MUS/AFR/LAS 136
Spring 2011
Bowdoin College
Professor Michael Birenbaum Quintero
T/Th 11:30-1:00 Gibson 101
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Tuesday Question
The question for your response to the Moore chapter is: "Why did white Cuban intellectuals take up Afro-Cuban music in their search for a Cuban national culture?"
Elizabeth Humphrey Black Musics in Latin America Professor Birenbaum Quintero
After the anti-United States sentiment grew to not only consist of economic and political issues but also all “Americanisms”, it was thought to the best interest of the country to disassociate themselves with American culture and promote their own national genres of music (Moore, 120). However, this was seen as difficult with the presence of different ethnic sources that comprised what was Cuba. In order to capture the essence of Cuban music, Cuban intellectuals had to realize that the music deemed valuable by groups like the Pro-Arte musical and also among the white elite were not the only music that was present in Cuban society. In order to represent all Cubans through this nationalization process, they had to include the music of the urban, working-class, which was predominately Afro-Cuban music (Moore, 126). However, the gradually attainted acceptance of the Afro-Cuban music would not be used in its natural state. In order to meet the needs of Cuban intellectuals and nationalist agendas, Afro-Cuban music went through a process of whitening, taking it further away from black and working class expression that of which was not approved in their society (Moore, 117). When Afrocubanista music, the “whitened” version of Afro-Cuban music, became the national symbol of Cuban music, it was seen as white élite having a “more tolerant position toward Afro-Cuban culture" while it still “demonstrate[d] intolerance to anything but ‘universalized folklore’” (Moore, 146).
White Cuban intellectuals took up Afro-Cuban music in their search for a Cuban national culture in order to define a new and more inclusive Cuban community. At this point in the history of Cuba, many were profoundly upset at the economic situation and political corruption in Cuba. The fact that there was a national Cuban culture defined at all was a reactionary measure against the heavy U.S. presence in the Cuban economy and prominence of U.S. culture among the elites of Cuba. As the economy collapsed, many Cubans felt a strong backlash against the American contamination of Cuba, generating a desire for an authentic Cuban national identity and culture. Despite heavy racial antagonism against blacks in Cuba during the period of upheaval, this ideal was increasingly challenged by anti-imperialists (those against US intervention in Cuba). There was growing support for all forms of Cuban expression in the wake of strong anti-foreign sentiment. Seeing the popularity and appeal to the masses, the Cuban middle class tentatively accepted Afro-Cuban music as part of their own national culture in order to unify and solidify the Cuban national identity. Cuban society at this moment in history was so heavily divided by race and class that only arts with mass appeal could overcome these barriers. Saying that the white Cuban intellectuals accepted Afro-Cuban music must be taken with a grain of salt, however. Afro-Cuban music most often underwent commercial "interpretation" by white musicians who "purified", "made sophisticated", "dressed with elegance", and "universalized" the popular Afro-Cuban street music to make it more appealing and acceptable to the middle and upper classes of Cuba. Thus, white Cuban intellectuals made Afro-Cuban music part of the Cuban national culture in order unify the diverse racial and social classes that make up Cuba, while clearly using a certain amount of reinterpretation by white musicians to make it seem more acceptable to the upper classes.
While searching for a Cuban national culture, Cubans experienced many conflicts. The main examples of this are the conflict between Cuba and the United States, the conflict between la alta sociedad (elite society) and las clases dirigidas (the masses), and finally the conflict between whites and blacks. This made it quite difficult to create a single, pan-national culture. However, such widespread conflict forced Cuban intellectuals to realize that a nationalized culture could only come from what was popular and accepted by a majority. Thus, many societies and institutions began working to discover a national culture. There was also a significant influence from individual artists. What became of most importance, however, were the anti-foreign dominance sentiments throughout Cuba, which eventually allowed Cuba to find it’s own nationalized Afrocuban musical expression. Moore also emphasizes the fact that there wasn’t a sudden white elite acceptance of afrocuban music, but rather an evolution that served as a mix between the white elite and the lower class’ music and dance practices.
Sarah Nelson 2/27/11 The economic state of Cuba catalyzed a movement in which Afro-Cuban music was taken up as part of Cuba’s national culture. United States businesses heavily invested in Cuba, and when they were successful and Cubans were reaping the benefits, North American culture became a readily accepted part of Cuban society. However, the Great Depression lead to economic distress in Cuba and raised many anti-American sentiments, as Cuban people began to realize that the infiltration of American political, economic, and cultural influence in their country had contributed to the downfall. Suddenly, the Cuban people were looking to develop a strong nationalized culture through which they could express their frustration. Music and dance became a way through which suffering Cubans could escape their problems temporarily. Between 1920 and 1933 there was an “afrocubanism” movement in which Afro-Cuban music was gradually accepted, challenging the anti-black sentiments many of the white elites in Cuba felt. The development of the railroad and highways helped spread new Cuban music that spoke of domestic historical events and included “stylized” or “purified” Afro-Cuban influences. Through salon music, zarzuela, and dance band repertory different Afro-Cuban musical techniques were expressed, however white Cubans did the vast majority of these performances. In fact, many Afro-Cubans found the “afrocubanism” movement slightly offensive. White intellectuals were attempting to create a nationalized culture that represented the many facets of Cuba, but there was hypocracy in this system. Black Cubans were still regularly discriminated against, and this acceptance of Afro-Cuban culture was not entirely genuine, but can be viewed more as an acceptance “on middle class terms.”
