Bolero
Today, the Cuban Bolero is clearly differentiated from the Spanish Bolero, although their histories may not be so independent.
The Spanish Bolero
The origins
The Spanish Bolero is a dance whose origins seem to date back to the 17th or 18th century according to musicologists. It developed particularly in Andalusia. The Spanish historian Juan Antonio de Iza Zamácola y Ocerín indicates in a study published in 1799 that this dance derives from the Seguidilla. Others link it with the Fandango. The first written trace of the word “bolero” is found in the playlet La hostería del buen gusto (1773) by Ramón de la Cruz. It consists of 3 parts called coplas or mudanzas that are repeated 3 or 4 times, depending on the region or the dance master. The dancers mark the end of each section with a bien parado (static position). It can be performed alone, in couples or by several couples.
In 1780, Sebastián Lorenzo ‘Maestro Requejo’ Cerezo, dancing master of Charles III, enriched the primitive form of the Bolero and codified its movements. Antón Boliche also participated in the evolution of this dance. The Spanish Bolero became a dance of ball and theater. It quickly becomes a popular dance. Juan Jacinto Rodríguez Calderón dedicates to it a complete work, La bolerología o cuadro de las escuelas del baile bolero, tales cuales eran en 1794 y 1795, en la Corte de España en 1795. He criticizes the multiplication of Bolero schools and their tendency to neglect propriety.
The dance of calm and noble style includes 5 figures: the paseo (walk), the traversia (first change of place), the diferencia (second change), the finale (return to the initial place) and the bien parado (studied attitudes and conclusive poses). The traversia, diferencia and finale steps form the pasadas (passages).
Etymology of the word “bolero
The etymological origin of the word remains uncertain. The most likely hypothesis is that it comes from the nickname ‘Volero’ (the flying dancer) given to Sebastián Lorenzo Cerezo. For some, the name refers to “bola” (ball) to designate the round hat worn by the Andalusians. Others find in it the root “volar” (to fly) because of the jumps that this dance involves and the lightness of its execution.
Musically
The oldest score of the Bolero that has been found is “Todo aquel que no sepa”, published in the Arte de tocar la guitarra española por música by Fernando Ferandiere in 1799.
The music that accompanies the Spanish Bolero dance has a 3/4 rhythmic signature. It is played at a moderate tempo.
The instrumental ensemble that supports the song, of a romantic character and divided into verses of 5 to 7 syllables, is composed of castanets and sometimes a guitar and a Basque drum. The rhythm of the castanets, which begins in anacrusis on the last eighth note, is as follows:
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The most famous Spanish-style Bolero is surely Ravel’s. It should be noted, however, that its rhythmic pattern has been modified from that of the original:
The Cuban Bolero
The Spanish Bolero was brought to Cuba at the very end of the 18th century by the Spanish colonists. It is mentioned in the Papel Periódico of Havana from July 1792. Esteban Pichardo indicates in his Diccionario provincial casi razonado de voces y frases cubanas that as early as 1836, one can notice a difference in the way of dancing the Bolero. In Spain, it is above all a choreographed dance for 1 or 2 couples, whereas on Cuban soil, it becomes a popular dance for 4 to 8 couples and sometimes more. To mark this difference, the dance reserved for good dancers keeps its name of Bolero while the popular insular dance is called Bolera. When in Spain, the music was only secondary (support for the dance), the 2 elements take as much importance in Cuba. The Cuban variant will take root so much that quickly, only the name Bolero will remain to designate it.
In the 1840s, the Bolero played in Cuba underwent a rhythmic transformation. Instead of keeping the rhythmic signature of the Spanish Bolero (in 3/4), it adopted a signature in 2/4. By 1860, the last Spanish influences had disappeared. From the 1870s on, most pieces include the cinquillo rhythm in the melody, often combined with the tresillo. Rhythmically, it will then be close to the Habanera and the Danzón. Some Bolero melodies are even integrated into Danzones.
In the 1880s, the trovadores of Santiago de Cuba began to integrate these Boleros into their repertoire. Among these musicians, José ‘Pepé’ Sánchez best synthesizes the characteristics of this genre. Although Boleros had evolved and existed before him, his piece “Me entristeces, mujer” (popularly known as “Tristeza”) composed in 1883 (some say 1885) is considered the first Cuban Bolero. It includes a so-called “classical” musical accompaniment with a guitar and minor percussion. In the 1890s, boleristas were numerous in the Oriente.
It should be noted here that the origins of the Bolero as presented in the above are debated. Many musicologists consider that there is no musical relationship between Spanish Bolero and Spanish Bolero. They think that the name Bolero could have been given by trovadores to their compositions to differentiate them from the existing music, considering them more new or original. These innovations would be based on the cinquillo already present in the Cuban Oriente, which distinguishes the Bolero from the other musical forms of the oriental region.
The structure of the Bolero is gradually fixed: 2 parts of 16 bars separated by an instrumental part, often played on the guitar, which is called the pasacallo. Natalio Galán indicates that this instrumental bridge is the counterpart of the pasacalle in the Spanish Bolero. It can be played in both minor and major keys. Sometimes a minor part alternates with a major one or vice versa. In this form, it shares only the name with the Spanish Bolero.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the santiaguero trovadores Antonio Gumersindo ‘Sindo’ Garay y García, Alberto Villalón Morelas and Rosendo Ruiz Suárez brought the Bolero to Havana. Variations were created such as the Criolla-Bolero or the Canción-Bolero. In the capital, the Bolero became very popular. For example, in 1906, the Teatro Alhambra hosted the show El triunfo del Bolero (“The Triumph of the Bolero”).
Although Son relegated the Bolero to the background in the 1920s, it continued to evolve. The guitar, the main instrument for accompanying the song, was replaced by the piano. Composers and pianists moved the rhythm from the cinquillo to the accompaniment (left hand of the pianist). On the other hand, they use as lyrics, the verses of known poems. In this way, the melodic line adapts to the rhythm of the texts, becoming more fluid and detached from the rhythm imposed by the cinquillo. Oscar Hernández Falcón was the first to propose a song in which this rhythm is almost not present in the melody with “Ella y yo” (1916) based on Urrico Ablanedo’s verses. Eusebio Delfín Figueroa chooses the tresillo over the cinquillo in “¿Y tú qué has hecho? (1921). Nilo Menéndez uses Adolfo Utrera’s verses in his song “Aquellos ojos verdes” (1929). This title amplifies the melodic possibilities offered by the Bolero until then.
With the emergence of sextetos and septetos of Son, the variant Bolero-Son (first part in Bolero followed by a second in Son) is born. The first example is “Lágrimas negras” by Miguel Matamoros in 1929. Thanks to the radio, the Bolero was broadcast throughout the island. Following the introduction of new instruments in the conjuntos (especially in the conjunto of Arsenio Rodríguez followed by the Conjunto Casino or the Conjunto Kubavana of Alberto Ruiz), the Bolero continues its evolution by integrating new instruments but without ever losing its identity.
Although it entered Mexico at the end of the 19th century through the Yucatán peninsula, the Bolero became very successful there from the 1930s onwards, thanks in particular to Ángel Agustín María Carlos Fausto Mariano Alfonso Rojas Canela del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Lara y Aguirre del Pino, Pedro Vargas or Gabriel ‘Javier Solís’ Siria Levario. Cuba and Mexico will be the 2 biggest poles of influence of the Bolero.
Thanks to titles like “Aquellos ojos verdes” (1929) by Nilo Menéndez, “Bésame Mucho” (1941) by Consuelo Velázquez Torres, “Quizás, quizás, quizás” (1947) by Osvaldo Farrés, broadcasted on the radio, in films and on television, the Bolero is a success in Latin America (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Venezuela. ..) and in the world in the 1930s and 1940s. It inspired many musicians as, for example, Jean ‘Django’ Reinhardt with Bolero (1937) or Nathaniel Adams ‘Nat King Cole’ Coles who will take back many Boleros. Among the many Bolero figures of this period, we can mention the Mexican Agustín Lara, the Puerto Rican Rafael Hernández, the Cuban Olga ‘la reina del Bolero’ Guillot or the famous Trío los Panchos, which was formed in New York in 1944.
In the 1950s, with the appearance of the Filín, which draws its inspiration from the Bolero, other new combinations appear: Bolero-Beguine, Bolero-Mambo (of which Maximiliano Bartolomé ‘Benny’ Moré Gutiérrez is one of the greatest figures), Bolero-Chá (of which a representative is Belisario López Rossi), Bolero ranchero (mixture of Cuban Bolero and Mexican Ranchera created in Mexico), Bolero moruno (Moorish with gypsy and Hispanic accents and the flavor of Cante Jondo), Bolero-Tango, Bolero rítmico, Bolero Afro, Bolero tropical or Bolero gitano. One can think that the Bolero has survived so many decades thanks to all these variants that have kept it up to date.
From the mid-1960s and during the 1970s, the Bolero lost its popularity. It was supplanted by romantic singers with pop ballads influenced by the sounds found in the USA. However, the Bolero did not disappear. In the 1980s, it regained some success in the form of Bolero-Shake or Bolero-Rock. In the 1990s, the Bolero-Salsa is born and Máximo Francisco ‘Compay Segundo’ Repilado Muñoz proposes a Bolero-Blues. The album Romance (1991) of the Mexican singer Luis Miguel gathers popular Boleros and makes rediscover this musical genre to Latin America. The singers Guadalupe Pineda, Alejandro Fernández Abarca, Carlos Alberto ‘Charlie Zaa’ Sánchez Ramírez, Edith Márquez Landa, Cristian Sainz Valdés Castro, María de los Ángeles de las Heras ‘Rocío Dúrcal’ Ortiz or José Manuel Mijares Morán participate in the same way in this resurrection of the Bolero, “recycling” old pieces or adapting them in the form of Salsa romántica.
Nowadays, Cuba organizes every year the International Boleros de Oro Festival, which gathers the lovers of this music.
The rhythms
Today, the rhythmic of the Bolero is most often distributed between the congas, the maracas and the guïro creating a monotonous rhythm: