Request Update: 4 of 7 "Lost" Muñequitos tracks

A while back, while perusing Cristobal Diaz Ayala's Discography of Cuban Music I noticed that a few tracks from the two Los Muñequitos LP's that made up the "Rumba Caliente 88/77" CD had never made it to that CD.



So I made a request to readers, and thanks to George and Patricio we can now pass along a few of the missing tracks to you. They submitted:

Glorias Cubanas (Guaguancó by Florencio Calle)
Canto a Angola (Guaguancó by Jesús Alfonso Díaz)
Protesta de Chile (Guaguancó by Florencio Calle)

from the LP Areito 3701 "Los Muñequitos de Matanzas - Dir. Gregorio Diaz" (1977). (George has the album.)

and

Alma Libre (Guaguancó de Juan Bruno Terraza)

from LP Siboney 420 "El guaguancó de Matanzas...Los Muñequitos" (1988). (Patricio has this on a French compilation CD.)


So, from the 1988 LP (Siboney 420) we are still missing:

Canto Para Ti (Guaguanco de Florencio Calle)
Ese Señor (Guaguancó de Gregorio Díaz)
Mayeya (Guaguancó de Jesus Alfonso)

(If anyone has that disc please get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.)

Buy Los Muñequitos de Matanzas' "Rumba Caliente 88/77" here.

Download 4 of the 7 "lost" tracks here.



CANTO A ANGOLA
de Jesus Alfonso Díaz
LP Areito 3701 "Los Muñequitos de Matanzas - Dir. Gregorio Diaz"

Oigan señores, óigalo bien
Oigan señores, óigalo bien
La lucha que lleve a cabo
por su plena libertad
Ese gran pueblo angolano
que lucha sin descansar

Angola es baluarte invencible

(Décima:)
Angola puedes contar
con nuestro pueblo cubano
Que en la lucha somos hermanos
y es por un mismo ideal
no nos van a amedrentar
con sus cobardes agresiones
estos sicarios traidores
que pagan imperialismo
seguiremos hacia adelante
confiarse en el comunismo (?)

Oigan señores, óigalo bien
Oigan señores, óigalo bien
La lucha que lleve a cabo
por su plena libertad
Ese gran pueblo angolano
que lucha sin descansar

Coro: Angola es baluarte invencible

Presidente Agostino Neto
Camarada de paz en Angola
Ye ye ye, ye ye ye, ye ye Angola por liberté

Oye oye, Angola liberté
Oye oye, Angola populé (?)

GLORIAS CUBANAS
de Florencio Calle
LP Areito 3701 "Los Muñequitos de Matanzas - Dir. Gregorio Diaz" (1977)

¡Qué gloria!
Hoy tenemos los cubanos
con armonia y la unión
Hoy vemos a Cuba florecida
dotandose libertad
Tierra que tanta sangre ha cortado
enarbolar su pabellón
Que en Cuba
Se acabaron las ambiciones
Se acabaron las ambiciones
Que agravaban la nación

(Décima:)
Mi Cuba será un vergel
Con un cielo más azul
Gracias a Almeida y Raúl
A Che, Camilo y Fidel
y a todos los combatientes
que en la republica entera
honraron nuestra bandera
de decididos y valientes
Hoy nuestra pátria cubana
Junto a Fidel Castro Ruz
Hoy nuestra pátria cubana
Junto a Fidel Castro Ruz
Abre camino de luz
en tierras americanas

Coro: Por mi Cuba libre, vivo y muero

PROTESTA DE CHILE
de Florencio Calle
LP Areito 3701 "Los Muñequitos de Matanzas - Dir. Gregorio Diaz" (1977)

No creas que estoy contento
Aunque me escuchen cantar
(bis)
Lo que ocurrió, y está pasando en Chile
Lo que ocurrió, y está pasando en Chile
asombra la humanidad

(Décima)
El golpe militarista
Con su actitud fascistoide
Há provocado en el hombre
Protesta en general
Chile tiene que luchar
Chile tiene que luchar
Contra mano ensangrentada
De militares traidores
Que han enlutado esa tierra
con impero (?) barbarismo
y todo ello organizado
por el yanqui imperialismo

Coro: Chileno, a tu revolución, para obtener tu liberación


ALMA LIBRE
de Juan Bruno Terraza
LP Siboney 420 "El guaguancó de Matanzas...Los Muñequitos" (1988)

Igual que un mago de oriente
Con poder y ciencia rara
Logré romper la cadena
Que sin piedad me ataba

Salto en mil pedazos
Como fina copa
Lo triste de mi vida se volvió feliz
Logré que si el amor de mi se olvidaba
Igual tan poco yo ni me acordara.

Perfume de alegría tiene el alma libre
Sin penas ni rencores hoy podré vivir,
Si me quieres sé querer,
Si me olvidas sé olvidar
Porque tengo el alma libre
Para amar.

Coro: Bongo a la tana tana, bongo a la tana tana, yo soy muñequito y estoy de moda

Interview with Virulilla and Saldiguera

Many of you may know the classic story, recounted here, of how the Muñequitos formed: One evening, sitting in the Bar "El Gallo," they burst into a spontaneous percussion jam at the sound of Arsenio Rodriguez on the jukebox and decided to form a group.

In this interview, founding members Virulilla (Hortensio Alfonso) and Saldiguera (Esteban Lantri) give a much different version. It seems they had been singing together for over 10 years before Saldiguera got the idea of forming the Muñequitos, and they went in search of like-minded musicians.

Click below for a transcript and translation of the interview.

Entrevistadora: En pleno festival de la rumba, he coincidido con dos viejos rumberos: Saldiguera y Virulilla, dos fundadores de Los Muñequitos de Matanzas


Quería decirles que hemos apreciado en este festival de la rumba que el matancero la lleva en la sangre, que responde inmediatemente que suena un tambor, una conga, que se ve que vibra con ella. ¿Qué opinion tienen uds. de la vigencia, del arraigo de la rumba aqui?

Saldiguera: La rumba esta que se está dando hoy aquí en Matanzas es una de las cosas más grandes, que yo que he caminado la isla, he visto.

Nosotros no tuvimos la suerte de que nadie nos enseñaran. Nosotros solos, solos, solos, solos.
Porque yo fui un cantante que canté en muchos conjuntos y en muchas cosas. Yo domino muchas cosas.

Para entonces Virulilla, que es un poco mas chico que yo, ¿tú me entiendes? Andábamos juntos, andábamos juntos...

Empezamos entonces yo mismo le veía la voz, dije, "¡Concha, Tiene una voz imensa!"

Empezamos, empezó así una tercera voz. Y pam, y viene, viene, viene, entonces, nos íbamos para todos lugares allí tomábamos por la madrugada que a veces no dormíamos hasta las 4 o las 5 de mañana, a veces que no dormíamos, y el ensayo de nosotros era por la calle entonces la se retire…

Ent: por la calle?

Saldiguera: Por la calle. Esa era la casa de nosotros para nosotros ensayar.

Int: ¿Pero como es posible?

Saldiguera: Claro, porque veníamos nosotros dos íbamos cantando solo. Íbamos en el año treinta, compramos un bistec que allí sirvían un bistec que estaba bueno... lo comprábamos, veníamos comiendo el bistec entonces “¿Te acuerdo de esto?” y concha, digo, vamos a probar a ver, y allí metíamos mano y le ensayábamos.

Virulilla: Así es cómo ensayábamos nosotros.

Ent: ¿ Y a qué hora hacían eso? Me imagino que sería…

Saldiguera: No no no…Tarde de la noche, nosotros a veces que no dormiamos, veces que no dormiamos. Por que la situación era muy dura. Esto, no teníamos otro ambiente muy trabajadora desde niño, porque él era mecánico y yo soy azucarero. Pero antes del azúcar, yo me crié allí en La Francesa, con los Fernandez allí. Entonces siempre de niño estoy cantando. Yo desde 1923 estoy cantando.

Ent: ¡Toda una vida cantando!

Saldiguera: ¡Ud. era muy chiquita!

Ent: ¡No, yo no pensaba ni venir al mundo!

Virulilla: Esa es la historia de Saldiguera y Virulilla. Yo, como electricista y él, azucarero.

