Roots of Rhythm: Part 1 of 3

Hello, I'm Harry Balafonte. I'd like to tell you the story of a musical tradition that's been part of my life since childhood. A tradition that embodies the incredible richness and diversity of our country's musical heritage. This is the story of Latin music. [music] Show more

[music] [music] [music] [music] Where does this music come from and what makes it so uniquely American? Our story begins where human life began. Africa, the cradle of civilization. [music] The sound of a flute, the clatter of sticks, the rattle of seeds in a gourd, the stamping of feet. Are these the ancient sources of music we hear in America today? The earliest inhabitants of Africa, such as the Pygmies, music has always been an integral part of everyday life. A force as elemental as nature itself. Every ritual, every activity, every stage of a man and woman's life, from birth to death, was accompanied by music. And everyone was a musician. In the name of a successful hunt, for example, all the members of the tribe sing to the spirit of the forest, thanking him for giving them food to eat. [music] Show more

While many instruments are used in Africa, the heartbeat of African music has always been the drum. It is through rhythms, communal, traditional rhythms, that each tribe, village and individual communicates with the mysterious forces of the universe. Show more

[music] We can trace the rhythms we hear in Latin music today to the tribes of West Africa, to the Yoruba, Congo and Dahomian peoples. [music] 500 years ago, in a Yoruba kingdom near the Niger River, there was a drummer, whom we'll name Babatunde. By the time he first heard his father and uncles playing drums, Babatunde knew he too would be a drummer. His grandmother took him to a soothsayer who gave Babatunde a potion to make his drumming and singing perfect. His father showed him how to carve drums out of logs. His uncles taught him the secrets of making his drums talk by changing the pressure of the drum heads. Show more

His grandfather taught him the rhythms to call forth the many different gods of the Yoruba universe. Shangon, the god of thunder, Oshun, the goddess of the wind, Ogun, the god of iron and others. His father and his uncles took him along on their journeys to play for the chiefs and other villages. Babatunde's fame spread until he was called by the king of Oyo to become a royal drummer. Babatunde's drums sang the praises of the king and rhythms that would echo through the centuries down to us. In Africa today, drummers still lead royal possessions as in the festival of the king of Kano in northeastern Nigeria. The drummers were the first to perform the drumming in the festival of the king. The drummers were the first to perform the drumming in the festival of the king. The drummers were the first to perform the drumming in the festival of the king. The drummers were the first to perform the drumming in the festival of the king. The drummers were the first to perform the drumming in the festival of the king. [music] And even today, it is traditional for Yoruba musicians to sing a king's praises. In Nigeria, superstar Sunny Ade performs at a house party for the king of Legos. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] Five hundred years ago, as Yoruba culture flourished in West Africa, a very different music was developing far to the north, here in Spain, where the tides of history had taken a momentous turn. In these hills, balladiers sang epic poems that told how the Christians had driven out the Muslims after eight hundred years of bloody warfare. One source of Latin music's poetic legacy lies in these small villages, the troubadours like Miguel Garcia Baldenado, better known as El Crandiote, still create rind verses on request. This afternoon, in this era, feeling like a peasant, and without being a fine poet, I would tell the world I would like. Show more

With my troubo and my sun, with the metric I invent, swimming in a feeling, I say to the foot of this mountain, which is remembered all of Spain where suffering is. We, the troubadours, are from the town of La Voz. We are improvisers with a discreet mousse, and if the troubo respects himself, he will learn the whole world that what the troubadour does will never make him a poet. Show more

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[singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] Show more

[singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] [singing in Spanish] Columbus got here, there were three main tribes of Indians. They roamed around this island freely and they lived a fairly harmonious existence. When the Spaniards began to exploit Cuba, they tried to put the Indians to work and the Indians refused. They couldn't do the kind of work that was demanded of them by the Spaniards. And many of them were killed off in the process. Those that weren't killed off directly by the Spaniards had chosen to commit suicide instead of capitulate to the needs of the Spaniards. With this workforce gone, the land protectors and the landowners here in Cuba began to send back requests to Spain saying, "We need workers. We need slaves. Send us Africans." Back in Africa, the great great grandson of Baba Tunde, whom we will call Ijua, was also a royal drummer. Show more

After horsemen of another tribes hiked across the kingdom and captured him, Ijua was sold to European slavers. Stripped of all of his possessions, including his drums, he was thrown into the hold of a ship. Ripped from the life in the world they knew, thousands of Africans like Ijua died on the arduous journey across the ocean. Show more

But the slave traders found a way to keep the death toll down. Drummers were dragged onto the decks of the ships and forced to play on barrels and boxes. Day after day, Ijua's drumming called to Yemaya, the Yoruba goddess of rivers and seas for protection. Day after day, the sound of the drum beats helped keep the slaves alive. The Africans who came here, who were brought here against their will, came here for the sole purposes of developing the sugarcane and the tobacco, and to work the land. On the plantation, the Spaniards forced Ijua to take up Catholicism. But they allowed him to make a drum and play it. By equating Yoruba gods with Christian saints, Ijua and other Africans gave the impression of practicing the religion of their masters. Show more

In fact, they were also practicing their own religion. To do this, they formed a secret religious and mutual aid societies called "Kabil Doss". In Cuba today, these organizations, which were started by the African slaves, still exist. Here we see the members of Kabil Doss, evoking the gods of the Yoruba religion with traditional rhythms and songs. [Music] Show more

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] All of these ceremonies choose one of over 200 rhythms belonging to the Yoruba gods. In the course of a ceremony, they play several different rhythms, calling forth the spirits of different gods, each of which possesses the body of a worshipper. [Music] I think everybody responds to the drum. I think it is a necessary part of Cuban life. As a matter of fact, it's almost the Cuban tempo. If you didn't have drums, I would dare say that there would be no music in Cuba, none. That comes out of that African tradition. [Music] Throughout the Caribbean, Africans found various ways to resist slavery, through violent rebellions and more subtle cultural expressions. The Tumbo Francesa is one such form in which descendants of Haitian slaves brought to Cuba, and later set her eyes to their former masters. Show more

[Applause] There are many of us in the United States who are working for the day when relationships between the United States and Cuba were once again very friendly. Because we do believe in one world, one people, where there is peace, no hunger, and love everywhere. And it is art like this that will make that happen. [Applause] When the sugar barons built their immense plantations with slave labor near the port cities of Cuba, they forced small farmers and ranchers called juajiros up into the hills. For 300 years, these small farmers cultivated a distinctive music, a music of Spanish guitars and poetry. Cuba's greatest living singer in the old Spanish juajiro style is Luis Gomez. [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] Show more

[Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] When Luis Gomez was growing up in Las Vias province, boys his age had to work on small farms and in tobacco fields. As a child, Luis learned the songs of old Spain from his grandfather. Cuban juajiros were also cowboys called vaqueros. Juajiro boys learned how to sing cattle to sleep with old Spanish lullabies and how to herd them with rhythmic cries. They also learned how to test their machismo in rodeos which are popular today in Cuba. [Spanish] [Spanish] The spirit of macho competition is also expressed in cock fighting, a pagan ritual popular since the days of medieval Spain. Pitting cock against cock is as much a tradition in the Cuban countryside as the Contravesia, a musical duel fought with poetic phrases and clever insults. [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] When times were tough in the mountains, the heroes came down here to the docks to look for work. On the docks, black and white Cubans worked together and over time created a new music. We know this uniquely Cuban music as Rumba. [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] In Matanzas, the folk group Afro Cuba de Matanzas is preparing a ritual meal for the neighborhood. Show more

[Spanish] Here the blending of Spanish and African cultures is unmistakable. [Spanish] In Cuba, I don't think any community celebration would be complete without moros y cristianos in national dish. [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] Show more

[Spanish] [Spanish] Cuban music has been called a love affair between the African drum and the Spanish guitar. One of the first offspring of this affair was the Chang-Wi. Born in the early 20th century, the Chang-Wi blends Spanish and African instruments, melodies and rhythms. The Chang-Wi is the grandfather of the Mambo, the Cha-Cha-Cha and other Cuban dances which would sweep into the United States in the decades to come. [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] Show more

[Applause] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] [Spanish] Show more

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