumbadora and bongo . At the time, only two other conjuntos existed: Conjunto Casino and Alberto Ruiz's Conjunto Kubavana . This type of ensemble would replace

1107-469: A host of nature spirits that were referred to as simbi , nkisi , nkita and kilundu spirits. In an attempt to convince Kongo people to convert to Catholicism, Portuguese missionaries often stressed that Nzambi was the Christian God . Similarly, the early missionaries used Kongo language words to integrate Christian ideas, such as using the words "nkisi" to mean "holy". Thus, church to Kongo people

1230-532: A large, hand-held cencerro ('cowbell') during montunos (call-and-response chorus sections). Rodríguez also added a variety of rhythms and harmonic concepts to enrich the son, the bolero , the guaracha and some fusions, such as the bolero-son. Similar changes had been made somewhat earlier by the Lecuona Cuban Boys , who (because they were mainly a touring band) had less influence in Cuba. The overall 'feel' of

1353-411: A matter of "re-Africanizing" the music. Helio Orovio recalls: "Arsenio once said his trumpets played figurations the 'Oriente' tres-guitarists played during the improvisational part of el son" (1992: 11). Oriente is the easternmost province of Cuba, where the son was born. It is common practice for treseros to play a series of guajeo variations during their solos. Perhaps it was only natural then that it

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1476-418: A noble family. Christianity was growing again with new chapels built, services regularly held, missions of different Christian sects expanding, and church rituals a part of the royal succession. There were succession crises, ensuing conflicts when a local royal Kongo ruler died and occasional coups such as that of Andre II by Henrique III, typically settled with Portuguese intervention, and these continued through

1599-559: A pop juggernaut in songs such as "Hey Jude" and "Sympathy for the Devil". In the early 70s, when Juan Formell of Los Van Van reintroduced it to Latin pop, it sounded like a clear borrowing from rock & roll , but here it is in Arsenio's music when rock and rollers were limited to I – IV – V and I – vimi – IV – V, and even Tin Pan Alley had yet to incorporate modal harmonies. Equally interesting from

1722-477: A role in the formation of Voudou in Haiti. The large Bakongo society features a diversity of occupations. Some are farmers who grow staples and cash crops. Among the staples are cassava , bananas , maize , taro and sweet potatoes . Other crops include peanuts (groundnuts) and beans . The cash crops were introduced by the colonial rulers, and these include coffee and cacao for the chocolate industry. Palm oil

1845-519: A songwriter in 1937. For the following two years Rodríguez worked as composer and guest guitarist for the Casino de la Playa. In 1940 he formed his conjunto , one of the first of its kind. After recording over a hundred songs for RCA Victor over the course of twelve years, Rodríguez moved to New York in 1952, where he remained active, releasing several albums. In 1970, Rodríguez moved to Los Angeles, where he died of pneumonia . Ignacio Arsenio Travieso Scull

1968-618: A title, it is incorrect to call Kongo people by Ne Kongo or a Kongo person by Ne Kongo. The ancient history of the Kongo people has been difficult to ascertain. The region is close to East Africa, considered to be a key to the prehistoric human migrations. This geographical proximity, states Jan Vansina , suggests that the Congo River region, home of the Kongo people, was populated thousands of years ago. Ancient archeological evidence linked to Kongo people has not been found, and glottochronology – or

2091-432: Is a creator of the bass riff . Breaks ('cierres') Rodríguez's "Juventud amaliana" (1946) contains an example of one of his rhythmically dynamic unison breaks, strongly rooted in clave. Most of Arsenio's classic tracks from the golden period of 1946-1951 feature a virtuousic and highly-polyrhythmic solo by either Luis "Lilí" Martínez Griñán on piano, Arsenio himself on tres, or occasionally Félix Chappottín or one of

2214-464: Is a strong undercurrent of messianic tradition among the Bakongo, which has led to several politico-religious movements in the 20th century. This may be linked to the premises of dualistic cosmology in Bakongo tradition, where two worlds exist, one visible and lived, another invisible and full of powerful spirits. The belief that there is an interaction and reciprocal exchange between these, to Bakongo, means

2337-475: Is another export commodity, while the traditional urena is a famine food. Some Kongo people fish and hunt, but most work in factories and trade in towns. The Kongo people have traditionally recognized their descent from their mother ( matrilineality ), and this lineage links them into kinship groups. They are culturally organized as ones who cherish their independence, so much so that neighboring Kongo people's villages avoid being dependent on each other. There

2460-425: Is based on the vocal melody and marks the clave relentlessly The piano guajeo for "Jumba" (a.k.a. "Zumba") (1951) is firmly aligned with clave, but also has a very strong nengón flavor — something which had rarely, or never, been used in Havana popular music. While Rodríguez was not from Oriente province (where nengón and changüí are played), he had a thorough knowledge of many folkloric styles and his creative partner,

2583-469: Is limited and does not exhaustively cover all of the Kongo people. The evidence suggests, states Vansina, that the Kongo people were advanced in their culture and socio-political systems with multiple kingdoms well before the arrival of first Portuguese ships in the late 15th century. Kongo oral tradition suggests that the Kingdom of Kongo was founded before the 14th century and the 13th century. The kingdom

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2706-554: Is the emergence of the fire. The second stage is the red stage where the planet is still burning and has not formed. The third stage is the grey stage where the planet is cooling, but has not produced life. These planets are naked, dry, and covered with dust. The final stage is green stage is when the planet is fully mature because it breathes and carries life. As the Bakongo believe is part of the universal order, all planets must go through this process. According to Molefi Kete Asante , "Another important characteristic of Bakongo cosmology

2829-407: Is the sun and its movements. The rising, peaking, setting, and absence of the sun provide the essential pattern for Bakongo religious culture. These “four moments of the sun” equate with the four stages of life: conception, birth, maturity, and death. For the Bakongo, everything transitions through these stages: planets, plants, animals, people, societies, and even ideas. This vital cycle is depicted by

2952-451: The conjunto format and contributed to the development of the son montuno , the basic template of modern-day salsa . He claimed to be the true creator of the mambo and was an important as well as a prolific composer who wrote nearly two hundred songs. Despite being blind since the age of seven, Rodríguez quickly managed to become one of Cuba's foremost treseros . His first hit, " Bruca maniguá " by Orquesta Casino de la Playa , came as

3075-469: The tumbadora at rumba performances in Matanzas and Güines, and became also immersed in the traditions of Palo Monte and its secular counterpart, yuka . Furthermore, their neighbour in the neighbourhood of Leguina, Güines, was a Santería practitioner who hosted celebrations for Changó , exposing Arsenio and Kike to West African drumming and chanting. In rural parties such as guateques , they also learned

3198-697: The Atlantic coast of Central Africa , in a region that by the 15th century was a centralized and well-organized Kingdom of Kongo , but is now a part of three countries. Their highest concentrations are found south of Pointe-Noire in the Republic of the Congo , southwest of Pool Malebo and west of the Kwango River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , north of Luanda , Angola and southwest Gabon . They are

3321-483: The key pattern known in Cuba as clave , a Spanish word for 'key', or 'code'. When clave is written in two measures, as shown above, the measure with three strokes is referred to as the three-side, and the measure with two strokes—the two-side. When the chord progression begins on the three-side, the song, or phrase is said to be in 3-2 clave . When it begins on the two-side, it's in 2-3 clave . The 2-3 bass line of "Dame un cachito pa' huele" (1946) coincides with

3444-425: The son , a genre of music that originated in the eastern region of the island . Arsenio learned how to play the marímbula and the botija , two rudimentary instruments used in the rhythm section, and more importantly he took up the tres , a small guitar, now considered Cuba's national instrument. He received classes from Víctor González, a renowned tresero from Güines. Following the destruction of their home by

3567-575: The 1560s, over 7,000 slaves per year were being captured and exported by Portuguese traders to the Americas. The Kongo people and the neighboring ethnic groups retaliated, with violence and attacks, such as the Jaga invasion of 1568 which swept across the Kongo lands, burnt the Portuguese churches, and attacked its capital, nearly ending the Kingdom of Kongo. The Kongo people also created songs to warn themselves of

3690-423: The 1660s. In 1665, the Portuguese army invaded the Kingdom, killed the Kongo king, disbanded his army, and installed a friendly replacement in his place. The 1665 Kongo-Portuguese war and the killing of the hereditary king by the Portuguese soldiers led to a political vacuum. The Kongo kingdom disintegrated into smaller kingdoms, each controlled by nobles considered friendly by the Portuguese. One of these kingdoms

3813-644: The 1960s, have had their legacies documented in a national television production called La Época , released in theaters in the US in September 2008, and in Latin America in 2009. He had much success in the US and migrated there in 1952, one of the reasons being the better pay of musicians. Starting in the late 1990s, jazz guitarist Marc Ribot recorded two albums mostly of Rodríguez' compositions or songs in his repertoire: Marc Ribot y los Cubanos Postizos (or Marc Ribot and

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3936-498: The 1990s his son Angel Chappottín Valdes was musical director. Since then, the grandson of Felix Chappottín , Jesús Ángel Chappottín Coto, trumpeter, has directed the Conjunto Chappottín together Miguelito Cuni Jr., singer, percussionist and son of the former lead singer Miguelito Cuní. Angel Chappottín Valdes played congas with the group after his retirement. In 2014, Conjunto Chappottín y Sus Estrellas made their first tour of

4059-680: The Americas. Since the early 20th century, Bakongo (singular Mkongo or Mukongo ) has been increasingly used, especially in areas north of the Congo River , to refer to the Kikongo-speaking community, or more broadly to speakers of the closely related Kongo languages . This convention is based on the Bantu languages, to which Kongo language belongs. The prefix "mu-" and "ba-" refer to "people", singular and plural respectively. Ne in Kikongo designates

4182-509: The Bakongo, a person is a kala-zimikala , which means a "living-dying-living being." A simbi (pl. bisimbi) is a water spirit that is believed to inhabit bodies of water and rocks, having the ability to guide the bakulu , or the ancestors, along the Kalûnga River to the spiritual world after they pass away. They are also present during the baptisms of African American Christians , according to Hoodoo tradition . The religious history of

4305-515: The Christian ruling classes, as well as in the villages. The later Portuguese missionaries and Capuchin monks upon their arrival in Kongo were baffled by these practices in the late 17th century (nearly 150 years after the acceptance of Christianity as the state religion in the Kingdom of Kongo). Some threatened to burn or destroy the shrines. However, the Kongo people credited these shrines for abundance and defended them. The Kongo people's conversion

4428-649: The Democratic Republic of Congo also speak French . In the Democratic Republic of the Congo most also speak French and others speak either Lingala , a common lingua franca in Western Congo, or Kikongo ya Leta (generally known as Kituba particularly in the Republic of the Congo), a creole form of Kikongo spoken widely in the Republic of the Congo and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Bakongo believe that in

4551-538: The King of Portugal in the 1510s and 1520s, then succumbed to the demands for slaves from the Portuguese through the 16th century. The Kongo people were a part of the major slave raiding, capture and export trade of African slaves to the European colonial interests in 17th and 18th centuries. The slave raids, colonial wars and the 19th-century Scramble for Africa split the Kongo people into Portuguese, Belgian and French parts. In

4674-463: The Kongo is complex, particularly after the ruling class of the Kingdom of Kongo accepted Christianity at the start of the 16th century. According to historian John K. Thornton , "Central Africans have probably never agreed among themselves as to what their cosmology is in detail, a product of what I called the process of continuous revelation and precarious priesthood." The Kongo people had diverse views, with traditional religious ideas best developed in

4797-486: The Kongo nobility and traders, and the coastal ports were flooded with "war captives turned slaves". The other effect of this violence over many years was making the Kongo king heavily dependent on the Portuguese protection, along with the dehumanization of the African people, including the rebelling Kongo people, as cannibalistic pagan barbarians from "Jaga kingdom". This caricature of the African people and their dehumanization

4920-736: The Kongo people disputed each other's boundaries and rights, as well as those of other non-Kongo ethnic groups bordering them, leading to steady wars and mutual raids. The wars between the small kingdoms created a steady supply of captives that fed the Portuguese demand for slaves and the small kingdoms' need for government income to finance the wars. In the 1700s, a baptized teenage Kongo woman named Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita claimed to be possessed by Saint Anthony of Padua and that she had been visiting heaven to speak with God. She started preaching that Mary and Jesus were not born in Nazareth but in Africa among

5043-665: The Kongo people exchanged ivory and copper objects they made with luxury goods of Portuguese. But, after 1500, the Portuguese had little demand for ivory and copper, they instead demanded slaves in exchange. The settled Portuguese in São Tomé needed slave labor for their sugarcane plantations, and they first purchased labor. Soon thereafter they began kidnapping people from the Kongo society and after 1514, they provoked military campaigns in nearby African regions to get slave labor. Along with this change in Portuguese-Kongo people relationship,

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5166-580: The Kongo people's Atlantic port settlement. They also found exchange of goods easy and the Kongo people open to ideas. The Kongo king at that time, named Nzinga a Nkuwu allegedly willingly accepted Christianity, and at his baptism in 1491 changed his name to João I, a Portuguese name. Around the 1450s, a prophet, Ne Buela Muanda, predicted the arrival of the Portuguese and the spiritual and physical enslavement of many Bakongo. The trade between Kongo people and Portuguese people thereafter accelerated through 1500. The kingdom of Kongo appeared to become receptive of

5289-400: The Kongo people. She created a movement among the Kongo people which historians call as Kongo Antonianism . Dona Beatriz questioned the wars devastating the Kongo people, asked all Kongo people to end the wars that fed the trading in humans, and unite under one king. She attracted a following of thousands of Kongo people into the ruins of their old capital. She was declared a false saint by

5412-578: The Longwood community. The following songs composed by Arsenio Rodríguez are considered Cuban standards : Kongo people The Kongo people ( Kongo : Bisi Kongo , EsiKongo , singular: Musi Kongo ; also Bakongo , singular: Mukongo or M'kongo ) are a Bantu ethnic group primarily defined as the speakers of Kikongo . Subgroups include the Beembe , Bwende , Vili , Sundi , Yombe , Dondo , Lari , and others. They have lived along

5535-487: The Portuguese-appointed Kongo king Pedro IV, with the support of Portuguese Catholic missionaries and Italian Capuchin monks then resident in Kongo lands. The 22 year old Dona Beatriz was arrested, then burnt alive at the stake on charges of being a witch and a heretic. After the death of Dona Beatriz in 1706 and another three years of wars with the help of the Portuguese, Pedro IV was able to get back much of

5658-586: The Prosthetic/Fake Cubans ) and Muy Divertido! . In 1999, Rodríguez was posthumously inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame . Belatedly, the borough of the Bronx officially had the intersection of Intervale Ave. and Dawson St. in the area known as Longwood renamed "Arsenio Rodríguez Way" in a dedication and unveiling ceremony on Thursday, June 6, 2013. "That intersection

5781-488: The Rodríguez conjunto was more African than other Cuban conjuntos. Rodríguez took the pivotal step of replacing the guitar with the piano, which greatly expanded the contrapuntal and harmonic possibilities of Cuban popular music. "Como traigo la yuca", popularly called "Dile a Catalina", recorded in 1941 and Arsenio's first big hit, may be his most famous composition. The first half uses the changüí /son method of paraphrasing

5904-615: The United States. In 2017 and under the musical direction of Víctor Agustín Linén Fernández, a record and documentary production was made for the 65th anniversary the Ensemble. The CD-DVD Vivir vivir together with the record company EGREM The band dedicates to the traditional son with a variety of different stylistic elements such as son-montuno, guajira, guaracha, mambo, danzon, danzonette, charanga, afro-son, bembe, Cuban rumba (made up of yambú, columbia and guaguanco), and cha cha cha. With

6027-591: The Vili and Yombe do not believe in the power of ancestors in the same degree as to those living farther south. Furthermore, she and John Janzen state that religious ideas and emphasis have changed over time. The slaves brought over by the European ships into the Americas carried with them their traditional ideas. Vanhee suggests that the Afro-Brazilian Quimbanda religion is a new world manifestation of Bantu religion and spirituality, and Kongo Christianity played

6150-428: The additional horn group Arsenio Rodríguez changed the traditional setting of a son band. Arsenio Rodríguez was one of the most influential Cuban musicians of the last century and had major influences of the development of Salsa and Latin jazz. Under the direction of Felix Chappottín, the successor of Arsenio Rodríguez and musical director of the band for more than 3 decades, who was often compared with Louis Armstrong ,

