Cuban dancer, musician, and educator Roberto Borrell speaks with Rebecca about his incredibly versatile career, spanning popular and folkloric styles. He talks about growing up hearing the legendary bands of the 1950s like Orquesta Aragón and Chappottín y Sus Estrellas, and attending the Black social clubs that were eliminated in the early years of the Revolution. Songs played: Linda cubana, Orquesta de Antonio Maria Romeu Mambo, Arcaño y Sus Maravillas La engañadora,  Orquesta América de...

Punk cubano emerged during the Special Period crisis, giving young disaffected Cubans an outlet to express their angst and rage, often toward the Cuban government. Carmen Torre Pérez joins Rebecca to speak about the counter-cultural genre and its DIY ethics. Songs played:  J*****s y perdidos, Rotura Eres tú, Eskoria Azul, Akupunktura Esta no es mi puta guerra, Eztafilokoko Ruido en el sistema, Pólvora Soxial Support the show If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a 5-star...

(Rerun of nueva trova episode, first aired in July 2023) Nueva trova is one of the few Cuban genres that is for listening and reflecting instead of dancing - it's sung poetry, much like other Latin American singer-songwriter genres, namely nueva canción. Rebecca has an in-depth conversation with independent scholar and former Cuban diplomat Eva Silot Bravo about the major figures of nueva trova and how it came to be closely identified with the ideology of the Cuban Revolution. The genre's...

Ethnomusicologist and percussionist Johnny Frias joins Rebecca to speak about one of the lesser known Afro-Cuban folkloric practices, the tonada trinitaria, from the central Cuban city of Trinidad. We then delve into the rumba percussion style that has become dominant in recent decades, guarapachangueo, created by a group of brothers from the outskirts of Havana known as Los Chinitos. Songs played: Una corona al General Maceo, Conjunto Folclórico de Trinidad Plegarias, Grupo Abbilona (Los...

Afrocuba de Matanzas is widely considered one of the best preservers of Afro-Cuban folkloric music and dance on the island, but the group also created one of the funkiest and most exciting musical innovations in 1973 when they blended rumba percussion and batá drumming to create batarumba. As the years went on, batarumba became even more complex and versatile, as Afrocuba musicians added in instruments and rhythms from son, Abakuá, Iyesá and adapted the songs of Celia Cruz to a batarumba...

Grammy-nominated percussionist, recording artist and educator Michael Spiro joins Rebecca to speak about his apprenticeship in Matanzas with masters of Afro-Cuban folkloric drumming, differences in drumming styles between Havana and Matanzas, and his innovative recordings, which fuse batá drumming with other Afro-diasporic traditions, such as Brazilian samba, Candomblé, and Zimbabwean mbira music.  Songs played: Inspiración a Santiago, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas Para Clave y Guaguancó,...

Acclaimed pianist/bandleader/composer/author/educator Rebeca Mauleón discusses the long and incredibly versatile career of pianist/composer Chucho Valdés, who founded the groundbreaking jazz fusion group Irakere 50 years ago.  In 2018, Mauleón and Valdés co-authored the book Decoding Afro-Cuban Jazz. In both his Irakere compositions and in his solo career, Valdés has often drawn from Afro-Cuban folkloric music—rumba, batá drumming—for inspiration. Songs played: Misa Negra, Irakere El Tata...

Ethnomusicologist and prolific scholar Peter Manuel joins Rebecca to speak about the many centuries of musical exchange between Cuba and Spain, which birthed genres like the Cuban punto and contributed to the evolution of flamenco in Andalucía. Author and editor of numerous books on Caribbean and Indian popular music, including an important anthology of Cuban musicology, Manuel's newest book is Flamenco Music: History, Forms, Culture.  Songs played: Fandango, Antonio Soler Controversia,...

In our first episode en español (!!!), Rebecca interviews Mario Seguí Correoso, a Santiago-based percussionist who has worked with various groups over the course of his career: an innovative rumba group (Kokoyé), a son/salsa group (Sonora La Calle), and currently a more traditional son group (Los Jubilados), as well as a percussion-based group (Los Tambores de Enrique Bonne). We talk about how difficult the situation has been for musicians since the pandemic. **IF YOU DON'T SPEAK SPANISH,...

Congolese scholar Ribio Nzeza Bunketi Buse joins Rebecca to speak about the many sub-styles and evolutions within Congolese popular music over the past 60 years. While many in the West refer to the music as "soukous," that's only one specific style of rumba, which also includes rumba chachacha (Joseph Kabasele & African Jazz), rumba odemba (Franco Luambo & OK Jazz), rumba cavacha (Zaiko Langa Langa), and ndombolo (Wenge Musica, Koffi Olomide, Papa Wemba). Dr. Nzeza also explains the...

Rebecca is joined by reggaeton scholar Petra Rivera-Rideau, who co-created the Bad Bunny Syllabus to provide historical and social context for Bad Bunny's music. His massive hit Un Verano Sin Tí  was the most globally streamed album of 2022 and the first Spanish-language album to be nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys. We speak about what makes him such a unique, versatile artist, and then delve into the ways Cuban and Puerto Rican music have diverged in recent decades.  Songs...

