María la O, ¿quién es?

Rumba lyrics are filled with allusions to colorful and evocative characters, mostly anonymous: Pregoneros, gossips, chinos, la china con diente de oro, to name just a few.

Then there are some who have names: Poor Severa and her godmother Latuá, José Nasario who doesn't know where the sun comes up, Maria las Nieves with her strange fear, our friend Arturo and his watch.

But there is one name that appears more than all the others: that of María la O.

Has there ever been a rumba at which her name hasn't come up at least once? Despite the many references, there is scarcely a hint of any personality behind the name. No guaguancó dedicated to her, no details of her life, nothing but a name.

She was destined to be given an honored place in rumba, in one of those "never fails" coros; later in the montuno, whenever the energy starts to drag a little bit, someone will inevitably call out:

¡María la O, kuenda!

¡Kuenda, María!

And time after time, the rumba obeys the bantú command "kuenda" (to go, get a move on, ¡camina!), and suddenly the spirit lifts, the tempo picks up again, and the rumba continues even stronger than before.

There is another refrain heard once in a while, as in the song that goes

Era un domingo cuando yo la ví
Iba coqueta, iba por allí
Iba cantando bajito
Un dulce canto que decía así:
María de la O,
María de la O,
María de la O...

But none of these tell us anything about a particular person with that name. So who was she? Is it possible to know?


The Story of (de la) O

"Maria la O" is a shortened form of "Maria de la O," is a surname, not uncommon in Spain.

The origins of the surname are somewhat obscure. There are basically two theories, that it came from the Catholic feast S. Maria de la O or is a Spanish corruption of the French, "de l'eau."

In a discussion on the blog languagehat.com, commenter Roger Depledge writes:

The Catholic Encyclopedia, under Feast of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, says "The feast of 18 December was commonly called, even in the liturgical books, "S. Maria de la O", because on that day the clerics in the choir after Vespers used to utter a loud and protracted "O", to express the longing of the universe for the coming of the Redeemer (Tamayo, Mart. Hisp., VI, 485). The Roman "O" antiphons have nothing to do with this term, because they are unknown in the Mozarabic Rite. This feast and its octave were very popular in Spain, where the people still call it "Nuestra Señora de la O". [Juan Tamayo de Salazar, Martyrologium Hispanum (Lyon, 1651-59)]

Daniel de la O, writing at http://cafedelao.blogspot.com/ says:

Finally, my research has pointed one of the origins of the surname in France, in the region of la Vierge de l'eau. Which means Virgin of the Water, this place is famous because the Virgin Mary apeared over a water spring. Someone took the surname De l'eau, -probably happened around the 1485 by orders of the Vatican (long story)- and consequently when he or she moved to Spain the name changed from eau to O, because the word eau is pronounced exactly like the letter "O" in spanish. I'm sure that the ones of you who speak spanish will understand it better. After one or two generations the name became De La O, hiding it's relation to the virgin. This may be the origin of De La O and it would say that your surname actually means: of the Water...

Our resident francophile Patrice finds this last explanation a bit dubious, and I do as well, mostly because I haven't been able to turn up a single person with the last name "de L'eau."

But none of this probably matters anyway. Although "de la O" is a surname, there is some evidence to suggest that when combined with "María" it's always a given name.

An immigration database at BYU has a link to a document (downloadable here) on Spanish combined given names (such as Juan de la Cruz, Miguel Angel, María (del) Carmen and María de la O) and states:

"Extensive research and study of naming customs indicate that when any of the combinations of names on this list appear in a record they are given names. Some of the names, such as de la Cruz are also used as surnames but not in the combinations listed here."

So it seems safe to assume that whoever our subject was, "María la O" was merely her given name and not her full name.

MUSICAL REFERENCES

The name "María de la O," so strange to anglo ears, is not as uncommon as it seems, and has appeared in Cuban music, particularly in references to blacks or mulatas, since probably well before the 1860's. María Teresa Linares writes:

The composer Sebastián Iradier [(January 20, 1809 – December 6, 1865) ] made the Habanera universally famous when he wrote La Paloma, and many others, among them La Nenguita, which has as its refrain an old Cuban guaracha:

“Me llaman María La O
y no hay negra como yo
más bonita sí la habrá
pero más graciosa no."