6273-444: The area well before the fifth century CE, begun a society that utilized the diverse and rich resources of region and developed farming methods. According to James Denbow, social complexity had probably been achieved by the second century CE. According to Vansina small kingdoms and Kongo principalities appeared in the current region by the 1200 CE, but documented history of this period of Kongo people if it existed has not survived into

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6396-511: The arrival of the Portuguese, one of the famous songs is " Malele " (Translation: "Tragedy", song present among the 17 Kongo songs sung by the Massembo family of Guadeloupe during the Grap a Kongo ). The Portuguese brought in military and arms to support the Kingdom of Kongo, and after years of fighting, they jointly defeated the attack. This war unexpectedly led to a flood of captives who had challenged

6519-418: The band gained international reputation. Vivir, vivir. Arsenio Rodr%C3%ADguez Arsenio Rodríguez (born Ignacio Arsenio Travieso Scull ; August 31, 1911 – December 30, 1970) was a Cuban musician, composer and bandleader. He played the tres , as well as the tumbadora , and he specialized in son , rumba and other Afro-Cuban music styles. In the 1940s and 1950s Rodríguez established

6642-648: The beat), are to be found in mambo. What had made the conjunto and son montuno style so innovative was in fact Arsenio's and his musicians' deep knowledge and utilization of aesthetic principles and performance procedures rooted in Afro-Cuban traditional music in which Arsenio had been immersed as a youngster in rural areas of Matanzas and La Habana. Drawing from these principles and procedures, Arsenio and his colleagues formulated new ways of performing Cuban son and danzón music that arrangers for big bands soon after adapted and popularized internationally as mambo Rodríguez's style

6765-407: The beginning, the world was circular void, called mbûngi , with no life. Then Nzambi Mpungu , the creator god , summoned a great force of fire, called Kalûnga , which filled this empty circle. Then Kalûnga heated up the contents of mbûngi, and when it cooled, it formed the earth. The Earth, the starting point of the fire, then became a green planet after it went through four stages. The first stage

6888-441: The bona fide rhythms. Rodríguez was an authentic rumbero; he both played the tumbadora and composed songs within the rumba genre, especially guaguancós . Rodríguez recorded folkloric rumbas and also fused rumba with son montuno. His "Timbilla" (1945) and "Anabacoa" (1950) are examples of the guaguancó rhythm used by a son conjunto. On "Timbilla", the bongós fulfill the role of the quinto (lead drum). In "Yambú en serenata" (1964)

7011-417: The break in the previous example. Here is that figure in relation to 2-3 clave. When the pattern is used as a type of block chord guajeo, as in " Oye Como Va ", it's referred to as ponchando . Rodríguez introduced the idea of layered guajeos (typical Cuban ostinato melodies)—an interlocking structure consisting of multiple contrapuntal parts. This aspect of the son 's modernization can be thought of as

7134-504: The city in 1952. He played with influential artists such as Chano Pozo , Machito , Dizzy Gillespie and Mario Bauzá . On March 18, 1952, Rodríguez made his final recordings with his band for RCA Victor in Cuba. He finally left Havana on March 22, 1952, having handed the direction of the conjunto to trumpeter Félix Chappottín . Chappottín and the other remaining members, including pianist Lilí Martínez and singer Miguelito Cuní , formed Conjunto Chappottín . He would return to Havana for

7257-399: The demand and accepted an export of those who willingly accepted slavery, and for a fee per slave. The Portuguese procured 2,000 to 3,000 slaves per year for a few years, from 1520, a practice that started the slave export history of the Kongo people. However, this supply was far short of the demand for slaves and the money slave owners were willing to pay. The Portuguese operators approached

7380-416: The early 20th century, they became one of the most active ethnic groups in the efforts to decolonize Africa, helping liberate the three nations to self-governance. The origin of the name Kongo is unclear, and several theories have been proposed. According to the colonial era scholar Samuel Nelson, the term Kongo is possibly derived from a local verb for gathering or assembly. According to Alisa LaGamma ,

7503-549: The ensemble. By adopting polyrhythmic elements from the son, the horns took on a vamp-like role similar to the piano montuno and tres (or string) guajeo The denser rhythmic weave of Rodríguez's music required the addition of more instruments. Rodríguez added a second, and then, third trumpet—the birth of the Latin horn section. He made the bold move of adding the conga drum, the quintessential Afro-Cuban instrument. Today, we are so used to seeing conga drums in Latin bands, and that practice began with Rodríguez. His bongo player used

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7626-448: The estimation of ethnic group chronologies based on language evolution – has been applied to the Kongo. Based on this, it is likely the Kongo language and Gabon-Congo language split about 950 BCE. The earliest archeological evidence is from Tchissanga (now part of modern Republic of the Congo ), a site dated to about 600 BCE. However, the site does not prove which ethnic group was resident at that time. The Kongo people had settled into

7749-455: The extent of his knowledge of Palo Monte spirituality but also his critique of the discourse on African inferiority and atavismas (1) manifested in racist representational tropes in Cuban popular culture and (2) implied in the ideology of mestizaje (read: racial and cultural "progress"). As he countered in his afrocubanos, these traditions of his youth, through representing a "primitive" era for most of

7872-453: The first piece to use the term. A prevalent theory is that the López brothers were influenced by Rodríguez's use of layered guajeos (called diablo ), and introduced the concept into the charanga's string section with their historical composition. As Ned Sublette observes: "Arsenio maintained till the end of his life that the mambo — the big band style that exploded in 1949 — came out of his diablo,

7995-473: The former septetos , although some such as the Septeto Nacional would perform on and off for years. Of all the conjuntos, Arsenio Rodríguez's became the most successful and critically acclaimed one during the 1940s. His popularity earned him the nickname El Ciego Maravilloso (The Marvellous Blind Man). The first single by his conjunto was "El pirulero no vuelve más", a pregón which tried to capitalize on

8118-411: The group's arranger. The compositions were published with just the minimal bass and treble piano lines. To achieve the big-band mambo such as by Pérez Prado, Machito , Tito Puente or Tito Rodríguez requires a full orchestration where the trumpets play counterpoint to the rhythm of the saxophones. This, a fusion of Cuban with big-band jazz ideas, is not found in Rodríguez, whose musical forms are set in

8241-505: The growing import of Christian missionaries and luxury goods, the slave capture and exports through the Kongo lands grew. With over 5.6 million human beings kidnapped in Central Africa, then sold and shipped as slaves through the lands of the Kongo people, they witnessed the largest exports of slaves from Africa into the Americas by 1867. According to Jan Vansina, the "whole of Angola's economy and its institutions of governance were based on

8364-468: The help of non-Kongo ethnic groups such as the Chokwe people , which were then exported with the labor of Kongo people. Swedish missionaries entered the area in the 1880s and 1890, converting the northeast section of Kongo to Protestantism in the early twentieth century. The Swedish missionaries, notably Karl Laman , encouraged the local people to write their history and customs in notebooks, which then became

8487-426: The interior of West Central Africa who were, indeed, different Mbangala groups. There are other scholars, such as Joseph Miller, that believed this 16th and 17th centuries' one-sided dehumanization of the African people was a fabrication and myth created by the missionaries and slave trading Portuguese to hide their abusive activities and intentions. From the 1570s, the European traders arrived in large numbers and

8610-411: The large inland region of Africa went to Belgium (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and the southern parts (now Angola ) remained with Portugal. The Kongo people in all three colonies (Angola, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo) became one of the most active ethnic groups in the efforts to decolonize Africa, and worked with other ethnic groups in Central Africa to help liberate

8733-427: The largest ethnic group in the Republic of the Congo, and one of the major ethnic groups in the other two countries they are found in. In 1975, the Kongo population was reported as 4,040,000. The Kongo people were among the earliest indigenous Africans to welcome Portuguese traders in 1483 CE, and began converting to Catholicism in the late 15th century. They were among the first to protest slave capture in letters to

8856-500: The last time in 1956. During the 1960s, the mambo craze petered out, and Rodríguez continued to play in his typical style, although he did record some boogaloo numbers, without much success. As times changed, the popularity of his group declined. He tried a new start in Los Angeles . He invited his friend Alfonso Joseph to fly out to Los Angeles with him but died there only a week later, on December 30, 1970, from pneumonia . His body

8979-463: The latter made it possible for one of his songs, " Bruca maniguá ", to be recorded by the famous Orquesta Casino de la Playa in June 1937. The song, featuring Valdés on vocals, became an international hit and Rodríguez's breakthrough composition. The band also recorded Rodríguez's "Ben acá Tomá" in the same recording session, becoming their next A-side. In 1938 they recorded "Yo son macuá", "Funfuñando" (also

9102-407: The mid 19th-century. After Henrique III died in 1857, competitive claims to the throne were raised by his relatives. One of them, Pedro Elelo, gained the trust of Portuguese military against Alvero XIII, by agreeing to be vassal of the colonial Portugal. This effectively ended whatever sovereignty had previously been recognized and the Kongo people became a part of colonial Portugal. In concert with

9225-580: The modern era. Detailed and copious description about the Kongo people who lived next to the Atlantic ports of the region, as a sophisticated culture, language and infrastructure, appear in the 15th century, written by the Portuguese explorers. Later anthropological work on the Kongo of the region come from the colonial era writers, particularly the French and Belgians (Loango, Vungu, and the Niari Valley), but this too

9348-490: The musical direction over to his first trumpet player, Félix Chappottín . The band was renamed Félix Chappottín y su Conjunto Todos Estrellas. The band maintained a large repertoire of Arsenio Rodriguez , adding new pieces by Felix Chappottin and other artists. His son, Angel Chappottin Valdes, was also a trumpeter in the band. Felix Chappottín directed the band successfully until the year of his death in 1983. From 1983 until

9471-492: The musicians he recorded with. Others interviewed in the movie include the daughter of legendary Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaría – Ileana Santamaría, bongocero Luis Mangual and others. Rodríguez's close friend and bassist for eight years Alfonso "El Panameño" Joseph , as well as other members of Rodríguez's band, such as Julián Lianos, who performed with Rodríguez at the Palladium Ballroom in New York during

9594-547: The new traders, allowed them to settle an uninhabited nearby island called São Tomé , and sent Bakongo nobles to visit the royal court in Portugal. Other than the king himself, much of the Kongo people's nobility welcomed the cultural exchange, the Christian missionaries converted them to the Catholic faith, they assumed Portuguese court manners, and by early 16th-century Kongo became a Portugal-affiliated Christian kingdom. Initially,

9717-409: The northern coast) and speakers of Kisansolo (the central dialect) would have trouble understanding each other. In Angola, there are a few who did not learn to speak Kikongo because Portuguese rules of assimilation during the colonial period was directed against learning native languages, though most Bakongo held on to the language. Most Angolan Kongo also speak Portuguese and those near the border of

9840-499: The numbers had been recorded earlier by Rodríguez' conjunto. In 1994, the Cuban revivalist band Sierra Maestra recorded Dundunbanza! (World Circuit WCD 041), an album containing four Rodríguez numbers, including the title track. Arsenio Rodríguez is mentioned in a national television production called La época , about the Palladium era in New York, and Afro-Cuban music. The film discusses Arsenio's contributions, and features some of

9963-425: The old Kongo kingdom. The conflicts continued through the 18th century, however, and the demand for and the caravan of Kongo and non-Kongo people as captured slaves kept rising, headed to the Atlantic ports. Although, in Portuguese documents, all of Kongo people were technically under one ruler, they were no longer governed that way by the mid-18th century. The Kongo people were now divided into regions, each headed by

10086-400: The other trumpeters. The solo usually ends with Arsenio's signature [break] lead-in phrase: . X X X X . . . [first measure in the example above]. The figure is usually played on the two-side in 3-2 clave and on the three-side in 2-3 clave, and leads directly to what most timba musicians call a bloque but which in Arsenio's day was called a cierre . It consists of everyone in the band playing

10209-535: The pianist/composer Luis "Lilí" Martínez Griñán, in fact came from that part of the island. Arsenio's use of modal harmonies pre-echoes not only songo , salsa , and timba , but rock and soul as well. "Guaragüí" [1951] has not one but two shockingly original chord progressions. [The guajeo] is in D, but the chord progression is in the Mixolydian mode: I – bVII – IV (D – C – G). This virulently addictive little sequence would remain dormant for fifteen years until becoming

10332-552: The piano plays a single celled (single measure) guajeo, while the other guajeos are two-celled. It's common practice to combine single and double-celled ostinatos in Afro-Cuban music. During the 1940s, the conjunto instrumentation was in full swing, as were the groups who incorporated the jazz band (or big band) instrumentation in the ensemble, guajeos (vamp-like lines) could be divided among each instrument section, such as saxes and brass; this became even more subdivided, featuring three or more independent riffs for smaller sections within

10455-463: The publication of newspapers in various dialects of the language. In 1910 Kavuna Kafwandani (Kavuna Simon) published an article in the Swedish mission society's Kikongo language newspaper Misanü Miayenge (Words of Peace) calling for all speakers of the Kikongo language to recognize their identity. The Bakongo people have championed ethnic rivalry and nationalism through sports such as football. The game

10578-450: The repeating figures that the trumpets in the band played. Arsenio claimed to have already been doing that in the late 1930s" (2004: 508). As Rodríguez himself asserts: "In 1934, I was experimenting with a new sound which I fully developed in 1938." Max Salazar concurs: "It was Arsenio Rodríguez's band that used for the first time the rhythms which today are typical for every mambo" (1992: 10). In an early article on mambo, published in 1948,

10701-585: The root may be from the regional word Nkongo which means "hunter" in the context of someone adventurous and heroic. It may be derived from the proto-bantu word for hunter, similar to the IsiZulu term khonto, which means spear as in "umkhonto we sizwe", Spear of the Nation, the name for the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC) during its struggle against apartheid. Douglas Harper states that

10824-402: The same series of punches, creating extreme rhythmic tension with a combination of cross-rhythms and deceptive harmonies. As [David] García points out, the first four beats of the actual [break] have a rhythm [below] which was used repeatedly in the subsequent decades, most famously by Tito Puente and later Carlos Santana in " Oye Como Va Moore is referring to the second and third measures of

10947-491: The simpler, single-cell tresillo structure. This type of bass line has a specific alignment to clave, and contributes melodically to the composition. Rodríguez's brother Raúl Travieso recounted, Rodríguez insisted that his bass players make the bass "sing." Moore states: "This idea of a bass tumbao with a melodic identity unique to a specific arrangement was critical not only to timba , but also to Motown , rock , funk , and other important genres." In other words, Rodríguez

11070-467: The slave trade" in 18th and 19th century, until the slave trade was forcibly brought to an end in the 1840s. This ban on lucrative trade of slaves through the lands of Kongo people was bitterly opposed by both the Portuguese and Luso-Africans (part Portuguese, part African), states Vansina. The slave trade was replaced with ivory trade in the 1850s, where the old caravan owners and routes replaced hunting human beings with hunting elephants for their tusks with

11193-529: The slave trading through the Kongo people territory dramatically increased. The weakened Kingdom of Kongo continued to face internal revolts and violence that resulted from the raids and capture of slaves, and the Portuguese in 1575 established the port city of Luanda (now in Angola) in cooperation with a Kongo noble family to facilitate their military presence, African operations and the slave trade thereof. The Kingdom of Kongo and its people ended their cooperation in

11316-460: The slaves from the Vili or Fiote coastal Kongo people, but later this term was used to refer to any "black man" in Cuba, St Lucia and other colonial era Islands ruled by one of the European colonial interests. The group is identified largely by speaking a cluster of mutually intelligible dialects rather than by large continuities in their history or even in culture. The term "Congo" was more widely deployed to identify Kikongo-speaking people enslaved in

11439-536: The small northern Kikongo-speaking area, and this region neither converted to Christianity nor participated in slave trade until the 19th century. There is abundant description about Kongo religious concepts in the Catholic missionary and colonial era records, but states Thornton, these are written with a hostile bias and their reliability is problematic. The Kongo people believed in the Creator God Nzambi Mpungu , his female counterpart Nzambici , and

11562-524: The source for Laman's famous and widely cited ethnography and their dialect became well established thanks to Laman's dictionary of Kikongo. The fragmented Kongo people in the 19th century were annexed by three European colonial empires, during the Scramble for Africa and Berlin Conference , the northernmost parts went to France (now the Republic of Congo and Gabon), the middle part along river Congo along with

11685-405: The success of "Se va el caramelero". In 1947, Rodríguez went to New York for the first time. There, he hoped to get cured of his blindness but eye specialist Ramón Castroviejo was told that his optic nerves had been completely destroyed. This experience led him to compose the bolero "La vida es un sueño" (Life is a dream). He returned to New York in 1948 and 1950 before establishing himself in

11808-467: The succession system within Kongo kingdom changed under Portuguese influence, and in 1509, instead of the usual election among the nobles, a hereditary European-style succession led to the African king Afonso I succeeding his father, now named João I. The slave capture and the export of slaves caused major social disorder among the Kongo people, and the Kongo king Afonso I wrote letters to the king of Portugal protesting this practice. Finally, he succumbed to

11931-481: The term means "mountains" in a Bantu language, which the Congo river flows down from. The Kongo people have been referred to by various names in the colonial French, Belgian and Portuguese literature, names such as Esikongo (singular Mwisikongo ), Mucicongo , Mesikongo , Madcongo and Moxicongo . Christian missionaries, particularly in the Caribbean , originally applied the term Bafiote (singular M(a)fiote ) to

12054-503: The three nations to self governance. The French and Belgium regions became independent in 1960. Angolan independence came in 1975. The language of the Kongo people is called Kikongo (Guthrie: Bantu Zone H .10). It is a macrolanguage and consists of Beembe , Doondo, Koongo, Laari, Kongo-San-Salvador, Kunyi, Vili and Yombe sub-languages. The Kongo language is divided into many dialects which are sufficiently diverse that people from distant dialects, such as speakers of Kivili dialect (on

12177-427: The three-side of the clave's five-note pattern. David García identifies the accents of "and-of-two" (in cut-time) on the three-side, and the "and-of-four" (in cut-time) on the two-side of the clave, as crucial contributions of Rodríguez's music. The two offbeats are present in the following 2-3 bass line from Rodríguez's "Mi chinita me botó" (1944). The two offbeats are especially important because they coincide with

12300-475: The time Arsenio was four, in 1915, his family moved to the town of Güines , where his three younger siblings (Estela, Israel "Kike" and Raúl) were born. In 1918, at around seven years of age, Arsenio was blinded when a horse kicked him in the head after he accidentally hit the animal with a broom. This tragic event prompted Arsenio to become very close with his brother Kike, and to become interested in writing and performing songs. The young brothers began playing

12423-478: The traders at the borders of the Kongo kingdom, such as the Malebo Pool and offered luxury goods in exchange for captured slaves. This created, states Jan Vansina, an incentive for border conflicts and slave caravan routes, from other ethnic groups and different parts of Africa, in which the Kongo people and traders participated. The slave raids and volume of trade in enslaved human beings increased thereafter, and by

12546-420: The traditional categories of Cuban music. While it is true that the mambo of the 1940s, and 1950s contains elements not present in Rodríguez's music, there is considerable evidence that the contrapuntal structure of the mambo began in the conjunto of Arsenio Rodríguez. While working in the charanga Arcaño y Sus Maravillas, Orestes López "Macho" and his brother Israel López "Cachao" composed "Mambo" (1938),

12669-445: The two syncopated steps in the son's basic footwork. The conjunto's collective and consistent accentuation of these two important offbeats gave the son montuno texture its unique groove and, hence, played a significant part in the dancer's feeling the music and dancing to it, as Bebo Valdés noted "in contratiempo " ['offbeat timing'] Moore points out that Rodríguez's conjunto introduced the two-celled bass tumbaos , that moved beyond

12792-452: The two-side. Moore observes: "Like so many aspects of Arsenio's music, this miniature composition is decades ahead of its time. It would be forty years before groups began to consistently apply this much creative variation at the guajeo level of the arranging process" (2009: 41). "No me llores más" [1948] stands out for its beautiful melodies and the incredible amount of emotional intensity it packs into its ultra‐slow 58 bpm groove. The guajeo

12915-539: The unconventional addition of Rodríguez on tres and Israel López " Cachao " on bass. Additional personnel included Papaíto and Virgilio Martí. Also released in the 1960s, the album Primitivo , featuring Monguito el Único and Baby González alternating on lead vocals, is an evocation of the music played in the solares . There have been numerous tributes to Arsenio Rodríguez, especially in the form of LPs. In 1972, Larry Harlow recorded Tribute to Arsenio Rodríguez (Fania 404) with his band Orchestra Harlow. On this LP, five of

13038-399: The vocal melody but the second half strikes out into bold new territory – using contrapuntal material not based on the song's melody and employing a cross-rhythm based on sequences of three ascending notes The piano guajeo for "Dame un cachito pa' huele" (1946) completely departs from both the generic son guajeo and the song's melody. The pattern marks the clave by accenting the backbeat on

13161-409: The week. Larger market gatherings were rotated once every eight days, on Nsona Kungu. The Haplogroup L2a is a mtdna clade that was found to be common in the Democratic Republic of Congo amongst Bantu groups, including the Bakongo. Haplogroup E1b1a8 was the most commonly observed y-chromosome clade. The idea of a Bakongo unity, actually developed in the early twentieth century, primarily through

13284-465: The white Cuban elite as well as black intellectuals, continued to be a vital and powerful aspect of his music and life On Palo Congo by Sabú Martínez (1957) Rodríguez sings and plays a traditional palo song and rhythm, a Lucumí song for Eleggua , and a rumba and a conga de comparsa accompanied by tres. Rodríguez's 1963 landmark album Quindembo features an abakuá tune, a columbia, and several band adaptations of traditional palo songs, accompanied by

13407-451: The womb of a Bakongo woman. Kala is the time when a muntu is born into the physical world. This time is also seen as the rise of the sun. Tukula is the time of maturity, where a muntu learns to master all aspects of life from spirituality to purpose to personality. The last period of time is luvemba , when a muntu physically dies and enters the spiritual world, or Nu Mpémba , with of the ancestors, or bakulu . Because Bakongo people have

