Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series on Conga music, Conga troupes (comparsas) and the Conga line (dance).
Part I presents an excerpt from a Wikipedia articles about Santiago de Cuba. This pancocojams post also presents excerpts from a Wikipedia article about Conga music and about the annual Carnival of Santiago de Cuba.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/05/information-about-history-of-conga.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. Part II provides an excerpt from an online article about the history of the conga dance. That pancocojams post also showcases seven YouTube videos of Cuban Conga troupes (comparsas).
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/05/article-excerpt-about-history-of-conga.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. Part III provides an excerpt from an online article about the history of the conga line dance and showcases five YouTube videos of Conga lines outside of Cuba.
The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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ARTICLE EXCERPTS ABOUT SANTIAGO, CUBA, CONGA MUSIC, AND THE CARNIVAL OF SANTIAGO DE CUBA
These articles are numbered for referencing purposes only.
Article Excerpt #1:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Cuba
"Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some 870 km (540 mi) southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana.
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Historically Santiago de Cuba has long been the second-most important city on the island after Havana, and still remains the second-largest. It is on a bay connected to the Caribbean Sea and is an important sea port. In the 2012 population census, the city of Santiago de Cuba recorded a population of 431,272 people.[1]
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The city had a huge influx of French and British immigrants in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Some eighteen thousand refugees, both ethnic French whites and free people of color, and African freedmen, came from Saint-Domingue in the summer of 1803 during the last days of the Haitian slave revolt, which had started in 1791.[5] Other refugees had emigrated from Saint-Domingue earlier in the revolution. Haiti declared its independence as a republic in 1804.
The French were withdrawing surviving troops after suffering heavy losses from warfare and yellow fever. The immigrants, who included freedmen as France had abolished slavery on Saint-Domingue, struggled to maintain their freedom in Cuba, which was still a slave society. Cuba initially allowed only white refugees, women of color, children, and loyal "domestics" to land; French troops and all men of color over the age of thirteen were held off shore, to be rapidly deported to the mainland, as they were considered a revolutionary threat.[5] Some French soldiers joined other refugees in Charleston, South Carolina, or New York City; others went to New Orleans.
The refugees who stayed added to the city's eclectic cultural mix, already rich with Spanish and African culture. Some of the women and children were impressed into slavery again, although they had been free. In 1809, after Napoleon Bonaparte's forces invaded Spain, French citizens were ordered out of Cuba.[6] Most went to the United States, and thousands settled in New Orleans, with the freedmen increasing its African culture, as most had been born in Africa. The ethnic French whites and free people of color, generally with longer ties to French culture, added their flavor to the culture of the city as well.
Near the end of the century, during the Spanish–American War, Santiago was the site of the major defeat of Spanish troops at San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898. After capturing the surrounding hills, United States General William Rufus Shafter laid siege to the city.[7] Spain later surrendered to the United States after Admiral William T. Sampson destroyed the Spanish Atlantic fleet just outside Santiago's harbor on July 3, 1898.[7][8] Cuba had declared independence from Spain but was occupied by US troops for several years. Historians suggest they were there to ensure the sugar economy continued to be productive.
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Santiago de Cuba is well known for its traditional dances, most notably son, from which salsa has been derived. The city celebrates Carnival in July, although it typically precedes Lent. With the city preoccupied with the holiday, Castro chose July 26 to enter undetected into the city to assault the Moncada Barracks. During Carnival, traditional conga music is played in the streets on a traditional pentatonic trumpet, called the trompeta china.
A relatively high number of residents of the city adhere to Afro-Cuban religions, most notably santería. The city hosts an important community of descendants of immigrants from the early 19th century from what is now Haiti. Some aspects of the religious "vodún" heritage of the city can be traced back to this community.”…
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Article Excerpt #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Santiago_de_Cuba
“Whether they are called carnavales, charangas or parrandas, large public celebrations dating at least (in Santiago de Cuba) as far back as the 17th century are common throughout Cuba. However, among Cubans, the Carnaval of Santiago de Cuba enjoys a special status (Pérez I 1988:20).
The history of Carnival in Cuba has been nuanced by a wide variety of interests and influences [that] cannot be explained only in terms of its African roots. Many of the practices and events within carnival culture are deliberately and consciously framed to connect to a construct of African’s that has resulted from over one hundred years of multicultural Cuban history.[1] Carnival has always been an expression of shifting power negotiations among various aspects of Cuban society.
Origin of the Carnaval: Mamarrachos
Carnival (Spanish “carnaval”), a pre-Lenten festival commonly held in Roman Catholic countries, became popular in Spain from the middle of the 16th century, was presumably brought to Cuba by Hispanic colonists (Pérez I 1988:15) and has been the basis for traditional celebrations in Cuba ever since (for example, Carnaval habanero). However, what is today called the Carnaval of Santiago de Cuba is not a manifestation of pre-Lenten carnival, which would be celebrated in February or March, but evolved out of the summer festivals formerly referred to as the (Fiestas de) mamarrachos (Brea and Millet 1993:193).[2] Mamarrachos were held on June 24 (St. John’s [Midsummer] Day), June 29 (St. Peter’s Day), July 24 (St. Christine’s Day), July 25 (St. James the Apostle’s Day) and July 26 (St. Anne’s Day).
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The main activities were music, dancing and consumption of large quantities of alcoholic beverages. (Pérez I 1988:24, note 1).
The precise age and origins of the mamarrachos are unknown. The word "mamarrachos" itself does not appear in records until 1757 (Pérez I 1988:28). The festivals themselves are recorded as early as 1679, but certainly date from earlier on (Pérez I 1988:24). There are two theories about the origin of the summer festivals of Santiago. One is that they resulted from a gradual extension of more traditional European festivals, including carnaval (Pérez I 1988:21)[3] Another theory is that the mamarrachos of July 24-6 had their genesis in the procession of St. James the Apostle, who is the patron saint of Santiago de Cuba (del Carmen et al. 2005) [2]. The two theories are not mutually exclusive (see also below "Winter Carnival vs. Summer Carnival").
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Comparsa
The most important manifestations of the mamarrachos and the present-day carnaval of Santiago are the parades or street performances of comparsas. The Castilian word comparsa comes from the Italian comparire – “to appear briefly” – as in a walk-on appearance in a theatre. It can also mean a group of musicians and dancers who perform in the streets during (pre-Lenten) carnival or other festivals.
Comparsas are mentioned in connection with the mamarrachos of St. John and St. Peter in Santiago as early as 1679 (Pérez I 1988:24). The first comparsa recorded was called “Los Alegrones” and was active in 1757 (Pérez I 1988:28). The names of 46 comparsas that were active in the 19th century along with some details about their costumes, themes, etc. are mentioned by Nancy Pérez (I 1988:137-9), the Cuban historian of the Santiagueran carnaval.
Pérez divides 19th century Santiagueran comparsas into two categories: paseos and congas (Pérez I 1988:136)[5][6] The paseo was distinguished "by its accompanying music, the scenography and the choreographed dance steps that it performed (Pérez I 1988:136)." Ramón Martínez defined a paseo as a "type of comparsa but instead of Tajona,[7] the accompaniment was orchestral music, pasodobles and light marches." (Brea and Millet 1993:196). The musical ensembles that accompanied the paseos were usually mobile versions of the danzoneras or orquestas típicas that played in the dance halls or, sometimes, Spanish military bands (Pérez I 1988:106-7). Speaking of the 20th century, Brea and Millet (1993:196) add that "The paseos used [North American-style] Jazz Band orchestras, even though they have more drums and interpret popular current musical pieces." This usage of the word paseo to mean a type of comparsa should not be confused with the usage that signifies a parade of animal-drawn carriages or wagons (see above: "A typical 19th century Mamarrachos").
