View source for Danzón

{{short description|Musical genre and dance of Cuba}}
{{redirect|Danzon|the surname|Danzon (surname)}}
{{About||the film|Danzón (film){{!}}''Danzón'' (film)|the Arturo Sandoval album|Danzón (Dance On)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name              = Danzón
| image             = 
| caption           = 
| stylistic_origins = [[Contradanza]]
| cultural_origins  = Late 19th century, [[Cuba]]
| instruments       = {{ubl|[[Flute]]|[[Violin]]|[[Piano]]|[[Double bass]]|[[Timbales]]|[[Güiro]]|[[Claves]]}}
| derivatives       = [[Mambo (dance)|Mambo]]
| fusiongenres      = 
| regional_scenes   = 
| other_topics      = {{ubl|[[Rhumba]]|[[Meringue]]|[[Bolero]]}}
}}
{{Music of Cuba}}
'''Danzón''' is the official genre and dance of [[Cuba]].<ref name="Urfé 1965">Urfé, Odilio 1965. ''El danzón''. La Habana.</ref> It is also an active musical form in [[USA]] and [[Puerto Rico]]. 
Written in [[Duple time|{{music|time|2|4}} time]], the danzón is a slow, formal [[partner dance]], requiring [[Sequence dance|set footwork]] around [[syncopated]] beats, and incorporating elegant pauses while the couples stand listening to virtuoso instrumental passages, as characteristically played by a [[Charanga (Cuba)|charanga]] or [[Orquesta típica|típica]] ensemble.<ref name=Grove/>

The danzón evolved from the Cuban [[Habanera (music)|contradanza]], or habanera ({{literal translation|lk=yes}} '[[Havana]]-dance'). The contradanza, which had English and French roots in the [[country dance]] and [[Quadrille|contredanse]], was probably introduced to Cuba by the Spanish, who ruled the island for almost four centuries (1511–1898), contributing many thousands of immigrants. It may also have been partially seeded during the short-lived [[History of Havana#British occupation|British occupation]] of Havana in 1762.<ref name=Manuel2009/> [[Haitian people|Haitian]] refugees fleeing the island's [[Haitian Revolution|revolution of 1791–1804]] brought the French-Haitian [[kontradans]], contributing [[Charanga (Cuba)#Origins|their own]] Creole syncopation.<ref name=Manuel2009>Manuel, Peter, editor, 2009. "Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean." Philadelphia: Temple University Press; see also Carpentier, Alejo. 2001. ''Music in Cuba''. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press. p146</ref> In Cuba, the dances of European origin acquired new stylistic features derived from [[African rhythm]] and [[African dance|dance]] to produce a genuine fusion of European and African influences.<ref>Chasteen, John Charles 2004. ''National rhythms, African roots: the deep history of Latin American popular dance''. Albuquerque, N.M. Chapter 5.</ref> [[African music]]al traits in the danzón include complex instrumental [[cross-rhythm]]s, expressed in staggered [[cinquillo]] and [[Tresillo (rhythm)|tresillo]] patterns.<ref name=Grove/>

By 1879, the year [[Miguel Failde]]'s ''Las alturas de Simpson'' was first performed (in [[Matanzas]]),<ref name=Grove>{{cite web| last1=Gradante | first1=William |  last2=Fairley | first2=Jan |  title=Danzón | url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/07204 | work= [[Grove Music Online]] | publisher=Oxford Music Online| access-date=22 October 2015}}{{subscription required}}</ref> danzón had emerged as a distinct genre. Danzón went on to interact with 20th century Cuban genres such as [[Son (music)|son]], and through the [[danzón-mambo]] it was instrumental in the development of [[Mambo (music)|mambo]] and [[Cha-cha-cha (music)|cha-cha-chá]].

== History ==
[[File:CCMDonation25.JPG|thumb|left|Danzón dancers from [[Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City]]]]
The danzón developed from the [[Contradanza|habanera]], a creolized Cuban dance form. By 1879, the year ''Las alturas de Simpson'' composed by [[Miguel Failde]] (leader of the [[Early Cuban bands#Orquesta Faílde|Orquesta Faílde]]) was first performed in [[Matanzas]],<ref name=Grove/> danzón had emerged as a distinct genre.<ref name=boogalu>{{cite web|url=http://www.boogalu.com/features/history-cuban-music |title=History of Cuban Music |access-date=19 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201194105/http://www.boogalu.com/features/history-cuban-music |archive-date=1 February 2014 }}</ref> Creation of the new danzón form is generally attributed to Faílde.<ref>Failde, Osvalde Castillo 1964. ''Miguel Faílde: créador musical del Danzón''. Consejo Nacional de Cultura, La Habana. In 1998, the province Matanzas held a festival to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Danzón.</ref> The classical composer [[Manuel Saumell]] has also been cited as a key figure in its delineation.<ref>Carpentier, Alejo 2001 [1945]. ''Music in Cuba''. Minneapolis MN. p191</ref>

=== Precursors: figure dances ===
The English [[contradanza]] was the predecessor of the "[[habanera (music)|habanera]]", also known as [[danza criolla]].  Out of this Creole genre, the [[Habanera (music)|Habanera]], was born in 1879 another Cuban genre, called danzon, a [[sequence dance]], in which all danced together a set of ''figures''.<ref>A set group of dance steps that makes up a recognized, named movement.</ref> The first use of the term ''danzón'', which dates from the 1850s, is for just such a dance. Havana's daily paper, ''El Triunfo'', gave a description of this earlier
danzón. It was a co-ordinated dance of figures performed by groups of Matanzas blacks. The dancers held the ends of colored ribbons, and carried flower-covered arches. The group twisted and entwined the ribbons to make pleasing patterns.<ref>'El danzón', article in ''El Triunfo'', 25 July 1882.</ref><ref>Chasteen, John Charles 2004. ''National rhythms, African roots'', pp. 75–76.</ref> This account can be corroborated by other references, for example, a traveler in Cuba noted in 1854 that black Cubans "do a kind of wreath dance, in which the whole company took part, amid innumerable artistic entanglements and disentanglements".<ref>Bremer, Fredrika 1853. ''The homes of the New World: impressions of America''. Harper, N.Y. vol 2, p308.</ref> This style of danzón was performed at carnival [[comparsa]]s by black groups: it is described that way before the late 1870s.<ref>''La Aurora del Yumurí'', two articles: 'Danzón' (24.11.1871) and 'Magnifica comparsa' (2.12.1871)</ref>

Faílde's first danzóns were created for just such sequence dances. Faílde himself said "In Matanzas at this time there was a kind of square dance for twenty couples who carried arches and flowers. It was really a dance of figures (sequence dance), and its moves were adapted to the tempo of the habanera, which we took over for the danzón."<ref>Failde, Osvalde Castillo 1964. ''Miguel Faílde: créador musical del Danzón''. p85 [rough transl. by contributor]</ref>

=== Structure and instruments ===
The form of danzón created by Miguel Faílde in 1879 (''Las alturas de Simpson''), begins with an ''introduction'' (four bars) and ''paseo'' (four bars), which are repeated and followed by a 16-bar melody. The introduction and paseo again repeat before a second melody is played. The dancers do not dance during these sections: they choose partners, stroll onto the dance floor, and begin to dance at precisely the same moment: the fourth beat of bar four of the paseo, which has a distinctive percussion pattern that's hard to miss. When the introduction is repeated the dancers stop, chat, flirt, greet their friends, and start again, right on time as the paseo finishes.

[[File:Peña.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|{{center|''Orquesta Enrique Peña''<br>Peña seated left, Barreto (violin) and Urfé (clarinet)}}]]
Early danzón was played by groups called ''[[Orquesta típica|orquestas típicas]]'', which were based on wind instruments. They had several brass instruments ([[cornet]], valve [[trombone]], [[ophicleide]]), a [[clarinet]] or two, a violin or two and tympani ([[Timpani|kettle drums]]). At the beginning of the 20th century, the lighter and somewhat more elegant sound of the ''[[Charanga (Cuba)|charanga]]'' emerged (see [[Early Cuban bands]]). Initially, they were small orchestra of two violins, a cello, flute, [[timbales]], [[güiro]], and [[doublebass]]. Charanga and típicas competed with each other for years, but after 1930 it was clear that the days of the típica were over.

In 1898, a piano was included in a charanga for the first time. In [[Antonio María Romeu]]'s hands a piano became standard. Its musical flexibility, its ability to influence both melody and rhythm, made it invaluable. In 1926, in his arrangement of ''Tres lindas cubanas'', Romeu incorporated a piano ''solo'' for the first time. His was Cuba's top charanga for many years.

