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Carlos Palomares
Third Term Paper
September 17, 2007
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
2
FIGURE 14 SON AND RUMBA CLAVE IN 3:2 DIRECTION. 38
FIGURE 15 SON AND RUMBA CLAVE 2:3 DIRECTION. 39
FIGURE 16 EXAMPLE OF CLAVE CHANGE USING CLAVE LICENSE CHANGE 41
TABLE 1: "EL CHEQUE" SON FORM. 46
FIGURE 17 GUAGUANCÓ COMPOSITE RHYTHM. 50
3
PRELUDE: ROAD TRIP, DECEMBER 9TH, 2006
As I drove across the border, a Canadian customs agent started by asking the
usual questions.
A few hours later, after a brief rest in the hotel room, it was time to go to the show. In the
lobby I realized that I needed to find out if I could bring my camera to the show. I asked a
hotel employee if she could call the club to ask. As she waited on the telephone for an
Because of her reaction and her accent, I asked if she happened to be Cuban. She was
Colombian.
Ten hours of driving for a two-and-one-half hour concert may seem extreme to
some, but as the customs agent indicated, I was not alone crossing from the U.S. into
Canada to see this Cuban band. A quick overview of the audience shows the transnational
nature of this event. Approximately 2000 people attended the band’s first North
American concert in several years. The racially mixed audience’s age range spanned
4
from 19 to 70.1 I ran into a student and a professor I know from Ann Arbor. Jose
Contreras, the Cuban pitcher for the 2005 World Series champion White Sox, spent the
whole night posing for photographs. The consul of Panama partied with a small
entourage in the VIP section.2 As is usually the custom during these performances, Los
Van Van’s singer called out various city and country names to which the audience’s
cheers indicated where they were from. That list included various parts of the U.S.
I am examining the music of Los Van Van (LVV), arguably the most popular
dance band in Cuba for over thirty years, because I want to understand musical and
primarily interested in the following question: What relationship does the music of LVV
have with the transnational flows of popular music? This question is interesting because
the history of LVV runs concurrently with the history of polarizing debates inside and
outside of Cuba—the Revolution’s cultural changes, the effects of the U.S. embargo, and
the local effects of globalization. To answer this question I will look at the music of
LVV’s 1999 record Llegó…Van Van/Van Van is Here (Llegó) as a window into both the
1
Personal communication Sophie Giraud, one of the concert’s promoters 31 August
2007.
2
Ibid.
3
Formell, Juan and Los Van Van, 1999, Llegó…Van Van/Van Van is Here, Havana
Caliente/Atlantic Recording CD 83227-2, Miami: Pimienta Records Company.
5
The changes I am examining show how Cuba actively participates in transnational
flows of culture. The music of LVV challenges the popular image of Cuba: the island
nation is frequently depicted as trapped in time, isolated from twentieth and twenty-first
century globalizing forces, and avoiding U.S. cultural imperialism. One example is the
image presented in the film The Buena Vista Social Club (BVSC).4 In the film old men
play an almost forgotten old music as 1950s-era Chevrolets still roam the streets of
today’s Havana.
The U.S./Cuba relationship has been integral to the history of Cuba since at least
1898, the year the U.S. entered Cuba’s war for independence from Spain. In October of
1962, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were on the brink of nuclear war over Soviet
missiles detected in Cuba. As I write this, Fidel Castro turned over control to his brother,
Raúl, over a year ago and the Soviet Union fell apart almost twenty years ago. The U.S.
and Cuba, however, maintain a political standoff that, as LVV’s history illustrates, has not
succeeded in stopping the flow of music. This research is an attempt to enrich our
understanding of this ideologically tense period in Cuban and U.S. relations through a
To define the object of this study, I will answer 6 questions presented by Anthony
Seeger.5 From the band’s formation to the present, LVV has performed for international
and Cuban audiences. The interest of this essay is the transnational context of the
4
Buena Vista Social Club, 1999, DVD, directed by Wim Wenders (Santa Monica:
Artisan Entertainment).
5
Seeger 1998a, 55–56. The questions are (1) Who is performing? (2) For whom are they
performing? (3) What are they performing? (4) Where are they performing? (5) where are
they performing? (6) When is it performed? (7) Why are people performing music in that
way?
6
musical interactions that have always been integral to LVV’s music. This picture is
particularly complex because of the political context that has framed LVV’s career: both
Cuba’s somewhat self-imposed isolation and the effects of the U.S. embargo of Cuba.
Although not LVV’s first attempt, this effort to make a dent in the U.S. Latino market was
recognized with the 2000 Grammy award for best salsa performance. For this reason, I
While scholarly research in the field of Latin music is growing, there has been a
paucity of scholarly attention into the music of one of the most important popular music
groups in Cuba of the Fidel Castro era.6 Studies of Cuban music have multiplied in recent
years; however, government restrictions, from both Cuba and the U.S., have challenged
scholars trying to research issues and changes in Cuba. 7 Although LVV’s career began
ten years into the Revolution, with the exception of one Cuban musicologist, no one has
taken more than a cursory look at the band and the music.
This paper takes the following structure. First, I will present the literature
providing the theoretical framework for my study. I propose a model for this research
drawing from the writing of Roy Shuker (2001), Arjun Appadurai (1996), and Mark
Slobin (1992). I then illustrate how I imagine this model would work by inserting LVV
and Llegó. From there I will provide some historical context to illustrate that Cuban
6
Cuban musicologist Neris González Bello is the only scholar I have found researching
the music of LVV. Because of the difficulty in locating Cuban publications, however, it is
possible that there are other Cuban texts with more information on LVV. Though this
essay will reference one article, (See González Bello 2000), I have not been able to
access her thesis: “Juan Formell y Los Van Van: 30 años de historia y vigencia en el
contexto cubano” (Juan Formell and Los Van Van: 30 Years of History and Effect in the
Cuban context) 1999.
7
See Hagedorn 2001, Chapter 1and Moore 1997, ix–x. I cite Moore, R. 2002, 51–52
below to expand on this.
7
music has long been transnational and to discuss briefly the debate regarding salsa as a
musical genre. Next, I will discuss LVV’s music and significance and their own term
songo. The rest of the essay is dedicated to the analysis of Llegó. I answer the question:
why analyze an album released in 1999? The analysis then looks at some observations
about the physical product of the CD. Lastly, I examine some songs on Llegó as the band
announces its arrival to a new transnational audience. The analysis reveals how LVV
well as in the music of LVV, involves investigating the dynamics of musical interaction
between Cuba and global flows of popular music thus contributing to the broader interest
ethnomusicology as a whole as going from (1) a concern with the study of the music of a
particular culture to find the differences among cultures to (2) a concern with the study of
music to understand the increasing interactions between musical cultures.9 In this study I
will illustrate an example offering some answers to one question of interest to the
discipline: “How do the world’s musics transmit themselves, maintaining continuity and
8
Nettl 2005, 453.
9
Ibid, 442.
10
Ibid, 452.
8
In Understanding Popular Music, Shuker states that the “nature of meaning in
cultural products and practices must be located within the dynamic interrelationship of
the production context, the texts and their creators, and the audience.”11 Therefore, this
study examines Llegó with the four factors in mind: (1) the “production context,”
situating Llegó in the commercial world of global music and within the historical and
political context of U.S./Cuba relations; (2) “the creators of the text,” LVV along with the
related music industry personnel involved in the production of Llegó; (3) the text, the CD
as a product including the packaging and sounds; (4) the audience, for now I am
globalization with Appadurai’s five -scapes being among the most influential. Appadurai
describes a web of interacting and constantly shifting -scapes shaping the global flow of
culture through the movement of people, money, ideas, technology, and media:
foregrounds one or more of the -scapes. The same processes have been at play throughout
If “culture” was the sum of lived experience and stored knowledge of a discrete
population that differed from neighboring groups. Now it seems that there is no
one experience and knowledge that identifies everyone within a defined “cultural”
boundary, or if there is it’s not the total content of their lives… for musical
experience people live at the intersection of three types of -cultures… A theory
11
Shuker 2001, 241
12
Appadurai 1996, 33.
9
and method of current musical life that rests on a notion of overlaps, intersections,
and nestings of the sort [the prefixes] sub-, super-, and inter- represent.13
Through this framework we see the “musical interplay… between individual, community,
In figure one below, this dynamic relationship is diagramed. The model shows
framed within the context of the five -scapes. The lines between audience and performer
are dotted to represent that in mass-mediated music this interaction is spread by time and
space. Some audience members belong to the same subculture while others are involved
relationship affects the performer’s performance of the text and audiences’ reception of
the text. Furthermore, the contexts of the various -scapes affect the nature of this
interaction. Unfortunately the diagram appears static, but in reality the diagram should be
imagined moving. In addition, though all these elements are always in play, any analysis
will constantly adjust as one or more of the -scapes comes into focus.
In figure two, I apply the model to LVV’s record. In addition, figure three
separates the elements to investigate the implications of the model. The text, or to use
musicological terminology the “score,” that I am analyzing is the album Llegó, as sounds
and the physical product. The context includes the specific historical, political, cultural,
13
Slobin 1992, 2.
14
Ibid, 4.
15
For example, when I listen to LVV, at times, my background knowledge places me in
the same subculture as LVV. At other times, however, I experience the music from an
intercultural realm when, for example, LVV includes Afro-Cuban sacred themes of which
I am less familiar.
10
social, and economic factors, drawn from the -scapes, which are implicated in any
understanding of Llegó. The performer is not just LVV but also the various agents that
have an interest in the success (commercial and artistic) of the record: for example, the
record label, producer, recording engineer, managers, and lawyers. Lastly the
music through this model to see the effects of a globalized world on musical and cultural
change. In this model, LVV and popular dance music in revolutionary Cuba, are
considered as a subculture of their own. Specifically, for the purposes of this paper, I am
subcultures.
11
16
Figure 24. Theoretical model: applied to Llegó and expanded.
If the academy was slow to take popular music seriously, it took even longer to
look beyond the Euro-American sphere.17 Shuker argues that the majority of popular
16
Figures 2 and 3 are intended to show the various directions this analysis could go by
inserting an example into the model. Many of the issues raised in the figure will be
examined and illustrated in this essay.
12
music studies “concentrate on one national context, or the Anglo-American nexus of
popular music” and privilege rock .18 Béhague gives an idea where Latin American music
research was in 1975. His bibliographic review shows that there were a wide range of
types and topics of study, with some interest developing outside Latin America. Most in
depth studies, however, were from Latin America with few studies of popular music
genres. 19 The field of Latin(o) American popular music study is so new that in 2003
publishing articles on popular music, but only two articles on Latin American popular
music were published during the 1970s.21 The majority of work in this field did not begin
In the 1970s John Storm Roberts was a trailblazer in the field. As Manuel notes,
though Storm Robert’s work is more journalistic than scholarly, his books are
1970s, these books are important starting points. In Black Music of Two Worlds (1972),
Storm Roberts authored a work on the wider African diaspora including Latin America.
In Latin Tinge, a widely respected text first published in 1979, Storm Roberts was one of
17
See Pacini Hernandez 2003 and Manuel, Peter, “Popular Music: II. World Popular
Music.”
18
Shuker, 242.
19
Béhague 1975, 190.
20
Pacini Hernández 2003, 13.
21
The two articles were Béhague (1973) on Brazilian bossa nova and Blum (1978) on
salsa. Ibid, 16–17.
22
Ibid, 13.
23
Manuel, “Popular Music: II. World Popular Music.”
13
the first authors to take the Latin American influence on American popular music
seriously.24
North American scholarly interest in Cuban popular music began to grow in the
1980s. The journal, Latin American Music Review, published thorough examinations of
two important Cuban popular music genres; rumba (Crook 1982) and son (Robbins
1990). These two genres, developed in the 19th-century, are important antecedents to
LVV’s music. Peter Manuel (1987) examines popular music in the context of Cuba’s
socialist ideology. Manuel looks at several different types of popular music in Cuba in
order to examine both public attitudes and government policies toward the different
styles. He states that his goal is to show the complexities involved especially with regard
to the government policy as stated and as practiced. His focus is on attitudes towards the
Manuel has compiled, edited, and translated Cuban and North American scholarly work
about music in Cuba. This eclectic mix of articles provides some contextual background
information. Two chapters examine the music industry in Cuba. Acosta’s “The Problem
of Music and its Dissemination in Cuba” is a critique of music production in Cuba from a
leading Cuban scholar. Acosta proposes how to take from a capitalist model while
24
For more info on Latin American to North American musical influences see Narváez
1994, Washburne 1997, Béhague 2002
25
Manuel 1987, 161. Manuel 1987 is a revision and expansion of Manuel 1985.
14
production in Cuba. He describes details about the institutions of and administration of
After 1990, the growth in interest about Cuba and its music was exponential. Two
Blackness (1997) and Music and Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba (2006)
examine the pre- and post-revolutionary periods respectively. In both he notes the
difficulty of his subject matter due to political (ideoscape) matters. In my view Moore is
one of the most successful at navigating this difficult terrain. As a result he notes, “to
supporters of socialist Cuba, [his] study will probably seem overly critical, while to
others it may appear ‘soft.’”26 In another article Moore writes about the difficulty of
studying Cuba:
Essays… involving history from the socialist period are problematic for various
reasons. One is that all books and articles printed within Cuba are issued by
government agencies that control their content. It is therefore difficult to evaluate
their accuracy or objectivity. A second is that people interviewed on the island are
often reluctant to speak openly with researchers about issues that could be
construed as critical of the government, a third is that even much of the academic
literature about Cuba from abroad is extremely polarized, either unrealistically
supportive or critical of recent policies, and is often not based upon extended
fieldwork in the country. A fourth is that socialism has so fundamentally altered
social and cultural life that to provide a thorough background for this analysis
would require an extended essay of its own.27
I use this extended quotation to highlight the difficultly in studying a band from this era.
Moore’s observations may be the reasons for the shortage of scholarly work on
the Castro era and on LVV in particular. It is not difficult to find the many journalistic
articles and brief reviews of LVV’s career available. Most of these just reiterate the same
26
Moore, R. 2006, xiii-xiv.
27
Moore, R. 2002, 51–52.
15
basic story without looking at “how” or “why” questions. Such publications were useful,
however, in gathering some of the basic information about the band.28 One article that
stands out, however, is Neris González Bello’s (2000) article “¡Llegó Van Van! El mejor
disco de salsa en el Grammy 2000.” Published in the Cuban music journal, Clave, it
provides an excellent analysis of the CD from the subculture insider perspective, focusing
primarily on the lyrics of the songs. I will return to some of her observations when I
The various Cuban and Latin music crazes to circulate the globe show that what
scholars were ignoring, or slow to acknowledge, was not being ignored by the dancing
public or the music industry. In I Love Lucy, one of the U.S.’s classic television
programs, Desi Arnaz plays Ricky Ricardo; both actor and character were Cuban. It is not
a coincidence that Ricky Ricardo is a Cuban dance music bandleader. Looking back at
the habanera rhythm of Bizet’s Carmen to the “Spanish tinge” of Jelly Roll Morton’s
jazz, the music of Cuba has long been transnational and has frequently been an important
A virtual conga line connects the habanera through Ricky Ricardo to LVV, and
many others, dancing through both U.S. and Cuban popular cultures. Probably the first
Cuban dance music to spread beyond Cuba’s border, the habanera has roots in the French
contredanse. In the late 18th century, as French and Haitians fled the Haitian revolution,
28
See Valdés Cantero 1986, Fernández Bendoyro 1999, Mauleón and Faro 1999, Vilar
2000 Friedler accessed 2005, and Rodríguez 2006. See also the following music
instructional materials Mauleón 1993, Del Puerto 1994, Quintana and Mauleón 1996,
Quintana and Silverman 1998, Mauleón Santana 1999, Stagnaro 2001, and Cruz 2004.
16
many ended up in the eastern part of Cuba. The piano, violin, and flute trio of the
contredanse eventually became the Cuban contradanza with the incorporation of Cuban
percussion and the habanera rhythm.29 The same habanera rhythm wound up in the early
New Orleans jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton’s example of what he called the “Spanish
tinge.” Morton claimed the “Spanish tinge” was a necessary ingredient to make jazz, long
before the invention of Latin jazz.30 The music of Cuba’s long transnational status could
not lie solely on the short rhythmic cell that also traveled the world through Argentina’s
tango. In the twentieth century Cuba’s son, rumba, mambo, and chachachá would each
have their moments as international dance crazes and lead eventually the much-debated
“salsa.”
After the mambo and chachachá of the 1950s, Cuba’s successive waves of
popular dance crazes hit a brick wall in the 1960s. The U.S. imposed an economic
embargo on Cuba that remains in force nearly fifty years later. On the Cuban side, the
government isolated itself from the international market in an effort to fight the
imperialism of its northern neighbor.31 As the Cuban government nationalized the music
industry, many popular music performers fled the island.32 Of course many others stayed:
some of whom were sympathetic with the revolutionary cause.33 The political climate of
the time all but completely stopped the influx of new Cuban music to the U.S. In Cuba of
the 1960s, political and social changes led to what several authors have called a crisis in
29
Alén Rodríguez 1998, 121–122.
30
Storm Roberts 1999, 39.
31
Moore 2006, 121. Moore describes “the ‘autoblockade’…that excluded salsa from
domestic airplay.”
32
See Moore 2006 Chapters 2 and 3 for details on Cuba’s nationalization of the music
industry during this period. See also Perna 2005, 28–32.
33
Pacini Hernandez and Garofalo 2004, 52.
17
Cuban music popular music.34 At the same time, no one, in the U.S. or Cuba, was
immune to the effects of Beatlemania. Rock and roll overwhelmed Latin dance music in
the U.S., and with no influx of new rhythms from Cuba, the stage was set for a new era
Many scholars and musicians have debated the term “salsa,” since the mid-
seventies when the term became used widely in the U.S. music industry and popular
media. Many have argued salsa’s origins and even if salsa exists. Older musicians
claimed salsa was just a sauce and that they were playing the same Cuban music as
before.35 Young musicians, especially in New York but also in Puerto Rico and other
parts of Latin America, argued for recognition of a new style. While I have no intention
to join this debate, understanding Llegó requires some review of the term, the literature,
and the debate. Many parts of Llegó and Cuban dance music since the 1960s could be
Manuel (1994) argues that “most of the predominant Puerto Rican musics, from
the nineteenth-century danza to contemporary salsa, have been originally derived from
term “salsa” is clear form the article “Popular Music in Puerto Rico: Toward an
Anthropology of Salsa” (1984). He clearly argues against just seeing salsa as a marketing
term for Cuban music and for an acknowledgement of the contribution of Puerto Ricans.
34
See for example Padura 2003, 62 and Perna 2005, 32.
35
Loza 1999, 16.
36
Froelicher (2005) argues that the genre timba must be seen as a continuation of the
Cuban “anti-salsa discourse.”
37
Manuel 1994, 249. Berríos-Miranda (2003) challenges Manuel’s assertions.
18
Duany concludes that salsa is an amalgamation of Caribbean folk traditions, musical
styles, and rhythms with a North American influence from jazz and soul. Furthermore, he
says that salsa provides models for behavior for facing realities of economic dependence
and the social marginality of the barrio.38 The traits of salsa that Duany lists include:
The traits are general enough to fit the various definitions of salsa.
For political and economic reasons, in Cuba the term salsa initially met with
resistance: it was labeled, by some, as a marketing term invented in the U.S. to hide and
capitalize on the Cuban roots of the music.40 Furthering this argument, some salsa
recordings of songs written by Cuban artists were not credited to their authors but as DR,
trade with Cuba and paying the songs’ composers.41 By the 1980s salsa’s popularity in
Cuba had grown through radio broadcasts received from Miami and a concert tour of
Cuba by the Venezuelan salsa band—led by Oscar De León.42 In Cuba salsa was slowly
identity. In 1987 LVV released the record Al son del Caribe, with songs that celebrated
38
For scholarly literature reviews about the salsa debate see especially Pacini Hernandez
2003, and Berríos-Miranda 2003.
