''Contradanza'' (also called ''contradanza criolla'', ''danza'', ''danza criolla'', or ''habanera'') is the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Contradanza was brought to America and there took on folkloric forms that still exist in

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Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. In

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

during the 19th century, it became an important genre, the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African rhythm pattern and the first Cuban dance to gain international popularity, the progenitor of

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 ...

, mambo and cha-cha-cha, with a characteristic "habanera rhythm" and sung lyrics. Outside Cuba, the Cuban contradanza became known as the ''habanera'' – the dance of

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. The contradanza was popular in Spain and spread throughout Spanish America during the 18th century. According to musicologist Peter Manuel, it may be impossible to resolve the question of the contradanza's origin, as it has been pointed out by Cuban musicologist Natalio Galán in humorously labeling the genre as "''anglofrancohispanoafrocubano''" (English-French-Spanish-African-Cuban). The most conventional consensus in regard to the origin of this popular Cuban genre was established by novelist Alejo Carpentier, in his book from 1946, ''La Música en Cuba''. In the book, he proposes a theory that signals the French contredance, supposedly introduced in Cuba by French immigrants fleeing the Haitian Revolution (1791–1803), as the prototype for the creation of the creolized Cuban contradanza. However, according to other important Cuban musicologists, such as Zoila Lapique and Natalio Galán, it is quite likely that the contradanza had been introduced to Havana directly from Spain, France or England several decades earlier. The earliest Cuban contradanza of which a record remains is "San Pascual Bailón", which was written in 1803. Certain characteristics would set the Cuban contradanza apart from the contredanse by the mid-19th century, notably the incorporation of the African cross-rhythm called the ''tresillo''. The habanera is also slower and as a dance more graceful in style than the older contradanza but retains the

binary form Binary form is a musical form in 2 related sections, both of which are usually repeated. Binary is also a structure used to choreograph dance. In music this is usually performed as A-A-B-B. Binary form was popular during the Baroque music, Baro ...

of classical dance, being composed in two parts of 8 to 16 bars each, though often with an introduction. An early identifiable contradanza habanera, "La Pimienta", an anonymous song published in an 1836 collection, is the earliest known piece to use the characteristic habanera rhythm in the left hand of the piano. The contradanza, when played as dance music, was performed by an orquesta típica composed of two violins, two clarinets, a contrabass, a cornet, a trombone, an ophicleide, paila and a güiro. But the habanera was sung as well as danced. During the first half of the 19th century, the contradanza dominated the Cuban musical scene to such an extent that nearly all Cuban composers of the time, whether composing for the concert hall or the dance hall, tried their hands at the contradanza. Among them Manuel Saumell (1817–1870) is the most noted. The New Orleans born pianist/composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869) wrote several pieces with the rhythm, gleaned in part from his travels through Cuba and the West Indies: "Danza" (1857), "La Gallina, Danse Cubaine" (1859), "Ojos Criollos" (1859) and "Souvenir de Porto Rico" (1857) among others. It is thought that the Cuban style was brought by sailors to

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 ...

, where it became popular for a while before the turn of the twentieth century. The

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

composer Sebastian Yradier's " La Paloma" ("The Dove"), achieved great fame in Spain and America. The dance was adopted by all classes of society and had its moment in English and French salons. It was so well established as a Spanish dance that

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...

included one in the ballet music to his opera ''Le Cid'' (1885). Maurice Ravel wrote a ''Vocalise-Étude en forme de Habanera'', and a habanera for Rapsodie espagnole (movement III, originally a piano piece written in 1895),

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

' ''Havanaise'' for violin and orchestra is still played and recorded today, as is Emmanuel Chabrier's ''Habanera for orchestra'' (originally for piano). Bernard Herrmann's score for '' Vertigo'' (1958) makes prominent use of the rhythm as a clue to the film's mystery. In

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

(especially

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

and

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, the habanera is still popular. "La Paloma", "La bella Lola" or "El meu avi" ("My Grandfather") are well known. From Spain, the style arrived in the Philippines where it still exists as a minor art-form. In the 20th century, the habanera gradually became a relic form in Cuba, especially after the success of the son. However, some of its compositions were transcribed and reappeared in other formats later on: Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes' ''Tú'' is still a much-loved composition. The music and dance of the ''contradanza/danza'' are no longer popular in Cuba but are occasionally featured in the performances of folklore groups.

Rhythm

The habanera rhythm's time signature is . An accented upbeat in the middle of the bar lends power to the habanera rhythm, especially when it is as a bass''Listen again''. Experience Music Project. Duke University Press, 2007. p. 75 ostinato in contradanzas such as "Tu madre es conga". Syncopated cross-rhythms called the '' tresillo'' and the '' cinquillo'', basic rhythmic cells in Afro-Latin and African music, began the Cuban dance's differentiation from its European form. Their unequally-grouped accents fall irregularly in a one or two bar pattern: the rhythm superimposes duple and triple accents in

cross-rhythm In music, a cross-beat or cross-rhythm is a specific form of polyrhythm. The term ''cross rhythm '' was introduced in 1934 by the Musicology, musicologist Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980). It refers to a situation where the rhythmic conflict fou ...

(3:2) or vertical hemiola. This pattern is heard throughout Africa, and in many diaspora musics, known as the ''Congo'', ''tango-Congo'', and ''tango''. Thompson identifies the rhythm as the Kongo ("call to the dance").Thompson, Robert Farris. 2006. ''Tango: the art history of love''. Vintage, p117 The syncopated rhythm may be vocalised as "boom...ba-bop-bop", and "da, ka ka kan". It may be sounded with the

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

ian beaded gourd instrument ''axatse'', vocalized as: "pa ti pa pa", beginning on the second beat so that the last "pa" coincides with beat ''one'', ending on the beginning of the cycle so that the part contributes to the cyclic nature of the rhythm, the "pa's" sounding the '' tresillo'' by striking the gourd against the knee, and the "ti" sounding the main beat ''two'' by raising the gourd and striking it with the free hand. The cinquillo pattern is sounded on a bell in the folkloric Congolese-based makuta as played in Havana. Carpentier states that the ''cinquillo'' was brought to Cuba in the songs of the black slaves and freedmen who emigrated to Santiago de Cuba from

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 ...

in the 1790s and that composers in western Cuba remained ignorant of its existence: Manuel disputes Carpentier's claim, mentioning "at least a half a dozen Havana counterparts whose existence refutes Carpentier's claim for the absence of the cinquillo in Havana contradanza".

''Danza'', tango and later developments

The ''contradanza'' evolved into the ''clave'' (not to be confused with the key pattern of the same name), the ''criolla'' and the ''guajira.'' From the ''contradanza'' in came the ''(danza) habanera'' and the ''

''. According to Argeliers Léon, the word ''danza'' was merely a contraction of ''contradanza'' and there are no substantial differences between the music of the ''contradanza'' and the ''danza'', Both terms continued to denominate what was essentially the same thing throughout the 19th century. But although the ''contradanza'' and ''danza'' were musically identical, the dances were different. A ''danza'' entitled "El Sungambelo", dated 1813, has the same structure as the ''contradanza'' – the four-section scheme is repeated twice, ABAB and the ''cinquillo'' rhythm can already be heard. Ignacio_Cervantes

The ''danza'' dominated Cuban music in the second half of the 19th century, though not as completely as the ''contradanza'' had in the first half. Two famous Cuban composers in particular, Ignacio Cervantes (1847–1905) and Ernesto Lecuona (1895–1963), used the ''danza'' as the basis of some of their most memorable compositions. In

the ''danza'' was supplanted by the ''

'' from the 1870s onwards, though the ''danza'' continued to be composed as dance music into the 1920s. By this time, the '' charanga'' had replaced the ''orquesta típica'' of the 19th century. The danzón has a different but related rhythm, the '' baqueteo'', and the dance is quite different. The Argentine '' milonga'' and '' tango'' makes use of the ''habanera'' rhythm of a dotted quarter-note followed by three eighth-notes, with an accent on the first and third notes."El Choclo" sheet music
at TodoTango. As the consistent rhythmic foundation of the bass line in Argentine tango the ''habanera'' lasted for a relatively short time until a variation, noted by Roberts, began to predominate. In 1883 Ventura Lynch, a scholar of the dances and folklore of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, noted the milonga dance was "so universal in the environs of the city that it is an obligatory piece at all the lower-class dances (''bailecitos de medio pelo''), and ... has also been taken up by the organ-grinders, who have arranged it so as to sound like the ''habanera'' dance. It is danced in the low life clubs ..." The contradanza remains an essential part of the tango's music. For example, Aníbal Troilo's 1951 milonga song "La trampera" (Cheating Woman) uses the same ''habanera'' heard in Georges Bizet's opera 1875 '' Carmen''.

African-American music

African-American music African-American music is a broad term covering a diverse range of musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their African-American culture, culture. Its origins are in musical forms that developed as a result of the Slavery in ...

began incorporating Cuban musical motifs in the 1800s. Musicians from

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

would take the twice-daily ferry between those cities to perform. Whether the rhythm and its variants were directly transplanted from Cuba or merely reinforced similar rhythmic tendencies already present in New Orleans is probably impossible to determine. The habanera rhythm is heard prominently in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

second line music, and there are examples of similar rhythms in some African-American folk music such as the foot-stamping patterns in ring shout and in post-Civil War drum and fife music. John Storm Roberts states that the musical genre "reached the U.S. 20 years before the first rag was published". Scott Joplin 19072

For the more than quarter-century in which the cakewalk,

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

, and proto-

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

were forming and developing, the habanera was a consistent part of African-American popular music. Early New Orleans jazz bands had habaneras in their repertoire and the tresillo/habanera figure was a rhythmic staple of jazz at the turn of the 20th century. A habanera was written and published in Butte, Montana in 1908. The song was titled "Solita" and was written by Jack Hangauer. Scott Joplin's " Solace" (1909) is considered a habanera (though it is labeled a "Mexican serenade"). " St. Louis Blues" (1914) by W. C. Handy has a habanera/tresillo bass line. Handy noted a reaction to the habanera rhythm included in Will H. Tyler's "Maori": "I observed that there was a sudden, proud and graceful reaction to the rhythm ... White dancers, as I had observed them, took the number in stride. I began to suspect that there was something Negroid in that beat." After noting a similar reaction to the same rhythm in "La Paloma", Handy included this rhythm in his "St. Louis Blues", the instrumental copy of "Memphis Blues", the chorus of "Beale Street Blues", and other compositions. MortonBricktopRowCropMortonFace

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe ( Lemott, later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American blues and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz ...

considered the ''tresillo/habanera'' (which he called the Spanish tinge) an essential ingredient of jazz. The rhythm can be heard in the left hand on songs such as "The Crave" (1910, recorded in 1938). Although the exact origins of jazz syncopation may never be known, there's evidence that the habanera/tresillo was there at its conception. Buddy Bolden, the first ''known'' jazz musician, is credited with creating the ''big four'', a habanera-based pattern. The big four (below) was the first syncopated bass drum pattern to deviate from the standard on-the-beat march. As the example below shows, the second half of the big four pattern is the habanera rhythm.

In Asian music

Elements of the Habanera are also incorporated into popular Japanese music called

Ryūkōka is a Japanese music genre, musical genre. The term originally denoted any kind of "popular music" in Japanese, and is the East Asian cultural sphere, sinic reading of ''hayariuta'', used for commercial music of Edo period, Edo Period. Therefore, ...

. It is mixed with traditional Min'yō. It was mainly through the influence of Milonga and Tango that this rhythm reached Japan. Some examples are : * Nihonbashi kara( にほんばしから) by Seki Taneko (せきたねこ) (1932) * Matendo by Sato Chiyako (1929) * Kamome Kanashiya by Yayoi tanaka

Selected recordings

* ''Yo Siempre Te Esperé'' (Imperio Argentina, 1932) * ''Cuando silba el viento'' (Mercedes Simone, 1936)Maruja Pacheco Huergo. "Biography by Néstor Pinsón." ''Todo Tango''. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Accessed May 19, 2025

/ref>

References

Sources * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Habanera's blog from Tony Foixench

(Cuban Music Website).
The Cuban Danzon: Its Ancestors and Descendants
1982. Various Artists. Folkways Records – FW04066 * Legran Orchestr
''La Comisión de San Roque Habanera'' Mp3·
ISWC: T-042192386-5 2007. ''Published with the permission of the owner of rights'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Contradanza Rhythm and meter