The name also appears in a song by Rosendo Ruiz called "El Maine," a line from which was picked up by the Sevilliano cantaor Pepe de la Matrona who spent time in Cuba around 1914, for his song "Recuerdos de La Habana."

"Allá en el muelle
Está mi china que me espera.
Se llama María la O
Ay no, ay no.
Y esta china tiene rabia, por Dios.
Esta china tiene miedo
Que yo al muelle la llevara
Y la metiera en el barco
Y en el barco la dejara
Y esta es la china
De quien te hablo
A mí me gusta El anís del diablo."

Researcher Huib Buillet provides more detail on the origins of the reference:

The source: “Rosendo Ruiz Suárez”, in the magazine Música, Serie Nuestros Autores, n° 3, Biblioteca Nacional José Martí, La Habana (1985).

The article has an interview with Rosendo Ruiz, here is the excerpt:

Sí, el Cangrejito es una rumbita mía que yo no inscribí y que luego este músico respetable, Alejandro García Catarla, hizo un danzón con él y lo inscribió a su nombre… Enumerar todas mis composiciones sería muy difícil porque tengo más de trescientas. Esas rumbitas yo las hacía por embullo, pero no soy sonero, ni guarachero, soy trovador. El Maine sí fue un son muy popular:

Allá en el Maine
Hay una china que me espera,
se llama María la O
Ay Dios!
esa china tiene rabia por Dios…

Los Papines recorded a guaguancó called "María la O," but that song, a Spanish zambra written in the 1930's by Salvador Valverde, Rafael de León y Manuel López Quiroga enjoyed great popularity, having inspired at least two film versions in Spain by the time Los Papines recorded it, and still quite popular in the repertoire there.

María de la O
Que desgraciaíta, gitana, tu eres
teniéndolo tó’
Tu quieres reir
hasta los ojitos los tienes morados de tanto sufrir
Maldito parné
que por su culpita dejaste al gitano
que fue tu querer ¡Castigo de Dios!
¡Castigo de Dios!
Es la crucecita que llevas a cuestas
María de la O

Lecuona's María la O

Probably the most famous María la O is that of Ernesto Lecuona's zarzuela, which premiered in Havana on March 1, 1930.

In his thesis on the zarzuela, Henry MaCarthy writes:

There are two sources for the libretto of María La O. The first is based on a real
mulata that allegedly lived in Santiago de Cuba sometime during the mid nineteenth
century. Edwin Tolón, a theater impresario and close friend of Lecuona, who presented the original production in La Habana, relates an anecdote, in turn taken from oral narratives collected in the Annals of Santiago de Cuba:

[…] en esos años residía en esa ciudad un notable músico catalán llamado Juan Casamitjana. Estaba él recostado en la baranda de la ventana de la casa en que vivía cuando vio venir una numerosa comparsa que dirigían dos famosas mulatas de rumbo, una era María La O y la otra María de la Luz, que cantaban y bailaban una música electrizante. Impresionado el compositor por su baile fue al piano y repitió de memoria los compases de dicha música anónima pasándolos después al papel pautado (49).

[…] around those years in that city, there lived a Catalan musician named Juan Casamitjana. While leaning in the window of his house, he saw a large comparsa directed by two famous mulatas de rumbo, María La O and María de la Luz, singing and dancing an electrifying music. The composer was impressed by the dance and repeated the anonymous melody by memory in his piano, later transcribing it to music paper.

— "Cuban Zarzuela And The (Neo)Colonial Imagination: A Subaltern Historiography Of Music Theater In The Caribbean" by Henry W. MacCarthy

The second source was the Cuban novel "Cecilia Valdés" by Cirilo Villaverde. Lecuona had in fact set out to write his zarzuela based on this book, but when the Villaverde family refused to grant him the rights to the work, he and his librettist began revising the work.

Yet despite this tantalizing reference to a real-life Mariá la O, given that Casamitjana was writing the music for himself and that the incident occurred in 1836, 59 years before Lecuona was born, and nearly one hundred years before his operetta's premiere, it seems likely that the only definite "inspiration" the María la O from Santiago provided was in the use of her name for Lecuona's leading lady.

I also found one other curious reference by colonial music scholar Zolia Lapique. Speaking about the recurring popularity of the conga santiaguera, she says:

Algo similar a este fenómeno contemporáneo de la conga santiaguera ocurrió en 1852 cuando vino a La Habana la comparsa del Cocoyé con sus dos guías, las mulatas María de la O Soguendo y María de la Luz, junto al enanito Manuel que bailaba con el Anaquillé, muñeco de carnaval.

"Soguendo" is indeed a surname, if rather uncommon. Further research is needed to determine if the the surname of María la O from Santiago is known or has been lost to history. If it turns out to be Soguendo, I think a case could be made that the chorus "María la O, kuenda" is a corruption of her name. Until then though I believe the reverse is more likely to be true, as seen here.)

This article was inspired when I was trying to confirm the words to the coro in the video clip at the beginning, which contains another occurence of María la O that I was unfamiliar with, sung by Juan de Dios:

María la O
María la O
Banderillero africano
María la O, ¿quién es?

During the course of the discussion, a Cuban friend of ours, José Luís Gomez, made a great remark, which we will use to close for now (since topics like this are never truly finished):

"In the folklore and general music world in Cuba it has been a tradition to get inspired by personalities and characters that gave and still give color to our way of living... So maybe she existed or not and at the end of the day I don't think that it's that important. The rumba María la O is a killer, the coro is fantastic and Juan really brings it in con chambo y mucho ibiano and that is what counts."

Martha Galarraga about to be expelled from France by the French State: an absurd cultural scandal…

Martha Galarraga is no ordinary artist: she's the daughter of Lázaro Galarraga, one of Cuba's greatest akpwones, reknowned as a major artist in the USA.
Considering her career and talent, Martha is one of the most famous afro-cuban akpwonas, like Amelita Pedroso, Caridad La Bembona or Teresa Polledo.
Martha went to live in Europe in 1998, first in Germany, without any problems on a permanent residence permit. Then she came to live in Paris in 2002, where she did not have any problems until 2008.
The Préfecture de Paris (French local authorities) then transferred her case for inquiry to the French DDTEFP (Direction Départementale du Travail, de l'Emploi et de la Formation Professionnelle, Authority for labour and employment), which is part of the French Ministry of Work, Social Relationship, Family, Solidarity (what a nice word!!) and Town.
On September 29th 2008 they refused to renew her work permit. The DDTEFP demanded a permanent work contract for at least three months by one single employer. Martha did find one (we believe it was from French association Odduara) that guaranteed 43 gigs in 12 months, which the DDTEFP refused to validate. They put the limit even higher, demanding a minimum six months contract, that Martha also obtained: and was denied again. What zealous state servant can be dull-witted enough to ignore that a musician in France only very seldom obtains such a contract, unless he works with a major artist or a theater or dance company able to tour for six full months??

"On the 26th of May Martha's resident card has been seized by the 6th bureau of sous-direction for foreigners of the Préfecture de Paris. Martha no longer has any right to work".


Here are the disastrous consequences in sequence:

-1° Martha becomes a "paperless" worker
-2° She won't get any money from French ASSEDIC (unemployment insurance)
-3° She can't leave French territory: farewell to the London Lukumí Choir of which she's the director.
-4° She lost every job in France, including her job in Paris ISAAC where she was a teacher.
-5° She lost her job with the Ensemble Nord-Sud that had a tour in Brazil
-6° She has to wait 1 or 2 years a decision from French Tribunal Administratif
-7° She can be sent off back to Cuba at any time: return to point zero.
-etc, etc…

What is Martha suspected for? How can such a right, sane, human, joyful and serious person be disliked to such a degree by (supposedly) competent authorities?
Some sources say Martha would "change too often her employers". What kind of crime is this? Others say Martha "wouldn't pay enough taxes" and "wouldn't have a sufficient professional activity".

Who could have the right to crush so absurdly the international career of any foreign artist whoever s/he is? Martha has not got any problem with anyone, not with the Cuban state - is she accused of communism? Would the French state prefer she asked for political asylum? Martha does not want any arranged wedding, nor does she want any scheming to obtain a resident card. She's a right and honest person, and she's tired of so many fights with absurd authorities which decided to make her an outlaw.

Martha has nothing to fight back with other than cultural weapons. Her case has to make enough noise to reach French new Ministre de la Culture, Mr Frédéric Miterrand, for he alone can save her.

SO LET'S MAKE SOME NOISE!!.
Journalists, writers, scholars: it's up to you!! Martha's lawyer needs media stuff to consolidate her defense.

Let's remember a big petition in Europe signed by 1300 people did not sway the French institution one single second.

(Martha with Mark Lotz in Holland)

Let's now try to answer to the argument saying:
"Martha Galarraga wouldn't have a sufficient professional activity":

• just try "Martha Galarraga" in a Youtube search and you'll get 18 results. Martha can be watched there in many different contexts (which proves she's a polyvalent artist not being locked up in one single musical style), in France, in Cuba, in Mexico, in Martinique…

• try "Martica Galarraga" or "London Lucumí Choir" (11 answers), or 'Galarumba".

• try "Martha Galarraga" in Google and you'll get… 18,100 results!!

• try "image search" and you'll get… 6 470 results.

Here are some discographic elements in Martha's career (there are many others):

(Cuba: Lázaro Ros - Olorun)

(Cuba: Oba-Ilú - Santeria)

(Cuba: Yoruba Andabo - Del Yoruba al Son)

(Cuba: Afrekete - Iyabakuá)

(Holland: Mark Lotz - Cuban Fishes Make Good Dishes)

(Germany: Bayuba Cante - Cheba)

(Germany: Bayuba Cante - Orunmila's Dance)

(USA: Omar Sosa - Sentir)

(USA: Omar Sosa - Prietos)

(USA: John Santos - La Guerra No)

(France: Madomko - d'Ouest en Ouest)

HER CURRICULUM VITAE:

(With Bayuba Cante in Germany)

-Martha was born in 1969 in the barrio of Luyanó, Havana.
She's the daughter of master drummer and singer Lázaro Galarraga, co-founder of Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba, one of the greatest akpwones of all time.
-In 1990, aged 21, she entered Conjunto Folklórico Nacional, for eight years, as a dancer, then solist-singer.
-At the same time, she sings in many Yoruba rituals in Havana.
-In the late 1990s she came to Europe. First in Germany where she worked in her first musical productions in Europe, together with the Rotterdam Conservatory, and in a salsa group « Macumbachè » in Frankfurt. Then she came to Paris, teaching at the ISAAC (Institut Supérieur des Arts Afro-Cubains).
-She entered Omar Sosa's group, one of the world's main Latin-Jazz artists, playing one concert at Carnegie Hall. In 2000, her meeting with Omar Sosa will carry her to USA, Japan, Morocco, Puerto Rico, and Brazil, for 4 years.
-She formed her own group in 2003: Martha y su Galarumba.
-Since she came to Europe, Martha has taught in many masterclasses in singing and dancing in Germany, England, Holland and France.

(with Conjunto Folklórico Nacional
in the film "In Cuba they're still Dancing")

(with Lucumí in Tony Gatlif's film)

(in Havana with Rumberos de Cuba)

(In Darmstadt, Germany)

(in Germany again)

(with Bayuba Cante)

Saludando: Raúl González Brito "Lali"

"Lali" in Madrid, June 2009

(photo: Barry Cox)

On a recent trip to Spain we had the great fortune to meet Raúl de la Caridad González Brito, known as "Lali" to his friends and legions of students around the world.

We hung out for a bit and had a great time, listening and talking about rumba over some jamón, queso, olives, and a couple of cold "Mahou" beers. He patiently helped us resolve quite a few long-standing doubts we had about some rumba lyrics, for which we are extremely grateful!

Here's a bit of his background.

Lali was born on January 14, 1949 on Calle San Gabriel between Magnolia and Florence in the Cerro barrio of Havana. Later he moved to the Calzada de Buenos Aires # 419 between Paz and San Julio, where he has lived (and held rumbas) for years:

Verdaderamente es una peña de la rumba en el Cerro de hace muchos años inclusive de ensayos de comparsas, rumbas con Los Papines, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Yoruba Andabo, Los Chinitos de Jacomino, Chucho Valdes, Chavalonga, Los Aspirina, Juan de Dios, El Goyo, Pancho Quinto, Rumberos de Cuba y por supuesto Clave y Guaguancó y muchos más que no tendriamos tiempo para enumerarlos.

Lali currently lives in Madrid with his wife who is there working for a Cuban company.

Lali's main inspiration in Cuban percussion was his cousin Alejandro Brito Publes, with whom he began playing tumbadora at 14, and then batá drums, becoming Omo-Añá during a tambor fundamento at which Alejandro played.

In 1970 he founded a group of white rumberos in El Cerro, called the Estrellas de Guaguancó. They played the Cabaret Parisien at the Hotel Nacional, along with several groups like Pello El Afrokán, Los Papines and Changuito.

Lali was a co-founder of Juan de Dios' "Raices Profundos," and was with them for three years.

After that he entered the group of "Tato de Atarés" with Puntilla, and then the group Wemilere Jonas Bombarlé, and Luis Chacón Mendivel's group Alafia. He also was director of the group Ero Ayé.

Since 1970 he's had his own group to play religious events (batá and cajón espiritual, guiro and even violín a los Orichas) and rumba, called: la Fundación Babalú Ayé.

He traveled to Italy with the group of Omo de Akokán.

He worked with one group Aché where the director was the poet Olga Navarro, and in another group Aché directed by "Sarita" Reyes.

He worked with the Orquesta América under the direction of bassist Jorge Machado, the saxophonist "El Chino" Lang's group, in several cabarets, and in the group Caracol directed by "Nacho."

Laly graduated in Cuban Percussion (medium level) and in 1980 was evaluated in the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional, then with Danza Nacional and in Música Popular with Orquesta América.
For three years he taught technical classes at the ENA.

He joined Conjunto de Clave y Guaguancó in 1988 (along with Alejandro Publes) where he remained as percussionist, singer and administrator until 1992. There he recorded the group's first album, "Cantaremos y Bailaremos," released in the states as "Songs and Dances." The disc is a true classic containing the first "official" recording of the style known as "guarapachangueo."


While in Clave y Guaguancó, Lali was involved in a quick side project called "Rhythm and Smoke" that resulted in three killer and never-released tracks that we are happy to share with you here. About those sessions Lali tells us:

"Eso fue en el año 1990 , con un proyecto que se llamó "Ritmo y Humo" financiado por unos japoneses y Chuck Silverman "Palito" que vive en California, profesor de percusión y muy amigo mio estaba a cargo de este proyecto, se grabó música en formato de "charanga", son, changüí, música campesina, batá y por supuesto rumba. Palito se me presentó en la casa un jueves y me dijo, "El sábado estas en los estudios de "Sono Caribe" para que grabes lo que tú quieras." [Laly cuenta un poco de su vida a Palito aquí. — Ed.]

Pués sólo tuve tiempo de buscar la gente y pensar ¿qué? iba a grabar ya que quería hacer algo fuera de lo que siempre se hace y recopilé fragmentos de algunas rumbas callejeras de autores anónimos; aunque algunos pedacitos son conocidos, y sin ensayar fuimos para el estudio ya que no podía perder la oportunidad de grabar algo ideado por mí.

La muchacha que canta se llama Inés Carbonell, ella cantaba en Danza Nacional de Cuba y después Carlos Embale la buscaba para que le hiciera la voz tercera en sus grabaciones. "Cotó" está tocando el trés, a pura improvisación, "El Chispa" en el bajo, improvisando igualmente,"El Chino" en la percusión y Regino el que canta rumba conmigo y yo tocando y reforzando las voces."

"That was in 1990 with a project called "Rhythm and Smoke" funded by some Japanese and Chuck Silverman "Palito" who lives in California, a professor of percussion and a good friend of mine, was in charge of this project. They recorded music like charanga, changüí, música campesina, batá and of course rumba. Palito came by my house on Thursday and told me, "Saturday you are booked in the "Sono Caribe" studios to record whatever you want!" [Laly tells Palito a bit more about his life here. —Ed.]

So I only had a short time to get some people together and think about what I was going to record. I wanted to do something different than what is normally done and so I collected fragments of some "rumbas callejeras" by anonymous authors, although some pieces are known, and with no rehearsal we went into the studio, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to record my ideas.

The woman who sings is Inés Carbonell, she sang in "Danza Nacional de Cuba" and then Carlos Embale sought her out to do the "voz tercera" (high harmony) on his recordings. "Cotó" is playing the tres, pure improvisation, "El Chispa" is on bass, improvising too,"El Chino" on percussion and Regino is singing and I am playing and singing to reinforce the voices."

These really are some great examples of rumba mixed with tres and bass, among the finest I have heard. So here for your enjoyment, with special thanks to Lali and Chuck Silverman, are the three tracks from Lali's All-Stars:

Se vende un corazón


El Trovador y su musa


La rumba es cubana


Download them all here.

If you'd like to get in touch with Lali his contact is: nereraul2004 (at) yahoo (dot) es


Lali's Groups:
-Estrellas de Guaguancó
-Raices Profundas
-Wemilere de Jonas Bombarlé
-Alafia de Luis Chacón Mendivel
-Ero Ayé
-Fundación Babalú Ayé
-Omo de Akokán
-grupo Aché de Olga Navarro
-grupo Aché de "Sarita" Reyes
-Orquesta América
-grupo del Chino Lang
-grupo Caracol
-Conjunto de Clave y Guaguancó
-Alejo y sus muchachos
-Tripulación Salsera
-Cuarteto Adagio


Lali's Compositions:

1-LA RUMBA NO ES COMO AYER
2-EL TIEMPO SERA TESTIGO
3-ELEGIA PARA ALFREDO
4-EL DINERO NO TIENE AMIGOS
5- EL LALI RUMBA BATA CA CHE
6-DEJA LA GUARA
7-PUBLICO OYENTE
8-TUMBAITO
9-EL REFRANERO
10-RASCATE SI TE PICA
11-PONME A GOZAR
12-REFRANEANDO
13-ME COGISTE PA ESO
14-EL DICHO QUE NO HE DICHO
15-PARA SER UN BUEN SONERO
16-LA SERPIENTE Y LA LIMA
17-PELOTICA DE PING PON
18-MI CANCION PREFERIDA
19-DIME YA QUE SI
20-LA ENVIDIA Y EL ENVIDIOSO
21-LAS COSAS DE LA VIDA
22-EL SAPITO CANTOR

Lali's Discography:
-Conjunto de Clave y Guaguancó "Cantaremos y Bailaremos" (Xenophile GLCD 4023, 1990)
-Orquesta América (números del autor colombiano Hernando Vasquez), re-editado en "Las Leyendas de la Música Cubana - Orquesta América with Cuban All-Stars" (Tumi Gold)
-Lalí All-Stars
-Ensalada Musical
-Ritmo y Humo
-un disco de Conga premiada (dir. Pello el Afrokán)
-Popurrit Picaresco (Homenaje al Pícaro Evaristo Aparicio)
-Quiero ser yo (con Marlin Ramazzini)


Lali's Filmography:

1-DOCUMENTARY "LOS ULTIMOS GAITEROS DE LA HABANA".

2-DOCUMENTARY: "A TRAVES DE LOS AÑOS" CON EL "GRUPO LAYE" Y "CLAVE Y GUAGUANCO".

3-DOCUMENTARY "MUSICA IRAKERE" DE MELCHOR CASALS

Viva Amalia, viva Italia

Amalia e,

Yo soy de Amalia
Amalia, Amalia e

I've often wondered about the words Amalia, and Amaliano, and why they come up so often in rumba lyrics.

