Let's start from the beginning. In the US in the 1930s, 40s and 50s US citizens were very much charmed with Cuban music and dance and made Cuba their holiday vacation. Not Puerto Rico, not Plena and Bomba...
Just by reading this statement alone I see that you have ZERO clue about anything in depth about any of the subject matter you're mentioning.
The beginning does not start in 1930. This music goes well before any article you have read that chooses to start at that point.
Furthermore, that music and dance they fell in love with was as a result of a good number of Cubans expressing it in the exterior. Outside of Cuba. Puerto Ricans were a huge part of that equation, both on the island as well as on Broadway, NYC, Mexico City, MX., Miami Beach, FL. and beyond.
^^ A 1934 advertisement as it appears in a local Florida newspaper of an event featuring a Puerto Rican orchestra leader.
That's what you get for putting all of your eggs in the 'Salsa' articles basket. Information that only tells you part of a much larger story.
Again, you need to do far more research than just read Latin Beat Magazine and articles written 40-60 years after a specific era took place.
DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.
Don't rely solely on what others have written. Take a read of the articles in old newspapers that were written in the 1900s, 19-teens, 1920s, '30s, '40s, etc. Not just articles or books revolving around those time periods that were published in the 70s to the present. The stuff that was published THEN is a lot closer to the truth than what someone today is reinterpreting via minor evidence [like hearsay] and blowing it out of proportion.
You are severely mistaken if you believe Puerto Rico or "Porto Rico," as it was referred to then, was not on anyone's radar in the U.S. I suggest you make your way to a real brick and mortar Library and search for ads and information of the various steam ships and associated agencies that promoted travel to and from the U.S. and P.R. and beyond and then come back here and suggest that there was no love affair or awareness of or for Puerto Rico.
In fact, go back to exactly 1899 when the first 'review' was written up advising U.S. americans to consider tourism in the U.S.'s brand new colonial 'possession' and remarking about the incredible musicianship of the island natives.
Maybe then you'll realize Puerto Rico's music goes beyond just Bomba and Plena.
They brought this music home and wanted to dance to it, which started in New York and Miami, at that time it was called Rhumba/Son. Ernesto lecuona and his boys came to the US to do some shows with the Peanut Vendor.
Just like that huh? The way you described it?
There wasn't anyone else here that was interpreting Cuban music in the teens? The '20s? While the Rhumba craze takes off in the USA and Europe in '30-'32, that does not equal the music as having been introduced in 1930 and 1932 to those audiences.
Here's a book for you. Read MY MUSIC IS MY FLAG by Ruth Glasser. Some of it is referenced in Sublette's book which you claimed to have read.
This can all be checked by reading the articles and the book of the Puertorican music journalist Max Salazar, an expert who wrote a lot about this music and dance i.e. in the magazine Latin Beat.
Max was my friend. I had been to his home in Washington Heights. I have him on video speaking. What you are claiming is not what Max has ever stated. Because of that friendship, I had the utmost confidence to share with him any information that contradicted what he had written or professed in the past in some of his articles. I wasn't the only one. He appreciated it. Especially if you came correct and could prove it with real evidence. He was human like everyone else. We all make mistakes. He was important
because he was one of the few people in the U.S. to really discuss the musical past of N.Y., Cuba and Puerto Rico and bring many of the lesser known figures, places and events to a younger generation. I would recommend that you use his work as a primer. Then do your own fact checking. That is, if you're serious.
People should always double check every absolute statement that is made. Often times you will find that people make declarations without any basis. They overestimate or rush to conclusions and convert guesstimates and speculation into gospel.
The heart of Salsa, as Robert Farris Thompson showed in his article New York's Salsa Music, is Afrocuban. The musical structures, instruments, songs and rhythms are all Afrocuban.
No they are not. That's not even what Dr. Thompson stated or implied in that article. Do I really have to point out what isn't afro-Cuban as far as the instruments? The canon of Salsa also has rhythms and structures that are not Cuban. Jazz being the biggest presence. The rhythms are by and large afro Cuban. You also have to keep in mind the bands that Thompson was focusing on in his article. He was not following Raphy Leavitt or analyzing the music of Rafael Cortijo, Mon Rivera or Cesar Concepcion. Band leades who have one foot on the Cuban side and another on the Puerto Rican and any other culture. All of whom were identified as Mambo or Salsa artists. He singles out Ray Baretto. Pacheco. You cannot dismiss songs and bands who reference non-Cuban elements in their music when it suits you. It may not exist or matter to you, but it does to those of us in search of a clearer picture of what a cultural phenomenon is about and made up of.
Interesting to see, is that's played by the second generation of NY Puerto Ricans.
The 2nd generation?
Talking about Jazz and its contribution, I like you to remind that a percussionist as Chano Pozo worked with Gillespie which helped to create Bebop and later on Cubop. I like also to remind that is was the Puertorican percussionist Sabu Martinez working for 15 years with Art Blakey who helped to create modern Hardbop, these percussionists helped to transfer afrocuban rhythms to other instruments, i.e. the jazz drumset played by Blakey. So now, they are playing afrocuban rhythms in jazztime!
Chano Pozo had nothing to do with BeBop. This style precedes Chano's emergence in the USA. ca. 1944-1945 via the Billy Eckstine Orchestra. Nor did Sabu play a role in creating Hard Bop or help to transfer what you described. The drum kit existed in Afro Cuban Ork's well before timbales became a part of it. Sabu wasn't even born yet.
Milton Cardona, the famous percussionist showed that the Cuban Descarga of Emilio Flyn and Cachao Lopez were the models used in the US to start with. Descargas were called in Cuba and New York..RUMBITA!
A small rumba or informal Rumba, this can also be checked by reading the article of Max Salazar called La
descarga cubana. - Latin Beat Magazine - Nbr. 71 - Author:
Salazar,
Max -
I added an article from Robert Farris Thompson who explains where the mambo, chachacha and pachanga is coming from, is also attached here:
http://www.unz.org/Pub/SaturdayRev-1961oct28-00042?View=PDF
Its a combination/fusion of Cuban Charanga with Afrocuban elements which is new and starts in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and comes to New York City.The charanga of Charlie Palmieri in the early 60s does not sound different than the Cuban models.
I did a lot of literature on Cuba and New York in the early 1930s, 40s and 50s and again Max Salazar is an excellent source, he was even rewarded by American universities for his excellent knowledge.
I said many times that Cuba and Puerto Rico were two wings of a bird. They had the same history especially in the beginning of the 19th century, when Spain used both islands, after losing Latin America, to get money and started the big plantation economy with slaves from Andalusia and Africa. I constantly mention the similarities between jibaro and guajiro and between bomba and rumba....
If one considers Timba a salsa form, there are constant concerts, and also in Cuba there is a Son, Mambo, Chachacha and afrocuban Jazz Renaissance going on....
If you talk about Africa and Tito Puente it is okay to me, I think you should know that Tito Puente and many other Puerto Ricans in New York, are or were Santeros which means belonging to the Afrocuban religion, called Santeria, do I say more on the fact that Cuba is still the Mountain or the Fountain!....
Saludos,
Edsel
Okay I give up. There's no point in responding any further. We're wasting both of our times and anyone else who is reading this.
Bye.
comes along and starts re-recording the music from the 40s and 50s.