Videoclave #2 El ciego maravilloso

In videoclave #1 I mentioned that Arsenio Rodríguez (1911-1971) was on of the most influential musicians in the development of afro-cuban music. This is proven by the frequency of which artists both in the past and today record Arsenio’s tunes. When Lele Rosales in Los Van Van sings in the tune Anda ven y quiéreme on the Chapeando album, you hear: Carraguao fue mi niñez, Belén mi complicación, Cayo Hueso mi enredo, Los Sitios mi madurez ¡Ah! These are all references to Arsenio’s songs dedicated to the barrios of Havanna and Marianao. The timba artist Tirso Duarte included two of Arsenio’s tunes, El Malecón and Yo soy chambelón on the album Pan con Chocolate 2007. Before that, Manolito y su Trabuco included 72 hacheros pa’ un palo on the album Hablando en serio from 2005. From the past it is alleged that mister Fania All-stars, Johnny Pacheco, wanted to record the full catalog of Arsenio’s tunes for inspiracional purposes.

Who was Arsenio Rodríguez, El ciego maravilloso (the blind miracle), as he came to be called by the Mil Diez radiostation in the 1940s? You can get an elaborated answer if you read David Garcia’s book ”Arsenio Rodríguez and the transnational flow in latin music” and you get a brief one here. Arsenio was born in the province of Matanzas 1911. He grew up in the solares of Güines. Arsenio’s great grandfather was a slave from the “Congo” (a name put upon slaves from the area of southern Kamerun to northern Angola). His father was a rumbero and versed in the rituals of Yoruba (Lucumi), Carabali/Abakua (Efi), Congo (Palo). At the age of thirteen Arsenio got blind by a kick from a mule and to bring in money he chose to be a musician, as he did not have many other options. As the music style son was getting more and more popular, thus prospecting incomes the tres became Arsenio’s instrument.

1926 a hurricane devastated Güines and the family moved to Marianao close to Havana. Here Arsenio met legendary tres players as Felipe Neri Cabrera of Sexteto Habanero and Isaac Oviedo, director of Sexteto Matanceros. Arsenio started to play with son-septets in lousy restaurants but his fame grew and in 1940 the band he played in, Septeto Bellamar, got contracted to perform at the high end Sans Souci in Marianao. However the big spur of fame came with the launching of the radio station Mil Diez. Arsenio’s new band, the Conjunto, played live in daily broadcasts reaching Cuba and a large part of Caribbean.

In the first flick we see the only live video of Arsenio I have found on Youtube. Although it is short it gives you the feeling of the drive in the tumbao (the repetitive theme) that he played and the intense rhythm he evoked from the conjunto.

Arsenio’s talent as a composer and band leader was early recognized and he acted as a musical counselor to among other Miguelito Valdés (look for an upcoming videoclave on him) Casino de la Playa. Arsenio composed the immediate hit Bruca Manigua (the witch in the bush) for Miguelito to perform and it was recorded in RCA Victors studio in Vedado 1937. Bruca Manigua is sung in Bozal, an africanized Spanish with lot of Kingala word spoken by newly arrived slaves. In the video below, you can listen to Ibrahim Ferrer singing Bruca Manigua from a live concert in Santiago de Cuba.

Mundele con bafioté / siempre tan garchá / etá po mucho que lo ndinga / siempre tá matrata. The song tells about the hard work and maltreatment of slaves in the plantations and can according to David Garcia be a comment on the at that time popular minstrel shows ridiculing blacks. It starts like a slow bolero like but after a while the montuno section brings on with its characteristical groove. In the end of his son montunos Arsenio used to scream diablo! which was a way to order the Conjunto to play all together and with intensity. However in order not to upset anyone he was convinced to substitute it for mambo!, which is still a command for the full orchestra to join in.

The Conjunto of Arsenio was an extension of the traditional son septett format which consisted of guitar, tres, bass, maracas, claves, bongos, trumpet. To this Arsenio added piano, tumbadora (congas) and one trumpet (1946 two trumpets). Together with the Cachao López who played in Arcaño y su Maravillosos, Arsenio developed the rhythmic fabric in the montuno section by adding much more of the African polyrhythmic heritage with an accentuated contra-tiempo beat. The contributions of Arsenio made for example the well-known mambo exploiter Pérez Prado acknowledge Arsenio Rodríguez as the true creator of the mambo.