The political and economic situation in Cuba was largely responsible for the acceptance of Afro-Cuban music in the search for national Cuban culture. Afro-Cuban music had always been looked down upon, as racial and class distinctions were a prominent part of Cuban society. While Americans invested in Cuban sugar and the economy boomed, American culture heavily infiltrated everyday Cuban life. However, a change in the US interest level in Cuban sugar as well as the crash of the US stock market left Cubans in economic and political chaos. The nationalist movement was a means for Cubans to separate themselves from the negative influences of American culture, but also as an escape from oppressive political rule. Even so, during this time most of what was accepted as national culture was heavily influenced by European forms and was almost entirely of the higher class. Even groups such as the Sociedad Folklore Cubano, as well as indigenismo and guajiro nationalism, which focused on less popular forms such as Hispanicisms, “el indio”, and peasant music, still viewed Afro-Cuban culture as low class. However, many people soon began to see that blacks held a special role in Cuban history because of their participation in the revolution against Spain. Ortiz even challenged popular views by noting that nationalism should focus on the identification of a cultural heritage, not ancestry. Consequently, Afro-Cuban music began to become integrated into the search for national Cuban culture, though it often had to be transformed within a white context before it became popularly accepted by mainstream society.
Laura Connolly An anti-American sentiment was growing in Cuba. Because of this there was a push to distance themselves from American culture and to more heavily incorporate the Cuban culture into what would become their national culture. In distancing themselves, they were able to put a higher value in their music and make it their own identity instead of borrowing the identity of people who were suppressing them. It cannot be said that white elite completely accepted Afro-American music without any changes to it and this is in part due to the racial stratification that is found in Cuba. Because the races are so separate in Cuba and the distinction between their cultures is so deeply engrained, Afro-American music had to go through a whitening process before it could be accepted as mainstream in order to appease all parties involved. Because of this whitening process, we do not hear the authentic Afro-American music but rather we hear a more Westernized or “whitened” version of it. This way, the white elite were able to accept a culture that was not entirely their own and vice versa. Through the whitening, it seemed to satisfy both sides as it managed to incorporate even a little of each culture.
In his description of the Afro-Cuban nationalization between 1920 and 1933, Moore emphasizes the importance of ideology to politics both then and now. He uses many reasons that, although are not specific to Cuba, provide a justified explanation as to why Afro-Cuban music was absorbed into Cuban national culture. For example, political dominance isn’t just achieved (if at all) via physical control; it “entails the creation of a sense of moral legitimacy” that give authorities the “right” to rule (115). Any particular government, such as Cuba, must put in place specific constructs distinguishing the citizens of that country from others, while also having the flexibility to incorporate all of the ethnicities and classes represented by that population (115). In the case of Cuba, a country with a large black population, the act of trying to include all racial groups/cultures was essential to realizing true Cuban national culture. This is the process of nationalization that we talked about in class, specifically with music—the idea that a country or group of people take up particular musical practices and incorporate them so that they become part of the national music. “Culture is central to nationalism,” Moore explains further, where music often plays a central role in political developments. Cuban nationalist movements are often linked to 19th-century economic factors, which in turn relate to the political stance at the time. As a result of the political relationship between the nation and its culture, political discourse affected Cuba’s musical production. Cubans especially upheld the distinction between Cuban culture and the United States because at the time North American culture “came to be viewed with suspicion” (120). Overall, what Cubans desired most was to feel distinct from other nations. For example, they did so by increasingly referring to themselves as isleños (Cuban islanders) instead of peninsulares (Cubans from the Iberian peninsula) (117). Moore’s argument is that this distinction was most easily accomplished by culture and that is the Cuban culture that we see today was adopted.
Moore also mentions various social and technological factors that contributed to the growing interest in Cuba’s national forms of expression, such as: the railroad construction between the isolated rural areas and other parts of the island, the stock market crash that significantly affected the Cuban economy, and the political unrest that followed. In that period of time in Cuba, the popularity of Cuban culture, music and dance, grew exponentially because it became a form of escapism (122). This in turn inspired artists and intellectuals to establish national music institutes, performance ensembles, and cultural organizations, among other things, to continue the already growing cultural movement in Cuba.
Moore discusses Argeliers Leon’s essay “Of the Axis and the Hinge” in his exploration of Cuban national culture. Leon wrote about Cuban artistic nationalism as two separate periods: the first when Afro-Cubans were not accepted as a part of national culture, the second when Afro-Cuban music became an important part of Cuban national culture. The height of the second period came in the late 1920’s when the younger generation challenged the middle-class by searching for a new way to express nationalism. (116) Moore goes on to explore the influence of politics on Afro-Cuban music. Two distinct social groups, la alta sociedad (elite society) and las clases dirigidas (the masses) prevented a syncretism of culture simply because they were isolated from each other. The white middle-class was motivated to create a “Cuban” culture, but wanted to remain disconnected from the black working class culture. The white Cuban intellectuals eventually accepted Afro-Cuban music as a part of Cuban national culture in light of “political and economic circumstances” during the machadato period. (117-118)
Brendan McDermott From the mid 19th century into the 20th century white culture and music was the national music of Cuba. There was a big divide between the white elite’s culture and that of the black masses. This began to change however come the 1920’s when a younger generation was using afro-Cuban music as a new form of nationalist expression. This was the period where the President, Machadato, was overthrown. Middle class intellectuals began to accept Afrocuban cultural forms as that of national importance. After the administration of US President William McKinley, Cuba was essentially an American protectorate. American business quickly invested in Cuba and many businessmen eventually became oligarchs in Cuba with a monopoly on many key industries. When the demand for sugar dropped and the Cuban economy went downhill many Cubans began to openly question and be critical of US imperialism in their country. People also started to question the growth of American culture into Cuba. American music’s such as Jazz became discouraged from being played and the US supported government was overthrown. Nationalists Afrocuban music became more accepted as way to express national unity and also to buffer US influences. Blackness was still looked down upon during this time period but increasingly intellectuals and others began to call for more incorporation into black culture. Much Afrocuban music that was brought in the Cuban culture was whitened or “made sophisticated” by the Cuban elites. Overall white elites slowly did accept and incorporate Afrocuban culture into Cuban nationalist culture but only after whitening the music.
Culture is a direct component of Nationalism. The unity of the country depends largely on the acceptance of the cultural identity. As we have already discovered, music plays a vital role in culture, especially following the African Diaspora. When Afrocubans were finally accepted by society, their cultural expressions were barred from representation. However, this period transitioned into an “epoch” where Afrocuban music expanded rapidly, in which it ultimately became embodied by the by the people as a whole. Cuba had many economic ties with the United States, and was often linked to their economic crests and troughs. As the Cuban economy declined, unity within labor forces grew, and the Cuban Communist party was formed. Before long, many Cubans believed that the “ubiquity of North American culture might be detrimental, an insidious counterpart to economic control” (121). Stemming from these sentiments were Cuban aspirations to mark their own national identity. Perhaps one reason why Cuban intellectuals took up the Afrocuban music was because it “provided a form of escapism, a means of temporarily forgetting the realities of the moment and focusing only on the romantic sentiments that proliferated in contemporary song lyrics” (122-3). In addition, Afrocuban music was also created as a form of political protest. The middle class embraced the Afrocuban culture, and as a result it gained recognition in national festivals. Much of the music had classic European roots, such as the waltz. The fusion of genres and styles presented by Afrocuban music was soon viewed as “sophisticated”. This label garnered the music attention from many Cuban intellectuals.
Ever since the USA butted in toward the end of the Cuban Revolution against the Spanish foreign interests increasingly pressed deeper into the welfare of Cuban people. Cubans wanted to break away from foreign dependence and influence. To do that they needed a solidifying, unique national identity. They tried a lot of things to identify Cuban art. One thing they used to do was this grand operatic musical style, but it did not do justice to the Cuban people that it depicted. Intellectuals realized that they needed their art to also include the lower classes and blacks who contributed a great part to the history of Cuba.
So because of Cuba's need for a unique identity, and the fact that Cuba as a nation was driven by a large population of blacks who were extremely pervasive, and Cuba's desire to wrest themselves away from foreign influence and dependence Cuban national identity became heavily incorporated with black culture.
Racial and economic strata were important categories when analyzing the interactions between the white elite and Afro-Cuban peoples of Cuba. Afro-cuban culture and its associated music was not highly regarded by the whites in power in Cuba. Yet when the economic crash came down on America and in turn led to turmoil in Cuba, a movement toward Nationalism occured in Cuba in an attempt by Cubans to create their own completely separate identity from their days of US dependency for their sugarcane economy. Additionally, Cubans strived to improve their treatment politically and socially. It was soon recognized among the elite (and even middle class) that the creation of a powerful movement would rely on the popular opinions of all Cubans and many already recognized the importance of Afro-cuban music and culture. Afro-cuban people were also important in the overthrow of the Spanish protectorate previously and thus their value had to be considered in culture and the creation of a Cuban identity. With such an available tool in their feet, the power holding whites in Cuba adopted a watered down form of Afro-cuban music as their banner. I call it watered down because the culture and music were not taken on wholesale - to appease the masses, the music had to be partially redefined with many white elements incorporated so that all could identify. The music underwent a bleaching of sorts, since whites wanted more sophistication, purity, and elegance. This reinterpretation holds the key to understanding the creation of a Cuban national culture and identity.
In order to establish a national culture in Cuba, White Cuban intellectuals started to take up Afro-Cuban music. The U.S. was not only involved in Cuba’s economy, but the tops elites were influenced by U.S. culture. When Wall St crashed the whole island was on economic desperation. The creation of the carretera central began to “unite the nation.” Radio and record distribution contributed to the mass popularization of recent “nationalized” music’s of the period. Salon music and zarzuela were different Afro-Cuban music, but they began to be expressed by white Cubans. Many white Cubans saw the poor working class “Afro-Cubans” as inferior and discriminated them. However, the support for foreign anti sentiment was big during the time and therefore the masses began to agree on certain arts and dances. Even though the middle class “accepted” different Afro-Cuban musical techniques they were responsible for purifying and making the dances more sophisticated and elegant. This was very important because it placed a level of respect to the music and had European roots like we can see in the Waltz that was highly valued by the Cuban white elites.
The United States had had a tight grip on Cuba leading up to the Cuban Revolution, and Cuba often relied on American music, among other things, to represent the country. As anti-American sentiments were on the rise following the Revolution, Cubans decided that it was time to separate themselves from US culture. Many different groups decided that it was time to create a style of music that was representational of Cubans, which was part of a greater attempt by the island nation to create a unique national identity. Though white elites in Cuba were not particularly ken to incorporate Afro-Cuban music into this new identity at first, it soon became apparent that in order to successfully unite under this new identity, popular opinions of members of all social classes would have to be taken into consideration. Though Afro-Cuban music was not taken on wholesale, it was incorporated with white elite understandings of music and came to be viewed as the popular and promoted genre in Cuba.
