DICTIONARY

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DICTIONARY - B -

-B-

babalao

Priest, in santería.

bandurria

String instrument looking like a lute, used in accompaniment in guajira music. In the past, it was provided with 3 strings, but today the instrument is used with 12 strings, grouped by 2.

bambuco

Colombian popular dance, also in use in other West Indies and Central America countries.

Bantú

People of Bantú origin, that is to say, Congo. As they say in Cuba: "Que no tiene de Congo tiene de Carabalí" (the one that not have Congo blood, this one have Carabali blood).
Musically, they traditionaly used the three yuka drums. Macuta is a Bantú profane ceremony.

baqueteo

The rhythmic pattern played by the timbalero in the danzón. A style developed by Cuban timpanists, of playing beats on the shell or bead while the fingers of the other hand "filled in."

bar

(Empty)

bata

The batá drums of Yoruban/Nigerian origin are the sacred drums of santería. As such, they are the most important for Afro-Cubans. They are three: Okónkolo, or Omelé (the little); Itótele (middle size); and Iyá (the largest), the leader.
They have two skins, and are played by the two sides, with the hands. The world batá means drum, in Yoruban language.

bembé

A religious gathering and festivity held to honor an Oricha.
A set of traditional drums made from hollowed palm tree logs used in the Bembé ceremonies

bilongo

Spell put by a sorcerer... and also the name of a well-known song, in which Spanish language is mixed with Bantú language (Kiriribú Mandinga, Kiriribú Mandinga...).

bincome (ou biankome)

Abakua drum. It is an element of a three-drum ensemble, named Enkómo.

bocu

Drum with one skin, used in Cuba, in particular during the Santiago Carnival.

bolero

The Cuban bolero, a musical and dance style, keeps no much likenesses with its old ancestor, the Spanish bolero.
Romantic, sometimes too much sentimental, it takes its inspiration in opera tunes, French romances and Napolitan songs. Punctuated by a 2/4 time, it develops classical and sophisticated melodies, immediately familiar for Occidental ears, with poetic lyrics talking about nostalgia, charm of women, and thwarted love.

Amalgam of diverse influences, this style becomes stabilized near 1880 in Oriente, region in the East of Cuba, popularized by the trova singers. In their boleros, they play guitar in a special way, with syncopation, called rayado.
José "Pepe" Sanchéz, singer and self-taught guitarist composed Tristeza, maybe the first bolero, in 1885. In the beginning of the 20th century, bolero style really reaches Havana, and established itself in peñas and bars, because of musicians arrived from Oriente, like Sindo Garay.
During the ‘20ties, the bolero crossbreeds with the son, and gives birth to the bolero-son, popularized at this time by the trios and the septetos. Today, a modern bolero-son style is sometimes called balada, or salsa romantica. By our time, the style, like a young man, is in great form: each salsa record contains one or two boleros, where the public judges the singer’s quality; his interpretation must be faultless.

bomba

A folkloric songstyle (rhythm and dance) of Puerto Rico with predominantly African influence.

Large barrel-shaped drums used in the Bomba style.

bombo

The Spanish term for bass drum.

The bass drum used in the Rumba and other folkloric styles.

Term used to describe the "and of beat 2", or the second note of the three side of the clave rhythm. This is the note emphasized by the bass drum.

bombo criollo

Drum originating from Europe, and from military use. Its diameter measures about 50 centimeters, and it has two skins.
This portable instrument is used during carnivals and played with bass drumsticks.

bongo(s)

Small pair of single-headed drums tuned high in pitch and played while held between the player's legs. Emanating from the changui and son tradition as the original drum of these styles, they perform a combination of timekeeping pattern and improvised, rhythmic variation or counterpoint within an ensemble. The larger of the two drums is called the hembra and the smaller macho. In many parts of Cuba bongo is the name used for timbales.

bongocero

The bongo(s) (and bell) player.

bonko enchemiya

Traditional abakua drum, about 1 meter size; in its top, the diameter is about 20 centimeters.

boogaloo

In the middle of the 60ties, in the USA, Latin music is in crisis. Pachanga, that shakes dancers from few years, begins to run out of steam from 1965. With its big bands, pachanga is not adapted to the brand new times, getting excited about the sound of the Beatles (came from England), about twist (a degradation of rock ’n’ roll), and about the nervous rhythm ’n’ blues, seriously subdued by the Motown’s commercial soul music.
The swing of the Latin big bands seems like an old timer in the young Latinos’ eyes born in New York ; they don’t care about their roots, and more and more they identify with Black Americans : both of them know what hard living conditions are, and both of them visit every day the bad side of the American dream.
From this fusion -Latin music, twist, rhythm ’n’ blues- the boogaloo rises. The new fashion, generally using English for the lyrics, looks for commercial success. Sometimes it succeeds, with hits like "I like it like that" by Pete Rodriguez, who is sacred " king of boogaloo ".
Affected by the virus, all the Latin musicians are converted to the new fashion, and try to take advantage of the commercial effects.
The lyrics of boogaloo are generally devoid of interest, but the musical impact is powerful. Some people think that boogaloo is only a degradation of Latin music ; but it’s also an adaptation to the change of time, that prefers a more aggressive and nervous sound.
Sign of times: hundreds of little groups grow like mushrooms after a summer rain; the line-up - more compact and more adaptable than old big bands - make easier their formation and expression.
The silly but effective boogaloo (and its few variants like shing a ling, and afroloo) reach its highest point in 1967; it reigns on Latin music till the early ‘70ties, before to be dethroned by sasla, for which it prepared the ground. Following in its wake, salsa is going to win a bet: to overflow the restricted Latin audience, and be established to last in the White market.

botija

A clay jug originally used to import Spanish olive oil into the New World regions, it became one of the first bass instruments of the son style. When you blow into this pitcher, you get a deep and low sound: in the past, son bands used a botija, for want of bass.

buleador

The basic rhythmic pattern of the bomba style played on the bomba drum.

bongo bell

The campana/cencerro or hand bell, it is the bell played by the bongocero during the montuno section of an arrangement and mounted and played by the palito(s) player during rumbas.

Bonne, Enrique

Inventor of the Afro-Cuban rhythm called pilón.

brake drums

Automobile break drums used as metal percussion sounds by the comparsas in the Cuban carnival.

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