Guaracha
Encyclopedia
The guaracha is a genre of Cuban popular music
, of rapid tempo and with lyrics. The word had been used in this sense at least since the late 18th and early 19th century. Guarachas were played and sung in musical theatres
and in low-class dance salons. They became an integral part of Bufo comic theatre in the mid-19th century. During the later 19th and the early 20th century the guaracha was a favourite musical form in the brothels of Havana
. The guaracha survives today in the repertoires of some trova
musicians, conjunto
s and Cuban-style big bands.
.
These references are all to music; but whether of the same type is not quite clear. The usage of guaracha is sometimes extended, then meaning, generally, to have a good time. A different sense of the word means jest or diversion.
such as the contradanza
. The prototype independent couples dance was the waltz
(early 19th century Vals in Cuba). The first creole dance form in Cuba which we known for certain was danced by independent couples was the danzón
. If the guaracha was an earlier example, this would be interesting from a dance history
point of view.
In 1869 at the Teatro Villanueva in Havana an anti-Spanish bufo was playing, when suddenly some Spanish Voluntarios attacked the theatre, killing some ten or so patrons. The context was that the Ten Years' War
had started the previous year, when Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
had freed his slaves, and declared Cuban independence. Creole sentiments were running high, and the Colonial government and their rich Spanish traders were reacting. Not for the first or the last time, politics and music were closely intertwined, for musicians had been integrated since before 1800. Bufo theatres were shut down for some years after this tragic event.
In bufos the guaracha would occur at places indicated by the author: guaracheros would enter in coloured shirts, white trousers and boots, handkerchiefs on their heads, the women in white coats, and the group would perform the guaracha. In general the guaracha would involve a dialogue between the tiple
, the tenor
and the coro. The best period of the guaracha on stage was early in the 20th century in the Alhambra theatre in Havana, when such composers as Jorge Anckermann
, José Marín Varona and Manuel Mauri wrote numbers for the top stage singer Adolfo Colombo
. Most of the leading trova
musicians wrote guarachas: Pepe Sánchez
, Sindo Garay
, Manuel Corona
, and later Ñico Saquito
.
in theatre music is common, but their use in popular dance music was not common in the 18th and 19th centuries. Only the habanera
had sung lyrics, and the guaracha definitely predates the habanera by some decades. Therefore, the guaracha is the first Cuban creole dance music which included singers.
The Havana Diario de la Marina of 1868 says: "The bufo troupe, we think, has an extensive repertory of tasty guarachas, with which to keep its public happy, better than the Italian songs." The lyrics were full of slang, and dwelt on events and people in the news. Rhythmically, guaracha exhibits a series of rhythm combinations, such as 6/8 with 2/4.
Alejo Carpentier
quotes a number of guaracha verses which illustrate the style:
s and big bands as a type of up-tempo music. Many of the early trovadores, such as Manuel Corona
(who worked in a brothel area of Havana), composed and sung guarachas as a balance for the slower bolero
s and canción
es. Ñico Saquito
was primarily a singer and composer of guarachas. The satirical lyric content also fitted well with the son, and many bands played both genres. Today it seems scarcely to exist as a distinct musical form, except in the hands of trova musicians; in larger groups it has been absorbed into the vast maw of Salsa
.
Singers who could handle the fast lyrics and were good improvisors were called guaracheros or guaracheras. Celia Cruz
was an example, though she, like Miguelito Valdés
and Benny Moré
, sung almost every type of Cuban lyric well. A better example is Cascarita
(Orlando Guerra) who was distinctly less comfortable with bolero
s, but brilliant with fast numbers. In modern Cuban music so many threads are interwoven that one cannot easily distinguish these older roots. Perhaps in the lyrics of Los Van Van
the topicality and sauciness of the old guarachas found new life, though the rhythm would have surprised the old-timers.
Among other composers who have written Guarachas is Morton Gould
- the piece is found in the third movement of his Latin American Symphonette (Symphonette No. 4) (1940). Later in the 1980s Pedro Luis Ferrer and Virulo (Alejandro García Villalón) sought to renovate the guaracha, devising modern takes on the old themes.
Its modern, jazzy, salsa style was typified by Cortijo y su Combo
, Ismael Rivera
and Myrta Silva
, a singer of La Sonora Matancera
better known as "La Reina de la Guaracha". The lyrics of the guaracha is sung by a soloist or duo accompanied by a chorus in a dialogue. As instrumentation the güiro
using a cylinder fork or small trident plays the rhythm and the guitar
and Puerto Rican cuatro
provide the accompaniment, plus other instruments similar to those of a Cuban conjunto.
