Desi Arnaz Didn't Invent The Conga Line, But He Did Popularize That Afro-Cuban Dance In The United States

kelime, Aug 28, 2012

From the [1940] RKO [United States] movie "Too Many Girls"

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases several videos of the Conga line dance and presents information and comments about the Conga dance which correct the mistaken belief that Desi Arnaz invented that dance. 

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the real creators of the Conga line dance. Thanks also to Desi Arnaz for his cultural legacy and thanks to the producers and publishers of these embedded videos. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/05/information-about-history-of-conga.html for the pancocojams post entitled "Information About The History Of The Conga Dance & Seven YouTube Video Examples Of Cuban Conga Troupes (Comparsas)". That post is Part II of a three part 2019 pancocojams series on the Conga line dance. All of the links for these posts are given in each post. 

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM VIDEO #1 (given at the top of this post)
Numbers added for referencing purposes only.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5QrGD0oUgY

1.@ayax6661, 2016
"este chico creó la conga de los carnavales cubanos"
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Google translate from Spanish to English:
"this boy created the conga of Cuban carnivals"

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2. @jasonhuegan7007, 2020 
"Did Arnez invent the conga line?"

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Reply
3.@phillipsmom6252, 2021
"No"

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4.@jasonhuegan7007, 2021
@phillipsmom6252
"Who did?"

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Reply
5. @PrincessWarsop, 2021
"He just made it popular."

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Reply
6. @JamesAinsworth-AA, 2021
"He himself said on an interview on Johnny Carson that the conga line was something Cubans created in their Carnival celebrations. He said most of the country would go to Santiago for the celebrations and the best conga lines - the implied or veiled suggestion is that the conga line was an Afro-Cuban creation because Santiago was predominantly Black Cubans."

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7. @holyspacemonkey, 2020, 2020
"This is from the 1940 film “Too Many Girls.” Lucy & Desi met on the set, but her co-star and love interest was Richard Carlson, not Desi. Desi played a supporting role. You can see Lucy & Richard at 3:30."

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8. @stephaniebarkemeyer5247, 2022
"I’m reading Desi’s autobiography right now, and his life story is truly incredible, especially all he went through. He called the conga his “dance of desperation” because he needed to think quickly to avoid getting fired and drown out his horrible sounding bad Xavier Cugat sent him to play. One dance started a craze and influenced our culture."

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9. @Tusc9969, 2022
"I like Desi - he knew relatively little about the music he was hybridizing, compared to real, respected band leaders like Cugat, Machito, Miguelito Valdes etc

But he had looks, charm, chutzpah and the great advantage over most important Latin musicians of being both upper-class and white complexion.

To be quite honest, Desi was not the best of singers, and he was not the best conguero, obviously, but he gets credit for introducing Afro-Cuban music to the masses on television, which in the 40s was unheard of, if you lived outside NYC or Miami at the time."

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INFORMATION ABOUT DESI ARNAZ
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000789/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
"Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III was born in Santiago, Cuba on March 2, 1917. His father was the mayor of Santiago. The 1933 revolution led by Fulgencio Batista had landed his father in jail and stripped the family of its wealth, property and power. His father was released because of the intercession of U.S. officials who believed him to be neutral during the revolt. The family fled to Miami, Florida. One of Desi's first jobs in America consisted of cleaning canary cages. However, after forming his own small band of musicians, he was hired by Xavier Cugat, the "king" of Latin music.

Desi soon left Cugat, formed his own Latin band, and literally launched the conga craze in America. He was cast in the Broadway play "Too Many Girls" and then brought to Hollywood to make the film version of the play. It was on the set of Too Many Girls (1940) that he and Lucille Ball met. They soon married and approximately 10 years later formed Desilu Productions and began the I Love Lucy (1951) shows. Desi and Lucille had two children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr..

At the end of the I Love Lucy (1951) run, which included The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957), the two divorced. Desi later wrote an autobiography entitled "A Book." In 1986 he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died on December 2, 1986 at age 69."

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE CUBAN CITY "SANTIAGO DE CUBA"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Cuba
….Historically Santiago de Cuba was the second-most important city on the island after Havana, and remains the second-largest. It is on a bay connected to the Caribbean Sea and an important sea port. In the 2022, the city of Santiago de Cuba recorded a population of 507,167 people.[4]

[…]

Santiago de Cuba is well known for its traditional music, 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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INFORMATION ABOUT THE CONGA LINE DANCE
https://www.britannica.com/art/Latin-American-dance/The-Caribbean
...."Cuba’s many other dance celebrations include a summer festival in the city of Santiago de Cuba at the end of each July. This event began as the feast of the city’s patron saint (Santiago, or St. James) on July 25. (In 1953 Fidel Castro chose the celebration of the extended festival to camouflage his assault on a military garrison in Santiago, an event commemorated in the name of the 26th of July Movement.) The festival also coincided with the traditional end of the sugarcane harvest. At this event it is possible to view traditional Carnival dances, such as conga and chancletas (“sandals”), which originated in the colonial period. Conga is an upbeat walking dance that accents the fourth beat of the measure as the dancers (solo or in groups) wind through the streets. In formal parade units, simple conga choreographies give form and shape to the dance, but the essence of the dance is most evident in the spontaneous crowd dancing along with the musicians through the streets. Chancletas uses a specific form of wooden shoe that accentuates or embellishes the music with rhythmic footwork under loose and swiveling hips. As with conga, it is the relaxed and spontaneous meandering that defines this dance.”…

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Excerpt #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conga_line
"The conga line is a novelty line dance that was derived from the Cuban carnival dance of the same name and became popular in the US and UK during the first half of the 20th century. In order to perform the dance, dancers form a long, processing line, which would usually turn into a circle. It has three shuffle steps on the beat, followed by a kick that is slightly ahead of the fourth beat. The conga, a term sometimes mistakenly believed to be derived from the African region of Congo, is both a lyrical and danceable genre, rooted in the music of carnival troupes or comparsas.[1]

Origin

The conga dance was believed to have been brought over from Africa by enslaved people in the West Indies,[2] and became a popular street dance in Cuba. The style was appropriated by politicians during the early years of republic in an attempt to appeal to the masses before election. During Gerardo Machado's dictatorship in Cuba, Havana citizens were forbidden to dance the conga since rival groups would work themselves to high excitement and start street fights. This was not the case when Fulgencio Batista became president in the 1940s - he permitted people to dance congas during elections, but a police permit was required.[3]

Description

The conga dance style is more of a march, which is characterized by its distinctive conga drum rhythm. It differs from the Cuban rumba, which uses movements considered "hip" and shows the sensually aggressive attitude of each dancer. Conga music is played with a staccato beat as its base, which gives rhythm to the movements of the dancers. Conga dancers lift their legs in time with the rhythm of the music, marking each beat with the strong motion of their body.

The basic dance steps start from left leg 1-2-3 kick then repeat, opposite. Originally, a band member wearing a drum would venture onto the dance floor and begin zig-zagging around while drumming out the rhythm. Dancers would start joining up behind the drummer, forming a line that moves like a snake in an open circle. The line (or the circular chain) would grow longer and the drumming more intense until it finally stopped. The dance has two styles, which is a single line form and partners. The single line is more popular in Cuba.[2]"...

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Excerpt #3
From https://www.loc.gov/item/2021669774/
"Title - Conga Dancers.

Summary

This photograph from Cuba shows dancers and drummers similarly adorned in costumes of balloon-like trousers, long coats, and head wraps made of the same shiny fabric, moving in a long conga line. The conga is a dance that originated in Cuba, and in which the participants form a winding line, take three steps forwards or backwards, and then kick. The photograph is from the collection of the Columbus Memorial Library of the Organization of American States (OAS), which includes 45,000 photographs illustrative of life and culture in the Americas. Many of the photographs were taken by prominent photographers on OAS missions to member countries. The OAS was established in April 1948 when 21 countries of the western hemisphere adopted the OAS Charter, in which they reaffirmed their commitment to the pursuit of common goals and respect for each other's sovereignty”…

Created / Published

Cuba : Organization of American States, 1956.

[…]

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All of the people in this photograph are Afro-Cubans."

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ADDITIONAL SHOWCASE VIDEOS 

SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - Rhumba Rhythm at the Hollywood La Conga 1939

ShortFilm, Jun 27, 2022 
#video #documentary #vintage
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The Conga dance contest begins at 5:57 in this film clip.

@albear972, 2023
"Great short. And oh man! I would have dropped like that too! $25 in 1939 is worth $542.87 in 2023!"
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Surprisingly, this is the only comment as of April 3, 2024 at 7:31 AM Eastern Time

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3 - Kids Conga Song | Best Dance Songs for Kids | Come On and Conga | Best Kids Dance Songs | PBS Kids

 

The Kidsongs Channel, Apr 22, 2016

the Conga !The Best Dance Songs for Kids ! Here's Come On and Conga from Kidsongs: I Can Dance! Join the Kids Conga line and join in the dancing fun! Sing and dance along fun with this all time favorite classic kids dance  song! 

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