Musical Atlas of Cuba - Cuban Music History

Musical Atlas of Cuba - Cuban Music History

Friends I've just discovered a very cool and extremely well put together timeline on the history of Cuban music. on the PBS Web site.

"A multi media exploration of the roots of Cuban music through an interactive musical map of Cuba, a music timetable and a polyrhythmic demonstration breaking down the basic rhythmic structures of classical Afro-Cuban sounds."

It's written by Ron Conner whom I did not know before discovering the timeline but whom I certainly would like to meet sometime. Each century has it's own page and it begins before the arrival of Columbus in Cuba in 1492.

Here are the fist two events on the timeline:

• 1000 B.C.E.-1492: approximately 250,000 indigenous Taino, Arawak and Ciboney people live in Cuba as does their Areito music

• 1492: Christopher Columbus arrives in Cuba and claims it for the Spanish crown
and the last entry in the timeline reads...

• 1993: U.S. Supreme Court legalizes animal sacrifices as practiced in santería, creating a surge in Afro-Cuban religious practice -- and in santería music -- in New York City and Miami
Here's a link to the whole timeline. Have fun with this and you'll understand how deeply influential Cuban music has been on everyday world culture in the last couple of centuries.

Follow this link to the timeline

Until next time... keep dancing, my friends.





And don't forget, if you really do wanna keep dancing, come see me and my band Conjunto Guantanamo around New York City - Check our calendar on our official site:


http://www.ConjuntoGuantanmo.com

Ulises