![]() When it begins on the two-side, it’s in The 2-3 bass line of “Dame un cachito pa’ huele” (1946) coincides with three of the clave’s five strokes.Top: 2-3 clave. When the chord progression begins on the three-side, the song, or phrase is said to be in 3-2 clave. His compositions are clearly based on the key pattern known in Cuba as clave, a Spanish word for ‘key,’ or ‘code.’ 3-2 clave and 2-3 clave written in cut-time.When clave is written in two measures, as shown above, the measure with three strokes is referred to as the three-side, and the measure with two strokes-the two-side. At the same time, the rhythmic component had become increasingly deemphasized, or in the opinion of some, “watered-down.” Rodríguez brought a strong rhythmic emphasis back into the son. ![]() “It took fifty years for Latin music to catch up with what Arsenio was doing in the 1940s”-Kevin Moore (2007: web).Clave-based structure and offbeat emphasisThe decades of the 1920s and 1930s were a period which produced some of the most beautiful and memorable melodies of the son genre. He went on to play with percussionist/composer Luciano “Chano” Pozo and other great musical artists of what inaccurately became known as Latin Jazz, artists such as Machito, Dizzy Gillespie and Mario Bauzá.InnovationsRodríguez’s chief innovation, his interpretation of the son montuno, established the basic template for Cuban popular dance music and salsa that continues to this day. This experience led him to compose the bolero La Vida es un Sueño (Life is a dream). From 1940 to 1947 he led one of the most important bands in Cuba, Arsenio Rodríguez y Su Conjunto Todos Estrellas.Rodríguez then went to New York where he hoped to get cured of his blindness but was told that his optic nerves had been completely destroyed. In 1939, he recorded with Orquesta Casino de la Playa, the esteemed sonero Miguelito Valdés on lead vocals, the tune “Se va el caramelero”, taking an incredible solo on the tres. The group disbanded in 1937, and he joined the Septeto Bellamar of cornetist José Interián in 1938. In 1936 he played his own compositions with the Sexteto Boston, led by his cousin Jacinto Scull. His music emphasized Afro-Cuban rhythm as well as the melodic lead of the tres, which he played. He claimed to be the true creator of the mambo and was an important as well as a prolific composer who wrote nearly two hundred song lyrics.Early lifeRodríguez was born in Güira de Macurije in Bolondrón, Matanzas Province as the third of fifteen children, fourteen boys and one girl.As a young child, Rodríguez was blinded when a horse (or a mule) kicked him in the head.Rise to FameLater, Rodríguez became a musician, and eventually became one of the most renowned bandleaders on the island earning him the nickname El Ciego Maravilloso (the Marvellous Blind Man). ![]() In the 1940s and 50s Rodríguez reorganized the son conjunto (‘son group’) and developed the son montuno, the basic template of modern-day salsa. Arsenio Rodríguez (born Ignacio Arsenio Travieso Scull, Güira de Macurije, 31 August 1911 – Los Angeles, 31 December 1970)was a Cuban musician, composer and bandleader.He played the tres (Cuban string instrument) in son-based music and tumbadora, or conga, in folkloric rumba. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |