Sworn to the Drum” celebrates Francisco Aguabella, a “master” Latin percussionist. In the beginning of the video, it showcases one of Aguabella’s sets. Within this set, he begins with a solo piece – he uses two wooden sticks (called claves) to make different rhythms on drums. Once he finishes, his group joins in. Along with the drums, instruments such as violins, trombones, guitars, and a piano are used. His group’s attire consists of blue shirts and white pants, while he wears a red shirt, white pants, gold chains, and paint on his face and hands. Aguabella was born in Matanzas, Cuba and migrated to the United States in 1957. He is one of many drummers who came to America to play drums – he set an example for future drummers. Aguabella made …show more content…
Also, Cuba is one of the countries’ richest in African tradition in America, because Cuba was made up of cultures from different parts of Africa. Originating in West Africa, the batá drums are the root of popular percussion in the Americas. The batá is considered a “talking drum,” because Nigeria’s language is tonal – it imitates the language. The larger drum controls the following: the calling and signaling of changes. By signaling the changes, it creates conversations that are responding to the middle and smaller size drum. Aguabella is one of the first mastered batá drum players who lived in the United States. When the Yoruba of West Africa was brought to Cuba, they preserved their religion by disguising their gods (orishas) as Catholic saints, and worshipped them in secret. The orishas are Elegua, Ogún, Yemayá, Ochun, Chango, Oyá, and Obatalá. Elegua is the first orisha in the Santería, he is the owner of the crossroads and a trickster. Ogun is a warrior and deity of metallurgy. Also, the orisha of iron, tools, and weapons. Yemayá is the goddess of the seas and is a symbol of motherhood. Ochun is the deity of sweetness, love, and vanity. Chango is the Yoruba god of fire, thunder and lightning – this is identified with the Catholic Santa Barbara. Oyá is the guardian of the cemetery and a warrior of the wind. Lastly, Obatalà is the deity of wisdom that symbolizes purity and
In Santeria, Yorubas then continue to worship and honor the Orishas and to practice their strong religious beliefs. The Yoruba rituals are modified and made similar to that of the Catholic religion. As aforementioned , when the Africans where brought to Cuba and the other New Lands they saw themselves forced to disguise theri ancestral religion and to embrace the church of theri captors. This created a complex religious mixture of beliefs. Because of its roots in Africa the worship of the saints has been a misunderstood religion, sometimes reffered to as unciviliazed and almost always viewed as a dark religion or a devil worshipping religion.
Economically, Cubans “enjoyed one of the one of the highest standards of living in Latin America” (34). This is predominately due to the fact that Cuba exported half its sugar and two-thirds of it total exports into the U.S., and imported three-fourths of their total imports from the U.S. Although the U.S. (35). Although the U.S. boosted the Cuban economy, Cubans resented that they were still living at an economic level lower than Americans. The average Cuban income was one- third the average of Mississippi, the poorest state in the U.S. in th...
Cuba has long since been considered as an island-nation without any necessary affiliation with the Catholic Church. In fact, prior to the 1960s, Cuba was considered the most "secularized" country within Latin America, with only a mere six percent of the population attending church on a regular basis. Instead, the practice of the African based voodoo religion of Santería has prevailed. Experts estimate that 70 percent of the Cuban population practices Santería. This religion was brought to Cuba by African slaves and combined the virtues of Christianity and with their native African beliefs. It is associated with Catholicism because Afro-Cuban deities have been associated with Catholic saints since colonial Cuba. The Afro-Cubans did this in order to evade religious persecution by the Spaniards who considered a...
Percussion instruments are by far the most dominant of the four major instrument families. There are many different types of cymbals and drums, which are ...
Based on Santería, people are born under a guardian Orisha, or saint, that must be worshipped throughout life. Each Orisha is an aspect of one supreme god. The seven main Orishas are known as the Seven African Powers. Eleggua is the gatekeeper between life and the afterlife in heaven and is the connection between the Orishas, humans, and god. He is very powerful because without him, there would be no communication between humanity and the saints. The Catholic Saint that is associated with Eleggua is Saint Anthony, and the colors associated with him are red and black.
Most people think that all Spanish speakers eat the same foods. This is NOT true since each country and region has its own traditions and recipes. Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Cuba on October 28, 1492, claiming it in honor of Spain. As colonies were established, the Spanish began mistreating the native citizens of the island until they were nearly extinct. The colonists resorted to importing black slaves from Africa to operate mines and plantations. As a result, both Spanish and African cultures formed the foundation of Cuban cuisine.
INTROUDCTION For hundreds of years, Cuba experienced ongoing severe inequality and slavery on the basis of race. Historically, the Spanish who brought slaves from Africa colonized Cuba from which the Cuban race was socially and economically constructed. The Spanish rulers were of the elite while the African servants were of the lowest social class (Marcus, 2013). Ever since these early days, Afro-Cubans—Cubans with African ancestry, are labeled solely upon their skin color, which defines their position on the social hierarchy.
African music has had a major influence on Cuban culture beginning in the early 1550’s through slave trade. Thousands of slaves were brought to Spain in the 1400’s and eventually migrated to Cuba. Since these “Ladinos” were accustomed to Spanish culture and language, they easily were able to get by in Cuba and even escape slavery. As a result, Slave owners in Cuba brought more slaves directly from Africa. In 1526, a Royal Decree allowed slaves to buy their freedom, resulting in increased interaction and ethnic mixing among Cubans and Africans. All aspects of both cultures began to blend, especially among working class Cubans and Africans. Music became a common bond between the two groups
Beck, John. Encyclopedia of Percussion. 2nd ed. New York: Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, 2007. Accessed May 15, 2014. http://books.google.com/books?id=8U83AgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false.
...nd mixture. Many Cubans came from Andalusia in southern Spain, bringing with them a taste for almonds which was inherited from the Arabs who ruled that region of Spain for some 700 years till the time of Columbus.
The culture of Miami has various influences, but for the majority it is Latin. People from Latin America including places like Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico and many others have inhabited Miami for many of years now. While over half of the population were born in a foreign country it is common that people speak English just as much as Spanish. A key part to the Cuban community is called Little Havana, which gets its name from the Cuba’s capital city. This is a place fu...
Samba can be heard all throughout Brazil. It is a musical genre accompanied by song and dance that includes an ensemble of percussion instruments and guitar. The puxador (lead singer) initiates the samba, sometimes singing the same song for hours at a time. The responsibility of keeping thousands of voices in time with the drum section rests on his shoulders. Gradually, the other members of the escola (samba group) join in, and with a whistle from the mestre de bateria (percussion conductor) - the most exciting moment of the parade occurs as the percussion section crashes in. The surdos (bass drums) keep the 2 / 4 meter, while caixas (snare drums) and tamborins accent the second beat. This percussion ensemble, referred to as the 'bateria', often i...
It may not be the same as it was one hundred years ago, or even twenty years ago for that matter. But one thing makes that okay, culture is not written, nor are you born with it. We humans are taught to culture. And what I’ve learned and discovered on my own is that being Cuban means many things to me; it means music and loudness, a lot of family memories, and most definitely pride. To begin with, the Cuban culture is one of loud and joyous music.
However the US played a much larger role in Cuba’s past and present than the building of casinos and the introduction of the first taints of corruption. In the past, even before Batista, Americans were resented by Cubans because the Americans made a lot of Cuba’s decisions. Under Batista, 80% of Cuban imports came from the US, and the US controlled at least 50% of sugar, utilities, phones and railroads. If Cuba was a business in the stock markets, then the US would have been close to owning 50% of its shares. When combined with a long history of US-backe...
Yoruba is one of many tribes located in Africa and is one of the largest ethno- linguistic groups. Majority of the native people of Yoruba are a part of Southwestern Nigeria and Benin. However, a great percentage of Yoruba is populated by modern day Nigeria. Moreover, the Yoruba culture was an oral tradition, and majority of the people were native speakers of the Yoruba language. The native name of the Yoruba language is ‘Ede Yoruba’. The language originated through the Yoruba people because they were believed to be descendants of Oduduwa. Oduduwa, was the son of a powerful God named Oludumare. And the Yoruba people referred to themselves as ‘Omo Oduduwa’ meaning Oduduwa’s children. The Yoruba language is the pride of the Yoruba people and over 22 million people speak it. The Yoruba language had been spoken within other languages in neighboring countries such as Benin and Togo. Other traces of the Yoruba language has been spoken in Sierra Leone, where it’s referred to as “Oku” and Cuba known as “Nago”.