Rumba

Taken from the 1989 "Roots of Rhythm" documentary hosted by Harry Belafonte. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa... In the mid-19th Century, Rumba first emerged as a gathering, a dance and music performed by laborers of African descent, mostly dockworkers, in Matanzas, Cuba. A synthesis of African cultural elements, including religious music, the Afro-Cuban Rumba is entirely secular. Rumba was originally performed on everyday objects to avoid the ban on African instruments. A wine barrel was played like a drum, a wooden crate was tapped on with spoons, and the shipyard's hardwood dowels were struck together (and became an instrument: claves ). There are three main styles of Rumba: the slow and sensuous Yambú, the acrobatic and competitive Columbia; and the most popular of all, the fast, sexual Guaguancó. Today, instead of boxes and crates, musicians typically play three tumbadora (conga) drums, and still use claves to tap out the Rumba clave (rhythm). Rumba is not to be confused with Rhumba, a name invented in the U.S. to describe the Cuban songs popular in the 1930s. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa...