Timba
It is a dynamic evolution of salsa, full of improvisation and Afro Cuban heritage, based on son, Rumba and mambo, taking inspiration from Latin jazz, and is highly percussive with complex sections.
[3]As opposed to salsa, whose roots are strictly from son and the Cuban conjunto bands of the 1940s and 1950s, timba represents a synthesis of many folkloric (rumba, guaguancó, batá drumming and the sacred songs of santería.
According to Vincenzo Perna, author of Timba: The Sound of the Cuban Crisis, timba needs to be spoken of because of its musical, cultural, social, and political reasons; its sheer popularity in Cuba, its novelty and originality as a musical style, the skill of its practitioners, its relationship with both local traditions and the culture of the black Diaspora, its meanings, and the way its style brings to light the tension points within society.
Timba songs tend to sound more innovative, experimental and frequently more virtuosic than salsa pieces; horn parts are usually fast, at times even bebop influenced, and stretch to the extreme ranges of all instruments.
This CD is an excellent compilation of the best songs of Son 14 during the years in which Adalberto Álvarez led the band (1979–1983) Adalberto Álvarez, born in Havana and raised in Camagüey, had already had some success writing songs for Rumbavana when Rodulfo Vaillant, one of the most recorded composers of the era, invited him come to Santiago as the musical director and pianist of a new group called Son 14.
Alvarez left after three classic albums (plus a fourth featuring Omara Portuondo singing songs from the other three) but Son 14 has stayed together, recording sporadically, under the leadership of Eduardo "Tiburón" Morales, the original singer of "A Bayamo en coche."
Pianist Luis Adolfo Peoalver mostly stayed within the typical style of the 1970s and 80s, locking down the groove with the violin section and Lazaga's machete-style güiro, while Perera, drummer Daniel Díaz, conguero Juan Claro Bravo and the band's extraordinary arrangers soared to unprecedented creative heights.—Moore (2010: v. 3: 33)[11]Original de Manzanillo added guitar to the standard charanga instrumentation.
NG experimented with different styles, including Latin jazz, for several years, before recording what is considered by many to be the first timba album, En La Calle, in 1989.
[16] The stand-off between Cuba and most of the rest of the world gave timba space to breathe new life into the city, causing the nightlife and party scene to grow.
[16] Timba's danceable beat and energizing sound was popular among the tourists at a time when the music and dance scene was indirectly helping provide some support for Cuba's struggling economy.
[17] Timba lyrics generated considerable controversy due to their use of vulgar and witty street language, and also because they made veiled references to public concerns including prostitution, crime, and the effects of tourism on the island, which had only rarely been addressed by other musicians.
Some important figures and bands include: Pachito Alonso y sus Kini Kini, Azúcar Negra, Bamboleo, Charanga Forever, Dan Den, Alain Pérez, Issac Delgado, Tirso Duarte, Klímax, Manolín "El Médico de la salsa", Manolito y su Trabuco, Paulo FG, and Pupy y Los que Son, Son (directed by César "Pupy" Pedroso, former pianist of Los Van Van).
If the early 1990s popularity of NG La Banda and Charanga Habanera was unprecedented, the response to the arrival of the next superstar group bordered on the unbelievable: the Cuban equivalent of Beatlemania.
As influential as Manolín was from a strictly musical point of view, his charisma, popularity and unprecedented earning power had an even more seismic impact, causing a level of excitement among musicians that had not been seen since the 1950s, if ever.
Delgado's and Paulito's were arguably the greatest live timba bands from the point of view of being able to use gears and improvisation to make each performance of a song different from one concert to the next.
Paulito's pianists were Emilio Morales, Sergio Noroña, Pepe Rivero, Yaniel "El Majá" Matos, Rolando Luna, and Roberto "Cucurucho" Carlos.
Many of Trabuco's biggest hits result from Amaray's unabashed R&B influences being filtered through Simonet's strong Cuban aesthetic and arranging genius.
Like Issac Delgado, Manolito made CDs that mixed the aggressive hardcore timba he played in concert with various other styles designed to appeal to foreign buyers cumbias targeting South American audiences for example.
Only Issac Delgado and Paulito FG surpass Bamboleo in terms of using gear changes to vary live performances from night to night.–Moore (2010: v. 5: 23)[25]Klímax leader Giraldo Piloto is one of the most important figures in all of Cuban music history.
When Piloto founded Klímax in 1995 his writing became even more melodically, harmonically and lyrically original, sometimes straying into controversial areas that resulted in songs being censored by the government and always pushing the envelope of musical creativity in wonderful and varied ways.
Others include: Mangu, Camagüey, A Conquistar, Explosión Habana, N'Samble, La Novel, D'Farándula, Bembe, Son de Timba, Los Trabucos, Yambú and Yare.
In some cases, dancers would respond to changes in the music by switching between casino and the new dance styles, providing perhaps the strongest single argument for the claim that timba is an independent genre and not simply "modern son montuno" or "Cuban salsa.
Zooming out a level to examine the larger mambo and coro sections built from the tumbaos, we immediately encounter a new type of arranging device which is almost entirely unique to timba.
By the time Charanga Habanera's David Calzado and Juan Carlos González hit their stride in 1993, no combination of horns, guías, coros and tumbao lengths was left unexplored and the possibilities were further multiplied by accompanying the hybrid mambos with a variety of rhythm section "gears.
While we don't doubt for a minute where Pérez drew his inspiration from, it's difficult to rationalize his arrangement in terms of rumba, even taking into account the more extreme examples of counter-clave quinto phrases.
Associated with timba is a radically sexual and provocative dance style known as despelote (literally meaning chaos or frenzy) that consists of rapid gyrations of the body and pelvis, thrusting and trembling motions, bending over and generating harmonic oscillations of the gluteous maximus.
[1] It is a dynamic evolution of salsa, full of improvisation and Afro Cuban heritage, based on son, Rumba and mambo, taking inspiration from Latin jazz, and is highly percussive with complex sections.
Government policy favours artistic excellence and Cuban music is regarded as a source of revenue and a legitimate way to attract tourism.
[38] However, pieces of Cuban sound are beginning to reach large audiences in the USA through musical recordings produced by popular musicians, such as Willy Chirino and Qbadisc, from New York City, Miami, and Puerto Rico who currently incorporate timba into their songs.
[38] By 1990, several bands had incorporated elements of funk and hip-hop into their arrangements, and expanded upon the instrumentation of the traditional conjunto with American drum set, saxophones and a two-keyboard format.
