matanzas guaganco, yambu, columbia

[carlitos]

Does anybody have sound bites to how these rythems are played. I would like to hear each part 1st 2nd and 3rd drum.
The correct way.
Thanks

[CongaCaja]

Did you really mean "columbia" or "cumbia"?

cjk

[carlitos]

columbia it's the faster rhythm of guaganco

[Simon B]

It is an interesting point - why are guaguanco rythms so common and those for Columbia or Yambu so obscure?

Simon B

[JohnnyConga]

WELL CARLITOS YOU CAN NOW PICK UP VIDEOS OF gRUPO GUAGUANCO MATANZERO AND OF GRUPO YORUBA ANDABO AND SEE HOW IT'S REALLY DONE. I recommend any videos you can get by these 2 groups. Yambu and Rumba Columbia are just as common as Guaguanco, in Cuban music.....at your Service...JC JOHNNY CONGA....

[carlitos]

Hey JC I picked up Los Munequitos the other day. Awsome.

Thanks
Carlitos

[Laurent Lamy]

Does anybody have sound bites to how these rythems are played. I would like to hear each part 1st 2nd and 3rd drum.
The correct way.
Thanks

Hi Carlito,
contact me at this adress: laurent.lamy@club-internet.fr and I will send you audio files...

[Simon B]

YOU CAN NOW PICK UP VIDEOS OF gRUPO GUAGUANCO MATANZERO AND OF GRUPO YORUBA ANDABO AND SEE HOW IT'S REALLY DONE. I recommend any videos you can get by these 2 groups. Yambu and Rumba Columbia are just as common as Guaguanco, in Cuban music.....

Hi Johnny. Where can you get these videos from?

Also - about the Guaguanco - it seems to me the one rumba that the western musical books and videos seem to approach. Is there something special about it?

Simon B

[Tone]

Hello Carlitos,

I am just back from Cuba and saw all the great rumba groups play. What a fantastic experience not only from the band point of view but also the dancing and the crowd attitude in general.
Anyway I took a lot of classes from some very knowledgable rumberos and the subject is endless. So just a few things:
the patterns are actually only on the two low drums, the quinto is always improvising over the top. You can learn to play rumba on two or more drums but the tradition is one person on the salidor ( =tumba) and some one else on the tres-dos (=conga) but more importantly you have to learn and understand the clave as well as the palitos also known as guagua and sometimes chekere on top.
There are different versions for each style of rumba, for example there is the guaguaco in the style of havana, Matanzas, or the Muniquitos version. Each of thoses styles has a sort of basic pattern, the problem is that you will never actually hear it on record or live because everybody is just using this as a reference and playing a lot around it. But what matters is to keep the melody going between the drums in time with the clave.
I hope to have time to post a lot of rhythms for the conga book soon which will explain all this very clearly.
In the mean time good luck with the rumba it is a world unto itself and requires many years of listening and practise.

all the best

tone

[zaragemca]

since around 1896,when The differents Cabildos in Cuba started their celebration,the articulation of the percussion patterns went trough several stages and some of the projects were modified in accordance to the group of percussionist playing those patterns, so from Jiribilla,it switched to Yambu, to Guaguanco, to Columbia,To Rumba Brava.



Edited By zaragemca on 1104863539

[Mr. NoChops]

since around 1896,when The differents Cabildos in Cuba started their celebration,the articulation of the percussion patterns went trough several stages and some of the projects were modified in accordance to the group of percussionist playing those patterns, so from Jiribilla,it switched to Yambu, to Guaguanco, to Columbia,To Rumba Brava.

But would you agree that the guaguanco, yambu and son montuno are best articulated through precision movements of ligamentary tracts devoid of rudimentary stiffness? I would contend that the prominent congueros in Cuba at a certain point in time were using techniques for the Rumba Columbia and polyrhytmic phrases to accent the flow of the clave, which is the essence amongst the whole batteria. Drumming is an endless quest, deep in tradition.

[rahalak]

Now THAT'S comedy!

[windhorse]

Just to add, in case someone doesn't doesn't play this patterns - the Yambu is a slow 4/4 pattern usually played with Yambu clave that goes with the neumonic -
"boy-I-Like-to-play-Yam-bu". Sometimes, a slow Son Clave instead. Often played on cajones - box drums, as well as congas.
Some call it the "old folks song" - slow dance and beautiful singing goes with it.

Guaguanco - 4/4 pretty speedy, but not too fast usually.
Rumba clave is used these days, but in the distant past it was Son clave. The dance Vacunao is often used where the males and females are trying to "get into each other's pants".
:laugh:

Columbia - a speedy 6/8 with a two measure phrase where the tres-dos alternates between slap and double tones. 6/8 "short bell" is used. A more aggressive dance and song accompany the rhythm.

On all these rhythms the quinto embellishes and ad libs often disguising the one and hitting around the downbeats. Thus, making the rhythms especially eclectic and aspired to by even the highest level drummers and percussionists.



Edited By windhorse on 1107098617

[Obi]

Simon BJust to add, in case someone doesn't doesn't play this patterns - the Yambu is a slow 4/4 pattern usually played with Yambu clave that goes with the neumonic -
"boy-I-Like-to-play-Yam-bu". Sometimes, a slow Son Clave instead. Often played on cajones - box drums, as well as congas.
Some call it the "old folks song" - slow dance and beautiful singing goes with it.

Guaguanco - 4/4 pretty speedy, but not too fast usually.
Rumba clave is used these days, but in the distant past it was Son clave. The dance Vacunao is often used where the males and females are trying to "get into each other's pants".
:laugh:

Columbia - a speedy 6/8 with a two measure phrase where the tres-dos alternates between slap and double tones. 6/8 "short bell" is used. A more aggressive dance and song accompany the rhythm.

On all these rhythms the quinto embellishes and ad libs often disguising the one and hitting around the downbeats. Thus, making the rhythms especially eclectic and aspired to by even the highest level drummers and percussionists.

Yambu, is much the same as Guaguanco, only played slower, Not necessarily an "old peoples" dance; It is the version played for those not permitted to dance the Vacunao ???

Vacunao is a courtship (mating) dance. Married couples are not permitted to dance the vacunao.

The quinto in yambu plays a slower improvisation of colombia as well. Otherwise, to listen to the two rhythms, one will hear that they are almost identical except for tempo.

The Mongo Santamaria anthology, "Skin on Skin" which includes Yambu also includes this info in the liner notes.

In regard to the idea that Yambu is an old peoples dance...
I've seen the Vacunao performed & some of the men who danced were close to twice my age, they might have been insulted to be referred to as "old". :angry:

Obi

[Berimbau]

Happy Mardi Gras Ya'll.
Shout out here to Obi. Of course you are absolutely correct that Yambu may be danced by a dancer of any age. It is in the choreography of Yambu that the slower stiffer movements of older people are mimicked. I don't think that these are meant to be satyrical in any manner. Perhaps it is meant to be one of those African type metaphors for the wisdom and resilience of the older generation. The age set factor in the choreography might also explain the absence of vacunao in Yambu, which would be incongruous with it's theme.
Does not the Haitian dance Yanvalou also employ a similar "aged" choreography? Could there be an inter-Caribbean connection or a trans-Atlantic African atecedant? Cuban cultural history certainly provides ample examples of both. It would be nice to know. Are there any dance historians out there who could clarify any these issues?

Obrigado,


Berimbau