Jugando con "Mayeya"

A friend of ours wrote us about a tune in our previous post:

"Mayeya on Rapsodia Rumbera sounds like a completely different song than this version. That one is credited to Agustin Pina Flor de Amor, not Jesus Alfonso. So it may be that Jesus did write this version of Mayeya."

This comment brought to mind several themes that I am always fascinated by, among them rumba arrangements, rumbas played as sones (or vice-versa) and questions of authorship, and all centered around one of my favorite rumbas of all time. So I thought rather than reply in the comments I would go off on a bit of a tangent about it.


The power of arrangements.
The version of Mayeya performed by Los Muñequitos posted below may sound like a different version of from the one on Rapsodia Rumbera sung by El Goyo and Juan de Dios, but they are in fact the same song.

What might throw some listeners off is the arrangement. Today, with rumba recordings are widely available, it's natural to think of a rumba recording as a definitive version of the song. We can play it over and over and we get used to hearing it like that. Sometimes when it ends we may even already anticipate the song that comes next on the CD.

But not all elements of what we consider to be a rumba song are fixed. The art of rumba, within its ingenious matrix of rules which to novices might seem rigidly structured, in fact provides for many areas of great musical creativity.

Good rumba singers can be relied upon to subtly control and direct the energy of the rumba based on their choice of songs and coros. Another way they can do this is by spontaneously creating "arrangements" of songs.

Leaving aside the diana, which is nearly always improvised to some extent, the singer has a range of options at hand, beginning with simple things like the choice of décima (or whether to include one at all), repeating certain lines, or even changes to the melody.

They may get more elaborate by making brief references to other songs which fit melodically and perhaps thematically with the one they began singing, or combining two (or more) songs into a medley. When several good singers are present they may each be jockeying to do any of these things and more, playing off each other. It's part of the art of rumba. Of course, within established rumba groups, arrangements can grow even more elaborate and can extend to the percussion and chorus, or the introduction of melodic instruments.

In Los Muñequitos' version of Mayeya (actually recorded before Juan de Dios and El Goyo's version) there is a different introduction than we are used to hearing, which is the "Iya mi ile..." song to Oshun, played over a batá style toque (I believe they are using their tumbadoras to play the parts, not batá) instead of the décima "Dicen que la santería está de moda en La Habana..." that Goyo sings on the Rapsodia Rumbera version. They also have different coros.

There are also slight variations in the melody, and some lines are repeated. The text of the song however, remains essentially the same.

The Muñequitos version from 1988 on LP Siboney 420 (beginning at 1:20):


(Click above to play)

Pero, no es cuento, no
Pero, no es cuento, no
Mayeya no trató de engañarme
Mayeya no trató de engañarme

Okoro 0koro guara
Akaima ferifú Yalodde

Iyalodde viste de amarillo
Iyalodde viste de amarillo
Yemaya viste de azul
Santa Bárbara, punzó
Y de distintos colores
Se viste Oyá

Pero, no es cuento, no
Pero, no es cuento, no
Mayeya no trató de engañarme
Mayeya no trató de engañarme

Coro: Kole guaye o


El Goyo and Juan de Dios' version from 1995 on Rapsodia Rumbera Egrem CD 0121 (beginning at 1:43:)


(Click above to play)


No es cuento, no
Mayeya no trató de engañarme
Habla Ifá

Oboloko loguala
Akaifé ferifú Yalodde
(bis)
Yalodde viste de amarillo
Yemaya viste de azul
Santa Bárbara, punzó
Y de varios colores
Se viste Oyá
Y tú, que te tapas con lila
Hija de Ochosi borere

Coro: Ala umba o, ala umba o cheche

El Goyo once wrote me about this song:

"Este guaguancó, me lo enseño en los años 50 Juan de Dios y el lo aprendió oyéndolo cantar a sus padres. Nosotros dos, por esos años cantábamos en el conjunto ¨Los Tercios Modernos¨y asi fue como se volvió a conocer este guaguancó, que se cantaba por los coros de guaguanco a principios del siglo XX."

"This song was taught to me in the 1950s by Juan de Dios, who learned it from hearing his parents sing it. We used to sing it in our group "Los Tercios Modernos" and that was how this guaguancó became known again. It was sung in the coros de guaguancó at the beginning of the 20th century."

Rumba as son, or son as rumba?
Adding credence to El Goyo's comment is the fact that there is one other version of this song, recorded as a son in 1929, called "No es cuento, no" by Sexteto Machín (available on the "Sextetos Cubanos" CD (Arhoolie 7003).

This version is attributed to Carlos Anido, founder of "Sexteto Favorito." However, I've found very little information about Carlos Anido and so I am skeptical of this attribution. I find it hard to believe that such a beautiful song (one of my all-time favorites) is not the work of a more prolific songwriter.

(Antonio Machín, 1920s)

Sexteto Machin's version as a son, from 1929:


(Click above to play)

No es cuento, no
No es cuento, no
Mayeya no trató de engañarte
Habla Ifá

Oboloko loguala
Akaifé ferifú Yalodde
Yalodde viste de amarillo
Yemaya viste de azul
Santa Bárbara, punzó
Y de varios colores
Se viste Oyá
Y tú, que te tapas con lila
Hijo de Ochosi borere

Coro: Ala la o lala, ala o, la o dide

(I have to admit I owned and loved both the Machín and Rapsodia Rumbera versions of this song for years before it dawned on me they were the same song!)

Another thing I've always found curious about this song: In May 1928 Sexteto Habanero recorded a number by Ignacio Piñeiro called "No jueges con los santos."

The "cuento" (story) goes that Abelardo Barroso began toying around with elekes and santos which disturbed Piñeiro, who was a religious man:

En 1927 [Barroso] regresa al Septeto Habanero, que seguía siendo el más reclamado, graban nuevos temas: Un meneíto suave, Aquella boca y otros números. Cuando se instituye el Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro Barroso es invitado a cantar con esta agrupación que, andando el tiempo, haría historia. Cuentan que se ponía a jugar con los collares y los santos, para molestar a Piñeiro que era muy religioso. Entonces Piñeiro le reprochaba: "No juegues con los santos" y de ahí sale aquella canción tan conocida: Mayeya, no juegues con los santos.

—Rafael Lam

This story doesn't quite ring true given that Barroso recorded the song with Sexteto Habanero. But whatever its origins, it's clear that "No es cuento, no" is a musical "response" to Piñeiro's "No juegues con los santos."

Sexteto Habanero's version of "No juegues con los santos" from 1928:


(Click above to play)

Mayeya,
no quiero que me engañes
respeta los collares
No juegues con los santos
(bis)
No pretendes engañarme con este cuento
Porque todos en Cubita nos conocemos
El que no lleva amarillo,
se tapa con azul,
o punzó,
o lila también...

Translated, the lyrics are:

Mayeya,
I don't want you to deceive me
respect the collares [beaded santería necklaces, also known as elekes]
don't play around with the santos [santería deities]
Don't try to trick me with that story
Because all of us in Cuba know each other
If one doesn't wear yellow
he wears blue,
or red,
or purple too...

Sexteto Machín's version translates as:

It's not a story, really
Mayeya didn't try to trick you,
Ifá said so
Yalodde dresses in yellow
Yemayá in blue
Santa Barbara in red
And Oyá dresses in many colors.
And you, wrapping yourself in lilac
are a son of Ochosi

The rumba versions both say "Mayeya no trató de engañarme," but Machín's much earlier version says "engañarte," which makes it more clearly a reply to Piñeiro's song.

Note that Piñeiro's song contains only the most oblique of santería references ("santos," translated as "saints" can have Catholic connotations), whereas "No es cuento, no" explicitly names the orishas associated with each color, even adding "son of Ochosi" at the end where Piñeiros song merely trails off a bit awkwardly.

There are also some lines in Lucumí, the Yoruba-derived ritual language of santería. (I've often wondered if that odd instrumental chord progression in "No juegues con los santos" at around :55 is in fact where some original Lucumí lyrics remained unsung out of an excess of caution by the performers. Not sure why that would be though, there are numerous references to santería and abakuá from recordings of that time.)

Curiously enough though, Piñeiro's song later became immensely famous, a standard of the son repetoire, while "No es cuento, no" seems to have faded into obscurity, remaining unrecorded again until 1988.

It's possible that these songs date from the late 20's, but if, as El Goyo says, the version he sings dates from the days of the coros de guaguancó, these two songs could very well have been part of a controversía between Piñeiro's Los Roncos of Pueblo Nuevo and another group, possibly El Paso Franco of Carraguao, and only later incorporated into the son repetoire.

We'll probably never know. However, it's a testament to the power of Cuban music that a song dating from at least 1929 can turn up on recordings some 50 years later in different forms, at the same time modern and seemingly eternal.