The Impact of Colonialism on the Development of AfroCuban Music

This article will discuss how the Afro-Cuban experience influenced the development of Afro-Cuban music and how it later became part of national expression for Cuba. The Afro-Cuban experience begins with the arrival of African slaves to Cuba, which also marks the beginning of Cuban colonialism. The first African slaves were brought over by Spanish colonists during the beginning of the 17th century. I will also explain how Cuban colonists' loose restriction on the practice of African song and dance by African slaves impacted the development of Afro-Cuban music.

The history of Afro-Cuban music begins with the arrival of African slaves to the island of Cuba. Before the importation of African slaves the Spanish had attempted to colonize Cuba using the indigenous people on the island. According to Encarta Encyclopedia, after the indigenous population had been decimated the Spanish introduced African slaves in the 17th century to labor in copper mines and on sugar plantations. For the first two centuries of Spanish settlement, few European women settled in Cuba. Spanish men married or had relationships with indigenous and African women. Cuba's classes and races blended, producing a mixture of religions, music, language, foods, and customs that combined indigenous Cuban, African and Spanish culture to form a new Cuban culture. The Encarta Encyclopedia renders an account of the change in population after Cuba's participation in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. "By 1650, African slaves numbered 5,000, compared to an indigenous population of 2,000. African slaves living in urban centers in Cuban were also often allowed to buy their freedom. Eventually, the Cuban population began to contain a high number of free blacks and mulattos" (Encarta 2000). This paper will later discuss how the unique Afro-Cuban musical style helped Afro-Cubans gain social acceptance in Spanish Cuban urban social circles. The aspect of Cuban culture that most reflects the mix of races in Cuba is Afro-Cuban music. The Faces of Cuba website has a link devoted to Afro-Cuban music. According to this source a cluster of Afro-Cuban rhythms and dance styles originated in Cuba. "Music in Cuba is closely linked to dance and is an integral part of Cuban culture. This is most apparent in Rumba than any other rhythm or dance style originating in Cuba. Rumba developed when African slaves brought their rhythms and ritual dances to Cuba where they were blended with Spanish guitars and melodies. The most popular Cuban music today is Son, which developed in the hills of the Oriente before the turn of the century. It incorporates guitars, tres (a small instrument with three pairs of strings), double bass, congos, claves, maracas and voice. The string instruments play European influenced melodies and harmonies, and are combined with African rhythms to create a distinctively Cuban style" (Faces of Cuba 2000). According to the CBMR website the history of the musical form of Son began in the rural areas of Cuba and then flourished in the urban areas. As Son moved in to the cities it evolved as an accompaniment to dance and became a popular music in Cuban urban centers. With Son's growing popularity during the 20th century came modern instrumentation and larger bands" (CBMR 2000). The Movement of the newly born Afro-Cuban musical styles from rural Cuba to Cuban urban centers during the late 19th century paved the way for the acceptance of Afro-Cubans into Spanish Cuban social circles. The Afro-Cuban musical styles gained acceptance because of their strong African musical identity, which the Cuban ruling class adored in musical entertainment. The strongly African flavored Son gained the Afro-Cuban musical community a co-existence with whites in Cuban social circles and some level of prestige within Cuban society. The social acceptance of the musical form of Son, and other Afro-Cuban music, has led to the longevity and influence of Afro-Cuban music on national expression. However, the Spanish colonial system permitted many African slaves in Cuba to preserve their African musical culture and performance practice. In 'Popular Musics of the Non-Western World' by Peter Manuel, a brief history is given explaining how the colonial system in Cuba impacted the development of Afro-Cuban musical culture. He also explains why there is such a high level of African musical identity in Afro-Cuban music. "A number of factors contributed to the strength of the African strain in Afro-Cuban music and culture. The majority of African slaves were imported in the 19th century - indeed, as late as 1873--such that fresh infusions of African talent continued until a later date than anywhere else in the World. Many of the slaves lived on large, isolated plantations in the countryside, where their musical practices continued in relatively traditional forms. At the same time, black cooperative societies called cabildos flourished in the cities and provided