Danzón - WikiHQ

Danzón is the official genre and dance of Cuba. It is also an active musical form in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Written in time, the danzón is a slow, formal partner dance, requiring set footwork around syncopated beats, and incorporating elegant pauses while the couples stand listening to virtuoso instrumental passages, as characteristically played by a charanga or típica ensemble. In Cuba, the dances of European origin acquired new stylistic features derived from African rhythm and dance to produce a genuine fusion of European and African influences. African musical traits in the danzón include complex instrumental cross-rhythms, expressed in staggered cinquillo and tresillo patterns. danzón had emerged as a distinct genre. Danzón went on to interact with 20th century Cuban genres such as son, and through the danzón-mambo it was instrumental in the development of mambo and cha-cha-chá.

History

thumb|left|Danzón dancers from [[Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City]]

The danzón developed from the habanera, a creolized Cuban dance form. By 1879, the year Las alturas de Simpson composed by Miguel Failde (leader of the Orquesta Faílde) was first performed in Matanzas, Creation of the new danzón form is generally attributed to Faílde. The classical composer Manuel Saumell has also been cited as a key figure in its delineation.

Precursors: figure dances

The English contradanza was the predecessor of the "habanera", also known as danza criolla. Out of this Creole genre, the Habanera, was born in 1879 another Cuban genre, called danzon, a sequence dance, in which all danced together a set of figures. The first use of the term danzón, which dates from the 1850s, is for just such a dance. Havana's daily paper, El Triunfo, gave a description of this earlier

danzón. It was a co-ordinated dance of figures performed by groups of Matanzas blacks. The dancers held the ends of colored ribbons, and carried flower-covered arches. The group twisted and entwined the ribbons to make pleasing patterns. This account can be corroborated by other references, for example, a traveler in Cuba noted in 1854 that black Cubans "do a kind of wreath dance, in which the whole company took part, amid innumerable artistic entanglements and disentanglements". This style of danzón was performed at carnival comparsas by black groups: it is described that way before the late 1870s.

Faílde's first danzóns were created for just such sequence dances. Faílde himself said "In Matanzas at this time there was a kind of square dance for twenty couples who carried arches and flowers. It was really a dance of figures (sequence dance), and its moves were adapted to the tempo of the habanera, which we took over for the danzón."

Structure and instruments

The form of danzón created by Miguel Faílde in 1879 (Las alturas de Simpson), begins with an introduction (four bars) and paseo (four bars), which are repeated and followed by a 16-bar melody. The introduction and paseo again repeat before a second melody is played. The dancers do not dance during these sections: they choose partners, stroll onto the dance floor, and begin to dance at precisely the same moment: the fourth beat of bar four of the paseo, which has a distinctive percussion pattern that's hard to miss. When the introduction is repeated the dancers stop, chat, flirt, greet their friends, and start again, right on time as the paseo finishes.

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Early danzón was played by groups called orquestas típicas, which were based on wind instruments. They had several brass instruments (cornet, valve trombone, ophicleide), a clarinet or two, a violin or two and tympani (kettle drums). At the beginning of the 20th century, the lighter and somewhat more elegant sound of the charanga emerged (see Early Cuban bands). Initially, they were small orchestra of two violins, a cello, flute, timbales, güiro, and doublebass. Charanga and típicas competed with each other for years, but after 1930 it was clear that the days of the típica were over.

In 1898, a piano was included in a charanga for the first time. In Antonio María Romeu's hands a piano became standard. Its musical flexibility, its ability to influence both melody and rhythm, made it invaluable. In 1926, in his arrangement of Tres lindas cubanas, Romeu incorporated a piano solo for the first time. His was Cuba's top charanga for many years.

Initial perception

Similar to other dances in the Caribbean and Latin America, the danzón was initially regarded as scandalous, especially when it began to be danced by all classes of society. The slower rhythm of the danzón led to couples dancing closer, with sinuous movements of the hips and a lower centre of gravity. The author of a survey of prostitution in Havana devoted a whole chapter to the iniquities of dancing, and the danzón in particular. Articles in newspapers and periodicals took up the theme:

:"Because I love my country, it hurts me to see danzón at gatherings of decent people."

:"We recommend banning the danza and danzón because they are vestiges of Africa and should be replaced by essentially European dances such as the quadrille and rigadoon."

Apparently, the danzón, which later became an insipid dance for older couples, was at first danced with "obscene movements" of the hips by young couples in close embrace, with bodies touching, and by couples who might come from different races...

:"First we had the danza, then came the danzón... next it will be the rumba, and finally we'll all end up dancing ñáñigo!"

So, behind the concern about music and dance were concerns about sexual licence, and about miscegenation, the mixing of races. As with other similar cases, the criticism was to no avail. The danzón became hugely popular, and was the dominant popular music in Cuba until the advent of the son in the 1920s. At length the Cuban government made Faílde the official inventor of the danzón – but not until 1960, by which time the danzón had become a relic, and its 'child', the chachachá, had taken over.

Influence of son

In 1910, some 30 years after Faílde's early days, José Urfé added a montuno as a final part of his El Bombín de Barretto.

Style and form structure

Danzón is elegant and virtuoso music, with dance. A danzón, in its original form, was not sung, and did not feature any improvisations, unlike some other Cuban genres.

A danzón has the following typical structure:

An introduction or paseo (A), usually 16 bars.
The theme or principal melody (B), featuring the flute, thus often referred to as parte de (la) flauta.
A repeat of the introduction.
The trio (C), featuring the strings, thus also called parte del violín.
Ending. This could either be a cliché ending (there are a few standard danzón endings), another repeat of the introduction, or a combination of both.

The classic form is thus ABAC or ABACA.

A danzón-chá or danzón-mambo typically add another part (D), a syncopated open vamp in which soloists may sometimes improvise, creating an ABACD or, more common, ABACAD.

Mambo section

In danzón, the mambo section is the final section of an arrangement. It was first devised by Orestes López, who added syncopated motifs taken from the son, together with improvised flute variations. He called this type of danzón ritmo nuevo (new rhythm). Orestes' danzón Mambo was the start of a trend continued by Arcaño y sus Maravillas.

Selected recordings

Pensamiento – Belisario López
Lago Azul – Antobal’s Cubans
Flor De Yurumi – Orquestra Antonio Maria Romeu

References

Rebeca Mauleón The Salsa guidebook for piano and ensemble (1993). Petaluma CA: Sher Music.
Peter Manuel, editor. "Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean" (2009). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.