Timba: The Sound of the Cuban Crisis

by Perna,Vincenzo

• ISBN13: 9780754639411
• ISBN10: 075463941X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-04-07
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Vincenzo Perna investigates the role of black popular music in post-Revolutionary Cuba, in the 1990s in particular, analyzing the emergence of timba as a distinctively new style of Afro-Cuban dance music. Musically, timba represents an innovative fusion of previous popular and folkloric Afro-Cuban styles with elements of hip-hop and other African-American styles like jazz, funk and salsa. Timba articulates a black urban youth subculture with distinctive visual and choreographic codes.

Table of Contents

List of Plates	viii
List of Music Examples	x
Acknowledgements	xi
Introduction	1	(18)
The cracking sound of the periodo especial	2	(2)
Facing Cuban and Latin music: the role of timba	4	(2)
Timba in the black diaspora	6	(4)
About this book	10	(2)
Overview of chapters	12	(3)
A final word	15	(4)
Part I Setting the Scene
1 Miusica bailable under the Revolution, 1959-1989	19	(35)
Popular music in Havana at the advent of the revolution	21	(2)
Socialism without pachanga: the forging of a new identity	23	(3)
Structural changes in music-making and education	26	(2)
The years of the 'self-blockade', 1968-1973	28	(4)
The 1970's crisis of dance music: cultural nationalism, music and the media	32	(4)
Precursors to timba: Cuban jazz, Bongo and the modernization of Cuban dance music	36	(8)
The impact of salsa and the resurgence of música bailable	44	(5)
Conclusions	49	(5)
2 Music in Havana at the Dawn of the periodo especial: the Emergence of Timba	54	(20)
Cuba into the 1990's: the advent of the periodo especial	55	(4)
The emergence of timba and the role of NG La Banda	59	(4)
The mark of timba	63	(2)
The decline of the collective and the rise of dance popstars	65	(5)
La Charanga Habanera and the spectacularization of timba	70	(2)
Conclusions	72	(2)
3 Facing the Market: Cuban Musicians and Audiences into the 1990's	74	(23)
Professional musicians before the 1990's	75	(1)
Changes in music regulation during the periodo especial	76	(3)
The role of foreign record companies	79	(3)
Facing the market: musicians	82	(2)
Facing the market: audiences	84	(4)
The impact of the US embargo	88	(2)
Popular music and censorship	90	(3)
Conclusions	93	(4)
Part II Matters of Style
4 Timba as a Genre and a Musical Style	97	(42)
Naming the style: son, salsa and timba	98	(2)
Hypotheses on the origins of the term	100	(2)
Timba, rumba and modern dance music	102	(3)
A new musical style	105	(1)
Instrumentation and sound	106	(3)
Identifying structure	109	(2)
Organization of the rhythm section	111	(8)
The role of improvization	119	(7)
The black roots of timba	126	(3)
El temba': analytical overview	129	(10)
5 Voices, Words, Bodies: Content, Meaning and Timba Subculture	139	(22)
Situating the voice: coros and vocal style	140	(3)
Lyrics: content and language in timba songs	143	(7)
Representing the body: timba as a subculture	150	(1)
The emergence of despelote	151	(4)
Dress and visual style	155	(2)
Conclusions	157	(4)
Part III Dangerous Connections
6 'Oh God, protect me!': Race, Religion and the Revolution	161	(31)
Afro-Cubans and their culture before 1959	163	(4)
After the revolution	167	(2)
Black culture between marginality and folklorization	169	(3)
Rumba in the symbolic geography of Havana	172	(5)
Dance music and santeria	177	(3)
Religion in Cuba after 1959	180	(2)
The orichas and the revolution	182	(2)
Marketing black culture	184	(5)
Conclusions	189	(3)
7 'You are a witch with no feelings': Sex Tourism, Gender and the Representation of Women in Timba Songs	192	(27)
The return of sex tourism in Cuba	193	(2)
The scandal of 'La bruja'	195	(4)
'Dale cintura, mulata!': Queens of Havana nights	199	(4)
A vulgar music? The image of woman in Cuban popular songs	203	(4)
Women and gender roles under the revolution	207	(3)
Jineterismo between escape and survival	210	(7)
Conclusions	217	(2)
8 'Find yourself a sugar-daddy who pays your upkeep': the Challenge of música bailable	219	(21)
Youth in Havana: dire life and consumer dreams	220	(4)
'El temba': Confronting the official discourse	224	(6)
The rise and fall of La Charanga Habanera	230	(3)
A changing climate	233	(2)
End of the party?	235	(3)
Conclusions	238	(2)
9 Marketing Nostalgia: the Rise of Buena Vista Social Club	240	(24)
The 'rediscovery' of Cuban music	241	(2)
The invention of Buena Vista Social Club	243	(1)
An alien in Havana: the rocker as a revivalist	244	(3)
The impact of Buena Vista in Cuba	247	(2)
Contortions of musical nationalism	249	(4)
Son vs. timba and Buena Vista vs. Team Cuba	253	(6)
Cuban music as world music	259	(3)
Conclusions	262	(2)
10 Beyond Palms, Rum and 'Che': Black Music into the New Millennium	264	(23)
Timberos backed into a corner	266	(3)
The revivalist wave	269	(1)
Rap, a lo cubano	270	(5)
The return of Latin jazz	275	(1)
The orphans of rock	276	(2)
Towards a Havana Renaissance?	278	(2)
Diasporic identities: timba and the black Atlantic	280	(7)
Bibliography	287	(31)
Discography	318	(6)
Documentaries, Films and Music Videos	324	(2)
Index	326