Musical City: Havana, Cuba - 11/14

Musical City: Havana, Cuba

September 15, 2024 - November 14, 2024

 

Thank you to Jessica for writing this challenge!
 
You may do as many tasks as you wish.
You may use the tasks as many times as you wish.
A badge will be awarded for your level of participation.
 
Choose your level:
🌆 Rumba: 3-10 tasks
🌆 Salsa: 11-15 tasks
 
2/15
 
🌆 Havana has had a long musical history, with influences and contributions from as far away as Africa and Spain. When enslaved Africans and Europeans, mostly Spanish, came to Cuba, they brought their own forms of music to the island, including fandango, paso doble, minuet, and the waltz. Fernando Ortiz, the great Cuban folklorist, described Cuba’s musical “innovations as arising from the interplay between enslaved Africans… and Spaniards.” Many of the enslaved Africans and their descendants made percussion instruments and the drum has become an important instrument in Cuban culture. There are over 50 types of drums, but the bongos, congas, and batá drums are the most popular. At one point, drums were banned, so other instruments, like the claves, two short batons, and the cajón, a wooden box, originally made from crates, became more prevalent. Additionally, Chinese laborers came in the 19th century and contributed the corneta china (Chinese cornet), a Chinese reed instrument still played in the carnival groups, of Santiago de Cuba.
 
 
1. Read a book with a character with African, Spanish, or Chinese heritage OR Read a book tagged Music.
 
2. Read a book that takes place in Cuba OR Read a book with the word “drum” in the text (Give a location & partial sentence) OR Read a book with a 5 and 0 in the page count.
 
3. Read a book tagged historical OR Read a book that has been banned or challenged.

Cinderella's Deal with the Colonel - Jenni Fletcher (HH #1727 - June 2023) (historical) - Sept 16
 
 
🌆 In the 1800s and 1900s, classical music was the most popular style and helped set the trends for future music. In 1896, a composer included in his zarzuela, "El Brujo" or “The Witch” which is considered the first Cuban guajira, or musical genre. A zarzuela is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes. Additionally, there are a variety of musical genres in Havana’s history, but one of the major genres is son, which is defined by its distinctive rhythm. It became very popular in the 1930s and its most popular derivative is Salsa. The most common themes are love and patriotism. Rumba is another variety and its origins are spontaneous and lively, coming from dockworkers of Havana and Matanzas. The word rumba is thought to come from the verb “rumbear,” which means something like having a good time or party.
 
4. Read a book that takes place in the 1800s OR Read a book that is written in verse OR Read a book with a witch as the main character.
 
5. Read a book that has a theme of love or patriotism OR Read a book with a character that works on a dock or water.
 
6. Read a book where someone has a good time or goes to a party OR Read a book with an instrument on the cover (show cover) OR Read a book that takes place in the 1930s.
 
 
🌆 During the 1930s, Cuban influence spread to the United States with Lecuona Cuban Boys and Desi Arnaz. They helped popularize the conga, mambo, rumba, son, and salsa. The mambo really didn’t gain popularity until the 1940s when the song by Orestes “Cachao” Lopez was played at La Tropicana, a nightclub in Havana. Also during the 1940s, the Big Band era was gaining traction. Jazz was also becoming increasingly popular in Cuba. Violinist Enrique Jorrín invented the chachachá, another Cuban musical genre, in the early 1950s, and it became very popular worldwide.
 
7. Read a book that takes place in the United States OR Read a book where a character dances.

Colorado Kidnapping - Cindi Myers (HI #2242 - Oct 2024) (US) - Sept 15
 
8. Read a book by an author with their initials in the word SALSA OR Read a book that takes place in a nightclub.
 
9. Read a book that has a famous person (fictional or real) OR Read a book that takes place over several decades OR Read a book where someone invents something.
 
 
🌆 The Cuban Revolution in 1959 changed the Cuban music scene. Many musicians emigrated to Puerto Rico, Florida and New York. Some were even “exiled,” such as Celia Cruz, Cachao, La Lupe, and Gloria Estefan. Cruz, along with others, became associated with the anti-revolutionary movement and was omitted from most Cuban history references and their music never sold in Cuba. The Castro government changed copyright laws, as well as closed venues where “popular” music was played, which were usually nightclubs. Many musicians found themselves out of work. Many young musicians turned to studying classical music and were employed by the state. All musicians employed by the state were given academic courses in music. Cuban musical culture stalled for many years. Tourism also declined. It wasn’t until 1991 and the collapse of the USSR that the culture began to change again.
 
10. Read a book where a character emigrates OR Read a book that takes place in Puerto Rico, Florida or New York.
 
11. Read a book where someone protests OR Read a book with more than 1959 ratings (Tell us the number) OR Read a book where a character is out of work.
 
12. Read a book with a character that is in college OR Read a book where there are tourists OR Read a book where something collapses (You decide).
 
 
🌆 Havana’s music is a blend of many genres. In the 1970s and 1980s. Salsa became a catch all term for all Cuban dance music and nueva trova came about as a political song form, but son remains the basis for most popular forms of modern Cuban music. Meanwhile, Irakere, a Cuban band founded in the 1970s, helped to fuse traditional Cuban music with jazz. Other groups continued to add new elements to son, especially hip hop and funk, creating a new genre called timba music. Hip-hop became very popular in Cuba in the 1980s and 1990s, and Havana was the heart of the rap scene during that time as well. Rock and Rock was gaining popularity as well but a lot of the more contemporary and popular genres were not allowed and became underground phenomenon. Havana continues to be the heart of Cuba’s musical scene.
 
13. Read a book that is a blend of two or more genres OR Read a book that is by a Cuban or Cuban American author.
 
14. Read a book where someone breaks tradition (You decide) OR Read a book published or that takes place in the 1980s or 1990s.
 
15. Read a book where someone makes a political statement OR Read a book that has a musical scene.