Danzón: Circum-Caribbean Dialogues in Music and Dance

298 Pages·2013·4.1 MB·English

by  Alejandro L. Madrid

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Danzón
Circum-Caribbean Dialogues in Music and Dance
Alejandro L. Madrid and Robin D. Moore
Danzón
Circum-Caribbean Dialogues in
Music and Dance
Alejandro L. Madrid and Robin D. Moore
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Madrid, Alejandro L.
Danzón: circum-Caribbean dialogues in music and dance / Alejandro L. Madrid and Robin D. Moore.
pages ; cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-996580-9 (hardback : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-19-996582-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Danzones (Music)—History and criticism. I. Moore, Robin D. II. Title.
ML3400.M33 2013
781.64—dc23 2013006423

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To Ginnie Moore, words can’t describe my sense of loss, no one ever had a better
mother. And to Lorraine Leu, my constant companion, my m edia naranja , my
love, who inspires and supports me in so many ways. Th ank you for coming all
the way from Bristol to make my life complete. And thank you for our daughter
Eva; what a joy to share that experience together.
—Robin
To my parents, Alejandro and Ana Bertha for their unconditional love and
support. Th is one is especially dedicated to my dad for inadvertently instilling
in me a deep love for Cuban music and culture. And to Ekaterina, my wonderful
and encouraging partner, for bearing with my crazy writing habits with a beautiful
smile on her face, timely words of advice, and unfl agging love.
—Alejandro
La memoria no hace nada por sí sola.
Sólo es fértil cuando el olvido la reverdece.
El olvido que recuerda a la memoria es la nostalgia.
La nostalgia no hace nada por sí sola.
Sólo el olvido.
Memory does not do anything by itself.
It is only fertile when forgetting revives it.
Nostalgia is the forgetting that triggers memory.
Nostalgia does not do anything by itself.
Only forgetting.
Jaime Moreno Villarreal, Fracciones
CONTENTS

List of Figures ix
List of Music Examples xi
Acknowledgments x iii
About the Companion Website xvii
1. Danzón Matters: Mapping Out the Issues 3
2. Danzón as a Performance Complex 22
3. Race, Morality, and the Circulation of Danzón, 1870–1940 7 5
4. Th e Danzón and Musical Dialogues with Early Jazz 1 17
5. Nostalgia, Aff ect, and Performativity in Contemporary Danzón Scenes 150
6. Cachondería , Discipline, and Danzón Dancing 1 89
7. Danzón Musings beyond the Dancehall 2 15
Bibliography 251
Index 271
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LIST OF FIGURES

2 .1 Old-style metal timbales and güiro, used by the Piquete
Típico in Havana 3 0
2 .2 Turn-of-the-twentieth-century postcard from Cuba entitled
“Th e Bunga,” featuring an early version of the modern timbales/paila made
of banded wood 30
2.3 Raimundo and Pablo Valenzuela 4 3–44
2.4 Antonio “Papaíto” Torroella and his orchestra 52
2.5 Antonio Romeu and his orchestra, including singer
Barbarito Diez 5 4
2.6 Acerina y su Danzonera, still from the fi lm Este amor sí es amor
(1962) 56
2.7 Paulina Álvarez, “Th e Empress of Danzonete” and Everardo Ordaz,
pianist and director of her orchestra 6 4
2.8 Arcaño y sus Maravillas, ca. 1940 6 5
3.1 Orquesta Faílde 8 2
3.2 Cover of the Mérida music periodical J. Jacinto Cuevas 91
3.3 Tiburcio “Babuco” Hernández 9 5
3.4 Tomás Ponce Reyes 9 6
3.5 Stage and dance fl oor of Salón Colonia, Mexico City 107
3.6 Orquesta Concha, late 1920s 1 09
3 .7 Scene from E n cada puerto un amor (1949), featuring Cuban rumbera
Amalia Aguilar and black musicians 1 13
3.8 Danzón dance scene from Salón México (1949) 114
4.1 Emanuel Emile Perez (on cornet, back right) and his Imperial Band from
1908 125
4.2 Representative danzones composed in New Orleans of the 1880s and
apparently performed by the Mexican Eighth Cavalry Band 128–129
4.3 Raimundo Valenzuela, “La Patti negra” (ca. 1905). Formal
structure 1 35
4.4 Antonio María Romeu, performing here in a danzón ensemble with added
saxophones and drum set, infl uenced by the vogue of US jazz music,
1920s 144
5.1 Cuban dancers from the Círculo Amigos del Danzón at Madruga’s
Complejo Recreativo, 2009 1 51