The Catalan rumba (, ) is a

genre of music A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. Genre is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometim ...

that developed in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

's Romani community beginning in the 1950s and 1960s. Its rhythms are derived from the Andalusian

flamenco rumba Rumba flamenca, also known as flamenco rumba or simply rumba (), is a ''palo'' (style) of flamenco music developed in Andalusia, Spain. It is known as one of the '' cantes de ida y vuelta'' (roundtrip songs), music which diverged in the new world, ...

, with influences from

Cuban 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 ...

and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

. The Catalan rumba originated in the Romani communities in the

Gràcia Gràcia (), meaning "grace" (in English), is a district of the Mediterranean city of Barcelona, in the northeastern autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. It comprises the ''barris'' (neighborhoods) of Vila de Gràcia, Vallcarca i els Pe ...

, ''carrer (street) de la Cera del Raval'' and Hostafrancs neighborhoods. The Romani community in those neighborhoods is long-established and bilingual in Catalan and were influenced by the heavy Andalusian immigration to Barcelona during this period. The genre is based in a fusion of Catalan-Andalusian

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

singing and the Afro-Cuban

claves Claves (; ) are a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of short, wooden sticks about 20–25 centimeters (8–10 inches) long and about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in diameter. Although traditionally made of wood (typically rosewood, ebony ...

. It is in time, and consists of vocalists and handclaps, accompanied by

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

, and

güiro The güiro () is a percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines (see photo) along the notches to produce a ratchet sound. The güiro is commonly ...

; later groups also incorporate

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfic ...

, conga drums, small percussion instruments,

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

wind instruments A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitch ...

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

, and electric keyboard. Among the most important early artists in the genre were Antonio González "El Pescaílla",

Peret Pedro Pubill Calaf (, ; 24 March 1935 – 27 August 2014), better known as Peret, was a Spanish Romani singer, guitar player and composer of Catalan rumba from Mataró (Barcelona). Known for his 1971 single, "Borriquito" ( Ariola Records), ...

, Josep Maria Valentí "El Chacho", followed by the duo Los Amaya. In the 1970s,

Gato Pérez Xavier Patricio Pérez Álvarez (April 11, 1951 – October 18, 1990), known as Gato Pérez, was a musician of Argentine origin who settled in Catalonia. He stood out in the Catalan rumba musical genre, which he merged with salsa and an original s ...

rejuvenated the Catalan rumba. An important medium for diffusion of this genre were cheap

cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

s sold at gas stations. In the 1980s and 1990s, the

Gipsy Kings Gipsy Kings (originally Los Reyes) are a musical group founded in 1979 in Arles, France. The band, whose members have Catalans, Catalan heritage, play a blend of Catalan rumba, flamenco, Salsa music, salsa, and Pop music, pop. They perform mos ...

and Los Manolos brought their spirit to Catalan rumba. 13 rumba songs were played as the final act of the 1992 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. Recently, popular groups in the genre have included Gitano Family, Ai, ai, ai, Sabor de Gràcia,

Estopa Estopa is a Spanish rock/rumba duo from Cornellà de Llobregat, Spain. Their songs "El Run Run" and "Cuando Amanece" reached number one on Billboard's chart in Spain, and "Con La Mano Levanta" reached number four. The band consists of brothers ...

, El Chinchilla,

Melendi Ramón Melendi Espina (born 21 January 1979), known mononymously as Melendi, is a Spanish singer-songwriter. His specialties are rock, flamenco, and rumba styles. Early life Melendi was born in Oviedo, Asturias. He went to school with Formu ...

, Muchachito Bombo Infierno, Gertrudis, and La Troba Kung Fú. Most recently the genre has been adopted by Brazilian singer Flávia Coelhobr>

Bibliography

*''Peret, l'ànima d'un poble.'', by Cèlia Sànchez-Mústich. Edicions 62 (2005) *''Gato Pérez''., by Juan Marcos Ordóñez Diví, Ediciones Júcar (1987)

References

External links

rumba-catalana.com - Website about the history of Catalan rumba
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catalan Rumba