a dynamic context for the creation of new Afro-Cuban music and dance, especially for the large number of free blacks. Colonial authorities tended to tolerate neo-African musical practices; in this respect they differed from their Northern European neighbors in the USA, who lacked the Mediterranean peoples' cosmopolitan tolerance and required an ideology of virulent racism to legitimize oppression of blacks in an otherwise democratic state. Finally, many blacks became professional musicians, since whites regarded such a vocation as disreputable and, indeed generally preferred the vitality of black performers. As a result, as early as 1831 a chronicler related that music performance in Cuba was in the hands of the people of color" (Manuel 28). However, before Afro-Cubans could gain national acceptance for their music and a fight for racial and socioeconomic equality in Cuba white Spanish society had to accept Afro-Cuban music and Afro-Cuban artists. The following Benitez-Rojo article explains the way white Spanish society in Cuba first began to accept Afro-Cubans into their society. " The music created by the blacks and mulattos went toward the making of a modern expression in Cuba. The music created by these groups have a strong African identity. It ought to be clear that modern Cuba was not born may 20, 1902, when the interventionist flag of the United States was lowered; the twentieth century began two decades later, when the Africanized music of the Sones played by the Trio Matamoros and the Sexteto Habanero took Havana by storm, linking Cuba together by the horns of the victrolas (record player) and the first radio receivers. Furthermore, the victrola and radio made it possible for the compositions, songs and rhythms of black people to be listened to in white peoples' homes. Because of these new developments during the 1920s, black people found an unexpected place of co-existence with whites within popular music, a space where instead of being marginalized they were sought after for partying at private parties, theaters, dance halls and niteclubs" (Benitez-Rojo 1998). The claiming of African identity in Afro-Cuban music has led to the music becoming a part of national sentiment. Most of Cuba's inhabitants have African ancestry and as Cuba climbs toward a global position of strength the country is acknowledging its African roots. Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, asserts that the power and resiliency of his country lie in its African roots. A 1998 article in Latin American Perspectives documents Cuba's open acknowledgment of its African identity. "Cuba is exceptional in the Spanish Caribbean in the degree of attention it has given to its links-- historical, cultural, and ideological-- with Africa. Before the 1959 Revolution, Cuba was considered to be the most racist of Spanish Caribbean countries, partly because the US, via its military and economic interventions, had introduced its particularly virulent form of racism, but partly because of Cuba's traditionally strong Iberocentric (related to ancient Caucasoid people) orientation. In the name of revolutionary equality, however, the new Cuban government condemned racial prejudice, dismantled institutional apartheid, and instituted economic and social reforms that gave blacks new educational opportunities and improved their standard of living. Also, Cuba's international political agenda and its domestic cultural policies both gave race a central role in public discourse. One of Cuba's ideological strategies for confronting the US was to link imperialism with racism and contrast it with Cuba's solidarity with black liberation struggles in the United States as well as in Africa, to which it later sent troops. In a major 1975 speech titled "Estamos con el pueblo de Africa" to more than 1.2 million Cubans, Castro declared, '...we should tell the Yankees that they should not forget we are not only a Latin country, we are also an Afro-Latin country... The blood of Africa runs abundantly through our veins. And from Africa, as slaves, many or our ancestors came to this land" (Latin American Perspectives 1998). Castro's speech proclaiming African identity gives validation to Afro-Cuban Son as a music that practices the African musical tradition of social commentary or transcript. In the final analysis Cuba's late participation in the Transatlantic slave trade, which led to an influx of Africans to Cuba through the end of the 19th century, and the leniency of Spanish colonialism in reference to its tolerance of African musical practice; both led to a strong stream of African identity and performance practice in Afro-Cuban music. This highly African seasoned music was first accepted by white society for entertainment purposes and then later became part of national identity and expression. Cuba is considered as an Afro-Cuban country and it the music of Cuba is also Afro-Cuban. The Cuban nation wants the world to know it has African roots and they make it explicit in the music of their nation.