Charanga (Cuba)
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Charanga is a traditional ensemble that plays
Cuban dance music The music of Cuba, including its instruments, performance, and dance, comprises a large set of unique traditions influenced mostly by west African and European (especially Spanish) music. Due to the syncretic nature of most of its genres, Cuban ...
. They made Cuban dance music popular in the 1940s and their music consisted of heavily son-influenced material, performed on European instruments such as violin and flute by a Charanga orchestra. (Chomsky 2004, p. 199). The style of music that is most associated with a Charanga is termed '
Danzón Danzón is the official genre and dance of Cuba.Urfé, Odilio 1965. ''El danzón''. La Habana. It is also an active musical form in USA and Puerto Rico. Written in time, the danzón is a slow, formal partner dance, requiring set footwork ...
', and is an amalgam of both European classical music and African rhythms.


Origins

"Scholars agree that
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
and parts of West and Central Africa provided the most crucial influences in the development of Cuban popular and religious music. But in the case of charanga, the contributions of French and
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
an influences cannot be ignored. Charanga began its history in the early nineteenth century when Haitians, both African and French, escaped the island's revolution. They brought with them a love for the French contredanse, a multi-sectional dance form that evolved into the
danzón Danzón is the official genre and dance of Cuba.Urfé, Odilio 1965. ''El danzón''. La Habana. It is also an active musical form in USA and Puerto Rico. Written in time, the danzón is a slow, formal partner dance, requiring set footwork ...
, the quintessential charanga style. Both were performed by an ensemble called an orquesta típica, a group with brass, woodwinds and timpani that performed outdoors. When the upper classes decided to dance indoors, the instrumentation was radically altered. The new ensemble was called charanga francesa. Although the word ''francesa'' literally means "French", it was used in nineteenth-century Cuba more specifically as a name for Haitian Creoles. In the charanga francesa, flutes and strings replaced the brass and woodwinds of the orquesta típica, and a small drum kit called pailas (now called timbales) replaced the booming tympany. While the orquesta típica was raucous in a New Orleans jazz fashion, the charanga francesa produced a light and somewhat effete music. The French influence extends to instrumentation for the modern charanga is based on charanga francesa." The first charanga francesa in Cuba was formed at the turn of the twentieth century, possibly by Antonio (Papaíto) Torroella (1856–1934), whose orchestra was active by 1894. These orchestras play lighter versions of the
danzón Danzón is the official genre and dance of Cuba.Urfé, Odilio 1965. ''El danzón''. La Habana. It is also an active musical form in USA and Puerto Rico. Written in time, the danzón is a slow, formal partner dance, requiring set footwork ...
without a brass section and emphasizing flutes, violins, and piano. The percussion was provided by ''pailas criollas'', now known as timbales. The style continued into the 1940s with flautist Antonio Arcaño and his Maravillas (Morales 2003 p13). Charangas are still widespread today, though the danzón is considered old-fashioned.


See also

*
Danzón Danzón is the official genre and dance of Cuba.Urfé, Odilio 1965. ''El danzón''. La Habana. It is also an active musical form in USA and Puerto Rico. Written in time, the danzón is a slow, formal partner dance, requiring set footwork ...
* Music of Haiti * French contredanse * La tumba francesa *
Mambo Mambo most often refers to: *Mambo (music), a Cuban musical form *Mambo (dance), a dance corresponding to mambo music Mambo may also refer to: Music * Mambo section, a section in arrangements of some types of Afro-Caribbean music, particul ...
* Twoubadou


Sources

*Chomsky, Aviva (2004). ''The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics''. . *Morales, Ed (2003). ''The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music, from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond''. .


Genre Representatives

* Arcaño y sus Maravillas * Barroso y La Sensación * Belisario López * Charanga 76 * David Calzado y su Charanga Habanera * Fajardo y Sus Estrellas * Gonzalo Fernández y Su Súper Típica de Estrellas * La Charanga Cubana (Los Angeles) * La Charanga Forever * Los Van Van de Cuba * Maravillas del Siglo * Maravillas de Florida * Orquesta América * Orquesta Antonio María Romeu * Orquesta Aragón * Orquesta Broadway * Orquesta Charangoa (Los Angeles) * Orquesta de Neno González * Orquesta Duboney * Orquesta Melodías del 40 * Orquesta Típica Ideal * Pacheco y Su Charanga * Pupi y Su Charanga * Ray Barretto y Su Charanga Moderna * Ritmo Oriental


References


External links


Sample Charanga Music

Article on Charanga
{{Clear Danzón