Timba

Timba is the Cuban counterpart of salsa music, and is often understood to be a sub-category of salsa. However, the historical development of timba has been quite independent of the development of salsa in the United States and Puerto Rico and the music has its own trademark aspects.

History

Though as in salsa the roots of timba go back to the son montuno, it has incorporated several different styles and genres, including classical music, nueva trova, latin jazz, disco, funk and hip hop. The main precursors of timba are three bands: Los Van Van, Irakere (both in the 1970s) and NG La Banda (1980s), though many other bands (eg. Son 14, Original de Manzanillo, Orquesta Revé) were influential in setting new standards.

Los Van Van developed what came to be known as the ‘songo’ genre, making countless innovations to traditional son, both in style and orchestration. In Latin music, genres are commonly attributed to rhythms (though of course not every rhythm is a genre), and whether or not timba is a genre of its own is debatable. Songo, however, can be considered to be a genre and is in all likelihood the only genre in the world played by only one orchestra, Los Van Van. The songo rhythm was created by percussionist José Luís Quintana ("Changuito”), at the behest of Van Van bandleader Juan Formell. Since the band’s creation in 1969, Los Van Van has been the most popular band in Cuba, and are themselves considered to be one of the major timba bands.

Irakere is known largely as a Latin Jazz band outside Cuba, yet much of their music can be considered to be popular dance music. Like Los Van Van, Irakere experimented with many different styles, mixing Afro-Cuban rhythms with son and jazz. While bandleader Chucho Valdés is revered as one of the great jazz musicians of Cuba, both jazz and timba prodigies came out of the orchestra, including flutist José Luis Cortés ("El Tosco”), who assembled a group of highly talented musicians to form NG La Banda in the mid-1980s. NG experimented with different styles, including Latin jazz, for several years, before recording what is considered to be the first timba album, "En La Calle", in 1989.

Though NG La Banda had huge successes in the early 1990s, and is credited with being the first timba band, the band’s fortunes have been mixed, partly because they remain highly experimental. What came to be known as the "timba explosion” started not with NG La Banda, but with the debut album of La Charanga Habanera, "Me Sube La Fiebre”, in 1992. This album included all the elements of what is now known as timba, and the band dominated the scene until the break-up of the original band in 1998 (they have since reformed). Since then a large number of bands have sprung up in Cuba and internationally, many of the best known being headed or staffed by former members of the above-mentioned bands. Some important figures and bands include: Pachito Alonso y sus kini kini, Azúcar Negra, Bamboleo, La Charanga Habanera, Charanga Forever, Los Dan Den, Alain Perez, Issac Delgado, Tirso Duarte, Klimax, Manolín "El Médico de la salsa", Manolito y su Trabuco, NG La Banda, Paulo FG, Pupy y Los que Son, Son (directed by Cesar "Pupy" Pedroso, former pianist of Los Van Van), and Los Van Van.

During the Special Period of the early 1990s, timba became a significant form of expression for the cultural and social upheaval that occurred. [Mauleon, Rebeca. "Timba." National Geographic World Music. http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/timba_796. Accessed 8 February 2008.] In the subsequent time, timba has largely crossed over from an accessible, mainstream medium to one that is directed at wealthy elites in high-end venues. This places timba in contrast with rap, which has come in some ways to fill the role of the music of the masses. [Baker, Geoffrey. 2006. "La Habana que no conoces: Cuban rap and the social construction of urban space." Ethnomusicology Forum 15, no. 2: 219, 221.]

Other than in Cuba, a new generation of Timba bands now flourishes in Miami, Florida, where a large concentration of Cuban-Americans reside. Miami has become the new Timba center outside the island largely by the contributions of former members of the aforementioned bands who decided to stay in the US in search of new opportunities. Among them, Manolín "El Médico de la Salsa", Dany Lozada, Chaka and his group "El Tumbao", Tomasito Cruz and his Cuban Timba All Stars, and most notably, Jorge Gomez and "Tiempo Libre" who received Grammy nominations (Best Latin/Tropical) in 2005 for their album "Arroz con Mango" and in 2006 for their album "Lo que esperabas".

tylistic aspects

Though quite similar to salsa on the surface of things, timba has certain qualities of its own which distinguish it from salsa, similar to the way American R&B is distinguished from soul. In general, timba is considered to be a highly aggressive type of music, with rhythm and "swing" taking precedence over melody and lyricism. Very little "traditional" salsa existed (or exists) in Cuba, the most influential foreign 'salsero' being Venezuelan Oscar d'León, who is one of the few salsa artists to have performed in Cuba. Timba musicians thus rightly claim a different musical heritage from salsa musicians.

At its most basic, timba is more flexible and innovative than salsa, and includes a more diverse range of styles, all of which could be defined as timba. The limits of what is timba and what is not are in fact quite fluid, as many consider timba to be any kind of popular Cuban dance music.

