Punto Cubano: Development, Identity and Transgressivity in mid-late XIX century rural Cuba

Punto Cubano: Development, Identity and Transgressivity in mid-late XIX century rural Cuba Steffan Blanco 4/6/2015

2 ¡Qué calle ya el zapateo! ¡Callen ya el triple y el güiro! ¡La música del guajiro será la del tiroteo!1

¡Stop the zapateo! ¡Stop the triple and güiro! ¡The music of the guajiro will be of the gunfire!

Yo soy el punto cubano que´n la manigua vivía cuando el mambi se batía con el machete´n la mano tengo un poder soberano que me lo dio la sabana de cantarle a la mañana brindandole mi saludo a la palma al escudo y a mi bandera cubana.2

I am the punto cubano that lived in the manigua when the mambi fought with the machete in hand I have a sovereign power that the savanna gave me to sing to the morning offering my greeting to the palm, the shield and to my Cuban flag.

The nineteenth century in Cuba was a defining period for Cuban identity. Independence fervor, slave conspiracies, annexationists’ plots, economic expansion, and social and cultural transformations influenced the Cuban music and dances environment and popularity. It was in this formative atmosphere that the guajiros’ music, especially the punto cubano, further developed and became, if not a national, a rural symbol. Similar to danzon, samba and tango, the punto cubano experienced a transculturation by assimilating and transforming Spanish instruments and music, making them their own.3 Also, thanks to the Bufos cubanos, the farmers’ music got exported to Havana, Spain and the American continent in the form of guajira 4, becoming what Chasteen deems a “rising transformation”. 5 Yet, unlike them, it developed far away from the capital’s lights and African influence, never reaching their huge popularity. Regardless of that, the punto cubano had a double transgressivity: its danced versions such as the zapateo and caringa, and its lyrics, the decimas. Punto cubano and other already extinct dances 6

1. Díaz-Ayala, Cristóbal. “Siglo XIX: El punto cubano” in ¡Oh Cuba Hermosa!: El Cancionero Político Social En Cuba Hasta 1958. (San Juan: Cristóbal Díaz Ayala, 2012) 43 2. "Letra De Yo Soy El Punto Cubano De Celina González Y Reutilio Domínguez." MUSICA.COM. Accessed April 1, 2015. http://www.musica.com/letras.asp?letra=1182024 3. Maria Teresa Linares. “Introduccion” in El Punto Cubano. (Santiago De Cuba: Editorial Oriente, 1999), 1 4. Antonio Mora. "En Cuba Se Desarrolla La Música Popular." El Portaluco. May 3, 2014. Accessed March 3, 2015. http://www.elportaluco.com/salsa/1221-en-cuba-se-desarrolla-la-musica-popular 5. John Charles Chasteen. “The Latest Steps (Direct from Paris)” in National Rhythms, African Roots: The Deep History of Latin American Popular Dance. 1st ed. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004) 135 6. Linares. “El Punto Cubano” in El Punto Cubano, 11. Examples are: Caringa, cariaco and “sígueme pollo”, among others.

3 were most seen at guateques and similar parties in bohios, ingenios and rural towns where whites, blacks and mambises (white and blacks) would come together and participate. The instruments and decimas testify of punto cubano’s greatly Hispanic influence and farmers’ identity, and its use for revolutionary causes and singing of different issues exemplified its nonisolation aspect and transgressivity. Just as in Havana “music and dance expressed Cuban popular nationalism”, 7 so it did in the rural areas. A main contribution of this paper, in my opinion, is that it contributes to the few studies/explorations made in English on the subject of farmers’ music, and also with a focus in the 19th century. Most to all of the sources are in Spanish and they are countless, both in specific and general studies on punto cubano. However, the most mentioned secondary sources (Linares and Diaz-Ayala) do not deal in depth or directly with the issue that I’m dealing with, yet many assumptions can still be taken from them. I basically bring attention to this issue for three reasons. First, if any serious social study in English is done on Cuba, especially of the central and eastern provinces, it must focus on the farmer’s music. Secondly, because it is essential to understand the farmers as a community, other rural inhabitants and the essence of rural popular music. Thirdly, as explored in Gilbert’s article 8, the study of music and written texts (in this case punto cubano and decimas) can offer insights into people’s life, their perspective on a certain issue and their experience under Spanish rule. This still-evolving community of rural residents, especially the farmers, can be described as “a collectivity constructed through and sustained by musical processes and/or performances”. 9 Moreover, the punto cubano is, if not the earliest, one

7. Chasteen, “Failde’s Orchestra” in National Rhythms, African Roots, 72 8. Shirli Gilbert, "Music as Historical Source: Social History and Musical Texts." International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 36, no. 1 (2005), 117. 9. Kay Kaufman Shelemay, "Musical Communities: Rethinking The Collective In Music." Journal of the American Musicological Society 64, no. 2 (2011), 364.

4 of “oldest documented style of Cuban music”, since the areito and other dances before it lack literary sources.10 A Miami Herald’s article in 2004 stated that punto cubano was “making a comeback in South Florida as exiles [yearned] for the flavors of old Cuba”. 11 If its continuity and endurance tells us something, it is that is a permanent aspect of the Cubans’ identity. This paper would focus most on the rural inhabitants of Cuba, especially the “campesinos”, the guateques and punto cubano from around 1840s to 1890s. This is due to the fact that all studies done on punto cubano, most notably by Maria Linares, can only trace written texts as far as 1855 when Vicente Díaz de Comas published an album. 12 Also, although I could not explore travel accounts, I did get three first-hand accounts on rural life during the mid-to-late 19th century. The first one is a diary publish in 1879 by a Spanish soldier, Antonio Del Rosal, captured by the mambises during the Ten Years War and written to help his country know the enemy better. The second source is from Miguel Barnet’s interview done to a former slave, Esteban Montejo, who run to the mountains and then incorporated to normal live after slavery was abolished. The last source is a recompilation of important costumbristas’ newspapers articles, letters and books; all testimonies of the customs of the 19th century with a satirist tone but with reformation on mind. Overall, all sources will be studied carefully and cautiously, and hasty generalization and conclusions will be avoided. The biases will be used to look into 19th

10. "Music of Cuba." Folkways Records FE 4064. (New York City: Folkways Records & Service Corp, 1985), 3; Díaz-Ayala, “Siglo XIX: El punto cubano”, 35. 11. Fabiola Santiago, "Roots Revival: The Music of Cuban Peasants, Punto Guajiro, Is Making a Comeback across South Florida." Miami Herald, February 15, 2014, Final ed., Tropical Life sec. Accessed March 9, 2015. http://sks.sirs.bdt.orc.scoolaid.net/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SNY5703-03764&artno=0000185956&type=ART&shfilter=U. 12. Linares, "La Fiesta Campesina." Aguiares. July, 2007. Accessed March 3, 2015. http://www.aguiares.net/reina_de_cuba/revista/articulos/fiesta_campesina.htm; Yamiley Corvea Machín, "Génesis Y Evolución De La Música Campesina En Cuba, Influencia Internacional En Este Género." Monografias. Accessed March 27, 2015. http://www.monografias.com/trabajos41/musica-campesina-cuba/musica-campesina-cuba.shtml

5 century opinion on regular issues and people’s personality, whether a Spaniard, criollo, mestizo or slave, thus telling us their take on the respective issue(s). The first part of the paper will deal with background information and what was happening, both political and socio-economically in the rural areas of Cuba. It will also include information on the punto cubano’s origin and development up to mid-19th century. The second part will deal with the creolization and different use of the decimas and instruments used in punto cubano. The last section will deal with the guateques, zapateo13, and mambises.

Genesis and Development of Punto Cubano The punto cubano is a Cuban musical genre that is mostly soloist, uses the “decima espinela”,14 different variation of tunes depending on the region, peculiar for its singers’ improvisations and controversies, and it is accompanied with string and percussion instruments such as the tres (3 double-strings guitar) and the guiro, respectively. 15 However, through the previous three centuries it has experienced a creolization noticeable in the modification of its instruments, tone and decimas. Its triple (4-strings guitar), later substituted with the Cuban laud and bandurria, used to accompany dances which no longer exist such as the caringa, cachirulo, gavilan, tumbantonio and zapateo.16 All these would have been played at guateques or parrandas, a peasant family party and “typical of the Cuban countryside”17, where friends, neighbors and visitors would come together whether for birthdays, baptisms, weddings or end of a crop

13. Although other dances were in existence, as previously mentioned, there is few to none evidence of them. That is why the focus is on zapateo. 14. It is mostly known simply as decima, an octosyllabic 10-verse stanza rhyming abba-ac-cddc. 15. Linares, “El Punto Cubano”, 11. 16. Linares, "La Fiesta Campesina." 17. Santiago, "Roots Revival: The Music of Cuban Peasants”

