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No matter how many times I play it, or listen to it, guarapachangeo remains my least favorite rumba rhythm. How does everyone else feel about gurapachangeo? All respect to Los Chinitos, and Yoruba Andabo, etc.

Me personally I like anything that's new, easy, complicated or whatever when it comes to the drum...so I like it...when i was in Miami at my Rumba sitting with my Bro's i started playing Guarapachangeo on 2 drums and and they said..what's that?..I told them, they said 'na man play some Rumba!....I said this is Rumba!..just different!...and they didnt want to be shown either...Now in NYC they play the shit out of it ..as they do in the Bay area and in Los Angeles....just another 'invento' on the drum, and nothing is wrong with that...Gracias, Los Chinos

Love the rhythm, but I have to have all the components, especially; vocals. Just playing the pattern by myself or with one other drummer doesn't quite get it for me.

I love guaguanco matancero for its clean style, bien sabroso. Players like El Goyo (Diaz), his son Agustin, and now Eddy Espinosa and Freddy Alfonso (and Sandy Perez et al in the US) really started to stretch out the traditional guaguanco matancero, mostly still playing tumbadoras. The matanceros have the advantage that they are all family and have been playing together since childhood, so their interactions are really tight.

In La Habana, the cajon has really become popular and the traditional guaguanco is getting stretched with even more Cuban and international influences, and drummers come from more than a few families, so the art of everyone knowing what everyone else is going to play is not as well developed. Even so, the spreading out of the traditional rumba rhythms onto different and more drums and cajones has made the modern rumba much more varied with lots of different melodies and polyrhythms going on. When done well (eg, Yoruba Andabo Callejon de los Rumberos, Rapsodia Rumbera, Rumberos de Cuba) guarapachangueo is beautiful and very musical. I recently saw the new Yoruba Andabo at Carnegie Hall and, in spite of the horrible sound system, those young guys were really creative and it sounded great.

SOMETIMES our guarapachangueo rumbas in Central Park and clubs around NYC sound great too. However, more often than not, when even one of the drummers does not know what the others are going to play or tries to play "old skool" style, sometimes it sounds horrible. For guarapachangueo to work and sound musical you really have to have excellent drummers who know guaguanco backwards, forwards, inside out and upside down, and who know each others' styles very well. Playing bata helps too. The quinto has even less space to play than traditional guaguanco, and has to really be well disciplined to not overplay. When people start playing licks on top of each other, clashing polyrhythms, playing too loud or too fast, quinto or bass cajon overplaying, or someone going off time, it can easily sound like noise.

I think it's a fantastic rhythm to play as a single player, but is difficult to pull off as an ensemble.

Any Cuban drum ensemble has been together for many years, and can 'read and feed' off each other..that takes time and a lot of playing time together....
here is my example of a Guarapachangeo with 7 parts(a bit overdone, I know) and my first time doing it on my latest recording..Im playing all the parts as well
http://soundcloud.com/johnny-conga/rumb ... apachangeo

Nice one Johnny! I also liked that coro at the end! Well done!

Dave

I was going to comment on that recording earlier, quite an impressive feat laying down all those parts yourself Johnny! This is one of the Guarapachangeo samples I really like, there are a couple others as well - especially when they're leaned out and constrained. It can be a really cool rhythm. When over played though, it quickly turns onto a wall of indiscernible slaps and tones. For a while I thought it must be me i.e. I needed to learn how to hear the music in the rhythm, so I'd sit with some of them and play them a few times - it never really came together for me though. It's good to read that others also find some of the recordings impenetrable.

RR

Jorge, I totally agree about how guarapachangueo can be enticing and wonderful, yet sometimes really suck.

We had Sandy P. come here for a two day session a few months back and we learned his "new" Guaguanco. I'm wondering if the Guaguanco Matancero that you were referring to is the same or similar to what he taught.

Middle drum hits basses on bombo and two, and two tones the 4 &,
Big drum hits three basses into the one, and on bombo, then one tone (normal tumbao) in 3 side of clave.

http://www.mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/download/file.php?mode=view&id=9818
clave: | X - - X - - - X | - - X - X - - - ||
segun: | b t t b b t t t | b t t t o t o t |
hands: | r l r l r l r l | r l r l r l r l |
segun: | b t t b b t t t | b t t t b t t t ||
hands: | r l r l r l r l | r l r l r l r l ||
tumba: | b t t b b t o - | b - t m b t b b ||
hands: | r r l r l l r - | l - l r l l r l ||

I'd like to see more Yambu Matancero.

You know slow it down, spread it out, breathe. Then go back to more the more vigorous.