The Clave Chronicles
A journey through the history and global influence of Cuban music, hosted by ethnomusicologist Rebecca Bodenheimer.
Episodes
Cuban journalist Rafa Escalona joins Rebecca to talk about the latest trends in Cuban music, including how hard it is to track this information on the island and how recent out-migration has affected the evolution and definition of "música cubana." While contemporary Cuban music is of course dominated by reparto, the songs shared by Rafa provide a broader look into the latest trends.
Songs played:
Un Momentico + — Melanie S...
Kevin Moore is back to help us pay tribute to one of timba's brightest stars, Paulito FG (EPD), who died tragically on March 1.
Songs played:
El humo o la vida, Dan Den feat. Paulito FG
Y ahora que,
Percussion and vocal track for Entre Dos Amigos
No te lo creas,
Laura (demo track)
El punto
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Finally, we're back with a brand new episode, inspired by Bad Bunny's love letter to Puerto Rico, Debí Tirar Más Fotos! We get deep into the weeds of the Puerto Rican musical and political traditions that are referenced in Bad Bunny's wide-ranging, exquisitely produced album. Joining Rebecca are Puerto Rican musician and educator Hector Lugo (founder of the Bay Area Latin roots band La Mixta Criolla), and Puerto Rica...
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https://theclavechronicles.buzzsprout.com
Intro and outro music: "Bengo Latino...
Cuban journalist Jesús Jank Curbelo joins Rebecca to speak about a range of topics, including the legacy of El Taiger, one of Cuba's most popular artists who was killed recently in Miami. We also talk about Curbelo's career in Cuba reporting on the reparto movement, as well as the pain of leaving Cuba and challenges of building a new life in Texas.
Curbelo has published several pieces at the Texas Observer and Palabra...
Part 2 of Rebecca's conversation with Cuban music historian Rosa Marquetti. The second edition of her book Celia en Cuba (1925-1962) was recently published in Spanish, and will be translated into English next year.
Conversation in Spanish. Follow along with an English-language transcript here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W8qgbzs7DHwP2JlTl3FDZfbCc2aLSFovv2SVxZSw3Xc/edit?usp=sharing
Songs play...
Rebecca speaks with Cuban music historian Rosa Marquetti Torres, author of several books, including one on Chano Pozo and another one on Celia Cruz's career in Cuba—the Celia book has just been released in a new edition!
Part 1 of our conversation covers the challenges of conducting research in Cuba and her work on Chano Pozo
Conversation in Spanish. Follow along with an English-language transcript here: https://docs.googl...
Ethnomusicologist Edwin Porras joins Rebecca to speak about Chinese musical influences in Cuba, which date back to the mid-19th century. The double-reeded suona was adopted by Santiago conga groups around 1915, becoming an unmistakable musical signifier for conga santiaguera.
**Fun fact: Cuba was the first destination for Chinese laborers in the Americas, before even the U.S.**
Songs played:
Example of Cantone...
Eva Silot Bravo joins Rebecca again to talk about her recently published book, Cuban Fusion: The Transnational Cuban Alternative Music Scene, which focuses on Cuban musicians who have migrated to New York, Madrid, and other major cities since the 1990s. They have created new transnational musical scenes, with some traveling back and forth between Cuba and abroad, fusing jazz, Afro-Cuban folkloric music, nueva trova and other genres...
This week The Clave Chronicles is sharing an episode of Cuban Serenade, a podcast exploring the history of Cuban music in Canada that's hosted by Freddy Monasterio and Karen Dubinsky. This episode focuses on the genius of Cuban-Canadian pianist/composer/arranger Hilario Durán.
Follow Cuban Serenade on your favorite podcast platform!
You can support this independently produced podcast by becomi...
Freddy Monasterio, a Cuban-born researcher, educator and arts administrator based in Toronto, joins Rebecca to talk about the Cuban musical diaspora in Canada. He also co-hosts a podcast on the topic called Cuban Serenade.
Songs played:
La Reina del Norte, OKAN
Cry Me a River, Hilario Duran and his Latin Jazz Big Band
La Ceiba de Mayuya, Luis Deniz Group
Rebirth, Dee Hernandez
Anthropologist and prolific scholar Umi Vaughan, author of Rebel Dance, Renegade Stance: Timba Music and Black Identity, joins Rebecca to speak about his 25 years of research on timba and how the genre has changed in the past three decades. Vaughan has been conducting research in Brazil more recently, and will soon be publishing a book on the repression of Afro-Brazilian religious practice and music.
Songs played:
La b...
Legendary Afro-Cuban hip hop group Krudxs Cubensi (Odaymar Cuesta and Oli Prendes) join Rebecca to speak about their career and the particular challenges they've faced as artists who are Afro-Cuban, queer, non-binary, and immigrants. Their latest album, They/Them Les Elles, features collaborations with Greg Landau and many other Bay Area-based musicians.
Songs played:
Mi cuerpo es mío
You are not better than m...
Percussionist and educator David Peñalosa, author of the book The Clave Matrix, joins Rebecca for an in-depth discussion on the concept of clave, delving into its origins, variations and the way it works in various Afro-Cuban genres. If you've ever wondered what 3-2 or 2-3 clave means or what the difference is between "son clave," "rumba clave" and 6/8 clave, this episode is for you!
Songs played:<...
Back by popular demand, Mike Levine joins Rebecca again to speak about the latest happenings in Cuban reparto, including a recent controversy related to the genre's popularity in Peru.
Check out the new Buzzsprout option below to send Rebecca a message about the episode!
Songs played:
Reparto, DJ Yus, Wampi, Nesty, Wow Popy, Un Titico, JP El Chamaco
Por Ustedes (Pornosotros), Wampi
Toma que toma...
Scholar and singer Hannah Burgé Luviano joins Rebecca to discuss the career of the "King of Mambo," Dámaso Perez Prado. Unable to achieve much acclaim in Cuba because of his unique compositional style, Pérez Prado struck gold after relocating to Mexico in the 1940s.
Songs played:
México Lindo
Mi Gallo
Mambo Politécnico
Pianola
Musicologist Marysol Quevedo joins Rebecca to speak about Cuban art music composers of the mid-20th century, such as Harold Gramatges, Juan Blanco and Argeliers Leon. As she details in her recent book, although their works largely relied on classical music structures and forms, they brought in elements of Cuban popular and folkloric music.
Pieces played:
Tres preludios a modo de toccata, Harold Gramatges
Sonata a ...
Cuban dancer, musician, and educator Roberto Borrell speaks with Rebecca about his incredibly versatile career, spanning popular and folkloric styles. He talks about growing up hearing the legendary bands of the 1950s like Orquesta Aragón and Chappottín y Sus Estrellas, and attending the Black social clubs that were eliminated in the early years of the Revolution.
Songs played:
Linda cubana, Orquesta de Antonio Maria R...
Punk cubano emerged during the Special Period crisis, giving young disaffected Cubans an outlet to express their angst and rage, often toward the Cuban government. Carmen Torre Pérez joins Rebecca to speak about the counter-cultural genre and its DIY ethics.
Songs played:
Jodidos y perdidos, Rotura
Eres tú, Eskoria
Azul, Akupunktura
Esta no es mi puta guerra, Eztafilokoko
Ruido en el sistema, Pólvora S...
(Rerun of nueva trova episode, first aired in July 2023)
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 c...
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