Music of Cuba
The Caribbean island of Cuba has developed a wide range of creolized musical styles, based on its cultural origins in Europe and Africa. Since the 19th century its music has been hugely popular and influential throughout the world...
, of rapid tempo and with lyrics. The word had been used in this sense at least since the late 18th and early 19th century. Guarachas were played and sung in musical theatres
Cuban musical theatre
Cuban musical theatre has its own distinctive style and history. From the 18th century to modern times, popular theatrical performances included music and often dance as well. Many composers and musicians had their careers launched in the theatres, and many compositions got their first airing on...
and in low-class dance salons. They became an integral part of Bufo comic theatre in the mid-19th century. During the later 19th and the early 20th century the guaracha was a favourite musical form in the brothels of Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
. The guaracha survives today in the repertoires of some trova
Trova
Trova is one of the great roots of the Cuban music tree. In the 19th century a group of itinerant musicians known as trovadores moved around Oriente, especially Santiago de Cuba, earning their living by singing and playing the guitar...
musicians, conjunto
Conjunto
Conjunto literally translates as "group," and is regionally accepted in Texas as defining a genre of music that was born out of south Texas at the end of the 19th Century, after German settlers introduced the button accordion. The bajo sexto has come to accompany the button accordion and is...
s and Cuban-style big bands.
.
Early uses of the word
Though the word may be historically of Spanish origin, its use in this context is of indigenous Cuban origin. These are excerpts from reference sources, in date order:- The Gazeta de Barcelona has a number of advertisements for music that mention the guaracha. The earliest mention in this source is #64, dated 11 August 1789, where there is an entry that reads "...otra del Sr. Brito, Portugues: el fandango, la guaracha y seis contradanzas, todo en cifra para guitarra...". A later entry #83, 15 October 1796, refers to a "...guaracha intitulada Tarántula...".
- "Báile de la gentualla casi desuado" (dance for the rabble, somewhat old-fashioned). Leal comments on this: "The bailes de la gentualla are known on other occasions as bailes de cuna where people of different races mix. The guaracha employs the structure soloist–coro, that is to say, verses or passages vary between the chorus and the soloist, improvisation occurs, and references made to daily matters, peppered with crafty witticisms."
- "Una canción popular que se canta a coro... Música u orquesta pobre, compuesta de acordeón o guitarra, güiro, maracas, etc". (a popular song, which is sung alternately (call & response?)... humble music and band &c).
- "Cierto género musical" (a particular genre of music).
These references are all to music; but whether of the same type is not quite clear. The usage of guaracha is sometimes extended, then meaning, generally, to have a good time. A different sense of the word means jest or diversion.
Guaracha as a dance
There is little evidence as to what style of dance was originally performed to the guaracha in Cuba. Some engravings from the 19th century suggest that it was a dance of independent couples, that is, not a sequence danceSequence dance
Sequence dancing is a form of dance in which a preset pattern of movements is followed, usually to music which is also predetermined. Sequence dancing may include dances of many different styles. The term may include ballroom dances which move round the floor as well as line, square and circle...
such as the contradanza
Contradanza
The Cuban contradanza was a popular dance music genre of the 19th century.- Origins and Early Development:...
. The prototype independent couples dance was the waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
(early 19th century Vals in Cuba). The first creole dance form in Cuba which we known for certain was danced by independent couples was the danzón
Danzón
Danzón is the official dance of Cuba. It is also an active musical form in Mexico and is still beloved in Puerto Rico where Verdeluz, a modern danzón by Puerto Rican composer Antonio Cabán Vale is considered the unofficial national anthem...
. If the guaracha was an earlier example, this would be interesting from a dance history
Dance History
Dance History is a compilation album by hip-hop duo The Outhere Brothers, released in 2005.-Track listing:#"Don't Stop "#"Boom Boom Boom"#"La La La "#"Mami Te Quiero" #"Bring That Ass Over Here"#"Fuk U"...
point of view.
Guarachas in bufo theatre
During the 19th century, the bufo theatre, with its robust humour, its creolized characters and its guarachas, played a part in the movement for the emancipation of slaves and the independence of Cuba. They played a part in criticising authorities, lampooning public figures and supporting heroic revolutionaries. Satire and humour are significant weapons for a subjugated people.In 1869 at the Teatro Villanueva in Havana an anti-Spanish bufo was playing, when suddenly some Spanish Voluntarios attacked the theatre, killing some ten or so patrons. The context was that the Ten Years' War
Ten Years' War
The Ten Years' War , also known as the Great War and the War of '68, began on October 10, 1868 when sugar mill owner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and his followers proclaimed Cuba's independence from Spain...
had started the previous year, when Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes del Castillo was a Cuban planter who freed his slaves and made the declaration of Cuban independence in 1868 which started the Ten Years' War...
had freed his slaves, and declared Cuban independence. Creole sentiments were running high, and the Colonial government and their rich Spanish traders were reacting. Not for the first or the last time, politics and music were closely intertwined, for musicians had been integrated since before 1800. Bufo theatres were shut down for some years after this tragic event.
