This dissertation explores the world of the Cuban rumba -- an intricate complex of music, dance, and song that encourages both individual display and communal participation. From 1991 to 2012, rumba performances came to feature a distinctive complex of styles, meanings, and politics that I dubbed the rumba nueva (new rumba). The rumba nueva distinguished itself from previous iterations of the rumba in its transnationality, its connections to the African diaspora, its use of social media, and its artistic transformations under the "Special Period" of the Cuban economy that emerged in the 1990s. New York City, Havana, and Facebook served as the main field sites. Using participant observation, traditional ethnography, and cyber-ethnography, this study considers how rumba enthusiasts and performers strategically negotiate gender, ethnic, and racial identities. It explores how changes in audiovisual technology influenced the rumba. It examines the transformative effects that live performances and representations of these performances in social media have on the politics and artistry of the rumba. The study also traces shifts in audiences, practices, and communities over the course of the rumba nueva. Staged rumbas for tourists supplanted spontaneous community-oriented rumbas. Multi-ethnic alliances exploded in differing views of ownership. Discourses on a transnational African diaspora and the experience of governmental surveillance politicized the genre in unanticipated ways. Afro-Latinidad theory provides an interpretive framework for understanding these transformations. This theoretical model yields new ways to analyze the rumba in light of transnational cultural processes, diaspora formation, and connectivity through Internet social media. The detailed ethnography presented here, along with innovative interpretive frames, provides a foundation for future research on the rumba and its multiple meanings. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (367-390).

Among the many contributions to world music that have been cultivated in Cuba, one of the most important and influential styles is guaguancó. Guaguancó is one of three early forms of rumba: a folkloric performance art comprising music for percussion and voice accompanied by dance. The guaguancó is the youngest of the three remaining early rumba styles. A typical guaguancó performance features a percussion ensemble, lead singer, chorus, and two dancers. The percussion ensemble utilizes three conga drums and auxiliary instruments such as claves, a bamboo log struck with sticks, and various types of shakers. The three congas are tuned to high, medium, and low pitches and are each played by a separate drummer. The auxiliary instruments, along with the low and medium pitched congas, are used to repeat complementary patterns that establish rhythmic drive. The patterns played on the low and medium pitched congas combine to produce a tonal melody that is distinctive to the guaguancó style. The high-pitched conga, also called the quinto, is used to play improvisatory figures over the top of the ensemble. It is the improvisation played on the quinto that is one of the most important elements of a guaguancó performance. In Cuba, quinto drum improvisation is rarely taught. It is a practice learned by observing master drummers and being immersed in the rumba lifestyle. For percussionists outside of the rumba tradition, there are few resources available for mastering the art of quinto performance. The goal of this research is to show that percussionists can create quinto drum improvisations that are stylistically similar to those performed by rumberos by analyzing and assimilating the repeated rhythmic cells that permeate the repertoire. Presented in this document are transcriptions of several recorded rumba performances and analyses that reveal improvisational trends. It is shown that quinto performances are not purely spontaneous, but contain recurring rhythmic cells that are characteristic of guaguancó. Cataloguing these cells serves to establish a vocabulary of rhythms that can be threaded together to create stylistically appropriate improvisations. Examined in this research are performances by Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Afrocuba de Matanzas, Columbia del Puerto de Cardenas, and percussionist Maximino Duquesne Martinez. History and development of Cuban rumba is discussed at length, along with practice suggestions and applications for improvising in salsa music. With annotated transcriptions in the form of three complete scores and seven quinto performances, this resource will assist musicians in understanding the governing principles of rhythmic improvisation in Cuban music.

In the year 1900, ballroom dancing consisted of mainly the Waltz, the Polka, and a few other folk dances that had lasted since the late seventeenth century. For over a century, the Waltz had been the favorite dance of ballroom dancers, who typically consisted of the upper class white society. Religious organizations were very much apposed to the Waltz and all ballroom dances, claiming that ballroom dancing was the work of the devil. At the beginning of the twentieth century, ballroom dancing began to change dramatically as Americans found themselves intrigued by other cultures, especially African trance and folk dancers in the Americas. Now, one century later, ballroom dancing consists of over thirteen dances that are highly defined and have many roots in the African culture. In this thesis, I show that ballroom dancing has traditionally been a mostly white (and historically elite white) style of dance whose roots lie deep within the African slave trade and the traditions, rituals, and music that Africans brought with them across the Atlantic. Despite the historically white-dominated society in the Americas, ballroom dancing would not be what it is today had it not been for elements of African culture transcending racial lines and being incorporated into white culture. I hope to demonstrate that ballroom dancing was an exercise of taking many elements of African music and dance and blending them with the conservative mannerisms of the elite white class, thus creating what the latter would consider "civilized dancing."

Stuttgart, FH, Diplomarb., 2000.

[pt] A principal proposta desta pesquisa de doutorado é investigar as diferentes maneiras pelas quais a rumba congolesa foi experimentada e utilizada. Ou seja, a investigamos enquanto produção criativa intelectual, cultural e social, constituindo-se como elemento reflexivo e gerador, através de um movimento contínuo e espiralado que representou e também sofreu influências das práticas cotidianas da sociedade congolesa durante as décadas de1940 e 1965. Para tal, recorremos a periódicos impressos, músicas e fotografias como principais fonteshistóricas. Dessa maneira, buscamos contribuir para os estudos de História da África com uma perspectivavoltada a melhor compreensão da relevância da rumba congolesa na sociedade, cultura e política do Congo-Kinshasa. / [fr] L objectif principal de cetterecherchedoctorale est d étudier les différentes manières dont la rumba congolaise a été testée et utilisée. En d autres termes, nous l avons étudiée comme une production créative intellectuelle, culturelle et sociale, se constituant comme un élément réflexif et générateur, à travers un mouvement continu et enspirale qui a représenté et aussi influencé les pratiques quotidiennes de la société congolaise dans les années 1940 et 1965. À cette fin, nous utilisons des périodiques imprimés, de la musique et des photographies comme principales sources historiques. De cette manière, nous recherchons à contribuer aux études d Histoire africaine dans une perspective visant à une meilleurecompréhensionde lapertinence de la rumba congolaise dans la société, la culture et la politique du Congo-Kinshasa.

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