The second type was the conga, which was a “large conglomeration of dancers who, in an orderly, uniform manner, and dressed in accord with a selected theme, dance a rhythmic step in time with the accompanying instruments, which are almost always mainly percussion (drums: tumbas, quintos, and metal pans)" (Pérez I 1988:136). The congas were composed mainly of humble folk of scanty means; the paseos tended to be more lavish and required more capital. What the congueros[8] lacked in material goods, they had to make up for in inventiveness. It was in the conga that the unique, characteristic music and dance of the Carnaval of Santiago de Cuba originated and evolved (see Conga).
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Winter Carnival vs. Summer Carnival
Mamarrachos were held well after the end of the zafra (sugar cane harvest) which runs from January to May. This meant that unemployed sugar cane workers, most of whom were African and mulatto slaves and freedmen, were able to participate, and probably had done so from a very early period in the history of Santiago.[12] “Summer Carnival [mamarrachos] originally was intended as a period of rest and divertissement for the laborers (the Blacks) and was eventually nicknamed ‘Carnaval de las classes bajas’ (or Carnival of the lower classes)…” (Bettelheim 1993:105). Pérez (I 1988:21) states that the Spanish colonial authorities (in response to pressure from plantation owners) permitted the growth of the mamarrachos in order to distract the slaves (and freedmen, who were typically in sympathy with the slaves) from more subversive activities.
Today in Havana, Matanzas and Santiago de Cuba, Carnival is celebrated on July 18–27, in honor of the Revolution, with the final complete Carnival parade held on the 26th[citation needed]. This date commemorates Castro’s assault on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1953, which had been planned to coincide with traditional Carnival in that city.[13] Until the 1920s there were two types of Carnival celebrations in Santiago. When it was celebrated in relation to the Catholic calendar, carnival was held in February or March, during the several days prior to the Lenten period. It was called Winter Carnival and was private in nature, supported by certain organizations and their clubs like the Philharmonic Society, the Club San Carlos, the Club Catalonia, or the Club Galicia. These clubs were firmly rooted in Santiago social life by the 1860s.[14] Membership was restricted and most of these organizations had their own buildings where members could meet, rehearse, and sponsor galas. Winter carnival was nicknamed “Carnaval por los blancos cubanos” (Carnaval for white Cubans), meaning Cubans with more Spanish than African heritage.[15]
There was also a summer carnival, a Carnaval Santiaguero that originated during the slavery period. Held after the sugar and coffee harvest, it originally was intended as a period of rest and was eventually for the black laborers. And it nicknamed “Carnaval de las clases bajas” (Carnaval of the lower classes) or “Carnaval de los mamarrachos” which also coincided with the celebration of Santiago day on July 25.[16].
By the 1920s Winter Carnaval celebrations were abandoned, and Summer Carnaval remained the only Carnaval in Santiago de Cuba.”...
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Article Excerpt #3
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conga_(music)
"Conga (music)
The term conga refers to the music groups within Cuban comparsas and the music they play. Comparsas are large ensembles of musicians, singers and dancers with a specific costume and choreography which perform in the street carnivals of Santiago de Cuba and Havana.[1][2]
The instrumentation differs between congas santiagueras and congas habaneras. Congas santiagueras include the corneta china (Chinese cornet), which is an adaptation of the Cantonese suona introduced in Oriente in 1915, and its percussion section comprises bocúes (similar to African ashiko drums), the quinto (highest pitched conga drum), galletas and the pilón, as well as brakes which are struck with metal sticks.[1] Congas habaneras lack the corneta china but include trumpets, trombones and saxophones, and they have a different set of percussion instruments: redoblantes (side drums), bombos (bass drums), quinto, tumbadora (the lowest pitched conga drum), and metallic idiophones such as cowbells, spoons, frying pans and rims.
[...]
Stylistic origins: Congolese and West African traditions
Cultural origins: Cuba, mid-19th century
Typical instruments: Corneta china, trumpet, trombone, bokú, bombo, conga drums, metallic idiophones
Derivative forms: Ballroom Conga”...
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This concludes Part I of this three part pancocojams series.
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