The Clave Chronicles

Nueva trova is one of the few Cuban genres that is for listening and reflecting instead of dancing - it's sung poetry, much like other Latin American singer-songwriter genres, namely nueva canción. Rebecca has an in-depth conversation with independent scholar and former Cuban diplomat Eva Silot Bravo about the major figures of nueva trova and how it came to be closely identified with the ideo...

Part 2 of a conversation with Pablo Herrera on Cuban hip hop, including a discussion of the relationship between rap cubano and repartero, or Cuban reggaeton. Songs played: Madre Tierra, Las Krudas Tengo, Popy y La Moda El Rap es Guerra, Los Aldeanos Send us Fan Mail Support the show You can support this independently produced podcast by becoming a monthly subscriber - even $3/month helps! If you...

We've got an amazing conversation with Pablo Herrera , an anthropologist and one of Cuba's most influential hip hop producers. Pablo speaks about how he got interested in hip hop and the ways Havana's scene of the 1990s sought to emulate American hip hop, especially east coast styles, before becoming more localized and grounded in Cuban culture. The Special Period, Cuba's deep...

Cuban dance genres of the 1950s, specifically mambo and cha-cha-cha, were hugely popular in the U.S. and all over Latin America. Both were outgrowths of the danzón, but each had its own distinct sound. Different styles of mambo are discussed, including the original style that emerged in Antonio Arcaño's band in the late 1930s and the vastly more well-known style of the "King of Mambo,&qu...

Part 2 of Rebecca's conversation with ethnomusicologist Chris Washburne , author of Sounding Salsa: Performing Latin Music in New York City , and professor at Columbia University. This episode discusses salsa's evolution away from the Cuban son, the ways it became a symbol of pan-Latin identity, and the different ways Celia Cruz and La India navigated the genre's heteronormative gen...

Rebecca is joined by ethnomusicologist Chris Washburne , author of Sounding Salsa: Performing Latin Music in New York City , and professor at Columbia University. As a professional trombonist, he played with Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, Ruben Blades, La India, and many others.  We discuss the influence of Cuban music in New York in the first half of the 20th century, the controversy ar...

Rebecca is joined by Raul Fernandez , author of Latin Jazz: La Combinación Perfecta ,  to discuss the musicians who created Afro-Cuban jazz in the 1940s, and the way this movement paved the way for Latin jazz.  Songs played: Tanga, Machito & His Afro-Cubans U-Bla-Ba-Du, Graciela with Machito's band The Peanut Vendor, Stan Kenton   Manteca, Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo Guachi Guaro, Cal...

Ethnomusicologist David Garcia speaks with Rebecca about the significance and musical legacy of Arsenio Rodriguez, the prolific Cuban composer, tres player and bandleader. He spent the later decades of his career in New York, and his music was foundational for the emergence of salsa in the 1960s. Songs played: No hay yaya sin guayacán Mi china me botó La vida es un sueño Dame un cachito pa' h...

Learn about rumba, the quintessential Afro-Cuban music and dance genre that's sometimes referred to as the heart and soul of Cuban music. Rebecca breaks down the different rumba styles and dances, discussing the historical and social context of its emergence in the later 19th century, and its wider influence. Songs played: Conga Yambumba, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas Maria Belen, Yoruba Andabo...

Rebecca is joined by Cuban music scholar Robin Moore to delve into the long and deep history of the Cuban danzón, including its links with American jazz, the ways it was initially denigrated as too "African" by elites, how it was eventually fused with other Cuban popular music genres, and how it came to be one of the most beloved genres in Mexico.  Songs played in the episode:  El Sungam...

This episode traces the Cuban roots of the quintessential Latin American romantic song, the bolero, which has been one of the most popular genres across Spanish-speaking countries for the past century. Send us Fan Mail Support the show You can support this independently produced podcast by becoming a monthly subscriber - even $3/month helps! If you like this podcast, please hit "Follow"...

The Buena Vista Social Club was a massive success 25 years ago, spawning numerous albums, Grammy awards, a documentary film, and decades of international tours. This episode traces the roots and evolution of the genre the Buena Vista Social Club project set out to revive, the Cuban son , which had its heyday from the 1920s to the 50s. Send us Fan Mail Support the show You can support this independ...

An introduction to The Clave Chronicles, a new podcast about the history of Cuban music and its global influences, hosted by Rebecca Bodenheimer. More about Rebecca's research on Cuban music: https://rmbodenheimer.com Check out her book, Geographies of Cubanidad: Place, Race, and Musical Performance in Contemporary Cuba (2015, University Press of Mississippi): https://www.amazon.com/Geographi...