6 reaping.18 Whether they were black, white and/or mulatos they would all come together and enjoy them. In many of these parties, the guajiros would indulge in controversies, a poetic duel or “a rare conversation in verse” 19 as an 18th century observer said, and also sometimes in fights.20 But before it was called Punto it was called Ay! or “Cry”, probably because it started with that interjection and due to its “continue monotonous cry”, sharp and somewhat mournful tone. 21 With time also, a different kind of tone and characteristics started to develop in different regions. The punto libre – freer of structure, tone and more known – was prominent in the western provinces, while punto fijo – with a fix metric, tone and use of memorization – was more characteristic of the central ones. 22 The controversies, the decima espinela and its use, the instruments and the transgressivity (together with zapateo) made this musical genre peculiar of the 19th century. The origins of punto cubano are not clear (as with other Latin American music), with some scholars situating it in the 17th century while others by the end of the 18th century. 23 Nevertheless, most agree that it consolidated by mid-18th century experiencing a transculturation (creolization) process during the 16th and 17th centuries where Spanish instruments and poetry were transformed and African elements incorporated. Its product were singing stanzas, the zapateo, string instruments and decimas (ten-verse stanza). This creolization happened in all Latin America, where songs and decimas were also about “nostalgia and affection [and] ballads 18. Linares, "La Fiesta Campesina." 19. Diaz-Ayala, “Siglo XIX: El punto cubano”, 35. 20. Salvador Bueno, Costumbristas cubanos del siglo XIX. (Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho, 1985), 414. It must be mentioned that these fights reflected the machismo of the rural society. Some guajiros would get offended by the lyrics, others would get jealous, and still others were just enemies of the one(s) who set the party up. 21. Diaz-Ayala, “Siglo XIX: El punto cubano”, 34; Linares, "La Fiesta Campesina."; Linares, "La Música Campesina Cubana. Posible Origen." Musicuba. Accessed March 03, 2015. http://www.musicuba.net/articulos/lam%C3%BAsica-campesina-cubana-posible-origen 22. Linares, “Diferenciacion zonal”, in Punto Cubano, 48. 23. Diaz-Ayala, “Siglo XIX: El punto cubano”, 34.

7 of leaders and heroes.”24 Also common was the singing of decimas, punto cubano’s rural context, and Dances similar to zapateo such as the “zamacueca in Chile, the gato in Argentina, [and] the jarabe…in México.”25 These aspects, however, came to Cuba in different times and from different demographic groups from Spanish provinces. The first settlers, who established themselves along the coasts and formed urban units around early to late XVI century, were from “Andalucía, Extremadura, [Canarias], Castilla and León”26 and whose background was mostly rural. Later on, they began to make inland incursions and diversified their crops, with the Canaries taking tobacco as their major crop. Later, with cattle raising and sugar on the rise, many farmers were pushed to move inland taking with them a series of urban cultural elements, whose “process of ruralization” created “besides a traditionality, a regional differentiation”.27 From the 18th to the 19th century, chants/singings were “accompanied by string instruments…in festivities of the criollos’ and europeans’ landowners of low status”, having a popular participation (thus transgressivity) and were called “guateques”.28 Esteban Montejo, in his interview by Barnet, tells us that at night in the ingenios there were parties where anybody could go and dance, with the main dances being rumbas, “guasabeo” and jaladera.” 29 Also, during the XIX century several contest and festivities were organized in the gardens of industries

24. Jonh Schechter. "Themes in Latin American Music Culture." In Music in Latin American Culture. (Santa Cruz: Thomson Learning, 1998), 2. 25. Ibid. 26. Machín, "Génesis Y Evolución De La Música Campesina En Cuba”; Linares, "La Fiesta Campesina." 27. Linares, "La Música Campesina Cubana." 28. Machín, "Génesis Y Evolución De La Música Campesina En Cuba”. Moreover, it was of popular participation because these activities took place also in the ingenios, which were “the house of its master and family…and the so-called barracones of the slaves”. (Carlos Marquez Sterling and Manuel Marquez Sterling, “Esclavismo y Anexionismo” in Historia De La Isla De Cuba. (Miami: Books & Mass, 1996), 68. 29. Miguel Barnet and Esteban Montejo, “La vida en los ingenios” in Cimarrón: Historia De Un Esclavo. [Versión Adaptada.]. ed. (Madrid: Siruela, 1998), 71.

8 where different guajiros’ bands and/or groups would participate. 30 In its beginning, the format of the guajiros’ different ensembles were composed of Spanish instruments with its derivatives as well as African percussion instrument. The popularization of these activities made more necessary an ample use of musical ensembles and with time, the exercise of forming groups and bands reached urban areas. 31 Something interesting about the festivities was that many “trovadores”, alone or in group, would come uninvited and would “spontaneously integrate to the party”.32 For the most part, however, during this time of transculturation punto cubano developed socially, geographically and economically isolated from the afro-Cubans’ and Europeans’ dances and rhythms that were in cities and ports. Socio-economic and political conditions during the XIX century From the early to mid XIX century eastern and central Cuba experienced a socioeconomic expansion (and crisis as well), evident in its increased coffee and sugar production, highway system and population growth (whites, criollos, free/slaves and immigrants). Due to the Haitian Revolution, which sent French and Haitians to Cuba, European conflicts, and soaring prices of coffee and sugar, Cuba became a place for new economic incentives and greater market pressure.33 The new influx from Haiti brought capital and improvement to sugar and coffee production. By the early 1830s, there were more than 2067 cafetales and in 1833 Cuba was exporting more than 62,000 pounds of coffee. 34 After that year, because of hurricanes and competition from Brazil, coffee production decreased and was substituted with sugar production.

30. Ibid. 31. Linares, “Conjuntos Instrumentales Campesinos”, in Punto Cubano, 64 32. Ibid., 65. Trovadores emerged during the 19th century and were part of these umbrella of peasants’ music. Most of them came from the east. However, rather than punto cubano they would sing boleros and son. 33. Louis Perez. “Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution”. (New York City: Oxford University Press, 1988), 71. 34. Ibid., 73.

9 Although on a smaller same scale and impact compared to the west, sugar mills and “cañaverales” were increasing landmarks of central and eastern provinces. By 1862, there were 476 mills in central provinces and 386 mills in the eastern ones, with vast deforestation taking place. 35 By 1868, Cuba was exporting more than 700,000 tons of sugar. Deforestation and the construction and reparation of roads, highways and railroads further transformed cities, rural areas, sugar production and export market. Coastal cities such as Matanzas prospered, new ones such as Mariel and Caibarien were created and central-eastern cities like Cienfuegos and Guantanamo thrived36. Also of importance was the increasing trade relations with the United States which by mid-XIX century exceeded those with Spain, and by the end of it the U.S. “controlled 85% of the Cuban sugar production.”37 By 1862, compared to the west, eastern Cuba had fewer whites and blacks (slaves, free), smaller farmers and was less dependent on slave labor.38 Due to these reasons the east remained disfranchised for the most part from the west’s socio-economic aggrandizement and transformations. It is through these rapid incentive and development of cafetales and sugar production from the early to the mid-19th century that a “creole bourgeoisie” begins to emerge, yet not without economic and social disparities. Also, independence and abolitionist sentiments manifested and developed, which had important repercussions for Cuban nationality. Hegemonically, the creole bourgeoisie tried to “fix their norms, delineate the social guidelines,…[and] frame and adjust to its own shape figures and customs, [and] social mores.”39 During this period, economic conflicts intensified “the political dispute between creoles and 35. Ibid., 79. 36. Ibid., 75. 37. Sterling and Sterling, “Libertad Condicional” in Historia De La Isla De Cuba, 157. 38. Perez, “Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution”, 89. 39. Bueno, “Prologo”, in Costumbristas cubanos del siglo XIX, X.

10 peninsulares” and social differences emerged “between the planter class of the west and its counterpart in the east”, making the elite resilient to changes. 40 From 1848 to 1854, the anexionist and other revolutionary movements gained vigor, but displayed a more pacific enterprise than the Ten Years War and used for the first time the Cuban flag. 41 Important figures such David Turnbull, Domingo Del Monte and Jose de la Luz y Caballero were arduous abolitionist and contributed to and fomented slaves insurrections such as the ones in 1841 and 1842 in the ingenios Alcancia and La Trinidad. 42 Also, the intellectuals of the island started no longer to call themselves “Espanoles de ultramar” but Cubans, coming into display their “costumbrismo”.43 The newspapers articles, books and letters painted a fresh perspective of the colonial life with pictures of family reunions, travels around the countryside but also the reality of the institution of slavery.

Of Decimas and Instruments During the process of creolization/transculturation of Spanish elements from the 17th to the 19th, the same changed functions to give a new identity to the punto cubano and Cubans. Decimas became the punto cubano text par excellence, through which its interpreters manifested their diverse feelings, and some instruments were later added while others were substituted and/or transformed due to “functional requirements of…dance genres”. 44 In the late 16th century, it was Vicente Espinel who “perfected” the redondilla or refrain to be of 10 verses, and Lopez de

40. Perez, “Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution”, 100, 102. 41. Sterling and Sterling, “Esclavismo y Anexionismo”, 73. 42. Ibid., 72. 43. Bueno, “Prologo”, in Costumbristas cubanos del siglo XIX, XIII. 44. Linares, “El Acompanamiento Instrumental” in Punto Cubano, 61.

11 Vega and Calderon de la Barca who popularized it with their theater’ plays and zarzuelas. 45 They called it “decima espinela” in their works in honor of Espinel. Sometimes too punto cubano’s interpreters used a cuarteta (4-verse stanza) alone or in combination with the decima, usually as a refrain throughout. The use of decimas was consolidated during the XVIII, when it was adopted by the cultured and popular circle and also used to protest against the British when they took over Havana in 1762.46 However, just as punto cubano’s origin is a mystery so it is the adoption of decimas by the guajiros and its propagation in rural areas where many were analphabets. Possible conjectures could be that it either propagated by ecclesiastical schools, from its use in Spanish landowners’ guateques or by the selling of “collections [which had] decimas in songbooks, booklets published by the authors [or] single sheets sold in the form of chapbooks.”47 Whether or not the elite and Spanish authorities approved of such proliferation, my sources neither clarify nor speak about it. The diverse use and purpose of decimas in punto cubano, however, is not a mystery, although some of its subject might have been censored by the Spanish authorities. It was in this sense that they became “transgressive”. Its “thematic possibilities” allowed the transition from cultured, elite topics (i.e. divine, royal) to more popular, “mundane” ones such as nature, death, humor, and traditional customs. 48 In the case of Cuban guajiros and trovadores, the decima was (and is) most used to sing about love toward Cuba, “[its] nature, [its] costumes,…[about] famous events and deeds, to praise personalities”, and also to intonate patriotic and political

45. Linares, "La Música Campesina Cubana"; Diaz-Ayala, “Siglo XIX: El punto cubano”, 35. 46. Ibid.; Machín, "Génesis Y Evolución De La Música Campesina En Cuba”. 47. Ibid. 48. Liliana Casanellas Cué. “Tradición oral de la decimal cantada en el punto cubano.” Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Música Cubana. (1996), 68.

12 compositions such as the “decimas mambises”.49 Similar to many Latin American songs, they recount “exploits of their leaders and heroes” and express a sense of nostalgia. 50 The impact of the political and socio-economic changes not only produced anexionist and abolitionist movements throughout all Cuba, but also revolutionary and protest decimas. Samuel Feijoo, a Cuban writer and artist, and Jesus Orta Ruiz, a Cuban poet and “decimista”, recompiled many 19th century decimas dealing with the Ten Years War, renown figures such as Antonio Maceo and anti-Spanish (government) feelings. Two examples follow: Nace el pez para nadar,

The fish is born to swim,

Martinez Campos creia

Martinez Campos believed

la yerba para el ganado,

the grass for the cattle,

que Cuba iba a ser de España,

that Cuba was of Spain,

para la guerra el soldado,

for the war the soldier,

y andaba por las montanas,

and was on the mountains

y el ave para volar.

and the bird to fly.

con piezas de artillería.

with artillery pieces.

Nació el rey para reinar,

Born was the king to reign,

Y Maceo le decía:

and Maceo told him:

la lira para que vibre,

the lyre to víbrate,

váyase usted pa’ la Habana,

go to Habana,

para el fuego el ajengibre,

for the fire the ginger,

yo con mi tropa cubana

I with my cuban troop

la liebre para correr,

the hare to run,

hago a Cuba independiente,

make Cuba independent,

for the man the women,

a fuerza de plomo ardiente,

by force of hot lead

para el hombre la mujer, y el hombre para ser libre.

51

and the man to be free.

52

y pólvora americana.

and american gunpowder.

One of the most famous and emblematic composition in this period was the Bayamesa, although not a decima but cuartetas, originally composed by Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and Jose Fornaris in 1851.53 Also, important literary poets such as Napoles Fajardo (El Cucalambe) and trovadores helped “propelled this nativist trend into a national movement”54 whose decimas would spread in regions where mambises forces dominated and even smuggle it in Spanish territory. Moreover, many military and municipal bands, guarachas and habaneras helped diffuse 49. Ibid. 50. Schechter, “Themes in Latin American Music Culture.”, 8. 51. Ayala, “Siglo XIX: El punto cubano”, 40. 52. Ibid., 48. 53. Ayala, “Siglo XIX: La canción”, 66. 54. Philip Pasmanick. “"Décima" and "Rumba": Iberian Formalism in the Heart of Afro-Cuban Song.” Latin American Music Review / Revista De Música Latinoamericana 18, no. 2 (1997), 255.

13 music with political overtone, making its isolation from dance halls and saloons unavoidable. 55 These compositions, published during this belligerency period and most likely banned by the Spanish authorities, demonstrated “how the decima became a powerful instrument of spread of ideas to a people mostly analphabet.”56 As decimas were transformed to meet the current social needs and transformations, some instruments were also altered while others added in this process of creolization. Most literature and draws alluding to punto cubano during the 19th century show that the triple, a 4-strings guitar, a guitar and the güiro were the instruments generally used. 57 Two Cuban novels published in late 1830s, Francisco and El Quitrin, attest of its use by urban slaves. 58 Still unknowingly, however, the triple disappeared from existence and in its place came the bandurria and later on the Cuban laud. Although first used in Spanish regional societies and festivities of criollos from peninsular ascendency, the bandurria expanded to other social groups during the 1890s. Through the 16th to the 18th century, the guitar in Cuba followed the same transformations as in Spain, but its derivative the tres was a “clearly Cuban instrument”.59 However, the bandurria and Cuban laud played a more important role in the western provinces, while the tres played it in the eastern ones. The son, described by Maria Linares as first a peasant dance, used the tres as its main musical instrument.60 Another great aspect was the Creolization and, to a lesser extent, the Americanization and Africanization of the punto cubano, being most noticeable in its inclusion of the percussion

55. Ayala, “Siglo XIX: himnos y marchas”, 150. 56. Ayala, “Siglo XIX: El punto cubano”, 50. 57. Linares, “El Acompanamiento Instrumental”, 53. 58. Ibid., 54. 59. Ibid., 61. 60. Ibid.

14 instruments guiro, claves and maracas and the use of machetes to make music.61 The origin of these instruments’ inclusion is not known, since no source before 19th century sources mentions its use. The thing about punto cubano’s Africanization is that arguments in favor of it are less ratifiable than punto cubano’s influence on blacks (free or slaves) and their rhythms.62 As mentioned above, the creolization of punto cubano was later diffused toward slaves and other criollos (not viceversa), as XVIII century novels and travel accounts displayed. 63 Sometimes instead of the guiro, the guajiros would use a machete rubbed with a knife that, although did not produce the same sound, served the same purpose. Overall, these transformations of decimas and instruments showed at least, if not transgressivity, a deep and slow process of acculturation that involved African influence and Cubanidad, producing a “determined organization of peasants’ parties and, at the same time, a crystallization of the ensembles”. 64

Zapateo, Guateques and Mambises The abundant literature of the 19th century, whether travel logs, newspapers, diaries or costumbristas’ work, noted and described the way of life and attitudes of peasants, their parties, dances, interaction of and with rural residents and mambises. The guajiros, as Cuban peasants were known, had “personality, own character, [and] social meaning”, lived somewhat independent from rural districts due to the impassability of many roads and many were

61. By “Americanization” I mean pre-Columbian instruments influence (guiro and maracas). By creolization the use of machetes to make music and by Africanization the use of claves and influence in the music. 62. For more information on these read Philip Pasmanick. “"Décima" and "Rumba"”, 257-60 63. Linares, “El Acompanamiento Instrumental”, 54; Chasteen, “Dances of the Country”, 157. Cirilo Villaverde’s Cecilia Valdez, Autobiografía by Juan Francisco Manzano, Petrona y Rosalía by Félix Tanco and Francisco by Anselmo Suarez y Romero are the best-known examples. 64. Linares, “Conjuntos Instrumentales Campesinos”, 65.

15 illiterate.65 In 1881, Jose Suzarte described the peasants dancing “danzas, vals [and] rigodon” but always preferring the zapateo over them, which was “danced with intervals of a chant called punto, which chords would intonate decimas”. 66 The use of these European dances – polkas, valses, mazurkas, etc. – by the rural residents and in the Cuban countryside showed a similar transgressive and not-so isolationist aspect to that of the decimas. First by the high class, they were now being used by the lower strata. Chasteen asserts that “zapateo was associated especially with the mestizo [and white] guajiro culture of the countryside”67 and that blacks would dance it too, albeit many did not have shoes. Suzarte describes that no more than two couples would dance zapateo at the same time, “demonstrating [their] grace and agility…being truly admirable [the way] which they executed very hard steps, which the sight cannot follow”. 68 He called these dances guateques, which did not always ended well due to jealousy, drunkenness or enmity. In the western and central provinces they were known as guateques or parrandas, whereas in the eastern ones they were called changui. 69 Besides the bohios (as the peasants home were known), guateques occurred in the “bodeguitas of the countryside, saints’ velorios, [and] family parties in agricultural fairs” where poets and the rural community would assist and enjoy together.70 According to Maria Linares, poets (decimists) were never absent from these parties. Two distinct primary sources, Cimarron and En la Manigua, tell about the interaction between whites, blacks and mambises in the rural areas. Cimarron is an interview from Miguel

65. Jose Quintin Suzarte, “Los guajiros”, In: Salvador Bueno, Costumbristas cubanos del siglo XIX, (Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho, 1985), 410-11. 66. Ibid., 413. 67. Chasteen, “Dances of the Country”, 156. Here mestizo is used wrongly because the majority of Cubans were not mestizos, but mulatos or criollos descending from Iberians. 68. Suzarte, “Los guajiros”, 414. 69. Mora. "En Cuba Se Desarrolla La Música Popular." 70. Linares, “Lugares de Reunion” in Punto Cubano, 65. These also occured in ingenios where there were barracones and its master and family lived together. (Sterling and Sterling, “Esclavismo y Anexionismo”, 68)

16 Barnet to Esteban Montejo, “the last surviving cimarron from America”,71 who recompiled his experience with his masters, in the mountains as a cimarron, after the emancipation, during and after the Cuban last war for independence. The second source is a diary written by a Spanish soldier called Antonio Del Rosal, who was taken prisoner for 56 days by the Cuban rebel forces, known as mambises, during the Ten Years War. The author talks about his experiences with renowned figures such as Antonio Maceo and Calixto García, the mambises’s routines, customs and parties. Montejo tells how in the ingenios’ barracones on Sundays where “the biggest parties of the slavery” took place, the whites in charge would go and mingle with them. 72 As a cimarron, he got the chance to observe the guajiros in their parties dacing “zapateo and caringa” with their instruments, who would also go on Sundays to the “bodegas”, streets and/or societies to celebrate.73 However, his description of zapateo as “very elegant” and not as “indecent as the African [dances]” is remarkable and interesting since he himself was black.74 For his part, Del Rosal mentions that dances in mambi encampments, “where women of the prefectures nearby” would assist, were interracial and they would “all [danced] confused, without making distinctions of races or classes”.75 In two occasions he mentions that in these parties the participants would danced danza, “the caringa and the zapateo” accompanied with instruments such as “the indispensable guiro and tamboril”.76 Like Montejo, Del Rosal is just an observer rather than a participant, even though Montejo was black. These sources convene their authors’

71. Barnet and Montejo, “Quien es el Cimarron?” in Cimarrón, 9. 72. Ibid., “La vida en los barracones”, 34. 73. Ibid., “La vida en el monte”, 55. 74. Ibid., “La vida en los ingenios”, 80. 75. Antonio Del Rosal y Vázquez Mondragón, En La Manigua; Diario De Mi Cautiverio. 2.nd ed. (Madrid: Impr. Del Indicador De Los Caminos De Hierro, 1879), 292. 76. Ibid.

17 identity respecting others and themselves, and ended up having similar attitudes toward black culture and dances, only parting ways in their opinion on mambises. Furthermore, U.S. correspondent James O’Kelly personal account mentioned in Chasteen’s book chapter 8 and Juan Padron, a Cuban animator and researcher on mambises, corroborate of whites and blacks interaction in rural areas. O’Kelly noted that whenever the mambises made a halt, “the families scattered about in the woods…crowd to meet parents, husbands, and lovers”.77 At night “the commander of the forces immediately organize[d] the baile” and the troops and rural residents would dance. Juan Padron also asserts that “in the nights it was traditional in some mambises forces to organize a dance where farmers of the prefecture would assist” and dance “piripaos, the zapateado,…the gavilan [and] the danza”, as well as recite poems and sing decimas. 78 Chasteen argues that, although officers and soldiers often would “danced separately,… blacks and whites danced together according to rank.”79 All these sources clearly address the issue of interaction between different social strata, but not without bias or going in depth. Chasteen only briefly mentions this account and does not dwell in this subject anywhere else, while Juan Padron does not mention his source(s). O’Kelly is an outsider and when describing what he saw, he had an “American” audience in mind, and like Antonio Del Rosal he also disliked the dances and thought of them as bizarre and weird. Nevertheless, their opinion and appreciation for this aspect of interaction show the relevance and importance of it. The dislike for these dances were not only present in O’Kelly and Del Rosal accounts but were echoed by many others, such as the “costumbrista” Luis Betancourt. Also, despite the awful conditions of roads and the pervasiveness of illiteracy in rural areas, the region was not 77. Chasteen, “Dances of the Country”, 154. 78. Ibid. 79. Ibid.

18 completely isolated since many European dances and the decima espinela were present at the guateques. Many of the Cuban newspapers’ “costumbristas” articles from the 19th century, besides displaying concerns for expantion of education and discontent with Spanish authorities, denunciated dances and called for their censorship.80 Costumbrista Luis Betancourt, in his “series of articles that started to publish since 1863” in El Siglo, attacked “the fashions…[and] the popular dances”81, thinking Cubans danced too much. In his article titled “El Baile”, he expressed his dislike for Cubans dancing on every single occasion stating: “And then day dances, night dances, Winter dances, Summer dances, country dances, urban dances, dances yesterday, today and tomorrow…dances here, there, near, far, good, bad, shamelessly.” 82 This description of course is hyperbolized and typical of some costumbristas, but he is far from being the only one who noticed the issue. Regarding isolation from European influence Jose Quintin Suzarte, another costumbrista, noted that farmers would dance polkas, valses and mazurkas. 83 Also the decima, which was first used by the Spanish cultural elite, reached and propagated through the countryside and other musical genres besides punto cubano. Thus, it is safe to argue that both European dances and decimas showed the non-secluded aspect of the Cuban countryside. A peculiar aspect of the Cuban countryside was the presence of “trovadores” in mambi territory and their use of decimas. In the central and eastern provinces where mambi forces were stronger, the music that most prevailed was of peasant origin, given the fact that most mambises were natives from the countryside. 84 Both the “trovadores” and the decimas they sung at the rhythms of a punto cubano or bolero, became key players in the revolutionary years, making 80. Bueno, “Prologo”, in Costumbristas cubanos, XII. 81. Ibid., XXIV. 82. Luis Victoriano Betancourt, “El Baile”, In: Bueno,Costumbristas cubanos, 363. 83. Suzarte, “Los guajiros”, 413. 84. Lino Betancourt Molina, “La música en la manigua”, Portal Cubarte. February 24, 2014. Accessed March 3, 2015. http://archivo.cubarte.cult.cu/periodico/opinion/la-musica-en-la-manigua/25158.html

19 people aware of the impending need to be free and independent. Many known mambises leaders loved to hear “trovadores” sing and would fraternize with them. 85 Many also joined the Cuban Rebel Army and formed part of its music band, contributing to the “formation of patriotic ideals” with their songs. 86 Also, as previously mentioned on page 11, many of them learned patriotic decimas and would later spread them in both mambises and Spanish territory. When there was peace, guateques were organized in prefectures where the mambises and “trovadores”, both white and blacks, would fraternize with the local population.87 Although the black mambises would dance “the Caringa, a dance of African origin…some whites would have dance too”.88 Also, the punto cubano was mostly found here since it only required a simple guitar, triple or tres and machetes. At nights, in light of bonfires in mambi encampments, trovadores and poets would indulge in controversies, songs and decimas providing relief to the tired troops.89 With this image one can imagine guajiros, other criollos (white and blacks), and mambises mingling, singing decimas, hearing music, dancing and getting drunk together without making distinction from each other. Conclusion As some of the authors’ sources have argued and showed, the punto cubano in the 19th century served to reflect the rural Cubans’ identity – Cubanidad – and transgressivity through its instruments, decimas and its dances. First introduced by Andalucians and Canaries in the 16 th century, punto cubano went through a process of transculturation (Creolization, Africanization 85. Molina, "Trovadores Mambises O Mambises Trovadores.". March 19, 2013. http://archivo.cubarte.cult.cu/periodico/columnas/cita-con-la-trova/trovadores-mambiseso-mambisestrovadores/81/19481.htm 86. Ibid. 87. Juan Padron, “Los Mambises Descansan” in El Libro Del Mambí. (Ciudad De La Habana: Editora Abril, 1985), 67. 88. Molina, “La música en la manigua”. 89. Ibid.

20 and Americanization) until it became “Cuban as part of the national identity as of the 18th century”.90 As the first-hand accounts described, Cubans of all races (white, black and mulatos) and social class participated of this peasant music, albeit some declined to participate and even found it bizarre such as Del Rosal. As Diaz-Ayala argued the decimas and its interpreters, whether poets or trovadores, help to diffuse a separatist fervor in rural areas and in many Cubans who visited the guateques or similar reunions in the “bodegas”, “bohios”, societies and/or “ingenios”. Punto cubano’s continuity and its many immutable Hispanic aspects and some African, reflects a permanent identity of rural, and even of some urban, Cubans. The identity and other peculiarities (decimas, instruments, controversies) of punto cubano has led many scholars, such Maria Linares, Yamiley Machin and Philip Pasmanick, to consider punto cubano as of “greatest importance to the peasantry” 91, “the oldest music manifestation of Cuban nationality” 92 and as “the main musical vehicle for decima in Cuba.”93 Ultimately, while studying the peasants’ music one can understand the essence of popular music and, although a bit hyperbolizing, one could reach the conclusion that “there's nothing more Cuban grassroots than punto cubano.”94

90. Machín, "Génesis Y Evolución De La Música Campesina En Cuba”. 91. Ibid. 92. Linares, "La Música Campesina Cubana". 93. Pasmanick. “"Décima" and "Rumba"”, 255. 94. Santiago, "Roots Revival: The Music of Cuban Peasants”.

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