Cuban music genres

Contredanse

The Country Dance appeared in England in the middle of the 17th century, at the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth I of England. In 1651, John Playford wrote a book entitled The English Dancing Master which gathered 105 ways to dance the Country Dance. This work will be completed until 1728, referencing then 358 dances. The Country Dance, also called “column” dance, consists of two lines facing each other: a row of men facing a row of women. The first couple dances the first repeat of the pattern and finishes in second place. They continue to “descend” from one turn to the next, until they are in the last places of the two rows, while the other couples have moved up as many places to the “top” of the dance, and then descend again, once they have reached the first place. The dance is considered completed when the first couple has returned to their original position.

The Country Dance also spread to France thanks to the English dancing master Isaac d’Orleans who taught this dance to the princesses at Fontainebleau and to the dancer André Lorin who went to learn these dances in England. He also invented a system of notation that would describe the way of dancing. Little by little, this dance, which became known as Contredanse, won over the French aristocracy and became very popular. This success will last throughout the 18th century. It owes its popularity to its simplicity, its cheerfulness and its ease of memorization. It uses a step of bourrée, to which is added a half-time, and a step of Gavotte or Menuet. There are also pas marchés. These are basic figures that can be enriched by optional variations. The figures to be executed are announced by the Rigaudonnier. The dance is executed like the Country Dance, in column, but in a more sophisticated way. Around 1740, it became the French Contredanse, also called Cotillon. It is then danced “en carré”: four couples arranged on the sides of a square dance in twos, fours or eights, depending on the figure. Classically, the dance alternates nine “entries” (verses) with a “refrain” (figure specific to each Contredanse). The nine entries are, in order: the round, the hand, both hands, the ladies’ reel, the men’s reel, the ladies’ round, the men’s round, the allemande and, again, the round to finish.

The Contredanse will also reach Spain and will take there the name of Contradanza (Spanish version of the word “country dance”).

This Contredanse is most often composed in 2/4. The melody based on 8 measures taken under the form A A B B.

Birth of the Contradanza

During the 18th century, Cuba received musical influence from Europe through 3 main processes. These different forms of Contradanza were to be the starting point of the purely Cuban musical creation.

As a Hispanic colony, Cuba naturally received cultural contributions from Spain. Havana, a strategic port for Spanish trade, thus became the entry point for the Contredanse. Moreover, the English Contredanse was also introduced in Havana thanks to English sailors during the period when the capital was occupied (1762/1763). The Contredanse is performed in the bourgeois Havana salons, everything with European accents appeals to and marks its belonging to the high society. Played as written by the composers, without any deviation from the score, it is very close to the classical Contredanse found in Europe. It is still very much influenced by the Minuet and is generally danced in Quadrille (a simplified and standardized form of the Cotillon). It also favored the development of European instruments such as the piano, the flute, the clarinet, the harp or the violin. These instruments constituted a very popular type of orchestra whose sound was opposed to the brass instruments of military music. It was very successful in the capital and in the Matanzas region. The African slaves were also inspired by this music and played an Africanized version.

On the other hand, during the Haitian revolution of 1791, many French people went into exile and took refuge in the eastern part of Cuba, near Santiago. These immigrants brought the coffee culture but also their dances and music such as the Quadrille, the Gavotte, the Minuet or Minuet congo, the Gaceste, the Passe-pied, the Rigodon, the Lanciers (which were mixed and took the name of Lanceros cubanos in the island), the Tumba Francesa, the Sarabande or the Contredanse. The latter, in Creole form, often called Contradanza criolla, differs slightly from the French Contredanse. Indeed, the landowners of French origin had a more humane attitude towards their African slaves by decreasing corporal punishment, facilitating the redemption of freedom and giving them access to Haitian traditions, especially to dances and parties. They then introduced the rhythm of the cinquillo (called kintolé in Haiti) of African origin, also Africanized the classic timpani playing and added some minor percussion.

It is very likely that the cinquillo already existed in Cuba, but that it was confined to the slave barracks, whereas in the neighboring island, its presence was so strong that it was integrated to give the Contradanza criolla.

Here is the rhythm of the cinquillo, which is none other than the resumption of the catá or kata (rhythm played by the catayé on a hollowed out tree trunk with 2 sticks) found in the Tumba Francesa played in Haiti:

The large French population in the Oriente will ensure that the Contredanse will be a great success. In Santiago, the Contredanse is more popular, practiced in working-class and black areas. The musicians, who did not know how to read music and who played by ear, took more liberties. Contredanse, like many other musical genres, will not resist the process of transculturation and will become more creolized. This is how it will be transformed into Contradanza cubana or simply Contradanza. The almost systematic presence of the cinquillo is one of the major differences with the European Contradanza.

At first rejected by the purists, it will finally conquer the whole island. During the first part of the 19th century, it became the first musical genre and the favorite dance of Cubans of all classes. This Contredanse of Santiago will make forget the “good kind” Contredanse of Havana. In the capital, many academias de baile (dance academies) or casas de cuna (popular equivalent for colored people but also frequented by white men looking for mulatto women) will offer to teach it. It can be danced in all the clubs, from the most notorious to the most posh. The way of dancing it will become normalized in the whole island. It will dominate the Cuban music scene to such an extent that all composers will try it.

Among the first composers of Contradanza, we find Manuel Saumell Robredo, Ignacio Cervantes Kawanagh, José Lino Fernández de Coca, Tomás Buelta y Flores, Nicolás Muñoz Zayas, Ulpiano Estrada, Vicente Díaz Comas, Agustín Cascantes, Jorge Zequeira or Pedro Bonfante.

Musical structure and instrumentation

The Contradanza cubana will evolve in two forms, one in 2/4 and one, later and rare, in 6/8. It is composed of two slow movements of 8 bars, the paseo and the cadena, followed by two much faster movements of 8 bars, the sostenido and the cedazo.

Generally, these Contradanzas are played by so-called típicas orchestras composed of 2 violins, 2 clarinets, a double bass, a cornet, a trombone, an ophicleide (an instrument of the brass family), a paila (of the percussion family) and a güiro (a wooden scraper).

The first known Contradanza cubana is “San Pascual Bailón” written in 1803. Its author is not known. It is a Contradanza cubana in its embryonic form. It still lacks some characteristics that will later make its difference with the Contradanza. It is a piece in 2/4 made up of 2 sections of 8 repeated bars: A A B B.

Similar Posts