Videoclave #6 “Abre kuto guiri mambo!”
”Open up your ears and listen to me” is a rough translation of the expression in ki-kongo language in the title. In the mid 1930ties when the Lopez brothers, Orestes and Cachao, who played in the band Arcaño y sus Maravillas, had written a new Danzon they added a new section to it, nuevo ritmo, which contained afro-based rhythms in contratiempo.
Danzon
At this time the popularity of the Cuban national dance, Danzon was decreasing. The Lopez Brothers development of the Danzon was in the air. The growing popularity of Son had the consequence that almost all styles incorporated Son-elements. Bolero became Bolero-son (which is the source to ball-room rhumba) and trova got son accentuations. The Danzon which earlier was performed only instrumental got vocal parts och since the Danzon “El Bombin de Barreto” (1914) it even had montunos or son-elements, with a different rhythmic pattern than traditional Danzon albeit within the piece of Danzon.
Mambo
The Brother Lopez elaborated on the montuno-style in their new section, nuevo ritmo, which introduced tumbaos and guajeos, that is polyrhythms. Their Danzon was named “Mambo”. In the same time mid to late 1930ties Arsenio Rodriguez introduced similar rhythms in in Son-tunes and with partly with other instruments. The Afro beats became very popular with their groove in contra-tiempo. What once was a name for a tune come to became an entirely new style of music. The days of the Mambo had arrived.
The fifties
The Ceasar of Mambo was Damaso Perez Prado, creator of among other hits Mambo no 5. If you search youtube on Perez Prado you will find a version with a lot av saxophones which is quite hillarious. Perez Prado made his success primarily in Mexico in the forties. In Cuba during the 1950ties the Mambo-kings were Bebo Valdez and René Hernandez while in in New York during the Mambo craze the Mambo-kings was the Cuban Frank Crillo, aka, Machito, and the guys from Puerto Rico Tito Rodriguez and Tito Puente.
Machito
Machito and his Afrocuban Big Band was major player in both the swing big band era of 1930ties and in the emerging latin jazz as Cubop (Tanga for example) in the 1940ties as well as the dance scene with Palladium, the Studio 54 of the time, in New York as the apex (salsablog har also some gems from the Palladium years). Now if you find Machito tunes more or less as a variation of Son or Chachacha you are correct. Mambo is not necessarily fast. It can be slow. Mambo is more an special orchestration of polyrhythms. Today especially with Cuban orchestras you might hear somone suddenly shouting “Dale Mambo!” or just “Mambo!” which means play next section with all rhythms at the same time (often also with an increased tempo) just as the intention of the Lopez brothers “nuevo ritmo”.
Stockholm Jazz and Blues festival
In the summer of 1982 at the Stockholm Jazz and Blues festival I myself had the pleasure of listening to one of the great Mambo-kings, Machito. I had got aquianted to Salsa while hanging out at Ricardos Bar (a hole in the wall in the Old city of Stockholm) listening to Hot Salsa the best band in Stockholm in my opinion. But at the Jazz festival the the real stuff should come and play and of course I went to have look. At that time I did not have the knowledge of differentiating between American (Puerto Rican), Cuban or Colombian Salsa.
Salsa Big Band
At the jazz festival 1982 the visiting bands also played gigs in restaurants around the city, so did Machito with his “Salsa Big Band”. Machito’s son played the timbales and his daughter assisted on vocals. I was in the first row and enjoyed the grooves. Of course I bought record afterwards and yes of course I got Machito to write his name on (barely seen today however).
Youtube
The record gave him a grammy we play here at Radioclave once in a while so stay tuned. Here is a gem from Youtube with Machito and his sister Graciela.
/Lars
PS: Oscar Hijuelos wrote the pulitzer prize novel “Mambo Kings plays the songs of love” which I think is a good story of being a Cuban immigrant in New York. But the last third of it I found somewhat dull. The novel was transformed to a movie with actually a replica of the Palladium dance floor.
Sources:
David Garcia “Arsenio Rodriguez and the transnational flow om latin-american music” (the expression in Kikongo stems from this source)
Ned Sublette “Cuba and its music – from the first drums to the mambo”
en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/danzon-mambo
Smithsonian museum, Folkways records “The Cuban Danzon”