Franco-Haitian cultural influences in Cuba date back over two centuries, beginning with the "refugees" from the Haitian Revolution who fled to eastern Cuba in the early years of the 19th century. However, a much larger wave of Haitian migrants arrived in the first decades of the 20th century to fill labor shortages on sugar plantations, and most stayed. Anthropologist Grete Viddal joins Rebecca for an in-depth conversation on this history, the musical and religious practices migrants brought...

Multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and educator Dr. John Calloway joins Rebecca to speak about the Cuban music scene in the Bay Area. Calloway has written for Grammy-nominated projects and recorded several of his own albums. He has spent 35 years as a music educator in San Francisco public schools and at San Francisco State University, founding the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble and the Afro-Cuban Ensemble at SF State. Songs played: Aprovecha que me voy, John Calloway Dime si te gusta,...

Ethnomusicologist and event producer Lani Milstein joins Rebecca to talk about Santiago de Cuba's quintessential musical practice: conga, an Afro-Cuban percussion and song genre linked to the city's famed Carnival celebrations. It involves mass participation by people parading along with the mobile percussion ensemble and continues to be a major symbol of santiaguero identity. Songs played: Abre, Conga de Los Hoyos Va a llover, Conga de San Agustín Añoranza por la conga, Sur Caribe La...

No new episode this week, but a quick note from Rebecca, followed by a slow, juicy  yambú from the legendary Havana rumba group Clave y Guaguancó.   Support the showIf you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts Follow The Clave Chronicles on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @clavechronicles https://theclavechronicles.buzzsprout.com Intro and outro music: "Bengo Latino," Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions

Rebecca speaks with musician/producer/historian Ned Sublette, author of the most comprehensive history of Cuban music in English, Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo. Sublette is leading trips to Cuba through his organization, Postmambo, and in January will embark on La Ruta de los Fundamentos, a tour focusing on Afro-Cuban sacred sites in western Cuba (email [email protected] for more info). We talk about the dense and entangled networks of Afro-Cuban religious practice...

The most well-known African-derived religion in the Americas is La Regla de Ocha or Lucumí, more popularly known as Santería. The music used to accompany rituals and ceremonies involves complex, polyrhythmic drumming and a huge repertoire of songs for the different orishas (Yoruba-derived deities), like Yemayá, Oshún and Changó. Rebecca breaks down some basic features of the religion and its diverse musical ensembles, as well as its widespread influence on Cuban popular music. Songs...

Cuban son, under the label "rumba," became incredibly popular following the success of "El manicero" in 1930, including in the two Congos (at the time colonized by Belgium and France). Congolese musicians heard echoes of their own traditional music and began creating a new genre (Congolese rumba) largely based on son, mambo and cha cha cha and sung in a mix of Spanish, French and Lingala.  French historian Charlotte Grabli joins Rebecca to talk about the bi-directional musical exchanges...

Grammy-nominated musician, ethnomusicologist, and professor Benjamin Lapidus joins Rebecca for a deep dive into the eastern Cuban roots music called changüí, considered to be one of the antecedents of son.  Songs played: Nengón, Kiriba y Nengon de Baracoa Así Es El Changüí, Grupo Changüí de Guantánamo Fiesta en Cecilia, Grupo Changüí de Guantánamo 21 de Mayo, La Orquesta Revé Quiriba, Los Universales del Son Ochún, Las Flores de Changüí Cuidemos La Capa de Ozono, Popó y su Changüí ...

Timba star Tirso Duarte (pianist, singer, arranger, songwriter) passed away tragically on Sept. 29 in Colombia. Timba.com creator Kevin Moore, who worked closely with Duarte and wrote a book about him, joins Rebecca to pay tribute to "el angel negro" and discuss what made him so special as a musician. Songs played: El bla bla bla, La Charanga Habanera  Iala, Tirso Duarte Aquí Están, Los Ases de la Timba Support the showIf you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a 5-star rating...

Gloria Estefan walked so Shakira and Ricky Martin could run. She's the OG Latin crossover star, the artist who broke through to the mainstream with Miami Sound Machine and their massive hit "Conga" in 1985. She was also one of the best female balladeers of the 1980s, with songs like "Anything For You" and "Don't Wanna Lose You." In 1993 she released her first solo Spanish-language album, Mi Tierra, an homage to Cuban music. It spent a whopping 58 weeks at the top of the Billboard Top Latin...

Esteemed scholar of Latino/a popular culture and identity  Frances Aparicio joins Rebecca to speak about the most significant women in salsa, beginning with the Queen herself, Celia Cruz. We talk about the many struggles female salsa musicians have faced in the music industry over the decades and the different strategies they've used to speak/sing back to the patriarchy and claim space. Songs played: Yerbero Moderno, Celia Cruz with La Sonora Matancera Burundanga, Celia Cruz with La Sonora...

Musicologist, dancer and educator Sarah Town joins Rebecca to speak about the history and evolution of Cuban social dance, specifically casino and a particularly intricate and complex style called rueda de casino, danced in a circle. These styles of dance have become a global phenomenon since the 1990s and the rise of timba, and there are many local scenes across the U.S. and around the world. Check out this incredible clip of a rueda de casino...