The Clave Chronicles Rebecca Bodenheimer

Musicologist Marysol Quevedo joins Rebecca to speak about Cuban art music composers of the mid-20th century, such as Harold Gramatges, Juan Blanco and Argeliers Leon. As she details in her recent book, although their works largely relied on classical music structures and forms, they brought in elements of Cuban popular and folkloric music. 

Pieces played:
Tres preludios a modo de toccata, Harold Gramatges
Sonata a la Virgen del Cobre, No. 2, Argeliers Leon
Quinteto No. 1, Juan Blanco
Cirkus Toccata, Juan Blanco
Support the Show.
If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts

Follow The Clave Chronicles on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @clavechronicles
https://theclavechronicles.buzzsprout.com

Intro and outro music: "Bengo Latino," Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions

Cuban dancer, musician, and educator Roberto Borrell speaks with Rebecca about his incredibly versatile career, spanning popular and folkloric styles. He talks about growing up hearing the legendary bands of the 1950s like Orquesta Aragón and Chappottín y Sus Estrellas, and attending the Black social clubs that were eliminated in the early years of the Revolution.

Songs played:
Linda cubana, Orquesta de Antonio Maria Romeu
Mambo, Arcaño y Sus Maravillas
La engañadora,  Orquesta América de Ninón Mondéjar
El bodeguero, Orquesta Aragón
Pare cochero, Orquesta Aragón

Roberto Borrell dance videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHSJFOefUBE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiwhNdxKndY
Support the Show.
If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts

Follow The Clave Chronicles on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @clavechronicles
https://theclavechronicles.buzzsprout.com

Intro and outro music: "Bengo Latino," Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions

Punk cubano emerged during the Special Period crisis, giving young disaffected Cubans an outlet to express their angst and rage, often toward the Cuban government. Carmen Torre Pérez joins Rebecca to speak about the counter-cultural genre and its DIY ethics.

Songs played: 
Jodidos y perdidos, Rotura
Eres tú, Eskoria
Azul, Akupunktura
Esta no es mi puta guerra, Eztafilokoko
Ruido en el sistema, Pólvora Soxial
Support the Show.
If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts

Follow The Clave Chronicles on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @clavechronicles
https://theclavechronicles.buzzsprout.com

Intro and outro music: "Bengo Latino," Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions

(Rerun of nueva trova episode, first aired in July 2023)

Nueva trova is one of the few Cuban genres that is for listening and reflecting instead of dancing - it's sung poetry, much like other Latin American singer-songwriter genres, namely nueva canción. Rebecca has an in-depth conversation with independent scholar and former Cuban diplomat Eva Silot Bravo about the major figures of nueva trova and how it came to be closely identified with the ideology of the Cuban Revolution. The genre's relationship with the government shifted in the wake of the economic crisis of the 1990s, as newer artists began to openly critiqued the preferential treatment given to foreigners, as well as emigrate abroad.

Songs played:
Pablo Milanés, Mis 22 años
Silvio Rodríguez, Sueño con Serpientes
Xiomara Laugart, Paria
Carlos Varela, Foto de Familia
Gema y Pavel, Se Feliz
Support the Show.
If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts

Follow The Clave Chronicles on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @clavechronicles
https://theclavechronicles.buzzsprout.com

Intro and outro music: "Bengo Latino," Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions

Ethnomusicologist and percussionist Johnny Frias joins Rebecca to speak about one of the lesser known Afro-Cuban folkloric practices, the tonada trinitaria, from the central Cuban city of Trinidad. We then delve into the rumba percussion style that has become dominant in recent decades, guarapachangueo, created by a group of brothers from the outskirts of Havana known as Los Chinitos.

Songs played:
Una corona al General Maceo, Conjunto Folclórico de Trinidad
Plegarias, Grupo Abbilona (Los Chinitos)
Caridad, Pancho Quinto
El conflictivo, Humo + La Liga Rumbera

Learn more about guarapachangueo in Rebecca's book: Geographies of Cubanidad: Place, Race and Musical Performance in Contemporary Cuba 
Support the Show.
If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts

Follow The Clave Chronicles on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @clavechronicles
https://theclavechronicles.buzzsprout.com

Intro and outro music: "Bengo Latino," Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions

Afrocuba de Matanzas is widely considered one of the best preservers of Afro-Cuban folkloric music and dance on the island, but the group also created one of the funkiest and most exciting musical innovations in 1973 when they blended rumba percussion and batá drumming to create batarumba. As the years went on, batarumba became even more complex and versatile, as Afrocuba musicians added in instruments and rhythms from son, Abakuá, Iyesá and adapted the songs of Celia Cruz to a batarumba format.

Songs played:

Tambor, Afrocuba de Matanzas
Baila Mi Guaguancó, Afrocuba de Matanzas
Caridad, Afrocuba de Matanzas
Rinkinkalla, Celia Cruz & Sonora Matancera
Rinkinkaya, Ritmo y Canto

Learn more about batarumba in Rebecca's book: Geographies of Cubanidad: Place, Race and Musical Performance in Contemporary Cuba 
Support the Show.
If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts

Follow The Clave Chronicles on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @clavechronicles
https://theclavechronicles.buzzsprout.com

Intro and outro music: "Bengo Latino," Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions