following up . . .
Note that the title of this thread is misleading. The clave is not reversed. The segundo is revered to clave in modern guaguancó. It is only natural for us to feel the onbeat emphasis of the segundo as "one," but clave is the prime referent of course.
In regards to the aural history passed down from those elders we have been privileged to know, If you ask a drummer from Matanzas, where rumba was born, or who had the batá first, they will say "Matanzas." If you ask a drummer from Havana, they will answer "Havana." And, the elders from each province will tell you in absolute terms, that it all began there. In general, the masters' collective narrative is full of contradictions.
As Barry related, concerning the placement of the segundo on the three-side, Goyo stated "they didn't know what they were doing back then." Yet, according to Jose Madera (former music director for Tito Puente), Machito, Mario Bauza, and other old Cubans in NYC, considered the segundo on the three-side approach the
only correct way to play guaguancó. Mario Jáuregui, a founding member of the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional, has stated more than once that "son clave" was never used in Havana guaguancó. Yet, we have plenty of examples in recorded audio form, some of which feature Mario himself.
The historic flexibility of the guaguancó segundo is not necessarily a case of "anything goes." Both approaches can be rationalized in terms of clave. That's because clave is typically expressed in one of two ways by the individual parts of an ensemble. The first is what I call the
clave motif, where the pattern is an embellishment or a distillation of the clave pattern. The old method of playing the segundo on the three-side is an example of the clave motif. Notice how the open tone melody of the salidor and segundo sound tesillo, the three-side of clave. The enú melody of the last movement of Osain (sometimes called
rumba Obatalá) is another example of the clave motif.
- clave motif - drums
The following piano guajeo is an example of the clave motif. The piano sounds all of the strokes of clave.
- clave motif - guajeo
The other main mode of clave expression is what I call the
offbeat/onbeat motif. There are offbeats on the three-side and onbeats on the two-side. The drum melody of modern Matanzas-style guaguancó is an example of the offbeat/onbeat motif. Notice that the only open tone sounded on the beat, is the segundo, on beat 3 (clave written in one measure), the beginning of the two-side. In the following example, I have included a bare-bones form of the quinto (slap represented by an "X" notehead) and the bass tone of the salidor (lowest note on the staff). The iyesá caja is another example of the offbeat/onbeat motif. All of the strokes are offbeats except the muted stroke on beat 3.
- offbeat/onbeat motif - drums
This typical piano guajeo is based on the offbeat/onbeat motif. The only note coinciding with a main beat, falls on beat 3.
- offbeat/onbeat motif - guajeo
There is no evidence that I've come across in African music, or ethnomusic literature that supports the claim that one of the five-stroke patterns, or the seven-stroke pattern is older than the others. There could be a chronology in Cuba though, as far as which guide pattern was used first. I don't think we will ever know for sure. In the meantime, there are intriguing bits of information that are fun to ponder. I was once told by a Cuban dance teacher, that his mentor, an elderly gentleman, used son clave as his referent for all folkloric music, even the batá. In his
Popular Cuban Music (1939), Emilio Grenet speaks of only one clave pattern, the one we know today as son clave.
The evidence (including aural histories) points towards both clave patterns being
rumba claves. At one time son clave could be considered the "Cuban clave." Rumba clave now seems to have taken over that position. The change can be traced back to the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, when Pello el Afrokán created his rhythm mozambique. Mozambique was the first popular dance music to consistently use rumba clave.
-David