In order for the Cubans to have broken away from national dependency, they needed to get in touch with their true culture on order solidify identity. Cubans began to riot and protest European rule and American influence on Cuban life. White Cuban intellectuals looked towards Afrocubanismo music and art because as Moore describes it, “it was uniquely popular Cuban sound that sound sophisticated (144). While blacks were not equals in Cuba at the time, their culture had made contributions and fusions with the Cuban people street performers and theatres of mixed race were not uncommon. While, the afrocubanismo worked to give a culture that lacked unique identity, a culture, it also made moves to devalue what it meant to be black in Cuba. Moore also explains that a downside to the use of Afrocuban music was the fusion and segmentation it went through in order to be accepted. The music was whitened quite a bit.
Chelsea Young White Cuban intellectuals took up Afro-Cuban music in their search for a Cuban national culture because they realized that national expression would have to incorporate “blackness” in at least a rhetorical sense. By rejecting symbolic representations of Cuba that foregrounded the Indian or guajiro, Cuban intellectuals and Cuban musicians were able to create songs with a uniquely popular and Cuban sound that were also viewed as “sophisticated,” which were clearly distinguishable from working-class expression. Afrocuban presence in national culture became more apparent in the late 1930s, when music festivals and ceremonies became prevalent, featuring afrocuban artists. It is also important to remember that blacks did not have the right to form political parties of their own and were subject to job discrimination and policies of segregation enforced by many clubs and businesses. Thus, under such context, the meanings of afrocubanismo were hard to define. Therefore, during this time period, artistic leaders managed to define a new and more inclusive representation of the Cuban community with the compositions. Afrocubanista composition foregrounds the commonalities of Cuban citizens and obscures hierarchies of internal difference. The emergence of Afrocubanista constitutes a new period of hegemonic concession in which black street culture is accepted.
A nationalist movement accepts a certain cultural aspect as the nations own as a statement of unity. Cuba’s search for national cultural forms became very important during machadato when they wanted to become independent of American cultural influence. Within the country there were strong divides between the elite class and the working class; the anti-imperialists and the anti-black; and whites and blacks. Intellect Fernando Ortiz proposed that Cubans define themselves in terms of shared cultural heritage rather than shared ancestry. White elitist thought that an effective means of representing the nation was through afrocuban music during the political and economic circumstances of the 20’s. Although white intellects acknowledged black music as Cuban national culture, the whites still had to purify and sophisticate (what they called universalize) afro-Cuban music to make it more tolerable for the nation, aka the elite class.
Around the 1920’s, anti-United States sentiment grew large and there was a movement by Cuban nationalists to create a stronger and more unified image of Cuba. Cuban people felt that everything, from the constitution to their educational reforms, was derived from North American influence. Nationalists wanted to create new image of Cuba that would be free of U.S. influence and empower national self worth (124). Cuban intellectuals realized Afro-Cuban music, grounded in the working-class, would help promote nationalizion. Many of these Afro-Cuban musical forms did not have as much popular appeal thus, in order to yield these cultural forms as a political force they needed to have more mainstream appeal. Best stated in the article itself, “A promotion of ‘whitened’ Afrocuban music would reinforce images of the nation already accepted by many at home and abroad. It would ensure that Cuban culture remained vital rather than succumbing to North American Influences.”
Moore argues that culture is central to nationalism and how music contributes to cultural unity and political discourse to reinforce nationalism, along with the common experiences and customs. Thus, it is logical that white intellectuals would look towards music in search for national culture. In Cuba specifically, the periods of machadato brought about cultural differences between the white upper class and the masses thus this prompted the intellectuals to look towards afro-Cuban music in search for culture. Also, during the early 1900’s Cubans began to denounce American culture and create their own music. Thus to appeal to the masses in a political sense during troublesome and changing times of Cuban society, intellectuals had to look towards the music of the working class which included Afro-Cuban music.
Cuba was essentially an American protectorate in the late 19th century and early 20th century, and along with heavy economic involvement, the culture of North America had spread widely throughout the island. But with the economic crisis of the 1920s, Cubans began to see the flaws in their dependence on America, and there was an effort to replace the North American culture that had permeated throughout Cuban society with one that was distinctly Cuban. The push to assert this Cuban identity has not been easy due to race relations in Cuba, with its policies that discriminate against blacks. In trying to find a national expression of music, African influence has been denied; elements of music found in Cuba have even been attributed to indigenous influence, without substantial evidence, in order to deny the presence of an African tradition. But eventually Cuban intellectuals realized that in order to create a pan-Cuban sense of unity and identity, they would have to accept the inclusion of the music of the urban, working class – and most of this music was Afro-Cuban. But the country’s white elites would not permit this music to remain in its original form. These diluted forms of black music that are found in Cuba are largely the result of the racial tensions and antagonisms found there. Moore quotes Emilio Grenet saying that “the music of the black which becomes popular is always an interpretation by a white musician.” (Moore, 135). In other words, black music had to go through a whitening process to rid it of its “crude” and “regressive” characteristics. Only after this could it be accepted into mainstream society; thus acceptance and recognition of this Afro-Cuban culture was far from genuine.
During this time period, Moore discusses the large U.S. presence and influence throughout the Cuban economy and society. As the United States suffered during The Great Depression, resultantly the Cubans also suffered heavily. After seeing this correlation, many Cubans began to display anger towards the U.S., feeling that the U.S. had “contaminated” their society and brought Cuba to its fall. As a result, the Cuban people began establishing a new nationalized culture, one that bonded everyone together through their frustration and annoyance. Thus the whole country was working together to redefine a new culture to embrace, free of any foreign influence. The biggest problems of the country began to fade away in light of everyone working together to find a new identity. The conflict between blacks and whites, as well as the differences between the wealthy elite and rest of society, were diminished. Music became the defining aspect of this innovated culture, as the Cuban people found this was the best way to express their emotions. Cuban white intellectuals began to take up Afro-Cuban music in an effort to establish a national Cuban culture. However, as they did so, their own interpretation of the music lead to producing a new genre, similar to the original Afro-Cuban music that was popular before, but a new version that the white intellectuals changed to be more appealing to the middle and upper classes of Cuba. Thus the white intellectuals adopted Afro-Cuban music into their own culture in order to help unify Cuban culture, but at the same time, their actions in interpreting music offended some of the original practitioners in the country.
On the path to discovering their own Cuban national culture the people experienced many roadblocks along the way. The United States was deeply rooted in Cuba, this was a mutually progressive relationship but the down part was that North American culture found its way into the Cuban streets. However, a large anti-American sub-culture soon developed as the Great Depression caused grief between the two nations. Also the conflict between the Cuban elite, or “la alta sociedad”, and the public, or “las clases dirigidas”, causes confusion as to how to see one’s countries’ culture. Thus, a search for a national Cuban identity was on minds throughout the country. In attempting the create distance between the North American cultural influence and their own national culture the Cuban people began to place much emphasis on their music. Afro-American music was not accepted at first by the majority. Due to the wide discrepancy in races in Cuba the music had to undergo a sort of whitening to gain acceptance. In this way the white population in Cuba were able to identify with a culture and a music that was not their own, but then again, it was not completely authentically African either do to the changes that took place. Thus, this process of change in the music was necessary in order for all aspects of Cuban civilization to accept it.
U.S. culture previously infiltrated the lives of Cubans—particularly the elite—because of Cuban dependence on the U.S. economically. However, when economic crises stirred, Cubans not only responded with wanting economic independence, but wanting a sense of national culture as well. That is, there was such a strong sentiment of anti-Americanism in Cuba because of the fall of the Cuban economy, that Cubans wanted to eliminate U.S. presence in their cultural forms as well. Cubans’ desire for national pride naturally caused them to search for cultural elements that they felt were unique to their country. Initially, their search did not include any sort Afro-Cuban cultural forms. This exclusion of Afro-Cuban culture was largely due to the popular notion that blacks were an inferior race that did not have any significant impact on Cubans’ sense of national pride. Interestingly, Cuban elites acknowledged the indigenous culture as impacting the national identity prior to embracing Afro-Cubans cultural forms. However, they eventually incorporated Afro-Cuban music into what constituted national Cuban culture. These Cuban elites did, though, significantly alter the authentic Afro-Cuban musical forms in order to make them “socially acceptable” and worthy of incorporation into a national sense of pride. Cuba’s history of acknowledgement—and lack thereof—of African-derived musical forms seems to be indicative of the histories of many other countries we have discussed thus far. There appears to be a popular struggle between viewing blacks as inferior on the social hierarchy and being drawn to their musical forms. The common solution, as displayed in Cuba, seems to be to incorporate African musical forms into a common sense of national culture, but to reinterpret them to be more sophisticated and acceptable to the elite.
The ever-present national conflicts between Cuba and the United States, the inner country divide between the elite and the working classes, as well as the racial conflict between whites and blacks, made it difficult for the creation of a single pan-national Cuban culture. As a result of the political and economic situations in Cuba and the ever-present anti-American sentiment, there was a strong push for Cuba to distance and distinguish itself from {U.S.} American culture. In distancing themselves and constructing a national culture, there was a higher value placed on musical authenticity; making an individual identity through music instead of borrowing musical styles and frameworks from their oppressors. However, it must be noted that due to the racial conflicts within the country there was not a complete acceptance of Afro-American music without minor changes, largely due in part to the racial stratification found in Cuba. In Cuba, races are very separate and the distinction between black and white cultures is overt and deeply engrained within society, the Afro-American music underwent a “whitening” process before it was deemed suitable to mainstream audiences. Furthermore, this “whitening” process has removed the authenticity and distinct Afro-American ties and made way for a more westernized version. In this respect, whitening is seen as a way to utilize aspects of white and black culture in an effort to appease all races.
Moore explains that the isolation of distinct social groups and classes in different locations in Cuba was a major issue when trying to create a pan national culture. Not only did the two groups, la alta sociedad (elite society) and las clases dirigidas (the masses), share little in common in terms of cultural expression they also had difficulty when attempting to reconcile the differences to fit under one genre or style. “The class consciousness and cultural orientation in this case conflicted directly with nationalist aspirations.” (117) The machadato period marked the first time middle class masses began to accept Afrocuban culture as their own. Later in the piece Moore speaks about a promotion of “whitened” Afrocuban music that would reinforce images of the nation already accepted by many people. Accepting ‘whitened’ Afrocuban music would ensure that Cuban culture remained most important in Cuba and that the Cuban culture did not adopt the North American influences. The invasion of the United States sparked the need for a unifying culture. Although black music ‘culture’ was accepted as Cuban national culture the white elites changed many aspects of the culture before accepting it to be the Cuban national culture.
White Cubans appropriated Afro-Cuban music into the national culture because during a time of political unrest and change, the machadato, younger people sought out new forms of cultural expression. Afrocuban culture cautiously became a part of the national culture as the international community understood its "syncretic musics" as representative of "Cubanness". In this sense the incorporation of Afrocuban culture is the result of an ascription from the outside. The use of Afrocuban culture expression also became more pronounced in the construction of nationalism as an attempt by the Cuban publics to reclaim their nationality in opposition to North American and European influences.As these forms of music became widely accepted they served as forms of political expression and an escape from the hardship of daily reality for Cubans during their economic decline.
Moore initially begins her discussion of music in Cuba by telling how it did not have a prominent position. Then she begins to discuss how music has direct ties to national and how in the 1920’s different groups of Afro-Cubans began to use music to bring across their political messages. Nationalists wanted to create new image of Cuba that would be free of U.S. influence and encourage national self worth (124).They achieved nationalism through different methods of culture and one of these methods was infusing their music with their message and promoting their music within Cuba. White Cuban elites initially hesitated in accepting the push for more afro-Cuban music but eventually they realized that it was an important way to separate themselves from the US culture that was dominating their home. The different groups worked to promote the music, to separate themselves from American culture and make a statement of independence and this was in turn accepted by the Cuban elites and the afro-Cuban music became the national or popular music. For this reason it is clear that Cuban intellectuals really had no other choice than to take up Afro-Cuban music, because they were deciding between nationalism and anti-nationalism essentially. This played an essential role in this turn of culture for Cuba and should be seen as a positive form of fusion.
Following the Cuban Revolution, Cuban leaders wanted to create nationalism not only to unite the country for its own support but to unite it under an anti-American sentiment. To do this, they first had to incorporate aspects of all Cubans into national culture/symbols. So the white and intellectual Cubans took up African music to help unite the Cuban people. Also, Cubans were aware of the image placed on Americans as white, wealthy, and elitist (only white wealthy elite Americans had lived in Cuba). As a way of promoting support in the years following the revolution they adopted Afro-Cuban music as a method of cultural contrast to Americans in order to fuel the anti-American sentiment among Cubans that had helped white intellectual Cubans maintain political support.
According to Robin Moore's piece, Cuba had many aspects that came into play when the country tried to find it's National Cultural Identity. The main conflict that was seen was that between Cuba and the United States. As seen in many different ways, America wanted to Americanize Cuba. However after Cuba was able to form their revolution many Cuban leaders attempted to separate the country from American influence. The White Cuban elites had a tougher time separating from the American influence. For a while they encouraged white music to be the prominent form of music in Cuba. However, they did soon realize that in order to fully be a free nation, and separate from American influence, they would need to turn to a more Afro-Cuban music. This time of music is able to give Cubans a stronger sense of National Culture, for over 90% of Cuba is Afro-Cuban.
White Cuban intellectuals sought to promote a sense a solidarity by defining a Cuban national culture in the face of the United State's imperial presence. Formerly the white Cuban elite had distanced themselves from Afro-Cuban music and not acknowledged its importance to Cuba's overall culture. Realizing that a national Cuban culture had to encompass the majority of Cuba's population, the white elite adopted forms they once refused to accept. The white elite chose Afro-Cuban music - which was majorly and widely prevalent in the working/lower classes of Cuba. Despite the "afrocubanism" movement to promote Afro-Cuban music as an element of national culture, the elite still felt the need to ironically, "purify" it by diluting its African roots so it could be a suitable representation of Cuba.
Although during the first phase of nationalism in Cuba, Afro-Cuban cultural expression was prohibited in what was termed “white nationalist” nationalism, during the second phase, white Cuban intellectuals actually took up Afro-Cuban music in their search for a Cuban national culture. In fact, the music of working class blacks was actually most symbolic of Cuban national culture. When white middle class intellectuals accepted Afro-Cuban culture as their own culture for a period, this subsequently linked white and black Cuban nationalism together.
Moore describes why the white Cuban intellectuals adopted Afro-Cuban music tentatively, as they searched for a Cuban national character. The United States’ involvement in Cuba made them seem inferior. In addition, because of unrestrained investments on the part of the United States, Cuba faced severe economic difficulties, which eventually gave way to a nationwide depression. Upset, workers and intellectuals built up an anti-U.S. sentiment that extended beyond economic and political issues and to “include all ‘Americanism’” (120). Thus, during the 1920s and 1930s, nationalistic flavor to the arts was encouraged. The intellectuals saw it a possibility for the Cubans to unify because it had mass support and appeal and transcended the class and racial conflicts. Consequently, musicians were encouraged to play national music genres. Son, danzón, rumba, and toques de santo are examples. Anti-black sentiment was still largely at play, but anti-imperialists challenged this racism in favor of emphasis on Cuban forms of expression. It was therefore this repulsion of foreign influence and dominance and a turn towards finding something uniquely Cuban to bring a sense of pride and progress for the country that made white Cuban intellectuals adopt Afro-Cuban music for a period of time. However, many more conservative white Cuban intellectuals still denounced Afro-Cuban street culture and took on their own versions of Afro-Cuban music, which were more Westernized, European, and “white” in nature.
The first state of modern Cuban nationalism was between the mid-nineteenth century and extended into the early twentieth century. This was also known as the “white nationalist” phase in which Afrocubans, “though accepted grudgingly as members of society, were excluded from representation in cultural expression” (Moore 116). Moore includes that Afrocuban music was rarely included in painting and literature from this period and that the music industry excluded virtually all forms of working-class street genres. Starting in the late 1920s and continuing through to present day, “Afrocuban musics grew increasingly central to national culture” (Moore 116). It served as a source of inspiration. The economic state of Cuba during this time period served as a movement in which Afrocuban music was taken up as part of Cuba’s national culture. Cuba benefited from investments from the United States, and because of this, the North American culture became widely accepted as part of the Cuban society. The demand for sugar decreased significantly in Cuba and the economy went downhill—the Great Depression led to much economic distress. The way the Cubans dealt with their frustration from the economic distress was through dancing and performing music. Many white elitists attempted to create a nationalized culture that represented the different characteristics that made up Cuba, and in order to accomplish this, they had to include the music of the working class which consisted of mostly Afrocuban music. Afrocuban music went through a process of “whitening”, and these versions of Afrocuban music became the national symbol of Cuban music. Although it took many years, whites incorporated various aspects of the Afrocuban culture. It is important to note, however, that black Cubans are still regularly discriminated against.
Robin Moore starts off the discussion of “Nationalizing Blackness” and Afro-Cubanism with the early assertion that “nationalism affects all forms of cultural expression” (114). She goes on to prove that in Cuba, this claim holds true, and Cuban intellectuals took note of this. Afro-Cuban music became an important part of the Cuban national culture because it represented the blending and mixing of the different people living in Cuba, so it made sense that Cuban intellectuals would look at Afro-Cuban music when looking at Cuban national culture. However, they went a step further and actually took on Afro-Cuban music because this action allowed them to experience an important aspect of the Cuban national culture firsthand, indirectly giving them a chance to experience the Cuban national culture, whether or not they themselves were actually Cuban. Taking up this music that now represented Cuba, these intellectuals could have a better understanding of the culture and hopefully avoid misrepresenting it in their studies.
Black music was accepted and celebrated by the lower classes, who made this music popular. Initially, because of the pro-US and the anti-black sentiments, Afro-Cuban music was shunned by the upper-classes and intellectuals. As United States imperialism continued through economic crises, Cubans from every class became disillusioned by the United States and looked for a means to represent themselves, free from imperialist influence. The revolution against Machado highlighted this displeasure. Afro-Cubanista compositions highlighted this promotion of the exclusively Cuban. Although at the forefront of national pride expression, Afrocubans held an ambivalent place in society. They were subjugated and exploited, although their music was celebrated. Blacks were not necessarily accepted for themselves, but rather the European representation of themselves was accepted.
An important factor that was instrumental in the rise of afrocubanismo in twentieth century Cuba was the complex political and economic relationship between Cuba and the United States. The United States had all but taken over Cuba, enforcing its own political, fiscal, and ultimately social agenda on the Cuban people. For the time in which this relationship was prosperous most Cubans turned a blind eye to the oppression of the United Sates influence and enjoyed the wealth and style of their new Americanized life. As a consequence many afro-Cuban traditions were looked down upon. The United States was providing wealth so everything not associated with them was therefore deemed inferior. This sentiment, however, came to a screeching halt in the wake of the United States stock market crash and the ensuing depression. Cuba was hit hard by such an economic downturn and formerly lucrative businesses were forced into bankruptcy. Now that United States control in Cuba no longer reaped prosperity the mutterings against such oppression grew louder and a strong anti-American sentiment began to grow. One of the strongest ways Cubans asserted their own nationalism was through promoting their own forms of music and dance. While formerly European dance forms predominated, music schools now started promoting art with a stronger afro-Cuban influence. Asserting a sense of nationalism through promoting their own cultural traditions was empowering. While for some music and dance acted as an escape, for others it served as the voice of a revolution a means of once again finding a voice from under the power of the Untied States control.
White Cuban intellectuals adaptation of Afro-Cuban music in their search for a Cuban national culture is greatly influenced by anti-foreign sentiment. As United States continued to play key rule in Cuba’s economic and political problems and continue to influence white Cuban culture through the presence of American culture and values, Cubans felt it is best to disassociate themselves from American cultures. As a result of anti-foreign sentiments, Cuba began to promote a search for Cuban national culture free of American culture. The search for an authentic Cuban national identity and culture then lead to the White Cuban intellectuals’ incorporation of Afro-Cuban music into the national culture. Although the problem of color line between white Cubans and black Cubans existed, the popularity and wide-accepted sentiments of Afro-Cuban allowed for black music to be part of national culture. The fact that white Cubans expressed strong anti-foreign sentiment made way for all forms of cultural development and allow for unification of Cuban society along shared cultured. Thus, somewhat overcome the color line barriers between white Cubans and Afro-Cubans. Although white Cuban intellectuals stylized Afro-Cuban music and dance movements as means of “purifying” the offensive part of Afro-Cuban music in order to make it more appealing to the middle and upper class masses, the white Cuban intellectuals incorporated Afro-Cuban music into national culture. Thus, using shared experiences and customs as powerful markers of Cuban national identity.
The main cause behind the adoption of Afro-Cuban music in the search for a Cuban national culture was Cuba's relationship with the United States. Originally, Cubans turned to musical and art forms that were more influenced by European culture. This was the culture of the upper classes, who were leading this movement, and therefore they adopted this as the national culture and rejected the Afro-Cuban music of the lower classes. However, after contact with the United States, who tried to impose their authority and culture on Cuba, Cuban intellectuals who were leading this nationalistic movement began to shy away from music that was influenced by any outside culture. They focused solely on musics that were traditionally Cuban, even though these more popular musics were mostly practiced by lower classes. Therefore, these musical forms were more widely embraced and accepted as a major part of Cuban culture and a strategy used in the creation of Cuban national culture. Therefore, although this culture was essentially co-opted by leaders in order to form this movement, this also led to greater acceptance and celebration of Afro-Cubans as members of Cuban society.