Amalia, este su nombre
Qué lindo nombre de mujer...

As the song tells us, Amalia is a feminine given name. It seems it was never extremely popular but not uncommon either, especially among the Dutch, Germans, Finns, Spanish and Italians. It seems to have been most popular in the 1800's, declining rapidly after that.

A report from the Netherlands gives us some background:

The name Amalia goes back to Amalia van Solms (1602-1675), the wife of Frederik Hendrik and mother of King Willem II. According to historians, she was a strong woman who did not shun political influence. Amalia in ancient Germanic cultures stood for exertion, particularly in battle.

It is said to derive "from the Germanic 'amal' meaning 'work, labor, effort, strain', and also "may be taken as a variant of the Hebrew Amalya, meaning "work of the Lord"."

So how does an ancient Germanic or Hebrew name become so common in rumba?

Dicen que en Jesús María
Hay una comparsa
Que tocan tambores
Cantamos, tocamos tambores
Para que la gente baile
¿Bueno y qué?
¿Bueno y qué?
¿Qué les hacemos a esos?

Nosotros los Amalianos señores
Sabemos divertirnos
Por eso los invitamos
Para que vengan a gozar
A mi Amalia

So it seems Amalia is linked to the barrio of Jesús María. But why?

It's probably impossible to know for certain, but Yamira Rodríguez Marcano tells us one version of the story here:

Poblado hacia la segunda década del siglo XVIII, con el nombre de San José del Astillero, debido al establecimiento de este último, el barrio de Jesús María, en La Habana antigua de extramuros, continua siendo hoy uno de sus términos más populares.

En 1753 en la Calle Real de Jesús María, hoy Revillagigedo, fue levantada una ermita a Jesús María y José que le dio nuevo nombre a la barriada.

Con esta calle se asocia una de las leyendas más vivas de Jesús María.

Cuentan que en ella vivió una negra llamada Amalia, protectora de revolucionarios y esclavos perseguidos por las autoridades coloniales, los escondía y les facilitaba la salida como polizontes hacia Haití u otras tierras, era además la Madrina de los centros ñáñigos del barrio, lo que hizo que los humildes habitantes ayudados por ella, se autonombraran, hijos de Amalia.

Así se conocían en el siglo XIX y de ahí que se derive que a los de Jesús María, se les llame amalianos.


In the second decade of the 18th century, a barrio known as San José del Astillero began to grow up around the extramural shipyards of Havana. In 1753, an hermitage called Jesús María y José was built on the Calle Real de Jesús María (today Revillagigedo), thus giving the neighborhood a new name, "Jesús María."

This street is linked to one of the barrio's most vivid legends.

They say that a black woman named Amalia lived there, who protected revolucionaries and fugitive slaves, hiding them and helping them escape as cops (?) to Haiti or other countries. She was also the madrina of the Ñañigo centers in the barrio. The humble inhabitants whom she had helped began calling themselves "hijos de Amalia" (children of Amalia).

That's how they were known in the 19th century and that's why those from Jesús María are called amalianos.

So phrases like "yo soy de Amalia," "yo soy amaliano" are just the rumberos' way of saying they are from the barrio of Jesús María, and paying tribute to their own "strong woman" who in her own way was doing "the Lord's work," helping the oppressed find their way to freedom.

About another frequent and curious occurrence of Amalia in rumba, El Goyo adds:

La frontera entre Jesús Maria y Los Sitios La avenida Italia, que actualmente se llama Monte. Los rumberos de Los Sitios dijeron: si los rumberos de Jesus María dicen que son de Amalia, entonces nosotros somos de Italia. Es por eso que cuando un rumbero dice "Viva Amalia, viva ITALIA", esta diciendo: "Viva Jesús Maria, viva Los Sitios".

The border between Jesús María and Los Sitios was Avenida Italia (today known as Monte). The rumberos of Los Sitios said: If the rumberos of Jesús María say they are from Amalia, then we are from Italia. That's why, when a rumbero says "Viva Amalia, viva ITALIA, he's saying, "Viva Jesús María, viva Los Sitios."