Timba incorporates many elements of Afro-Cuban culture and music. This includes rhythmic elements of Afro-Cuban music (on all instruments), expressions or parts of lyrics in ‘Lucumí’ (Cuban Yoruba, used almost exclusively in a religious context) and references to Afro-Cuban religion, the imperative for improvisation and interaction with audiences during concerts, story-telling in the lyrics, the quoting of melodies, rhythms and/or lyrics from other sources (similar to electronic or digital sampling in modern music), the frequent inclusion of "rap", and sustained sections of coro-pregon (call and response) interaction in songs. Contrary to (early) salsa, timba makes no claim to social or political messages, partly because of the political circumstances in Cuba.

More specifically, timba differs from salsa in orchestration and arrangement. Many timba artists readily concede that they have been more influenced by funk or soul than by salsa. Thus, bands like La Charanga Habanera or Bamboleo often have horns or other instruments playing short parts of tunes by Earth, Wind and Fire, Kool and the Gang or other US funk bands. In terms of instrumentation, the most important innovation has been the permanent incorporation of a kick drum and a synthesiser. Many timba bands have otherwise kept the traditional charanga ensemble of the 1940s, which includes double bass, conga, cowbell, clave, piano, violins, flute and in timba an expanded horn section that (in addition to the traditional trumpets and trombones) may include saxophones. However, many innovations were made in the style of playing and the arrangements, especially on the bass (with elements of funk and R&B), the piano (with elements of baroque music such as Bach), the horns (complex arrangements known as "champolas"), and the use of the clave (where 2-3 son clave is the standard in salsa music, timba often leans more towards 2-3 rumba clave). Also different from salsa is the frequent shift from major to minor keys (and vice versa), the highly complex rhythmic arrangements (often based on santería or abakuá rhythms), the shifts in speed and the large number of orchestrated breaks, or "bloques".

The status of timba

Though timba is considered to be a form of popular music, the technical mastery of timba is only possible through highly trained musicians, who have solid theoretical backgrounds in classical music, jazz, traditional Cuban music, as well as other international genres. This is made possible through the high standards of government-run music schools in Cuba, as well as the strong competition between musicians.

Government policy favours artistic excellence and Cuban music is regarded as a source of revenue and a legitimate way to attract tourism. Nevertheless, many Cuban musicians seek to work abroad, and a significant number of musicians now work in exile, both in the United States and in Europe (and to a lesser extent in Latin America), leading to a new wave of cross-breeding between the timba and salsa. While timba has gone past its peak in recent years, all major groups are still actively recording and performing, and major labels — especially in Europe — have started taking an interest in timba.

Though timba is not overly popular in the world-wide salsa scene (many salsa dancers consider it difficult to dance to and strong to their ears), it has found a niche among a growing number of fans and has been influential amongst Cuban-American and European salsa musicians. From the US salsa dancer's perspective, timba (due to its rhythmically complex nature) is very hard to dance unless traditional Cuban salsa (also known as casino) is mastered and may require many years of practice. In the same way that musicians amalgamate salsa with funk, pop, jazz, rock & roll and even tango to create timba, dancing to timba reflects the rhythms/genre incorporated in the composition being danced to. Timba as a dance allows incorporation of moves seen in Afro-Cuban folklore, funk, pop, rock & roll etc., and the creation of new moves under the framework of Cuban casino.

References

* Alén Rodriguez, O. (1998) "From Afrocuban music to Salsa", Piranha Records, Berlin
* Delgado, A. (1999) "The Death of Salsa" in "http://www.descarga.com"
* Duany, J. (1996) "Rethinking the Popular: Recent Essays on Caribbean Music and Identity" in "Latin American Music Review", vol. 17(2):176-192
* Ferguson, R. J. (2003) "The Transnational Politics of Cuban Music and Cuban Culture” in "The Culture Mandala", vol. 6(1)
*cite book|author=Manuel, Peter|title=Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae (2nd edition)|publisher=Temple University Press|location=Philadelphia|year=2006|id=ISBN 1-59213-463-7
* Moore, R. (2002) "Salsa and Socialism: Dance Music in Cuba, 1959-99" in Waxer, L. (ed.) "Situating Salsa: Global Markets & Local Meaning in Latin Popular Music", Routledge, London
* Pacini Hernandez, D. (1998) "Dancing with the Enemy: Cuban Popular Music, Race, Authenticity, and the World-Music Landscape" in "Latin American Perspectives", vol. 25(3): 110-125
* Perna, V. (2005) "Timba, the Sound of the Cuban Crisis", Ashgate, Aldershot
* Roy, M. (2000) "La musique populaire cubaine depuis la révolution" in Borras, G. (ed.) "Musiques et sociétés en Amérique Latine", Presses universitaires de Rennes, pp. 167-183
* Silverman, C. (1999) Timba – New Styles in Afro-Cuban popular music” in "http://www.chucksilverman.com/timbapaper.html"

External links

* [http://www.popular-documentary.com popular-documentary.com] ("Popular!" is the only documentary made about Cuban timba. It features the Charanga Habanera. Executive Producer Ryu Murakami)
* [http://www.puratimba.com Puratimba.com]
* [http://n91.mediamaster.com/myradio/TimbaRadio.pls Timba Radio] (open with winamp, itunes or windows media player)

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