In bufos the guaracha would occur at places indicated by the author: guaracheros would enter in coloured shirts, white trousers and boots, handkerchiefs on their heads, the women in white coats, and the group would perform the guaracha. In general the guaracha would involve a dialogue between the tiple
Tiple
Tiple is the Spanish word for treble or soprano, is often applied to specific instruments, generally to refer to a small chordophone of the guitar family. A tiple player is called a tiplista.-Colombian tiple:...
, the tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
and the coro. The best period of the guaracha on stage was early in the 20th century in the Alhambra theatre in Havana, when such composers as Jorge Anckermann
Jorge Anckermann
Jorge Anckermann was a Cuban pianist, composer and bandleader. He started in music at eight with his father. At ten he was able to substitute in a trio...
, José Marín Varona and Manuel Mauri wrote numbers for the top stage singer Adolfo Colombo
Adolfo Colombo
Adolfo Columbo was a leading singer in the Alhambra Theatre in Havana, and also an actor and a leading personality in the theatre...
. Most of the leading trova
Trova
Trova is one of the great roots of the Cuban music tree. In the 19th century a group of itinerant musicians known as trovadores moved around Oriente, especially Santiago de Cuba, earning their living by singing and playing the guitar...
musicians wrote guarachas: Pepe Sánchez
Pepe Sánchez (trova)
Pepe Sánchez, born José Sánchez , was a Cuban musician, singer and composer. He is known as the father of the trova style and the creator of the Cuban bolero....
, Sindo Garay
Sindo Garay
Sindo Garay was born Antonio Gumersindo Garay Garcia . He was the first, the smallest, and perhaps the longest-lived, of the trova artists taught by Pepe Sánchez. Garay was one of the four greats of the trova. Sindo Garay was Spanish & Arawkan descendant...
, Manuel Corona
Manuel Corona
Manuel Corona Raimundo was a Cuban trova musician, and a long-term professional rival of Sindo Garay....
, and later Ñico Saquito
Ñico Saquito
Ñico Saquito was a Cuban musician. He was a trova composer, guitarist and singer....
.
Lyrics
The use of lyricsLyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
in theatre music is common, but their use in popular dance music was not common in the 18th and 19th centuries. Only the habanera
Habanera
Habanera may refer to:*"Habanera" , an aria from Bizet's Carmen*Habanera , a 1984 Cuban film*La Habanera , a 1937 German movie...
had sung lyrics, and the guaracha definitely predates the habanera by some decades. Therefore, the guaracha is the first Cuban creole dance music which included singers.
The Havana Diario de la Marina of 1868 says: "The bufo troupe, we think, has an extensive repertory of tasty guarachas, with which to keep its public happy, better than the Italian songs." The lyrics were full of slang, and dwelt on events and people in the news. Rhythmically, guaracha exhibits a series of rhythm combinations, such as 6/8 with 2/4.
Alejo Carpentier
Alejo Carpentier
Alejo Carpentier y Valmont was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Carpentier grew up in Havana, Cuba; and despite his European birthplace, Carpentier strongly self-identified...
quotes a number of guaracha verses which illustrate the style:
- Mi marido se murió,
- Dios en el cielo lo tiene
- y que lo tenga tan tenido
- que acá jamás nunca vuelva.
-
- (My husband died,
- God in heaven has him;
- May he keep him so well
- That he never comes back!)
-
-
-
- ₪₪₪₪₪
-
-
- No hay mulata más hermosa.
- más pilla y más sandunguera,
- ni que tenga en la cadera
- más azúcar que mi Rosa.
-
- (There's no mulatta more gorgeous,
- more wicked and more spicy,
- nor one whose hips have got
- more sugar than my Rosa!)
Guaracha in the 20th century
In the mid-20th century the style was taken up by the conjuntoConjunto
Conjunto literally translates as "group," and is regionally accepted in Texas as defining a genre of music that was born out of south Texas at the end of the 19th Century, after German settlers introduced the button accordion. The bajo sexto has come to accompany the button accordion and is...
s and big bands as a type of up-tempo music. Many of the early trovadores, such as Manuel Corona
Manuel Corona
Manuel Corona Raimundo was a Cuban trova musician, and a long-term professional rival of Sindo Garay....
(who worked in a brothel area of Havana), composed and sung guarachas as a balance for the slower bolero
Bolero
Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...
s and canción
Canción
Canción is a popular genre of Latin American music, particularly in Cuba, where many of the compositions originate. Its roots lie in Spanish popular song forms, including tiranas, polos and boleros; also in Italian light operetta, French romanza, and the slow waltz...
es. Ñico Saquito
Ñico Saquito
Ñico Saquito was a Cuban musician. He was a trova composer, guitarist and singer....
was primarily a singer and composer of guarachas. The satirical lyric content also fitted well with the son, and many bands played both genres. Today it seems scarcely to exist as a distinct musical form, except in the hands of trova musicians; in larger groups it has been absorbed into the vast maw of Salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
.
Singers who could handle the fast lyrics and were good improvisors were called guaracheros or guaracheras. Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...
was an example, though she, like Miguelito Valdés
Miguelito Valdés
Miguelito Valdés, born Miguel Ángel Eugenio Lázaro Zacarias Izquierdo Valdés Hernández , also called Mr. Babalú, was a Cuban popular singer of high quality...
and Benny Moré
Benny Moré
Benny Moré , or Beny, was a Cuban singer. He is often thought of as the greatest Cuban popular singer of all time. He was gifted with an innate musicality and fluid tenor voice which he colored and phrased with great expressivity...
, sung almost every type of Cuban lyric well. A better example is Cascarita
Cascarita
Orlando Guerra [gayr'-rah] was a popular Cuban singer specialized in native musical forms such as guaracha, pregón and son montuno. Affectively nicknamed Cascarita, he was born on September 14, 1920 in Camagüey, the third largest city of Cuba and the capital of Camagüey Province.Guerra started his...
(Orlando Guerra) who was distinctly less comfortable with bolero
Bolero
Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...
s, but brilliant with fast numbers. In modern Cuban music so many threads are interwoven that one cannot easily distinguish these older roots. Perhaps in the lyrics of Los Van Van
Los Van Van
Los Van Van is a Cuban band led by bassist Juan Formell, it is one of the most recognized post-revolution Cuban bands, while Juan Formell has arguably become the most important figure in contemporary Cuban music....
the topicality and sauciness of the old guarachas found new life, though the rhythm would have surprised the old-timers.
Among other composers who have written Guarachas is Morton Gould
Morton Gould
Morton Gould was an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist.Born in Richmond Hill, New York, Gould was recognized early as a child prodigy with abilities in improvisation and composition. His first composition was published at age six...
- the piece is found in the third movement of his Latin American Symphonette (Symphonette No. 4) (1940). Later in the 1980s Pedro Luis Ferrer and Virulo (Alejandro García Villalón) sought to renovate the guaracha, devising modern takes on the old themes.
Guaracha in Puerto Rico
During the 19th century, performing groups arrived in Puerto Rico from Cuba, bringing with them Cuban styles such as the son and the guaracha. Later, the guaracha took on a style of its own in Puerto Rico and became part of other Puerto Rican customs, such as the sung rosaries, the baquiné, Christmas music and children's songsIts modern, jazzy, salsa style was typified by Cortijo y su Combo
Rafael Cortijo
Rafael Cortijo , was a Puerto Rican musician, orchestra leader, and composer.As a child, Cortijo became interested in Caribbean music and enjoyed the works of some of the era's most successful Plena music musicians...
, Ismael Rivera
Ismael Rivera
Ismael "Maelo" Rivera , was a renowned Puerto Rican composer and singer of salsa music.-Early life:Ismael Rivera was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, on October 5, 1931. He was the first of five children born to Luis and Margarita Rivera. His father, Luis, was a carpenter and his mother a housewife...
and Myrta Silva
Myrta Silva
Myrta Silva was a Puerto Rican singer, composer and television producer. She was known affectionately as "La Gorda De Oro".-Early years:...
, a singer of La Sonora Matancera
Sonora Matancera
La Sonora Matancera is a long-time band. Led by guitarist and vocalist Rogelio Martínez, La Sonora Matancera has been called, by the Guinness Book of World Records, "the group with the longest duration."...
better known as "La Reina de la Guaracha". The lyrics of the guaracha is sung by a soloist or duo accompanied by a chorus in a dialogue. As instrumentation the güiro
Güiro
The güiro is a Latin-American 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 along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound. The güiro is commonly used in Latin-American music, and plays a key role...
using a cylinder fork or small trident plays the rhythm and the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and Puerto Rican cuatro
Cuatro (instrument)
The cuatro is any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although current instruments may have more than four strings....
provide the accompaniment, plus other instruments similar to those of a Cuban conjunto.