=== Initial perception ===
Similar to other dances in the Caribbean and Latin America, the danzón was initially regarded as scandalous, especially when it began to be danced by all classes of society. The slower rhythm of the danzón led to couples dancing closer, with sinuous movements of the hips and a lower centre of gravity. The author of a survey of [[prostitution in Cuba|prostitution in Havana]] devoted a whole chapter to the iniquities of dancing, and the danzón in particular.<ref>De Cespedes, Benjamin 1888. ''La prostitución en La Habana''.</ref> Articles in newspapers and periodicals took up the theme:

:"Because I love my country, it hurts me to see danzón at gatherings of decent people."<ref>'El danzón' articles in ''La Voz de Cuba'' (8.10.1879) and (20.11.1879); transl. from Chasteen p77.</ref>
:"We recommend banning the danza and danzón because they are vestiges of Africa and should be replaced by essentially European dances such as the quadrille and rigadoon."<ref>'Sobre bailes' in 'La Habana elegante' (19.8.1888); transl. from Chasteen p80</ref>

Apparently, the danzón, which later became an insipid dance for older couples, was at first danced with "obscene movements" of the hips by young couples in close embrace, with bodies touching, and by couples who might come from different races...

:"First we had the danza, then came the danzón... next it will be the rumba, and finally we'll all end up dancing ñáñigo!"<ref>'El porvenir del baile en Cuba' in ''El Almendares'' (a Havana women's magazine) (7.9.1881); trans from Chasteen p81</ref>

So, behind the concern about music and dance were concerns about sexual licence, and about [[miscegenation]], the mixing of races. As with other similar cases, the criticism was to no avail. The danzón became hugely popular, and was the dominant popular music in Cuba until the advent of the [[Son Cubano|son]] in the 1920s. At length the Cuban government made Faílde the official inventor of the danzón &ndash; ''but not until 1960'', by which time the danzón had become a relic, and its 'child', the [[chachachá]], had taken over.<ref>Failde, Osvalde Castillo 1964. ''Miguel Faílde: créador musical del Danzón''. La Habana. Here the official document is reprinted in full: ''El danzón, baile nacional de Cuba''.</ref>

=== Influence of son ===

In 1910, some 30 years after Faílde's early days, [[José Urfé]] added a [[montuno]] as a final part of his ''El Bombín de Barretto''.<ref name="Urfé 1965" /> This was a swinging section, consisting of a repeated musical phrase, which introduced something of the [[Son (music)|son]] into the danzón (a tactic which was to recur again). Because of the popularity of son in the 1920s and 1930s, [[Aniceto Díaz]] in ''Rompiendo la rutina'' in 1929 added a vocal part, thereby creating a new genre called the danzonete.

[[File:Romeu Orq.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|{{center|''Orquesta Romeu'' <br /> with singer Fernando Collazo, end-1920s}}]]
Later development led to more [[syncopation]], which eventually led to the [[danzón-chá]], [[nuevo ritmo]], [[Cha-cha-cha (music)|cha-cha-chá]], [[pachanga]] and [[Mambo (music)|mambo]]. From the 1940s to the 1960s danzón and its derivatives were highly popular in Cuba, with several truly fine charangas playing most days of the week. [[Orquesta Aragón]] kept up an exceptionally high standard for many years, but the danzón itself gradually dropped out, and is now a relic dance.

Danzón has never ceased to influence Cuban musicians, and it is reflected in many popular Cuban music genres, in Cuban [[Latin jazz]], [[Salsa music|salsa]], [[songo music|songo]] and [[timba]], the latter building upon the charanga orchestration. Groups like [[Los Van Van]] and [[Orquesta Revé]] developed from charangas. Their make-up and orchestration (by [[Juan Formell]]) has been so greatly altered that it is difficult to identify traces of danzón; indeed, their present styles owe more to son than to danzón. The addition of brass instruments such as [[trombones]] and trumpets, and [[conga drum]]s signalled a wider range of music.

== Mexican Danzón ==
{{Listen|filename=danzon-veracruz.ogg|title=Danzon sound clip|description=Public danzon event on the main plaza in [[Veracruz]], Mexico.|format=[[Ogg]]}}
[[File:Danzonera Pegaso, FIC.jpg|thumb|left|A couple dancing danzón in [[Guanajuato City]], Mexico.]]
Danzón was also very popular in the Gulf Coast state of [[Veracruz]], Mexico, because of the strong Cuban influence in the region. Later on, danzón developed in [[Mexico City]], specially in the famous ''Salón México''; it has survived as a dance longer there than in Cuba. Danzón also flourished in the city of [[Oaxaca]], and many famous danzones were composed by Oaxacan musicians such as the famous Nereidas and Teléfono de larga distancia, both works of [[Amador Pérez Dimas]], from the town of [[Zaachila]], near Oaxaca city.

Today, people still dance danzón in Mexico, particularly in the main plazas of Veracruz, Oaxaca and Mexico City, and in yearly festivals across Mexico. The dance had a second revival in the 1990s, especially among Mexico's senior citizens.

A film called ''[[Danzón (film)|Danzón]]'' was released in 1991 directed by María Novaro.

==Concert music==
''[[Danzón no. 2]]'' by Mexican composer [[Arturo Márquez]] (b. 1950) is a popular piece in orchestral concerts.

==Rhythmic structure==
[[File:Baqueteo-2.tif|thumb|center|upright=1.5|Basic baqueteo timbales part. {{audio|Baqueteo-2.mid|Play}}]]
The basic [[timbales]] part for danzón is called the baqueteo. In the example above, the slashed noteheads indicate muted drum strokes, and the regular noteheads indicate open strokes. The [[güiro]] also plays this pattern. The danzón was the first written music to be based on the organizing principle of sub-Saharan African rhythm, known in Cuba as [[clave rhythm|clave]].<ref>Peñalosa, David (2010). ''The Clave Matrix; Afro-Cuban Rhythm: Its Principles and African Origins'' p. 254. Redway, CA: Bembe Inc. {{ISBN|1-886502-80-3}}.</ref>

== Style and form structure ==
Danzón is elegant and virtuoso music, with dance. A danzón, in its original form, was not sung, and did not feature any improvisations, unlike some other Cuban genres.
A danzón has the following typical structure:
*An ''introduction'' or ''paseo'' (A), usually 16 bars.
*The ''theme'' or principal melody (B), featuring the flute, thus often referred to as ''parte de (la) flauta''.
*A repeat of the introduction.
*The ''trio'' (C), featuring the strings, thus also called ''parte del violín''.
*Ending. This could either be a cliché ending (there are a few standard danzón endings), another repeat of the introduction, or a combination of both.
The classic form is thus ABAC or ABACA.
A [[danzón-chá]] or [[danzón-mambo]] typically add another part (D), a syncopated open vamp in which soloists may sometimes improvise, creating an ABACD or, more common, ABACAD.

== Mambo section ==
{{main|mambo section}}
In danzón, the mambo section is the final section of an arrangement. It was first devised by [[Orestes López]], who added syncopated motifs taken from the son, together with improvised flute variations.<ref>Orovio, Helio 2004. ''Cuban music from A to Z''.</ref> He called this type of danzón ''ritmo nuevo'' (new rhythm). Orestes' danzón ''Mambo'' was the start of a trend continued by ''[[Arcaño y sus Maravillas]]''.<ref>[[Max Salazar]], [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FXV/is_7_12/ai_92403678 "Orestes Lopez and the mambo"], ''[[Latin Beat Magazine]]'', September 2002</ref>
==Selected recordings==
* {{Audio|Pensamiento, Danzón.flac|}} ''Pensamiento'' – Belisario López
* {{Audio|Lago Azul, Danzón.flac|}} ''Lago Azul'' – Antobal’s Cubans
* {{Audio|Flor De Yurumi, Danzón.flac|}} ''Flor De Yurumi'' – Orquestra Antonio Maria Romeu

==See also==
* [[Quadrille|French contredanse]]
* [[Guaracha]]
* [[Tumba francesa|La tumba francesa]]
* [[Music of Haiti]]
* [[Twoubadou]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
*[[Rebeca Mauleón]] ''The Salsa guidebook for piano and ensemble'' (1993). Petaluma CA: Sher Music. {{ISBN|0-9614701-9-4}}
*Peter Manuel, editor. "Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean" (2009). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

{{Clear}}
{{Cuban musical forms}}
{{Music in spanish}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danzon}}
[[Category:Danzón| ]]
[[Category:Cuban styles of music]]
[[Category:Dance in Cuba]]
[[Category:Mexican styles of music]]
[[Category:19th-century music genres]]
[[Category:20th-century music genres]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]