39
Duany 1984, 187.
40
For more information on Cuban perspective to salsa debate see Moore 2006, 119–122.
41
Gerard and Sheller 1998, 29 and Moore 2006, 121.
42
Moore 2006, 122.
19
pan-Latino or pan-Caribbean identity.43 In the late 1980s Cuban musicians responded by
trying to distinguish their music from international salsa, but at the same time,
appropriating the term to capitalize on the popularity of salsa by calling their music salsa
Cuban and other nationalities. These are compiled in the book Faces of Salsa: A Spoken
History of the Music. Through the interviews Padura Fuentes examines opinions about
salsa and the salsa debate. Padura Fuentes shows that U.S. salsa musicians never denied
the Cuban roots of salsa but added themes of barrio life and struggle that distinguished
the music from earlier Cuban music—a theme Padura Fuentes connects to what Formell
was doing in LVV.45 The interviews reveal attitudes towards post-1959 Cuban music in
general, and LVV in particular, with historically relevant information regarding the 1970s
and 1980s. Today it is generally accepted that “salsa” is a marketing term but it is also a
type of music. The music developed in New York, primarily by Puerto Ricans but also
other Latino musicians, who were inspired by their own cultures and by Cuban son.46 At
43
Formell, Juan and Los Van Van, 1987, Al son del Caribe, EGREM LD 4367. Also
available as Formell, Juan and Los Van Van , 1995, Colección Juan Formell y Los Van
Van. Vol. XII, EGREM CD 0138.
44
Timba is a genre of Cuban dance music that draws heavily from both African-
American and Afro-Cuban street culture: music, dance, words, and dress. Timba is
largely associated with the 1990s, a period known as the “special period in times of
peace.” Castro coined this phrase to describe the period of economic collapse after the
fall of the Soviet Union, which ended subsidies that the Cuban government previously
received. (Perna 2005, 2) For a study of timba see Perna 2005.
45
Some musicians interviewed by Boggs 1992 also acknowledged Cuban son as an
influence of their music but also emphasized the difference of, not just the barrio themes,
but drawing from other musical sources.
46
Gerard and Sheller 1998, 28.
20
the same time that New York musicians were developing the sound that would eventually
be labeled salsa, back in Cuba, Juan Formell formed LVV and was developing the sound
When Juan Formell (born 2 August 1942) formed LVV in 1969, no one could
have guessed that LVV would become one of the most important dance bands in
revolutionary Cuba. Almost forty years later, the band remains popular inside Cuba and
has gained international listenership. On the one hand, the success of LVV has depended
on Formell, the musical director, songwriter, and bassist, and his ability to keep his finger
on the pulse of popular taste in Cuba. On the other hand, Formell owes a huge debt to the
musical innovators of Cuban dance music who staked out the path for him. From LVV’s
early experiments with rock to the current sound of timba, the band has maintained its
position at the forefront of Cuban dance music and has managed to stay relevant to their
home audience. As musical director of LVV, Formell has experimented with different
timbres, styles, and instrumentations inspired by traditional Afro-Cuban dance and sacred
music, infusing them with North American and European influences. All along, LVV has
managed to ground technical and musical innovation within the musical traditions of
Cuba, becoming one of Cuba’s most influential popular music bands of the revolutionary
period.
21
Several authors have commented on LVV’s influence on Cuban popular music.47
Ethnomusicologist Robin Moore states that LVV “might be considered the Rolling Stones
of Cuba.” He continues, “The history of LVV, one of the most important dance bands to
emerge in the late 1960s, demonstrates the creativity of ensembles of that time.”48
Timba.com contributor, Kevin Moore, is currently writing about the 1970s output of LVV
and two other bands for an online book on the roots of the 1990s Cuban dance music,
timba. K. Moore calls LVV “a group that has stayed at the true leading edge of its
country’s music longer than any other in the history of music—and which shows no signs
of slowing down after nearly 40 years.” 49 Lastly, the Italian ethnomusicologist, Vincenzo
Perna, credits José Luis “El Tosco” Cortés, a LVV alumnus, as the originator of timba. 50
Throughout his book, Timba (2005), Perna illustrates that LVV are both one of the
principal Cuban influences leading to timba and one of the important timba bands.51
Songo’s origins are traced to the earliest music of LVV. In particular Formell and former
LVV drummer, José Luis “Changuito” Quintana are usually credited with starting songo.52
Because songo forms the foundation of much of LVV’s music throughout the band’s
47
Vilar 2000 offers a Cuban journalistic report on the importance and influence of the
band. González Bello 2000 also discusses the importance of the band. Both authors see
the Grammy as in honor for LVV overall career not just Llegó.
48
Moore R. 2006, 113.
49
Moore K. 2007, “Roots of Timba.”
50
Cortés also performed with another influential 1970s Cuban jazz band, Irakere.
51
In Perna the other influential Cuban band is the jazz band Irakere. Kevin Moore is
investigating LVV, Irakere, and Rimto Oriental as the 1970s roots of timba.
52
Gerard and Sheller 1998, 99 and Waxer, “Los Van Van.” Quintana (1996) credits
Formell first and foremost. He also credits Blas Egues the original drummer for LVV for
laying the groundwork to songo. Quintana expanded the rhythmic concept. Along with
Formell, Quintana, and Egues, LVV keyboardist, Cesar “Pupi” Pedroso, should be added
to the list of songo originators.
22
career and some, including Cuban musicologist González Bello, believe that Llegó is a
modern songo record more so than a timba record, some discussion of songo is required
in this essay.53 Like many other terms in Cuban music such as timba and mambo,
suggests songo is best described as an approach to making music. Gerard and Sheller sum
up songo as “in essence… playing rumba on the trap set.”54 Mauleón’s influential book,
Salsa Guidebook for Piano and Ensemble (1993), defines songo as, “a contemporary,
eclectic rhythm which blends several styles, including rumba, son, conga and other
Cuban secular as well as sacred styles, with elements of North American jazz and
funk.”55 Mauleón adds that in songo “each instrument part is not as rigid as in other
styles…[and] there is little adherence to any regular, repeated figure.”56 Mauleón also
worked with Quintana to release a video, The History of Songo. Though the video does
not quite live up to its name, Quintana’s playing on trap drumset, congas, and timbales
does show some of the variety that makes up songo rhythm patterns.
Kevin Moore lists six possible definitions pertinent to Cuban popular dance
music:
53
González Bello 2000, 12.
54
Gerard and Sheller 1998, 99.
55
Mauleón 1993, 258.
56
Ibid, 73.
23
6) A section of a timba arrangement where one or more of the rhythm section
instruments plays a pattern derived from songo.57
Under songo definition number four, Moore lists the following five characteristics of the
Moore’s “specific rhythm” is just a list of characteristics, and Mauleón writes that there
seems to be no “specific rhythm.”61 This may explain the contradiction between Moore’s
fourth and fifth definitions. On the video Quintana seems to contradict Moore; one of
the traditional dance band. The use of trap drumset was one of Formell’s earliest
innovations. Inspired by North American big bands, Cuba already had its share of jazz
big bands using the full trap drumset. What Formell did was add the trap drumset to a
traditional dance ensemble called a charanga.62 The first LVV drumset (Blas Egües’)
“consisted of toms, snare drum, bass drum and a large piece of bamboo called ‘caña
57
Moore, K. 2007 “Roots of Timba.”
58
Clave is an organizing rhythmic timeline principal found through out many Cuban
music genres. For more on clave see the discussion of clave see page 35 below. The
plural claves refers to the idiophone instrument, two polished wooden sticks used to play
clave.
59
Timbales: “a set of two, tuneable drums createeds in Cuba–derived from European
tympani–mounted on a tripod and played with sticks.” Mauelón 1993, 258. The drum
head are connected to a metal structure. Orovio, 2004. 210.
60
Conga barrel shaped wooden or fiberglass drum, known in Cuba as tumbadora. The
guaguancó a type of rumba will be discussed bellow.
61
Quintana and Mauelon 1996.
62
Mauleón and Faro 1999, 8.
24
brava’” and no high hat or cymbals.63 In Quintana’s twenty-five years with the band the
drumset expanded. Eventually, the drumset became a hybrid between timbales and the
drumset. Samuel Formell, the current drummer and Juan Formell’s son, continues to use
the hybrid.64
an early influence on his LVV sound experiments. Songo shares with rock an emphasis on
song-identifying riffs and patterns.65 In other words, patterns previously were defined by
the genre and are now defined by the specifics of a particular song.
On the one hand, early rock ’n’ roll and rhythm and blues often featured one of
several blues shuffle patterns that define a chord and can be transposed to define the other
harmonies, and, most importantly, that can be reused for any number of songs. Figure 4
On the other hand, in the mid- to late-1960s rock songs that were still riff-based more
frequently featured a song-identifying riff: For example, Figure 5 shows the instantly
63
Quintana 1996, 4.
64
For the rest of the paper the name Formell alone refers to the father, Juan Formell. In
addition to timbales, Samuel’s drumset includes: 22” kick drum; 10”, 12”, and 16” tom
toms; snare drum; high hat; and four cymbals.
http://www.vanvandeformell.com/technical-ridel.php accessed 8/22/07.
65
Of course there were song specific riffs long before rock just as some rock songs
continued to recycle generic riffs. The same is true of son and songo. In both rock and
songo, however, the emphasis seems to shift toward the defining riff.
25
Figure 26. Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” riff. CD Track 1.66
Figure 6 is an example of a riff that replaces the generic shuffle patterns in the 12-bar
Figure 27. Led Zeppelin “Rock & Roll” riff. CD Track 2.67
In the same way, older Cuban sons frequently featured standard patterns,
montunos, for the tres, a type of Cuban guitar later replaced by piano in many
ensembles.68
Many of LVV’s songs feature piano montunos instantly identify the song.
66
Rolling Stones, 2002, Forty Licks, ABKCO Music & Records CD 133782.
67
Led Zeppelin, 1990, Led Zeppelin, Atlantic Records CD 782144-2.
68
See also Appendix p. 64 for salsa rhythmic foundations from Wise, “Salsa.”
69
Thanks to Kevin Moore for correcting this transcription.
26
This is also true in bass patterns. Figure 9 and 10 compare a basic salsa bass line to the
bass line from one of LVV’s best known songs from the 1980s “Sandungera” (No literal
While the two bass lines are similar, Figure 9 is frequently used with no particular song
to refer back to, but if Figure 10 is used it would instantly reference “Sandungera.”
All of this may help explain the difficulty in pinpointing a definition for songo.
Instead songo seems to be more of an approach to music that includes some breaking
away from the standard patterns, which were more or less consistent from one song to the
next in previous Cuban dance genres. This is not to say that songo was a complete break
with the past. Instead songo includes a song-centered approach that built on established
patterns from a wide range of music genres both Cuban and North American.
In addition to influencing the development of songo, rock artists may have also
influenced Formell’s approach to record production. Inspired by the Beatles and other
late 1960s-era rock bands, Juan Formell began packaging albums conceptually beginning
with the second record (1974). Concept records were packaged as “more than a
70
Formell, Juan and Los Van Van, 1988, Songo, Island Records CD 9908.
27
dramatic pacing, and an identity and artistic value which was hopefully more than just the
Llegó… VanVan was released in the year 1999, which stands out as one of Los
Van Van’s most successful. The Grammy awarded for Llegó was the first for a Cuban-
based dance band recording.72 The same year, Ashé Records released a two-disc greatest-
hits LVV compilation with an informative bilingual 106-page booklet.73 The songs on
these CDs included songs recorded for the Cuban national record label, EGREM, that
were re-mastered to meet North American expectations (technoscapes). The film Van
Van: Empezó la fiesta [The Party Began], released by the national film company, ICAIC,
features retrospective footage of the band’s career, of the Grammy award celebration, and
of a huge outdoor thirtieth anniversary concert in Havana.74 Finally this same year, LVV
Miami.75
71
K. Moore 2007 “Roots of Timba”
72
“The Salsa Censors” 2000, Time 155, no13, April 3, p. 78.
73
For comparison, these liner notes meticulously documented the bands career,
personnel, discography, song lyrics and credits. In Cuban national record label’s 1995
collection of reissues of the original fifteen LVV releases, each CD was packaged with
minimal notes and inconsistent audio quality. See Appendix for Discography.
74
Formell, Juan and Los Van Van 2000, Van Van: Empezó la fiesta!, VHS, Primer Plano
Film Group, Arca Difusión and Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográfica,
Havana: Video ICAIC.
75
The ethnoscape and ideoscapes were particularly intense when LVV’s Miami
performance was met with major protest from some members of Miami’s Cuban-
American community. With Miami’s mayor calling LVV “The Official Band of Fidel
Castro” Castillo 1999, p 35.
28
Llegó also marked the end of an era before a major transition. Llegó was the last
recording to feature two prominent members of the group. Keyboardist Cesar “Pupi”
Pedroso was a founding member of the band, and only Formell has written more of the
band’s hit songs. The other musician to leave, Pedro “Pedrito” Calvo was an iconic lead
singer with the band for almost two decades. On LVV’s next and most recent studio
Previously always listed as the musical director, Formell Sr. is listed as producer and
general director of Chapeando. Lastly, Pavel Molina now shares bass playing duties with
Juan Formell both on Chapeando and in concert. In fact, at the 2006 concert in Toronto,
Molina played bass on the majority of the songs. Formell sang some and gave directions
1999 was also the year of the release of the Buena Vista Social Club (BVSC) film,
Wim Wenders’ hugely successful documentary about a group of older Cuban son
musicians playing in a traditional style. A record with the same name was released two
years earlier. Ry Cooder, a North American guitarist, was involved in the production of
the first CD. The film was shot when Cooder returned to Cuba to record another album:
Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer, also released in 1999.77 Though Perna
states that the original album was released “with good press response but tepid initial
sales,” the first record must have been lucrative enough to merit Cooder and Wenders
return to film the next BVSC project. Many critics and scholars have noted the film seems
76
Formell, Juan and Los Van Van, 2006, Chapeando, Unicornio Producciones CD AHI-
1051.
77
Ferrer, Ibrahim, 1999, Buena Vista Social Club Presents: Ibrahim Ferrer, Nonesuch
Records CD 79532-2.
29
to portray Cooder as a colonial explorer discovering these forgotten musicians and a
forgotten music.78
Through its old-fashioned sounds and its celebration of elderly musicians, the
album constructed a nostalgic representation of the island promoted by the tourist
industry at the turn of the millennium.80
Perna illustrates that the Cuban Government embraced the marketing of the BVSC, which
proved to be quite lucrative for the government and represented a safer image of Cuba
than the image projected by many of the timba bands. Ironically, the government’s
harshest critics, and perhaps many of those who protested LVV’s 1999 Miami concert,
also embraced the nostalgia of BVSC.81 It is important to keep this context in mind in the
analysis of Llegó. Perna even claims that when Formell named the timba genre at a press
conference in 1998 and this could be seen as a “strategic move.” “[The] leaders of Cuban
dance music bands intended to challenge the equation between Buena Vista and national
music.”82 In other words, Llegó can be seen as challenging the romanticized image
present in BVSC by showing a contemporary music culture up to date with global music
trends.
It appears that all the -scapes lined up just right for LVV in 1999. An examination
of the late 1990s ideoscape shows a significant warming in the relations between the U.S.
78
See for example Katerí Hernández 2002, although I have found several problems with
this article see Palomares 2006 unpublished manuscript. For another side to the BVSC
debate see Godfried 2000. Godfried defends the BVSC project from its critics.
79
See Perna 2005 chapter 9.
80
Perna 2005, 240.
81
Ibid, 263.
82
Ibid, 240
30
and Cuba. During Bill Clinton’s presidency cultural exchanges between the two countries
were frequent. Cuban musicians toured the U.S., and U.S. citizens with state department
licenses traveled to Cuba legally. Turning to the technoscapes, Llegó was recorded at a
new world-class recording studio that had recently opened in Havana.83 Abdala studios
was a project of Silvio Rodriguez, one of the best-known singers of nueva trova, a type of
protest song popular throughout Latin America. Rodriguez founded Abdala with the goal
To release Llegó and circumvent the U.S. embargo, LVV signed a contract with
the Dutch company Harbor Bridge. Harbor Bridge’s relationship with the New York-
based company Havana Caliente and Havana Caliente’s affiliation with the major label
Atlantic Records assured LVV U.S. exposure and distribution.84 This shows how
complexly intertwined the -scapes are. The mediascapes, ideoscape, and financescapes
come into particular focus here. So many different media companies were necessary
because of the U.S. embargo. It is also important to note, however, that Cuban policy was
also involved here, though more historically situated. Only in the late 1980s did the
Cuban government start to allow artists to sign international contracts for themselves.
This was accelerated by the financial crisis of Cuba’s 1990s “special period.” Previously
all artists were state employees and the national record label, EGREM, controlled who
recorded what and when.85 At the risk of taking the model too far, I note also, the
technoscapes and financescapes were involved in the release of the album in Cuba. After
83
See http://www.abdala.cu
84
Mauleón and Faro 1999, 34
85
See Robbins 1991, Moore 2006, and Perna 2005 Chapter 1.
31
being released on CD in the U.S. first, Llegó was released on cassette in Cuba because
THE COVER
The title on the cover of the Llegó reveals the transnational target audience. A
choice was made to print the title prominently both in Spanish and in English: Llegó…
Van Van/Van Van is Here. No other LVV release to date was marked with such a clear
explanations of the Spanish lyrics. At the time, only the greatest hits compilation,
released the same year, included an English/Spanish title and liner notes. Furthermore,
although Llegó is the past tense of the verb Llegar [to arrive], the title is translated as
“Van Van is Here.” When translating the verb literally the title becomes “Van Van
arrived.” 87 This play on “is here” and “arrived,” the present and the past tenses, give the
CD an ironic title for a premier dance band with over twenty previous releases. In fact
LVV arrived many years ago but now calls out to a new audience, “we are here!”
advertising more details about the product. Llegó is available now with a “Grammy
Winner” sticker clearly using this achievement to sell the CD to consumers. Before
winning the award, the sticker proclaimed in English, “Cuba’s greatest dance band
celebrates 30 years.”88 The marketing of the CD illustrates an awareness that LVV could
86
Casteñeda 1998, nn.
87
The CD cover does not include the accent over the “o” on Llegó. Llego is the first
person present tense form, or I arrive. LVV’s official website list the title as Llegó.
(http://www.vanvandeformell.com/discografia.php accessed 16 August 2007.)
88
As found on New York based online Latin music store Descarga.com, and
Amazon.com both accessed 16 August 2007.
32
not count on name recognition alone. Therefore, the marketing of the CD would
An unfamiliar audience may see the cover as a title printed against an abstract
(Hamel’s Alley) in the city of Havana.89 I argue that the implications of this choice are
two-fold. First, as Vincenzo Perna recently pointed out, the CD cover art and several
themes in the 1990s.90 The artist responsible for the mural is Salvador Gonzales. His art,
sold at a gallery on Callejón de Hamel, and mural feature themes of the Afro-Cuban
religions of Cuba, especially Santería. The mural depicts the orichas, or Santería deities.
Secondly, what others have not noted is that the cover art also brings up the issue of
tourism in Cuba. Every Sunday afternoon many tourists attend a rumba, a secular Afro-
89
See Appendix p. 63 for my photos of the mural and rumba from a 2002 trip to Callejón
de Hamel.
90
Perna 2005, 185.
33
Cuban music and the party itself, dance party at Callejón de Hamel.91 Hagedorn discusses
the orichas, Santería, and the prominence of Afro-Cuban religions during the “special
Llegó’s first track, “Permiso que llegó van van” (Excuse me, Van Van has
Arrived), (CD Track 5) gradually presents the orchestral sound and musical concept of
altering the instrumentation through the years, and experimenting with electronic timbres.
LVV’s orchestral origins lie in the charanga tradition; Formell later drew from the
Cuban conjunto tradition by adding brass instruments.93 In 1965 Formell joined a popular
Cuban charanga orchestra, Orquesta Revé, and was already experimenting with North
American elements such as the trap drumset, electric guitar and bass, and other sounds of
91
On the day I visited Callejón de Hamel the rumba party was an even more
transnational event with a Cuban rap group before the rumba performers.