Pero jamás nunca na', porque en esa etapa no había auge en nada. Entonces nosotros teníamos eso por placer y que nos gustaba. Entonces nos dimos la tarea de… por idea de Saldiguera, “Virula, que tú crees si hacemos un grupo? Dígole “Saldi, es una idea perfecta pero tenemos que buscar valores, ¿no? O individuos que reunan nuestra cualidad, y que sean correctos igual que nosotros y empezamos como trabajadores de muelle que era Chachá… buscamos a Goyito, buscamos a Papi, buscamos a Pelladito.

Pelladito era un comecandela en la etapa aquella pa’ buscarse 4 pesos tenía que agarrar una guitarra, corriendo la tra por alla van y… buscándose los 4 pesos hasta que Saldiguera seguió la tarea de decirnos “Vamos a ver qué hacemos aquí, Vamos a ver qué hacemos aqui.”

Entonces en la calle Salamanca entre Matanzas y Jovellanos allí donde comezamos nuestros ensayos, en un cuartico, que no tenía condiciones—que donde vivía el difunto Catalino, Florencio Calle, el compadre de Saldiguera—en un cuartico que no tenía condiciones de nada, ocho hombres, que no cabíamos, a veces que habian compañeros que estaban por fuera y querian ver el ensayo, digo “Chico, tú, no es posible, no es posible, tu no cabe aqui,” y allí Ud. ve allí surgio, comenzaron Los Muñequitos.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Interviewer: In the heat of the rumba festival, I have met with two old rumberos, Saldiguera and Virulilla, two founders of the Muñequitos de Matanzas.

I want to tell you both that we've seen in this rumba festival that the matancero has rumba in his blood, that he immediately responds when he hears a conga drum. What is your opinion of the on-going vitality, and the deep roots of rumba here?

Saldiguera: The rumba that we have here today in Matanzas is one of the greatest things that I, who've been all over the island, have seen. We were not lucky enough to have been taught by anyone. [We learned] all by ourselves.

Because I was a singer and I sang in many conjuntos and things like that, I'm good at many things. By then Virulilla, who is a little younger than me, you understand? We hung out together, we hung out. We started then, I saw he had a voice, I said, "Wow, he has a tremendous voice!" So we had a voz tercera ["third voice" = high harmony].

And so... pow! We went everywhere, rehearsing late, sometimes we did not go to sleep until 4 or the 5 morning, rehearsing in the street...

Int: In the street?

Saldiguera: In the street. That was where we rehearsed.

Int: But how is that possible?

Saldiguera: Well, because it was just the two of us singing alone. This was in 1930, we would buy a steak, there was a place that served a good steak... we bought a steak, we would eat, then "Hey do you remember...?" and so, I said, wow, let's try it and see, and we'd roll up our sleeves and we'd practice it...

Virulilla: That's how we rehearsed.

Int: And at what time was this? I imagine that it would be...

Saldiguera: No no no... Late at night, sometimes we didn't sleep. The situation was very tough. We had always been in a hard-working environment since we were kids, because he was a mechanic and I worked in sugar. I grew up in sugar, I was raised there in La Francesa with the Fernandez there. I was always singing, since I was a boy, since 1923.

Int: A whole life singing!

Saldiguera: You were very young!

Int: No, I wasn't even thinking of coming into the world!

Virulilla: That is the story of Saldiguera and Virulilla. I, as an electrician and he, a sugar worker, but never again, because at that time there was no action. This was for pleasure, because we liked it. Then we gave ourselves the task of...Saldiguera's idea, "Virula, what do you think if we start a group?"

I said, "Saldi, that's a great idea, but we must try for high standards, right? Or individuals that
have our quality, and who do things right like we do, and we got started. We were, like, dockworkers: there was Chachá... we looked for Goyito, we looked for Papi, we looked for Pelladito. Pelladito was great in those days, trying to make a few bucks, he'd grab a guitar, running this way and that... looking for a few bucks until Saldiguera said "Let's see what we can do here. Let's see what we can do here."

So in Salamanca Street between Matanzas (Street) and Jovellanos (Street) we started our rehearsals, in a tiny room, that didn't have anything—where Catalino lived, the late Florencio Calle, compadre of Saldiguera—in that tiny room, eight men, who didn't fit, sometimes there were guys outside who wanted to see the rehearsals and I would say "Chico, it's not possible, you just can't fit in here," and so you see that's how the Muñequitos started.

Giraldo Rodriguez y sus afro-tambores batá

Photo Credit: John Amira

"...one of the most beautiful, most influential, and moreover one of the first recordings of the Afro-Cuban batá drums..."

So says Thomas Altmann in this beautiful article shedding some much-needed light on this historic recording.

Altmann's article made us very curious to hear this record, so we tracked down a friend who had a copy, who made the transfer to vinyl for us, and we now pass it on to you.

Patricio went crazy over the holidays and published this as part of a 6-part article on the history of the batá drums in Cuba, which sadly we have no time to translate from the French. Maybe one of these days, or if there are any volunteers out there, feel free. Even if you don't read any French there are some amazing photographs, so take a look.

Many thanks to Thomas for his excellent work, the field of afro-cuban studies could use much more of these kinds of studies to recover stories which will otherwise soon be lost forever.

(Altmann is also the editor of the songbook "Cantos Lucumí a los Orishas," available at folkcuba.com.)

Download Giraldo Rodriguez's "Afro Tambores Batá" here.

Altmann's notes on the tracks are below:

The description of the tracks is not always correct. As a suggestion, a better list might read as follows:

1. Eleggua (toque "Latokpa", cantos Moyuba Orisa, Ibaragó Moyuba)
2. Oggún (toque "Ogún", canto Ogún dé Arere)
3. Ochosi (toque "Aggueré" - seco)
4. Drume Negrita (canción de cuna, con toques "Aggayú" y "Rumba Obatala")
5. Obatala ("Obbantala") (toques a Obatala "por derecho" - seco)
6. Yemayá ("Yemalla") (toque "Alaró", canto Osi ni ba o yalé)
7. Changó (toque Chachálokpafúñ, cantos Obalube, Oba icheré, Kawo e)
8. Oyá ("Olla") (toque "Oyá bí 'kú" - seco)
9. Babalú Ayé (toque "Babalú Ayé" Aberikuto a wa; toque "Yegua": Asokara luwe, Towe Towe)
10. Obba (toque "Obba" - seco)
11. Ochún ("Rumba Iyesá", cantos Omí yeyé, Ore Ore, Ala umba che ma che)
12. Eleggua ("Salida"; cantos Eleggua ni tá, E agó Eleggua e, Kini-kini yo)

I would like to add that:

* the toques secos for Ochosi, Obatala, and Oya, are not complete;
* the words on most songs are not correct;
* the secular Afro-Cuban lullabye song by Ernesto Grenet, "Drume Negrita", is neither part of the orthodox liturgy, nor is it usually accompanied by these toques or with batá drums at all, but with a rhythm called "Afro" ("Afro-Cuban");
* the song "Kini-Kini Yo" is traditionally not sung in the Closing ceremony (Cierre).

La Rumba: Part 3 of 3

Here is the 3rd and final excerpt from the "La Rumba" documentary, notable for its rare presentation of two direct ancestors of rumba popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries: the coro de guaguancó (by Rafael Ortiz's group), and el baile de yuka.

* * *

Coros de guaguancó seem to have evolved from the coros de clave, an urban musical phenomenon which arose towards the end of the 19th century in the marginal port neighborhods of Havana and Matanzas, and also to some extent in Trinidad and Sancti Spíritus.

Robin Moore describes both very well in his book Nationalizing Blackness:

Coros de clave, the more European-influenced of the two groups, developed in the late nineteenth century and remained popular throughout the 1910s. Famous coros de clave from their initial period of popularity (1880s-1890s) include El Arpa de Oro, El Botón de Oro, La Moralidad, and La Juventud (León 1961). Some coro ensembles contained as many as 150 members (Reyes 1994; Urfé 19984, 183). They were comprised primarily of male and female vocalists who sang two- or three-part songs in 6/8 time with simple European harmonies, accompanied by instrumentalists playing the "viola" (a banjo with the strings taken off that was played as a percussion instrument), guitar, clave, and occasionally the botija, harp, or other instruments (Orovio 1981, 103). A clarina (lead female singer) would typically begin with a solo, followed by responses from the chorus. Ten-line décima poetry served most often as the lyrical form of the text. By 1902 there were fifty or sixty coros de clave in black working-class barrios, and at least two groups in Havana—La Yaya and El Jiqui—were comprised entirely of white members who publicly denied any African influence inthe music they performed (León 1985, 61).

Coros de guaguancó (also called agrupaciones de guaguancó), by contrast, seems to have been a slightly more percussive, African-influenced variation performed largely by men. Their instrumentation often incorporated the drums and other percussion instruments associated with traditional rumba (see chapter 6), yet were also known to include European instruments. Songs of the coros de guaguancó tended to be in 2/4 time and are said to have first become widely popular in the early twentieth century, somewhat later than those of clave groups. Among the earliest coros de guaguancó were the Azules Amalianos from the barrio of Jesús María, which formed in 1862. Most of its members worked as stevedores on the docks of Havana (Ramirez n.d.). Famous coros de guaguancó of the twentieth century include Los Roncos, Los Apaches, and El Paso Franco (Hernández Cuesta 1994). Los Roncos are especially noteworthy for their leader, Ignacio Piñeiro, who became one of the best-known son composers of the 1920s.

Ned Sublette, in his book Cuba and its Music notes that the Cuban coros de clave find their origins (and perhaps even their name) in the working-class choral societies started in Barcelona by Catalunyan composer José Anselmo Clavé. While contemplating the access of the working classes to great music Pablo Casals recalled:

My thoughts on the subject had been influenced by the achievements of that remarkable Catalan patriot and lover of music, José Anselmo Clavé. Clavé had died in 1874, two years before I was born, but I felt toward him as if he had been my close friend. He came from the working class and was a weaver by trade. He played the guitar and taught himself to compose music and songs. His songs dealt with simple, tender themes-with experiences of poor children, with stories about peasants and fishermen, with the beauty of nature and love of Catalonia. Gradually his songs became known among Barcelona workers, and small groups began meeting in the factories to sing them after working hours. Clavé knew what bleakness and poverty existed for the working class, and he wanted to help bring some beauty into their lives. He conceived the idea of organizing permanent choral groups among the workers. And he achieved fantastic results. Under his inspiration, wonderful choral societies of workers and their families evolved not only in Barcelona but in towns throughout Catalonia. Their membership grew into thousands, and their movement had a major impact on the cultural awakening then under way in Catalonia. Such world-famous choral societies as the Orfeo Catala and the Orfeo Gracienc were part of the legacy of Clave's work.

Robin Moore also writes that "[Odilio] Urfé suggests that both began as afrocuban imitations of the recreational choral societies established in Havana by the sociedades españolas." I would be interested to know if any melodic, lyric or stylistic similarites exist in the repertoires of the coros in Cuba and the choral societies from Barcelona.

The narrator in the video states that the coros de guaguancó came from Abakuá societies. Indeed, he declares that "it can be said that not a single popular artistic organization can be found which has not been promoted and directed by members of an Abakuá society, or linked to one." Given the Abakuás prevalence in Havana and Matanzas around the time the coros flourished, it seems likely, but I haven't found any other references to this.

* * *

The Atlas de los Instrumentos Folklórico-Popular de Cuba tells us that throughout the mid-nineteenth and into the early 20th century, Yuka was perhaps the most popular Bantú (Congolese)-derived music and dance form in the central and western regions of Cuba. Yuka is a secular genre incorporating a percussion ensemble consisting of three drums generally called (from lowest to highest) "la caja," "la mula" (or "llamador") and "el cachimbo" (or "tumbador"), as well as a guataca (hoe blade) or cowbell and the "coco" or "guagua" part, typically played on the side of one of the drums with two sticks. The caja player would sometimes use little maracas on his wrists, called nkembis.

The yuka drums accompanied call-and-response songs with (usually) Spanish lyrics which typically dealt with historical themes or daily life.

The dance is by single couples, and incorporated the pelvic thrust which is today found in guaguancó.

Download a higher-quality version (74.6MB) of this clip here.