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The Cuban musical sound – el son Cubano – was born in the 1800s. It mixes instrumental styles from the Spanish conquest with the tones and rhythms of descendants of African slaves. That son Cubano evolved into a music we now think of as from all of Latin America – salsa. But as reporter Lonny Shavelson found out at a rare U.S. concert of the Cuban band Septeto Nacional, some Cuban musicians want the credit for salsa back.
Well, go no further than the Cuban band, Septeto Nacional. It was started in 1927 by Ignacio Piniero. He died in 1969, but NEW generations of musicians have kept Piniero’s band and his music alive. These days, Ricardo Oropesa represents the band.
Ricardo Oropesa: Ignacio Piniero is the creator of the danceable Cuban sound, what we call today salsa, mambo. Whatever you call it – Piniero did it.
In the 1920s, the hottest Cuban music was played by sextets – six musicians on guitar, vocals, percussion. Unsatisfied with that sound, Piniero added a trumpet.
One of the band’s first hits was Echale Salsita – throw a little sauce on it, or spice it up. From that, some musicologists say, came the name salsa.
But Ricardo Oropesa says when people in the U.S. use salsa to refer to just about any Latin American music, that’s just one more insult to Cuba. Salsa, he says, is really Cuban music. And he says the U-S blockade of Cuba is to blame for the mistake.
Oropesa: Because of the situation of the blockade that Cuba suffered, and still suffers, Cuba was closed to the world. And for the time the voices of Cuba in the world didn’t have much echo or resonance. And what happened? They changed the name of Cuban Music. They made it salsa.
John Santos: I think it’s fair for Cubans to feel offended when people don’t recognize the Cuban roots of the music.
John Santos is an Afro-Latin musician and music historian. He agrees that salsa’s roots are in Cuba. But he says it goes beyond that.
Santos: Music is not just all from one place. It doesn’t have one root, it doesn’t grow up in a vacuum. Salsa music is super complex and it has a complex evolution.
It’s exploded out of its borders. Not only non-Cubans but non-Latinos. It’s a movement that you find everywhere, in Asia and Europe and throughout the states. Right now, Venezuela and Colombia are arguably the centers of the salsa world.
Septeto Nacional recorded an album in New York in 1927, and played the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933. Since then, they’ve Performed in 32 countries, but for a variety of reasons — including the embargo — they never performed again in the U.S. – until now. LAST YEAR, the Obama administration opened a small window of cultural exchange with Cuba, and the band was let in.
Oropesa: For us, to come in this moment is something very important, it’s emotional. What makes life beautiful is what we have in common, not the differences. Look, culture is the soul of the people, but music is the heart. And for that we came here to San Francisco, to throw a little salsa on it.
For The World, I’m Lonny Shavelson, San Francisco.
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