92
See Hagedorn 2001, Chapter 7. For more information on santería see Murphy 1993.
Vélez 2000 is a biographic case study of a drummer in the sacred Afro-Cuban tradition.
93
Charanga: “a specific style of instrumentation, consisting of rhythm section
(contrabass, timbales and güiro), strings (from two to four violins, or any number of
violins with a cello), and one wooden flute. The piano and conga drum were added in the
1940’s” (Mauelón 1993. 252–253). Conjunto: “a specific style of instrumentation
developed around 1940, derived from the septeto ensemble[, a seven piece son
ensemble,] consisting of guitar, tres, contrabass, bongos, three vocalist [who play hand
percussion such as maracas and claves), and two to four trumpets… and the piano and
[conga drum]” (Ibid, 254).
34
rock ’n’ roll. In 1969, among the musicians who left Orquesta Revé to join Formell’s first
incarnation of LVV were a flautist, four violinists, two guitarists, and a cellist. By 1999,
of these instruments, only two violinists and a flautist remained. Two trombones replaced
the electric guitars in 1980, with a third trombone added in 1983; finally, the brass
section had grown to four trombonists by 1999. The addition of trombones could be seen
as a response to international salsa bands.94 Salsa bands also derived their instrumentation
from the conjunto ensembles, which trace their roots to the Cuban son tradition. New
York salsa musicians, particularly Mon Rivera and Eddie Palmiere, started using
trombones in the 1960s.95 What made Formell’s idea unique was the combination of
charanga strings and flute with salsa, or conjunto, brass. Notably, Formell did not add a
trumpet, the first brass instrument added to the son ensembles in the early twentieth-
century and a standard instrument in salsa ensembles. This mix of trombones, violins,
flute, drumset, and electronic instruments has become a signature element of LVV’s
the full orchestra can be heard. This introduction begins with ten seconds of a percussive
groove that may sound disorienting to listeners expecting either salsa or BVSC’s
traditional son. The sonic palette is bare except for a güiro and the drums.97 The steady
rhythm played on the güiro is standard and would be familiar to many Latin music
94
Salsa ensemble: “typically includes vocals, Cuban percussion [such as bongos, congas,
timbales, claves, cowbells, woodblocks, maracas, and güiro], piano bass, trumpets,
trombones and saxophones, and usually ranges in size from ten to fourteen members”
Waxer, “Salsa.”
95
Lankford 1999 dissertation give some historical background of the trombone in salsa.
96
See Appendix p. 62 for stage plot showing the current LVV stage setup.
97
Güiro: serrated gourd tat is scraped with a stick.
35
audiences.98 Figure 12 shows the güiro’s standard pattern: the quarter note is a legato
down-stroke and brief upstroke creating the characteristic scraping sound, while the next
While the güiro churns out its steady groove, Samuel Formell moves around the trap
Figure 34. “Permiso” drum intro and Drum key. Note: Pickup note not transcribed. Clave only implied.
CD Track 5 00:00–00:12 99
98
Mauleón 1993,102.
99
Thanks to Drummer’s Bible author Jason Gianni for verifying this transcription.
36
He’ll wait until the next instruments enter to start twisting the steady beat poly-
rhythmically. A live recording from Miami also starts with a drum introduction but
If the untrained ear did not catch on to the uniqueness of the drumset, then the synthesizer
clearly announces to BVSC fans to beware this is not your Cuban band trapped in the
past. The spacey synthesizer sound exemplifies a common thread to LVV’s sound.
Formell has always been open to experimentation with nontraditional electronic timbres.
In the 1960s and 1970s LVV’s use of electric bass and guitars, as well as the liberal use of
reverb, was new to Cuban dance music. In the 1980s, LVV’s sound featured electric
drums and keyboards. On Llegó, the late 1990s sound includes combinations of
ideas presented earlier. His approach is more polyrhythmic one moment playing a three-
against-two rhythm at the eight-note pulse and adding to the tension set up by the odd
synthesizer sound. In addition, the conga drums can be heard to enter very faintly but in
response to the trap drumset’s call. On the second half of the phrase (CD Track 5, 00:22),
the synthesizer becomes static playing chords that emphasize the synthetic nature of the
pulse. On the repeat of the synthesizer’s eight-measure phrase (CD Track 5, 00:33) an
electronic keyboard accompanies the melody. Although this keyboard is also set to an
100
Formell, Juan and Los Van Van, 2004, Van Van Live at Miami Arena, Havana
Caliente/Pimienta Records, 2 CDs and 1 DVD 245360585-2.
37
electronic timbre, the sound is not as distinctive. The keyboard sounds closer to a Fender
While the drum intro may be read as representing an “African” past, I note two
aspects here. First, the güiro is one of the few instruments thought to have survived from
Cuba’s indigenous past.101 Secondly, the sound of the trap drumset along with how it is
being played challenge any notion of a traditional sound. Therefore in just under one
minute LVV has linked themselves with the past tradition (güiro, indigenous Cuba, clave,
and “African” rhythm) and modern sound (clean production, trap drumset, synthesizer,
Nearly one minute into the song the rest of the orchestra enters (CD Track 5,
00:51), showcasing the full sound of LVV’s novel instrumentation. After a drum fill and a
steady run of triplets from Samuel, a four-bar instrumental interlude separates the intro
from the vocal entry of the first coro, or chorus. Here the brass, strings, and electric bass
enter together, strongly reinforcing the three side of the clave. On the second half of the
phrase the strings break away from the instruments with a countermelody that brings
back Samuel’s triplet run that prepared this phrase. Now as the band hits the main groove
full force, the vocal chorus enters. For those who had any doubts: Van Van llegó!
101
Although as Mauleón, and others, explain the güiro has both African and indigenous
American roots (Mauón 1993, 255).
38
Figure 35. Son and rumba clave in 3:2 direction.
Berríos-Miranda refers to clave as an important criterion “for the criticism and evaluation
[crossed]. It is used derogatorily to describe someone playing against the clave. In other
words, if a melody calls for a 3:2 clave and a musician plays a part in the 2:3 clave that
musician might be accused of being cruzado.103 At times determining the direction can be
challenging. “The proper application of the clave concept has been a theme of much
One interesting technique that contrasts LVV from much U.S.-based salsa is
whether the first measure of the two-measure clave phrase has two or three beats, that is,
whether the clave rhythm is struck in either the 3:2 direction or 2:3 direction. This can
102
Berríos-Miranda 2002, 37.
103
In looking beyond the New York-Puerto Rico-Cuba salsa triangle Berríos-Miranda
(2003) examines Venezuelan salsa and attitudes towards salsa, she found musicians that
did not believe that clave rules were inflexible. They claimed that if the music “still
swings it is still good” even if the musician is cruzado (37). Berríos-Miranda finds that
some question Venezuelan musicians ability and knowledge of clave concept (38).
104
Ibid. See also Gerard and Shuller 1989 and Mauleón 1993.
39
Analysis of the introduction to “Permiso” illustrates the basics of the clave
concept. For the first phrase of the intro to “Permiso,” Samuel’s playing keeps things
sparse. (See Fig. 11) The steady güiro pattern is a one measure pattern and therefore
clave neutral. Samuel’s line shows the first measure is quite syncopated while the second
is not. This indicates a 3:2 clave direction with the three side of the clave being the
syncopated half. The 3:2 clave will be further reinforced when the full band enters at the
musical interlude.
Kevin Moore calls one way of handling the clave direction “New York Style,”
because of the tendency of New York salsa arrangers to maintain the clave direction
strictly throughout a song.105 In other words, once a song begins, in either 3:2 or 2:3
clave, the clave direction never changes. If a melody does call for a different direction of
the clave, the arranger will use a phrase with an odd number of measures. On the other
hand, Formell has been quoted as stating that this strict maintenance of the clave
direction is only one option. Formell claims that Cuban musicians have a “clave license”
to jump the clave if necessary in an arrangement if “the clave must be interrupted” for the
sake of the song.106 This technique “jumps clave” by simply repeating the necessary 2 or
“Permiso” maintains the 3:2 clave throughout the song, the arrangement of Llegó’s third
song, “Eso dámelo a mi” (Give me That) (CD Track 6), includes a passage where LVV
invokes their “clave license.” For the first two minutes, the groove is in the 3:2 son clave
direction. This is evident in the piano montuno, which melodically articulates the clave.
105
Moore, “The Four Great Clave Debates.”
106
Ibid and Mauleón 1999, 16.
40
Furthermore when the verse enters at (CD Track 6, 00:21) the vocal melody reinforces
the clave direction. At this same moment, a wood block enters stating the son clave
rhythm.107
Figure 37. Example of clave change using clave license change. CD Track 6 01:59–02:23) 108
The transcription in figure 16 shows the clave, which at this point is implied. The second
line of the transcription shows the band’s rhythmic accents. Measures 3, 5, 13, and 15
107
The wood block part enters on the “and” of beat 2, which is called the bomba, as the
verse begins.
108
Thanks to Kevin Moore for his assistance with this transcription.
41
show the band accents most clearly maintaining the clave direction. At measure 17 (CD
Track 6, 02:19), after the solo, a new coro begins in the 2:3 clave direction.109 Note that
measures 16 and 17 both show the 2-side of the clave. There is no odd-measure phrase;
the two-side of the clave pattern is repeated to jump clave and match the phrasing of the
new coro. The other option, or the “New York Style,” would have been to add one more
measure between 16 and 17 or remove measure 16. This would have maintained the 3:2
clave throughout, however the affect of the passage would have been drastically different.
THEMATIC APPROACH
In studying for her musicology degree in Cuba, Gonzáles Bello devised a system
for analysis and classification of LVV’s music. She studied the linguistic and literary
elements of LVV’s repertoire and emphasized the themes and how the themes were
addressed.110 She completed her dissertation work before Llegó was released
commercially in Cuba, but she applies the system to Llegó in a later article (2000). Aside
from a concluding remark, her emphasis relies on subcultural knowledge not necessarily
available to the audience that, I argue, LVV is introducing themselves to. The exception is
a paragraph at the end noting that perhaps for North American audiences the songs are
shorter than usual and fade out before closure of the musical discourse.111
music and on Llegó. They are love, society, music, and character types with the first two
109
The rhythm of coro melody indicates the 2:3 clave, in addition a 2:3 bell pattern can
be heard.
110
Gonzáles Bello 2000, 7.
111
Ibid, 13.
42
being the predominant themes.112 She notes that under society fall themes of religion,
identity, and contemporary social issues of Cuba.113 These themes are addressed through
allegory, chronicles of the people, and humor.114 Humor appears two different ways; first
being obvious, on the surface, though jocularity, hyperbole, irony, and mischief; and
second, songs that require further examination to reveal their humor though a play on
words and history.115 Of course, these themes are not mutually exclusive; some songs fall
under more than one category. At the heart of González Bello’s argument is that Llegó
marks a point of return for the band and that LVV’s approach to addressing the themes
has precedent in previous traditional Cuban popular music. While Llegó doesn’t
completely abandon the timba approach of their 1990s discography, Llegó’s music and
themes are more in keeping with their 1970s and 1980s work.116
Through the text and the music of Llegó, LVV provides their audiences with a
Cuban history lesson. This is true from the first song. The first words heard on the CD are
not in Spanish. “Permiso” begins with a coro in Lucumí, the Cuban version of the
Yoruba language and the language of the Afro-Cuban religion, santería. This is followed
112
“Las cuatro categorías fundamentales creadas para las mismas en el sistema
clasificatorio, entiéndase lo amoroso, lo social, lo musical y personajes tipos; de ellas,
las dos primeras con un predomino significativo” Ibid, 7.
113
Ibid.
114
Ibid.
115
Ibid.
116
Ibid 6–7.
43
The verses tell the history of the band. The first verse includes (CD Track 5, 01:14–
01:21):
The second verse includes a reference that is hidden from unknowing ears. The date
December 4, 1969 has double significance; this is the day of LVV’s premier, and
December fourth is the feast day for Santa Barbara, which in santería is syncretic with
Changó, the deity of the drum.117 The religious themes of “Permiso” continue throughout
the song.
The song is not just a self-congratulatory history; it also makes reference to the
1990s social context with the prominence of Afro-Cuban sacred and secular themes. The
liner notes say Formell sings “Appapas del calabar” (CD Track 7) in the secret language
of Abakúa, the secret Afro-Cuban all-male society with roots from the Calabar region
(Nigeria) of Africa. Formell actually sings some of the song in Spanish as well. González
Bello says “Appapas” is the first case where the Abakúa have been approached
117
Although Quintana was not in the band for this debut or on this record, his nickname,
“Changuito,” is the Spanish diminutive for Chango, or little Chango.
44
pedagogically in a popular dance music song.118 In the song, Formell draws a classic
study of the Abakúa by Lydia Cabrera to teach about the Abakúa .119
The history lesson on Llegó continues with the incorporation of two traditional
Cuban dance music genres: son and rumba. Son developed in the eastern rural regions of
Cuba and made its way to Havana in the early 20th century. “During the 20th century the
son has taken shape as the most important [genre] in present-day Cuban music, especially
because of its influence on dance music.”120 Most of the songs on Llegó illustrate the
band’s debt to traditional son form.121 The classic son form consists of two parts: first, a
closed strophic verse, called canto or tema, followed by an open montuno. The montuno
is said to be open because it only ends when the singer runs out of ideas. The montuno
can also refer to the pattern played by the tres or piano, as illustrated above in Figure 7.
The montuno of the son form consists of a short repetitive refrain, or estribillo also called
coro, sung by a group in response to a lead singer whose improvised lines are called
inspiraciones. During this section the band plays a vamp, one frequent example is the
piano montuno of Figure 7.122 The montuno is frequently extended through the use of
multiple coros building tension by shortening the duration of the coro (in number of
measures). Additional variety is added through mambos. Not to be confused with the
1950s mambo dance craze, the mambo here refers to horn passages over the vamp. At
times tension is further built as coros, inspiraciones, and mambos begin to overlap.
118
González Bello 2000, 10.
119
Ibid, 9.
120
Alén Rodríguez 1998, 60.
121
The prevalence of son form in many salsa songs is one reason leading some to say that
salsa is just Cuban son.
122
Also see Appendix p. 64 salsa rhythmic foundation from Waxer, “Salsa” to see how
the piano montuno would be modified to incorporate extended jazz harmonies.
45
On Llegó, the song “El cheque” (The Check) is an example of rather strict
adherence to the son form (Table 1), while other songs are variations on it.
Tema:
Intro 8 measures
Verse 1 32 bars AABA form
Verse 2 32 bars AABA’ form
Interlude 4 Measures
Montuno:
In “El Cheque” the montuno spells out a progression using the tonic, sub-dominant, and
dominant chords in the key of A.
Notice that the coro changes from calling to responding in the final section of the
montuno.
Drawing from another tradition, the tema of “El cheque” consists of two 32-bar choruses
in AABA, or Tin Pan Alley form. The use of Tin Pan Alley form probably reflects an
earlier era’s intercultural exchange between the U.S. and Cuban musicians. While I have
46
stressed throughout this essay the flow from Cuba to the U.S., the Tin Pan Alley form
and LVV’s rock, jazz, and funk influences illustrates that the flow goes both ways.
Son became the quintessential Cuban music through the construction of a Cuban
national identity drawing from both Spain and Africa. Son’s “rhythmic variations,
refrains, percussion techniques, intonations, and sonorities reveal both original sources”
blending Spanish and African elements.123 The construction of a national mulatto identity
can be traced to the appropriation of Afro-Cuban cultural expressions in the 1920s by art
Before this moment Cuban intellectuals imagined an indigenous past that erased African
culture from Cuba. The elite and bourgeois of Cuba, along with the Afro-Cuban middle
class, previously derided son. The Afrocubanismo movement along with an international
rumba craze for popular Cuban music changed attitudes toward the Cuban popular music
the construction of a national mulatto culture. In “Somos Cubanos” (We are Cubans),
LVV acknowledges that very little remains of the indigenous culture of Cuba, having been
exterminated by disease and cruel conditions as Spain first colonized the island:
“Somos Cubanos” (We are Cubans) from Llegó… Van Van (1999). (CD Track 9 00:44)
123
Orovio 2004, 203.
124
See Moore 1997 about this era.
47
La Cubana The Cuban (women)
era una mezcla diferente was a different mix
con mucho sabor with a lot of flavor
acompañada de la rumba y el accompanied by the rumba and guaguancó
guaguancó owners of the clave
dueños de la clave and the magic of the three plus two
y la magia del tres mas dos that made us so special
que nos hizo tan especiales gracias a thanks to God
Dios
Coro: Coro:
Somos Cubanos, Español y Africanos We are Cubans, Spanish and African
On the band’s previous record (1997) they show a more complicated mix and their own
“Te pone la cabeza mala” (It Drives You Crazy) (1997) (CD Track 10)125
Din dan con rumba y rock Din dan with rumba and rock
Mambo con conga y pop Mambo with conga and pop
Salsa con mozambique Salsa with mozambique
Y clave de guaguancó And the clave from guaguancó
Cumbia con jazz con swing Cumbia with jazz and swing
Songo con samba y beat Songo with samba and beat
Merengue con bomba y son Merengue with bomba and son
Y clave de guaguancó And the clave from guaguancó126
125
Formell, Juan and Los Van Van,1997, Te pone la cabeza mala, Caribe Productions CD
9506.
126
Mauleón and Faro 1999, 96. Rumba, mambo, conga, mozambique, guaguancó, songo,
and son are all Cuban genres. Cumbia is originally a Columbian genre but has variations
throughout Latin America. Merengue is a popular dance music from the Dominican
Republic. Bomba is a traditional Puerto Rican genre. I am not clear what Din dan is.
48
“Somos Cubanos” challenges previous national mulatto identity projects that
actually accepting the Afro-Cuban people. The final coro (CD Track 9 02:48) of “Somos
Cubanos” quotes Arsenio Rodríguez’ (1911–1970) classic song “Bruca manigua” (Witch
from the Bush).127 Rodríguez is one of the most important Cuban son musicians of the
era. Rodríguez celebrated his African heritage writing songs commenting on the status of
oppression by singing in bozal, an “Africanized” Spanish which would not have been
understood by the white Cuban audiences.129 Also “Somos Cubanos” is not a son, but a
rumba. While the son became the national music of Cuba, the rumba maintains its
The rumba emerged in the mid-19th century and developed in the urban slums
and at the shipping docks of the Western Cuban cities of Havana and Matanzas. The
percussion section consists of three drums and palitos, sticks struck against the shell of
one of the drums. Initially the drums were shipping boxes for codfish switching later to
three congas drums with the smallest high-pitched drum responsible for improvisation.
The vocal section includes a lead vocalist and a chorus.130 The rhythm heard as “Somos
Cubano” begins, also heard on the song “Consuélate Como yo” (Console Yourself Like I
127
Translation from Ibid 19.
128
See Garcia 2006
129
Ibid, 19–20. In addition, Gonzalez Bello (2000) cites other intertextual references in
“Somos Cubanos,” and cites “Bruca manigua” as a reference to Vincento Valdés. As
Arsenio Rodríguez is one of the most prominent musicians in Cuban music history it
seems more likely that to refer to his more famous song.
130
For more details on rumba see Crook 1982 and Alén Rodriguez 1998, 81–98.
49
Do) (CD Track 11), is a specific type of rumba, the guaguancó. The figure below shows
the standard guaguancó rhythm provided by the palitos and a composite rhythm of the
Both songs begin with this rhythm, which identifies the songs as guaguancó. However
the inclusion of LVV’s full band and not just the percussion and vocals of traditional
rumba means the songs are hybrids, which González Bello classifies as songo-
known as Tío Tom.132 LVV’s version adds other typical rumba elements missing from
“Somos Cubanos.” The song begins like many traditional rumbas, with the vocables of
the introductory diana, which sets up the tonality of the song. This is followed by a
passage that informs the listener why the singer, Mayito Rivera, sings “Consuélate como
yo.”133 Before the guaguancó rhythm continues any further (CD Track 11 1:07) the band
breaks into a salsa sound. I call this a salsa feel in large part because the typical
anticipated bass of salsa played by Formell and the traditional sounding piano
131
González Bello 2000, 12.
132
Acosta 1991 writes about Tio Tom to contest the anonymous nature of oral traditions
like rumba. The essay, written from a Cuban Marxist perspective, presents Tio Tom and
the rumba as an expression of the proletariat class.
133
See Alén Rodríguez 1998, 85.
50
montuno.134 Just after entering the salsa section (CD Track 11 01:22) Rivera quotes the
classic song “Bemba colorá” (Red Lips) made famous by the salsa singer Celia Cruz,
González Bello states that Llegó features many intertexual references, an element
common to both LVV and Cuban music in general.135 While González Bello illustrates
purpose is to show a connection or commentary on salsa through what the literary theorist
Henry Louis Gates Jr. calls signifyin(g). Encyclopedia Britannica describes signifyin(g)
comment on an idea in dialogue with the past.136 He applies his theory of signifyin(g) to
connecting it to an African past, Gates turns again and again to Afro-Cuban culture and in
particular santería.137 The key here is Gate’s idea that signifyin(g) is repetition with
134
See Appendix p. 64 for Grove illustration of salsa rhythmic foundation. Note the
typical anticipated bass. This is not to say that Formell never plays this type of bass line,
but he is more likely to play a different bass line than what is heard on many salsa
records. Also see K. Moore’s definition of songo and notice the use of bass starting on
beat one.
135
González Bello 2000, 9. “La intertextualidad, quizás uno de los recursos más
utilizados en Van Van” (Intertextuality, perhaps one of the most utilized resources in Van
Van].
136
“Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.,”Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005.
137
See Gates 1988, Chapter 1.
51
difference. This difference can be both motivated and unmotivated, with unmotivated not
meaning without intention but without the negative critique of motivated signifyin(g).138
song “No soy de la gran escena” (I’m Not from the Big Scene) (CD Track 12).139 The
lyrics critique a Cuban television show, La gran escena, which featured art music but not
popular music. The music underscores the point by quoting Tchaikovsky’s Piano
Concerto No. 1 with rumba clave throughout.140 The signifyin(g) on Llegó that I am
looking at here comments on salsa or the salsa debate. The quotation of Rodríguez’
“Bruca manigua,” which the original itself was an example of Rodríguez signifyin(g), in
“Somos Cubanos” also can be said to point to the salsa.141 That is because Rodríguez is
Through both humor and boastfulness more signifyin(g) can be heard on “El
negro está cocinando” ( The Black Man is cooking) (CD Track 3). Though she does not
connect the song to salsa or signifyin(g), González Bello’s sees “El negro está
cocinando,” as a return for LVV to both depicting character types and the double
entendre. Several earlier LVV songs use culinary double entendres. That “El negro está
cocinando” is a case in point would be pretty obvious to any Spanish speaker (CD Track
3 00:26–00:44):
138
Ibid, xxvi.
139
Formell, Juan and Los Van Van, 1999 The Legendary Los Van Van: 30 Years of
Cuba’s Greatest Dance Band, Volume 1, ¡Y Van! Los Van Van 1969 to 1989 Ashé
Records, CD 2007A
140
Mauleón and Faro 1999, 23.
141
See Garcia 2006, 19–20. Rodríguez signifies by masking critique of Cuban racism
through the use of bozal dialect which was appropriated in Cuban equivalent of blackface
minstrelsy. So while white Cuban audiences did not understand Rodríguez’ critique they
associated the language with something they of were familiar with.
142
Garcia 2006, 6.
52
Que no me toquen la puerta Don’t knock on my door
Que el negro está cocinando Because the black man is cooking
No no no no no no no no, No no no no no no no no
No me la toquen Don’t knock on my door
Gonzales Bello also illustrates that the song contains an intertextual reference to a classic
son, Ignacio Piñero’s “Échale salsita” (Put Some Sauce on It). Also about a man who is
very skillful in the kitchen and all the women want to sample his cooking. Piñero’s song
is, however, frequently referred to as the original use of the term “salsa” in Latin, or
Cuban, music.
Lastly song “Temba, Tumba, Timba” may be an allusion to the salsa debate.
González Bello says it is an allegory. She says, “It alludes, in reality, to the evolution of
Cuban music from the most traditional forms to timba, this term being the most
contemporary.” 143 The song appears to be a strange love pentagon about three men and
two women. In the chorus a chain begins where Temba’s wife leaves him for Tumba.
Tumba’s wife leaves him for Timba. Gonzalez Bello reads this as an allegory alluding to
the evolution of Cuban music from the traditional forms to timba. González Bello calls
No quiso bailar más rumba She didn’t want to dance any more rumba
Y quiso cambiar de estilo and wanted to change style
Cambiando temba por tumba Changing Temba for Tumba
143
“Se alude, en realidad, a la evolución de la música cubana desde las formas más
tradicionales hasta la timba, siendo éste el termino más contemporáneo.” González Bello
2000, 8.
53
Así cambia de Marido. This is how she changes husbands
… …
Tú le darás la razón You give her the reason
Sabiendo que está muy Linda Knowing that she is very pretty
De Tumba pasó pa’ Timba From Tumba she passed to Timba
para cambiar de sabor to change flavors
In addition to the culinary reference, “sabor” is a word frequently used in Latin musical
situations much like the word swing in jazz. One would compliment a musician by saying
that the music “tiene mucho sabor” [has a lot of flavor]. Perhaps the lesson to draw here,
accepting that this is an allegory for music, through the humorous way that LVV discusses
the changes of flavors from one style to the next may indicate that the name of the music
doesn’t matter as much to the band. Salsa, timba, rumba, rock, or son, it does not matter
what you call the music—LVV doesn’t take the terms so seriously. This same attitude
could probably be mapped onto the song “Te pone la cabeza mala” transcribed above.
Alternatively, if we wanted to see this all as motivated signifyin(g), then LVV could be
saying it doesn’t matter if you call it timba or salsa, it is all still Cuban music.
These quick references do not tell us much about attitudes towards the salsa
debate. Further research would have to determine to what extent this could be motivated
There was a moment when we had to accept the word “salsa” because of the
international situation. At that time we were on the defensive, but now we are on
the offensive and we can say, No, that’s not what we do. We’re somewhere
between traditional son and salsa.144
It is worthy to note that the music of Celia Cruz, the singer quoted in “Consuélate como
yo,” was banned in Cuba because of her outspoken stance towards the Cuban
government. She was also one of the older musicians who said salsa was just Cuban
144
Quoted in Casteñeda 1998, nn.
54
music.145 But any assumptions of harsh criticism of salsa must keep in mind that, for
commercial reasons, it makes sense for LVV to align themselves with salsa, a market that
in Llegó.
LVV’s history lesson is not all stuck in the past. According to Gonzáles Bello,
LVV’s approach to the chronicles of the people is handled differently than usual.146 LVV
is more critical of core social problems in contemporary Cuba. Two songs look at a man
being abandoned by his woman and her sexual and economic relations with one or more
foreigners. The relationship is a more complex arrangement than prostitution, not always
including a sex for money arrangement, and is called jineterismo [literally a jinetera
would be a female jockey] in Cuba.147 The two examples she gives are “Mi chocolate”
145
Cruz 2004, 130–132.
146
González Bello 2000, 7.
147
“Abandono del hombre cubano por parte de la mulata criollas y las relaciones
sexuales sostenidas entre estas y uno o varios extranjeros en las que media un interés
económico, a lo que se denomina jineterismo.” González Bello 2000, 7. Aparicio 1997
examines the image of the mulata in Latin music.
55
Tú te me fuiste con un Pepe You left me for a guy
Jineterismo is just one example of the results of the financial crisis in Cuba of the 1990s.
In another example connecting LVV to the socio-cultural present, “El cheque” the
financescapes come into further focus. Faced with extreme shortages, some Cubans
depend on the dollars they receive through checks or cash from family overseas. The
song “El cheque” looks at the financial needs of Cubans of a diverse nature and the
aspirations and longings for the chance to have access to some money.148 In this song, the
protagonist awaits a check he has been told is coming from abroad, but the check does
not arrive. While waiting, the people around him make various plans including things to
fix up the house, a Santería ritual, and even a pair of Nike tennis shoes. It is important to
note that these difficult issues are always handled with a sense of humor and a driving
rhythm not likely to leave the listener dwelling on the situation. The humor only adds to
the ambivalence of comments such as in “El cheque” when Calvo laughs, “como tengo
The “Havana City” (CD Track 15) is the last song on Llegó and of my analysis.
While the lyrics of “Havana City” are another example of LVV drawing from themes
relevant to the socio-cultural context of the 1990s, the music of the song takes listeners
back in time. The lyrics evoke the collective national and individual dependence on
tourist dollars through the image of guided tours in classic 1953 Chevrolets. Note also
148
González Bello 2000, 8.
56
that these tour guides do not refer to the capital by its Spanish name, La Habana, but in
Havana city
Havana crazy
Havana Vieja [Old, La Habana Vieja is the name of the oldest part of the city.]
Welcome to the capital
In the last history lesson of Llegó the music at the end of the CD hints at the rock-
Today, few in the U.S. or Cuba see rock as much of a threat. At the time of LVV’s
founding, however, rock music was thought by the North American political
In Cuba, on the other hand, the political establishment frowned on rock music because it
represented a North American cultural influence. Even in the 1950s as rock ’n’ roll
expanded its market into Latin America it was meet with contrasting opinions:
[Rock ’n’ roll] was welcomed by some (primarily young) people as an expression
of urban modernity, youthful exuberance, and liberated nonconformity, but more
commonly, it was rejected vigorously (primarily by their elders) as a symbol of
U.S. cultural decadence and the seemingly unlimited power of the United States
to force it products on unwilling nations.149
Pacini Hernandez and Garofalo (2004) challenge the cultural imperialism thesis by
examining how musicians, fans, and the government negotiated a place of rock music in
Cuba. Cuban state policies “succeeded in driving rock underground [, but] could not
eliminate the enthusiasm of urban young people–even those committed to the revolution–
for rock.”150
149
Pacini Hernandez and Garofalo 2004, 43.
150
Ibid 44.
57
It is hard to determine how actively the government prohibited rock music; this
has been debated in Cuba as noted by Pacini Hernández and Garofalo. In their essay they
state that rock was only prohibited from media outlets between 1964 and 1966, with the
impact of the Beatles worldwide forcing the censors to give in.151 Manuel, on the other
hand, writes that “the only break in rock airtime occurred in early 1973.”152 It is
interesting that both articles include questionable minor details about LVV. One problem
in Manuel is perhaps just a typo calling songo “sougo,” but this is followed with the
statement that “rock is consumed but not produced in Cuba.”153 Pacini Hernandez and
Garofalo thoroughly dispute that claim illustrating many examples of Cuban rock
music.154 Pacini Hernández and Garofalo also claim that LVV’s songo indicated a gradual
shift away from rock and towards traditional son, however songo was part of LVV’s
earliest experiments in with rock.155 Furthermore, they write that Formell “never
abandoned electric guitars” but as of 1980 the electric guitar was almost abandoned, until
“Havana City.”
The mellow groove of “Havana City” is distinct from anything else on Llegó and
probably a sound none of LVV’s dance band contemporaries at the time would have
imagined trying. In 1999 the hard driving rhythms and hip-hop influences of timba were
at their climactic peak, driving Cuban dancers into a frenzy. For this song, however, the
electric guitar returns to LVV. The electric guitar sound and solo (CD Track 15 01:47–
151
Ibid, 47.
152
Manuel 1985b, 163.
153
Manuel 1985b 162.
154
Further comment should be noted as in Pacini Hernandez and Garofalo regarding the
racial dynamics of rock in Cuba. The authors discuss the prevalence of light skinned
Cubans favoring rock and dark skinned Cubans favor Cuban Dance music (see 53 and
65–66). My experience in Cuba confirmed this to some degree.
155
Pacini Hernández and Garofalo 2004, 62.
58
02:50), the vocables “sha la la la la la” (CD Track 15 03:22), the overall groove, and the
voicings of the vocal harmony give the song a mellow Latin rock sound and remind
listeners of LVV’s rock roots. This nostalgic song also features another LVV flashback
with the return of Angel Bonne for lead and harmony vocals. Bonne was only with the
band for a short time in the 1990s but was called back by Formell for this track. All that
said, “Havana City” also updates the early rock sounds of LVV. Missing are the dated
twangy guitar and keyboard sounds, and the reverb drenched mix that can be heard on the
LVV classic “Marilú” (CD Track 16) written by Formell and released on the first LVV
recording in 1969.156
For the listener not sure if this song was intended to peek back at LVV’s past, a
clue appears after the music of “Havana City” fades out at 4:40; then at 5:05, after a
moment of silence, a drum solo fades in that is reminiscent of the first song on LVV’s
second release (1974)—not so coincidentally, the title of this old song is “Llegada” (CD
Track 17).157 Llegada translates to arrival. And here we return to the beginning. On the
1974 record, Formell’s first attempt at the album concept, “Llegada” announced the
arrival of Quintana and his version of songo.158 On Llegó he announces the arrival of LVV
and the latest version of songo on the North American music scene.
Ironically, in challenging the BVSC image of Cuba, Llegó ends with the same old
Chevrolets driving the streets of Havana. Throughout Llegó, however, LVV tells the
listener about the context of 1990s Cuba. The economic struggles of the so-called
156
Formell, Juan, Los Van Van, 1995, Colección Juan Formell y Los Van Van Volumen I,
EGREM CD 0126.
157
Formell, Juan, Los Van Van, 1995, Colección Juan Formell y Los Van Van Volumen
II, EGREM CD 0127.
158
Kevin Moore notes that “Llegada,” “introduces the world–at least on LP–to the genius
of” Quintana. Moore, K. 2007, “Roots of Timba.”
59
“special period” has Cubans finding any way possible to keep these cars on the road not
merely as an aesthetic statement, because it looks good on film, but out of need. Then the
owners of these cars shuttle, or jockey, tourists around Havana city in order to participate
CONCLUSION
To announce their arrival thirty years after first forming, LVV gives a history
lesson. While the album has many moments that offer a window back on the band’s
career, the themes of Llegó are firmly rooted in the socio-cultural context of 1990s Cuba.
LVV’s longevity provides a window on Cuban musical and cultural change during this
controversial era. While choosing any one CD to analyze provides only a partial view, the
CD Llegó illustrates many of the musical techniques that make up LVV’s sound—a sound
that is both traditional and open to experimentation. It also refers back throughout the
band’s entire career and back through Cuban popular music history.
In this essay I have shown some of the techniques used on Llegó to examine
LVV’s place in the transnational flows of popular music (whether you want to call it salsa,
songo, or timba). I argue that Llegó illustrates many of the group’s important sub- and
shows that the CD could be understood as (1) an introduction to the U.S. market, (2) a
response to salsa, and (3) a contrast to images of Cuba isolated and trapped in time.
60
CODA
In some ways by examining the music of LVV, I am asking how my life would
have been different if my parents had not left Cuba. Gustavo Perez-Firmat probably
the son of Cuban exiles, I feel too Cuban to be American and too American to be Cuban.
out who I am, I have used music to negotiate a space where I can be both Cuban and
American.
Growing up in my family meant hearing one side of the Cuba story. My family
passed on to me the sense of losing their homeland, the loss of personal freedoms for
those remaining in Cuba, and the oppressive rule of the government. When I moved to
Berkeley and San Francisco, I heard another side. I heard about the corruption of the
Batista government, the inequities that led to the Revolution, and the goals of the
Revolution.
In 2002, I went to Cuba to see for myself. I expected to find evidence that
contradicted my parents’ side of the story. At the same time, I never believed that Cuba
would turn out to be the socialist paradise that others wanted me to think it was. I was
surprised, when I returned, how much more I agreed with my parents. The problems I
saw in Cuba and the conversations I had with Cubans made me question the Revolution
more strongly than I ever had. On the other hand, and with some reservations, I am more
willing than my parents to acknowledge some positive outcomes of the Revolution. The
159
Perez-Firmat, 1994.
61
career of LVV has spanned the course of my life. Investigating their music and social
history may show what life in Cuba might have been like.
APPENDIX
Personel:
Produced By Charlie Dos Santos
Co-Produced by: Juan Formell
Recorded and mixed by Charlie Dos Santos at Adbala Studios Miramar, La Habana,
Cuba
Musicians:
Juan Formell: Musical Director, Baby Bass, and Vocals
Cesar “Pupi” Pedroso: Piano
Samuel Formell: Drums, Timbales, and Campana [Cowbell]
Pedro “Pedrito” Calvo: Lead Vocal (on 5, 7, and 9)
Mario “Mayito” Rivera: Lead Vocal (on 2, 4, 6, and 10) and Chorus
62
Roberto “Robertón” Hernandez: Lead Vocal (1, 3, and 8) and Congas
Hugo Morejon: Trombone, Organ, and Synthesizer
Gerardo Miro: Violin
Julio Norña: Güiro [Gourd scraper]
Jorge Leliebre: Flute, Chorus, and Maracas
Boris Luna: Keyboards
Alvaro Collado: Trombone
Edmundo Pina: Trombone and Percussion Pad
Manuel Navarrera: Tumbadoras [Conga drums]
Pedro Cesar Fajardo: Violin
Compiled from: Fernadez Bendroyo et. al. 1999, Mauleon and Faro 1999, and Official
Van Van web site.
(The first 15 releases were released on LP [or LD Larga Duración] on the National record
label: EGREM.)
63
Eso que anda 1986 LD 4282
Al son del caribe 1987 LD 4367
El negro no tiene ná 1988 LD 4497
Crónicas 1989 LD 4596
Aquí el que baila, gana 1990 (released as two LPs I LD 4698 and II LD 4699)
(EGREM re-released these in 1995 under the title: Colección Juan Formell y Los Van
Van: Edición Especial)
Mango Records:
Murakami’s:
Caribe Productions:
64
Esto esta bueno 1995 CD 9452
Ay Dios, ampárame 1995 CD 9475
Te pone la cabeza mala 1997 CD 9506
Van Van Live at Miami Arena:Double CD, Bonus 3 hour DVD. CD245 360 585-2
Ahí-Namá Music
Ache Records
The Legendary Los Van Van: 30 Years of Cuba’s Greatest Dance Band 1999
Vol 1. Y Van CD 2007A
Vol 2. Vanvanéate CD 2007B
Several other companies have also released other greatest hits compilations and live
recordings. In addition, some of the above records have been licensed to other labels for
re-release.
65
4. PHOTOS OF CALLEJÓN DE HAMEL
66
More Salvador Gonzales Art from Callejón de Hamel gallery
67
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Music: North American and Cuban Perspectives. Edited by Peter Manuel, 49–73.
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Acosta, Leonardo. 1991. “The Problem of Music and its Dissemination in Cuba.” Essays
on Cuban Music: North American and Cuban Perspectives. Edited by Peter
Manuel 181–214. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
Alén Rodríguez, Olavo. 1998. From Afrocuban Music to Salsa. Berlin: Piranha.
Appadurai, Arjun. 1996. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Aparicio, Frances R. 1998. Listening to Salsa: Gender, Latin Popular Music, and Puerto
Rican Cultures. Hanover: Wesleyan University Press.
Baron, Robert. 1977.“Syncretism and Ideology: Latin New York Salsa Musicians.”
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Béhague, Gerard. 1975. “Latin American Music: An Annotated Bibliography of Recent
Publications.” Anuario Interamericano de Investigación musical 11: 190–218.
Béhague, Gerard. 2002. “Bridging South American and the United States in Black Music
Research.” Black Music Research Journal 22, no. 1 (Spring): 1–11.
Berríos-Miranda, Marisol. 2002. “Is Salsa a Musical Genre?” In Situating Salsa: Global
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Markets and Local Meanings in Latin Popular Music. Edited by Lise Waxer, 23–
50. New York: Routledge.
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