Los Van Van is one of the leading musical groups of post-revolutionary Cuba. It was founded in 1969 by bassist Juan Formell, who directed the band until his death in 2014. Formell and former band members Changuito and Pupy are some of the most important figures in contemporary Cuban music, having contributed to the development of songo and timba, two popular dance music genres.
In 1967, Formell became musical director of Elio Revé's charanga orchestra. The sound of Orquesta Revé at that time was a unique blend of Cuban son and late-'60s rock. Formell reformed the group into Changui '68, and then founded his own group, Los Van Van, on December 4, 1969.
[Juan Formell] was convinced that he could capture the imagination of Cuba's younger generation by infusing Revé's arrangements with elements of North American rock and roll, creating an odd new style that he called changüí 68. Early the next year, almost exactly a decade after Revé's band had jumped ship to form [Orquesta] Ritmo Oriental, . . . Formell incited the most famous of the Revé mutinies and absconded with the majority of the musicians to form a group which has stayed at the true leading edge of its country's music longer than any other . . . at first Formell relied heavily on the songs and stylistic tendencies of his previous work with Revé. The harmonies, never before heard in Cuban music, were clearly borrowed from North American pop—in some cases rather corny North American pop . . . their sudden commercial popularity shattered the formulaic limitations on harmony to which Cuban popular music had faithfully adhered for so long . . . rhythmically, the 1969 group made the transition from changüí 68 to the first incarnation of a style which Formell called songo (Moore 2011). [1]
The original personnel of Los Van Van were Juan Formell (leader, bass guitar, vocals); Orlando Canto (flute); Raúl "El Yulo" Cárdenas (congas); Blas Egües (drum kit); Luis Marsilli (cello); José Luis Martínez (electric guitar, vocals); Julio Noroña (güiro); Pupy Pedroso (keyboard); Miguel Angel "Lele" Rasalps (vocals); William Sánchez (electric guitar), and Gerardo Miró, Jesús Linare, Fernando Leyva, and Iván Rocha (violins).
Juan Formell states that the main piano guajeo of "La lucha"s (1969) montuno section was inspired by the Afro‐Cuban folkloric batá drum rhythm chachalokefún. [2]
José Luis "Changuito" Quintana replaced Egües in 1970. Changuito greatly expanded the parameters of songo, and introduced a revolutionary conga and timbales technique, by incorporating snare drum rudiments. [3] Changuito is the most influential Cuban percussionist of the latter twentieth century.
Changuito's rhythmic contributions coincided with Formell's maturation as a songwriter and LVV launched into a six year period which alone would have been sufficient to establish them as one of Cuba's most important bands. LVV's recordings from 1970 to 1976 are the definite starting point for anyone seeking to learn about the enigmatic genre of songo (Moore 2011). [4]
The original single of "Pero a mi manera" (c. 1972) introduced harmonies and arranging ideas never before used in Latin music. Moore describes the chord changes as: "addictive and harmonically ambiguous vamp for the entire montuno section. Arguments could be made for various keys, but to me it sounds like bIII – IV – I – bVI in A. Like the best rock vamps, it never quite resolves, allowing for endless repetitions without losing energy." [5]
In 1974 Los Van Van released their landmark record Tránsito (LD-3421) [Los Van Van v. II]. Also that year, vocalist Pedro Calvo left Orquesta Ritmo Oriental to join Los Van Van. Calvo fronted the band for two decades. Los Van Van v. V (Areíto LD-378) (1979) premiered compositions by Pedro Calvo, José Luis "El Tosco" Cortés, and Pupy Pedroso, who would go on to become the group's second most prolific composer after Formell.
Some of Formell's songo inventions had onbeat, rock-like guajeos as well as rock harmonies. One such song is "Con el bate de aluminio" (1979). The right hand plays steady onbeats, sounding a rock‐influenced imi – bVII – bVI chord progression. [6]
On Los Van Van v. 6 (1980) Formell took the unusual step of adding trombones to his charanga format. Orquesta Revé did the same during the time. [6]
On El baile del buey cansao (Areíto LD-4045) [Los Van Van v. VII] (1982), Changuito added timbales, which he altered with drum kit. With their 1984 release of Anda ven y muévete (Areíto LD-4164) [Los Van Van v. IX], Van Van began getting unprecedented international attention. The title track borrows heavily from Lionel Richie's hit "All Night Long." Salsa singer Rubén Blades later covered "Muévete."
The following piano guajeo is based on Los Van Van’s biggest hit of the 1980s, "Por encima del nivel," better known as "La sandunguera," one of Los Van Van's most popular songs from the 1980s. [7]
In 2011, they collaborated with Carlinhos Brown to record the song "Soy Loco por Tí, América" for the Red Hot Organization's most recent charitable album Red Hot + Rio 2. The album is a follow-up to the 1996 Red Hot + Rio . Proceeds from the sales were donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.
Using a charanga line-up (flute, string instruments, and rhythm section) as its base, Los Van Van added trombones, and was the first Cuban group to use synthesizers and drum machines. Initially, their sound was a fusion of son montuno, rumba, and North American rock and pop. Later the band incorporated funk, disco, and hip hop, as well as salsa. These influences would first give rise to a style known as songo, and later timba.
Los Van Van has consistently adapted its style to the times, and remains, after 35 years, Cuba's most popular dance band. Along with pianist Cesar "Pupy" Pedroso, Juan Formell has written some of the most intriguing verses in popular dance music, including stories that run over several albums and, contrary to trends in timba, all types of social commentary. Both artists are undisputed masters of double-entendre in a musical culture where multiple meanings in lyrics are pervasive. Indeed, the title of the band is probably meant to evoke the novel and compelling rhythms of the new sound of Formell's band, as van in Spanish means "they go" and so the name of the band could be translated as "those they go, they go" (it has also been suggested to translate as their name as something like "the go-gos!"). When Cesar "Pupy" Pedroso, their pianist and founding member, left the band in 2002 he founded his own band Pupy y los que son son, which is likely a name with a triple-entendre. The word son can mean both "they are" and also refers to the traditional music son (the same Latin root as "sound"), originating in the eastern provinces of Cuba, from which Cuban-style salsa may have originated. It is also a reference to the idiomatic Spanish expression "those who can, do" presumably as sort of a sly nod to the expression "those who cannot [do something], teach."
The band has a Grammy Award to their credit, the 2000 Grammy awarded to the album Van Van is Here ('Llegó Van Van').
In January 2010 "A Cali," a song from Van Van's latest album, was selected as one of the winning songs of the 2009 Cali Fair held in Cali (Colombia), a city known as Colombia's "salsa capital". The selection was made through a public poll that registered 30,742 votes. Van Van's "A Cali" received 7,905 of the votes, or 26% of the total.
The Cuban band was honored for the organizer comite of WOMEX fair with the Artist Award 2013. The laurel was given to the "Train of Cuban music" for having remained the most important and popular dance band in Cuba for more than four decades. The jury noted that "the imaginative approach in implementing its director Juan Formell, brought new sounds and ideas in Cuban dance music, which merged violins, flute charanga style with a trombone section, drums and electric guitar intro, bass and keyboards".
Juan Formell was also awarded with the Latin Grammy Award for Excellence 2013 along with other renowned Hispanic musicians, in a ceremony held on November 20, 2013 in Las Vegas.
Los Van Van has been a school for outstanding singers and musicians. Past members with successful careers as solo artists include Pedro Calvo, Angel Bonne, Changuito, José Luis "El Tosco" Cortés (founder of the first timba band NG La Banda), César "Pupy" Pedroso and others. As of 2006, Los Van Van lineup of singers: Mayito Rivera, Roberto Hernandez "Roberton", Yeni Valdes and Lele Rosales. During 2011 Mayito Rivera left the band going for a solo career and was replaced by Mandy Cantero. Since early January 2017, Yeni Valdes left the band.
Salsa music is a style of Latin American music, combining elements of Cuban, Puerto Rican, and American influences. Because most of the basic musical components predate the labeling of salsa, there have been many controversies regarding its origin. Most songs considered as salsa are primarily based on son montuno and son cubano, with elements of guaracha, cha-cha-chá, danzón, descarga, bolero, guajira, rumba, mambo, jazz, funk, R&B, rock, bomba, and plena. All of these elements are adapted to fit the basic Son montuno template when performed within the context of salsa.
Timbales or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size. They were developed as an alternative to classical timpani in Cuba in the early 20th century and later spread across Latin America and the United States.
The tres is a three-course chordophone of Cuban origin. The most widespread variety of the instrument is the original Cuban tres with six strings. Its sound has become a defining characteristic of the Cuban son and it is commonly played in a variety of Afro-Cuban genres. In the 1930s, the instrument was adapted into the Puerto Rican tres, which has nine strings and a body similar to that of the cuatro.
Son montuno is a subgenre of son cubano developed by Arsenio Rodríguez in the 1940s. Although son montuno had previously referred to the sones played in the mountains of eastern Cuba, Arsenio repurposed the term to denote a highly sophisticated approach to the genre in which the montuno section contained complex horn arrangements. He also incorporated piano solos and often subverted the structure of songs by starting with the montuno in a cyclic fashion. For his approach, Arsenio had to expand the existing septeto ensemble into the conjunto format which became the norm in the 1940s alongside big bands. Arsenio's developments eventually served as the template for the development of genres such as salsa, songo and timba.
Changüí is a style of Cuban music which originated in the early 19th century in the eastern region of Guantánamo Province, specifically Baracoa. It arose in the sugar cane refineries and in the rural communities populated by slaves. Changüí combines the structure and elements of Spain's canción and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of Bantu origin. Changüí is considered a predecessor of son montuno, which has enjoyed tremendous popularity in Cuba throughout the 20th century.
Arsenio Rodríguez was a Cuban musician, composer and bandleader. He played the tres, as well as the tumbadora, and he specialized in son, rumba and other Afro-Cuban music styles. In the 1940s and 1950s Rodríguez established the conjunto format and contributed to the development of the son montuno, the basic template of modern-day salsa. He claimed to be the true creator of the mambo and was an important as well as a prolific composer who wrote nearly two hundred songs.
Mozambique refers to two separate styles of music.
Timba is a Cuban genre of music based on Cuban son with salsa, American Funk/R&B and the strong influence of Afro-Cuban folkloric music. Timba rhythm sections differ from their salsa counterparts, because timba emphasizes the bass drum, which is not used in salsa bands. Timba and salsa use the same tempo range and they both use the standard conga marcha. Almost all timba bands have a trap drummer. Timbas also often break the basic tenets of arranging the music in-clave. Timba is considered to be a highly aggressive type of music, with rhythm and "swing" taking precedence over melody and lyricism. Associated with timba is a radically sexual and provocative dance style known as despelote. It is a dynamic evolution of salsa, full of improvisation and Afro Cuban heritage, based on son, Rumba and mambo, taking inspiration from Latin jazz, and is highly percussive with complex sections. Timba is more flexible than salsa and includes a more diverse range of styles. Timba incorporates heavy percussion and rhythms which originally came from the barrios of Cuba.
Afro-Cuban jazz is the earliest form of Latin jazz. It mixes Afro-Cuban clave-based rhythms with jazz harmonies and techniques of improvisation. Afro-Cuban music has deep roots in African ritual and rhythm. The genre emerged in the early 1940s with the Cuban musicians Mario Bauzá and Frank Grillo "Machito" in the band Machito and his Afro-Cubans in New York City. In 1947, the collaborations of bebop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and percussionist Chano Pozo brought Afro-Cuban rhythms and instruments, such as the tumbadora and the bongo, into the East Coast jazz scene. Early combinations of jazz with Cuban music, such as "Manteca" and "Mangó Mangüé", were commonly referred to as "Cubop" for Cuban bebop.
Songo is a genre of popular Cuban music, created by the group Los Van Van in the early 1970s. Songo incorporated rhythmic elements from folkloric rumba into popular dance music, and was a significant departure from the son montuno/mambo-based structure which had dominated popular music in Cuba since the 1940s. Blas Egües was the first drummer in Los Van Van, but it was the band's second drummer, José Luis Quintana "Changuito", who developed songo into the world-wide phenomenon it is today.
César "Pupy" Pedroso was a Cuban pianist who became famous with Orquesta Revé and then as a founding member of Los Van Van. For many years, Pedroso wrote some of Van Van's most important songs such as "Calla Calla", "Tranquilo, Mota", "Seis Semanas", "El buenagente" and many others. In 2001 he founded his own band Pupy y Los que Son, Son. In 2006, he recorded four albums with his band.
Changuito is a Cuban percussionist.
Irakere is a Cuban band founded by pianist Chucho Valdés in 1973. They won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording in 1980 with their album Irakere. Irakere was a seminal musical laboratory, where historic innovations in both Afro-Cuban jazz and Cuban popular dance music were created. The group used a wide array of percussion instruments like batá, abakuá and arará drums, chequerés, erikundis, maracas, claves, cencerros, bongó, tumbadoras (congas), and güiro.
NG La Banda is a Cuban musical group founded by flutist José Luis "El Tosco" Cortés. NG stands for nueva generación. NG La Banda are the creators of timba, the most important popular dance and music genre of the past two decades. Prior to founding NG La Banda, Cortés played in the Afro-Cuban jazz-fusion supergroup Irakere, and the seminal songo band Los Van Van.
Pilón is a Cuban musical form and a popular dance created in the 1950s. named for the town of Pilón, on the southern coast of Cuba. The rhythms of Pilón are based on the motions of pounding sugarcane. One unique aspect of the pilón is the use of simultaneous piano and electric guitar guajeos. Rhythmically, the guitar plays a much simpler form of the piano part. The following example is written in 4/4 rather than cut-time.
In music of Afro-Cuban origin, tumbao is the basic rhythm played on the bass. In North America, the basic conga drum pattern used in popular music is also called tumbao. In the contemporary form of Cuban popular dance music known as timba, piano guajeos are known as tumbaos.
A guajeo is a typical Cuban ostinato melody, most often consisting of arpeggiated chords in syncopated patterns. Some musicians only use the term guajeo for ostinato patterns played specifically by a tres, piano, an instrument of the violin family, or saxophones. Piano guajeos are one of the most recognizable elements of modern-day salsa. Piano guajeos are also known as montunos in North America, or tumbaos in the contemporary Cuban dance music timba.
Paulito FG is one of the original innovators of timba and is a popular salsa and timba performer.
La Charanga Habanera is a timba ensemble from Havana directed by David Calzado. The band has been nominated for awards including the Latin Grammy in 2003 for the album Live in the U.S.A. In 2005 Charanga Habanera was nominated for "Orgullosamente Latino" awards in three categories: best video, best album, and best group. Furthermore, the group has won numerous awards from Cubadiscos and Lucas.
Pedro Nolasco Jústiz Rodríguez, better known as Peruchín, was a Cuban pianist specializing in jazz-influenced Cuban popular music. He was an important figure in the 1950s descarga scene in Havana, and one of the most influential Cuban pianists of the 20th century.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
