Rumba

Rumba is a type of music and dance with Afro-Spanish origins. It originated from Cuba at the end of XIX century and developed after the abolition of slavery, when the free slaves left the countryside to settle down in the suburbs (particularly near Matanzas and La Habana) in quarters, named Solares, to begin a new life.

For these people who gathered joyously in the barrios and in the squares, dance and music became a way of being, a way to express themselves, in religious, social, and emotional ways.

Rumba’s rhythm is stressed by the percussion of drums (tumba, llamador and quinto), or wooden cases used to transport stockfish or candles, accompanied by claves or cucharas (spoons). These simple instruments made this rhythm available to all social classes.

Rumba is a common feast, its music is totally secular and is a kind of social life chronicle of humblest people, and it is the story of the daily events of the quarter, a way to comment on contemporary politics.

In the long run several changes occurred with an integrated rhythm divided in three different styles:

Yambù is the most antique style made of slow rhythm, danced with the seductive pelvis’ movement;

Guaguancò is characterized by a faster rhythm and when the choir starts the dancing couple creates a sort of attraction and refusal game;

The last style is Columbia danced only by men, who start a “dialogue” with the tamborero playing the quinto. When the tamborero changes rhythm the dancer must adapt his movement to the rhythmical changes in order to establish a competition. For this reason Columbia is considered a game among performing dancers.

Nowadays Rumba is the most characteristic Cuban product, it is the symbol of the cultural resistance of past society outcasts. Presently this music has gone beyond the Solar reality and the barrio corners to achieve new scenarios such as musicals, radio, TV and cinema, never forgetting Rumba poetic aspect which enriches Cuban literature.

It constitutes a complete entity that shows the complexity and richness of Cuban cultural identity. To talk about the “Cuban”, about his way of moving, his feelings, his aspirations and contradictions we must talk about Rumba.

It represents the most authentic and genuine manifestation of Cuban popular music and inspires important elements to Salsa, particularly as regards the body’s movements, specially pelvis and hips that typically belong to Rumba’s movements.