13530-505: The world of spirits can possess the world of flesh. Article about Kongo clans  [ fr ] Article about Vili clans  [ fr ] The Kongo week was a four-day week: Konzo, Nkenge, Nsona and Nkandu. These days are named after the four towns near which traditionally a farmer's market was held in rotation. This idea spread across the Kongo people, and every major district or population center had four rotating markets locations, each center named after these days of

13653-516: The writer Manuel Cuéllar Vizcaíno suggests that Rodríguez and Arcaño's styles emerged concurrently, which might account for the decades-long argument concerning the identity of the "true" inventor of the mambo. In the late 1940s Pérez Prado codified the contrapuntal structure of the mambo within a horn-based big band format. Throughout the 1940s Arsenio's son montuno style was never referred to as mambo , even though central principles and procedures of his style, such as playing in contratiempo (against

13776-503: Was nzo a nkisi , which means "another shrine," and the Bible was mukanda nkisi , which means "a consecrated charm." Kongo people maintained both churches and shrines, which they called Kiteki . Their smaller shrines were dedicated to the smaller deities, even after they had converted to Christianity. These deities were guardians of water bodies, crop lands and high places to the Kongo people, and they were very prevalent both in capital towns of

13899-425: Was Rodríguez, the tres master, who conceived of the idea of layering these variations on top of each other. The following example is from the "diablo" section of Rodríguez's "Kila, Quique y Chocolate" (1950). The excerpt consists of four interlocking guajeos: piano (bottom line), tres (second line), 2nd and 3rd trumpets (third line), and 1st trumpet (fourth line). 2-3 Clave is shown for reference (top line). Notice that

14022-601: Was about 200 kilometers inland from the Atlantic coast. The Portuguese arrived on the Central African coast north of the Congo River, several times between 1472 and 1483 searching for a sea route to India , but they failed to find any ports or trading opportunities. In 1483, south of the Congo river they found the Kongo people and the Kingdom of Kongo, which had a centralized government, a currency called nzimbu , and markets, ready for trading relations. The Portuguese found well developed transport infrastructure inlands from

14145-435: Was based on different assumptions and premises about what Christianity was, and syncretic ideas continued for centuries. The Kongo people, state the colonial era accounts, included a reverence for their ancestors and spirits. Some BaKongo people shaved their heads to keep it smooth “for spirits that might want to land there.” However, some anthropologists report regional differences. According to Dunja Hersak, for example,

14268-553: Was born on August 31, 1911, in Güira de Macurijes in Bolondrón ( Pedro Betancourt ), Matanzas Province . He was the third of fifteen children, fourteen boys and one girl, to Bonifacio Travieso, a farmer and veteran of the Cuban War of Independence , and Dorotea Rodríguez Scull. His family had Kongo origins, and both his grandfather and great-grandfather were practitioners of Palo Monte . By

14391-598: Was characterized by a strong Afro-Cuban basis, his son compositions being much more africanized than those by his contemporaries. This emphasis is observed in the high number of rumba and afro numbers in his catalogue, most notably his first famous composition, " Bruca maniguá ". This is also exemplified by the inclusion of musical and linguistic elements from Abakuá , Lucumí ( Santería ), and Palo Monte traditions into his music. Arsenio uses proverbs associated with Palo Monte and other traditional passages with Congo lexical passages... Arsenio's afrocubanos demonstrate not only

14514-456: Was doing in the 1940s"—Kevin Moore (2007: web). The decades of the 1920s and 1930s were a period which produced some of the most beautiful and memorable melodies of the son genre. At the same time, the rhythmic component had become increasingly deemphasized, or in the opinion of some, "watered-down". Rodríguez brought a strong rhythmic emphasis back into the son. His compositions are clearly based on

14637-476: Was modeled not on hereditary succession as was common in Europe, but based on an election by the court nobles from the Kongo people. This required the king to win his legitimacy by a process of recognizing his peers, consensus building as well as regalia and religious ritualism. The kingdom had many trading centers both near rivers and inland, distributed across hundreds of kilometers and Mbanza Kongo – its capital that

14760-463: Was returned for burial to New York. There is much speculation about his financial status during his last years, but Mario Bauzá denied that he died in poverty, arguing that Rodríguez had a modest income from royalties. Rodríguez's chief innovation, his interpretation of the son montuno , established the basic template for Cuban popular dance music and salsa that continues to this day. "It took fifty years for Latin music to catch up with what Arsenio

14883-464: Was the center of his universe," said José Rafael Méndez, a community historian. "He lived in that area. And all the clubs he played, like the Hunts Point Palace, were practically a stone's throw away." The street designation serves as the crowning jewel after an arduous series of collaborative efforts and events produced last year that rendered tribute to the band leader and resident performer of

15006-459: Was the kingdom of Loango. Loango was in the northern part, above the Congo River, a region which long before the war was already an established community of the Kongo people. New kingdoms came into existence in this period, from the disintegrated parts in the southeast and the northeast of the old Kongo kingdom. The old capital of the Kongo people called São Salvador was burnt down, and was in ruins and abandoned in 1678. The fragmented new kingdoms of

15129-495: Was vociferous and well published by the slave traders, the missionaries and the colonial era Portuguese historians, which helped morally justify mass trading of slaves. Modern scholars such as Estevam Thompson have shown that there is much confusion between the "original" Jagas, who left the land of Yaka on the eastern bank of the Kwango River and invaded Mbata and mbanza Kongo, and other later references to "Jaga warriors" roaming

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