Pérez Prado

Chano Pozo

The charanga orchestra was a modification of the "orquesta típica" in the sense that it added piano and flute. Charanga orchestras played danzones, son, and later mambo and cha cha cha, which both developed from the montuno or son at the end of the danzón. The guaracha has a playful and sometimes irreverent lyric. While the cha cha cha develops along the line of the 2-3 clave and is mostly played by charanga orchestras, mambo's syncopations show the influence of rumba, conga and American jazz and is played by big, brass-heavy bands.

The creation of mambo, a syncopated version of son, continues to generate much debate. Some musicologists claim that it was created in 1937 by Orestes and Israel "Cachao" López, who soon after introduced the "descarga" or jazz-like improvisation style into mambo, conga and rumba. Cachao and Benny Moré took Latin music into paths that diverged from that of traditional son and charanga orchestras like Orquesta Aragón and the Sonora Matancera, and into free improvisation in the manner of forties and fifties-style American jazz.

It was at this time that the American public, which had been interested in Latin music since the turn of the century, succumbed to the mambo craze. Musicians like Chano Pozo and Dámaso Pérez Prado played with American jazz bands or formed their own bands which were influenced by the instrumentation and structure of jazz. In New York, the Palladium became Mambo Central, as documented in Oscar Hijuelos's novel The Mambo Kings and in the movie based on it.

It is worth noting that mambo is the first rhythm to truly reflect the polyrhythmic, untamed nature of street-derived Afro-Cuban music such as rumba and conga, while the son and the chachacha developed along the line of the dance hall danza and habanera. Likewise, the mambo was the first to incorporate conga drums and quintos, while previous Cuban rhythms had been played with bongos, maracas, claves and cowbells. The introduction of conga and batá drums into big bands is attributed to Miguelito Valdés and Chano Pozo, who had become notorious in Havana for playing them in the nightclub revue "Congo Pantera," staged by the French choreographer David Lichine in the manner of the famous Parisian shows starring Josephine Baker.

Go to the following website:

La Guaracha Cubana. Imagen del Humor Criollo
http://www.musica.cult.cu/documen/
guaracha.htm

1. Compare the composition of the orquesta típica and the charanga orchestra.

2. Explain the term guaracha, and give at least two examples. Who was the most famous guaracha singer of the second half of the 20th century?

3. How is Beny More a "bridge" between the charanga and the Big Band orchestras? What elements of each do you find in "Que bueno baila usted"?

Listen to the following audio clips:

Audio: Yerbero Moderno by Celia Cruz
Based on the tradition of the pregon or call of the itinerant street seller, usually a freed slave at the bottom of the social order, this guaracha refers to the use of herbal medicines among santero and palero followers.

Audio: Sabrosona by Orquesta Aragón
This guaracha is played by a charanga orchestra.

Audio: Mambo #8 by Dámaso Pérez Prado
One of several musicians called "The Mambo King," followed on the tradition of Xavier Cugat, Don Justo Azpiazu, Orquesta Arcaño and Orquesta Casino de la Playa in the incorporation of American Big Band brass into Cuban orchestras. Pérez Prado also introduced jazz riffs, modulations and improvisational structures ("descargas") into his renderings of the mambo and the bolero.

Audio: Qué Bueno Baila Usted by Beny Moré
Beny Moré had played with the Dámaso Pérez Prado orchestra, which was heavily influenced by the American Big Band era. While charanga emphasizes woodwinds, mambo orchestras are heavy on the brass section.