After decades of denying the presence and role of Afro-Cubans in Cuba, white Cuban intellectuals ultimately took up Afro-Cuban music in the 1920s and 1930s as part of their search for a Cuban national culture. Cuban nationalism reached its fever pitch during the political and economic upheaval during that time period; plummeting sugar prices and overall economic decline in the 1920s led to a reexamination of the omnipresent role of the United States in nearly every aspect of Cuba (particularly in business and culture) (119). As worldwide economic conditions deteriorated, Cuba’s did as well; by the early 1930s, about a third of the Cuban population was unemployed (122). A rejection of United States’ influence encouraged Cubans to identify and celebrate their own music and culture, and music with a nationalist bent exploded throughout the 1920s and 1930s (123).
Initially, white intellectuals tried to focus on music inspired by indigenous populations and rural Hispanic peasant populations, often heavily influenced and driven by European musical forms (127, 131). Ultimately, however, the white intellectuals turned to nationalize Afro-Cuban music, as there was a growing influence of “anti-imperialists who supported all forms of Cuban expression” (133). The presence of a foreign enemy enabled Afro-Cuban music to be nationalized; as Moore writes, “ideological reactions to foreign dominance thus proved central to the valorization of Afrocuban musical expression” (133). Despite ongoing segregation and subjugation of Afro-Cubans, whites began to adopt and adapt Afro-Cuban music and make it an indelible part of popular Cuban music.
The author argues, “Shared language, geographic region, and religious faith can all serve as powerful symbolic markers of a nation.” Therefore, it is also likely that music can serve as a powerful symbolic marker of a nation. Thus, perhaps white Cuban intellectuals took up Afro-Cuban music in hopes of uniting Cuba through common musical forms. These African forms could serve as a “barrier to natural disintegration and the possibility of cultural subsumption by the United States.” At the same time, some musicologists argue that Cuban music derives from indigenous culture, rather than African culture. Thus is important to recognize that Cuban music does not just have African roots, but also indigenous Cuban roots. Also, white Cuban intellectuals studies Afro-Cuban musics in order to convince themselves that these practices were not barbaric. They hoped to understand “certain morbid practices such as witchcraft and ñáñiguismo”. Whites adopted these musics also to gain the acceptance of the general population of both home and abroad. This “would help ensure that Cuban culture remained vital rather than succumbing to North American influences. So, white Cuban intellectuals adopted Afro-Cuban music for their own political benefit.
In the Moore reading, “Nationalizing Blackness”, white Cuban intellectuals took up Afro-Cuban music in the search for Cuban national culture, because of the conflicts they faced while trying to identify a national culture. Three major conflicts as noted by Moore included conflict between Cuba and the United States, conflict between the upper class and the working class, and conflict between blacks and whites. The combination of these conflicts made it remarkably difficult for Cubans to create and identify a national culture. Cubans desperately wanted to break away from relying on other and be self-sufficient and one way to do this was to create an identity all their own. One way they did this was to incorporate Afro-Columbian music into their culture. Each socioeconomic class in Cuba accepted Afro-Columbian music in different ways and for different reasons. Most importantly, Moore explains that white Cubans took up Afro-Columbian music because other classes accepted it, which made it the typical Cuban national culture. Also the presence of political and economical circumstances during the machadato era influenced white Cubans to accept this culture at this very time.
While trying to colonize Cuba White Americans would also start to listen to Afro-Cuban music and accept the Cuban culture. Although at first they excluded the native Cubans from "culture expression" (Moore 116). Soon AfrocCubanism music would become inspirational to the people. White Cubans also showed their aspect of how music should be played. By recording artist and introducing the Afro-Cuban people to there kind of music
The appeal of Afro-Cuban music comes from very specific historical interactions and sentiments. Through the early 20th century, relations with the world outside of Cuba directly pinned anti-imperialist interests against those who sought to maintain distance between what was “Cuban” and what was simply “popular”. In simplest terms, Afro-cuban music became popular against the onslaught of North American jazz (which ironically was experiencing its own racial tensions with its incorporation into national North American identity). The first steps of the nationalization process was the construction of the railroad and the physical bringing together of the previously isolated, stratified social (and racial) classes. The “economic desperation” and political turbulence of the 1920’s and 30’s also created the appeal of music as a “form of escapism” and the public “delivered themselves up to dancing”, presumably regardless of race or social class (123). Coincidentally this could be viewed as the same uses of music among the former slave populations in rural Cuba: music as a moral weapon of differentiation against hardship and a source of refuge from the difficult realities of the slave narrative. I wonder, though, how much of the change in White-Cuban intellectual opinion of Afro-Cuban music had to do with simple “vogue” tendencies instead of these specific moments of history and a realization of “lo cubano”. How much of it is coincidence, and how much is historically, economically or intellectually founded?
Vanessa Rendon Black Musics in Latin America 3/1/11
In their search for a clear sense of nationalism, a feature that unifies a nation and “enables certain groups to effectively represent their interests” as a whole, white Cuban intellectuals explored different representations of “cubanismo” and ended up recognizing African roots in their culture and music. Because nationalism attempts to achieve specific qualities that characterize a nation and simultaneously hopes to “incorporate all of the ethnic subgroups and classes represented among the population,” Cuban culture gradually embraced African traditions, such as black street culture, but only “on European or middle-class terms.” In addition, Cuba could not ignore for long the impact of African musical elements that became popular and appealed to a greater market in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s. Black popular music served a venue for escapism, a way to forget the harsh reality of life and The Great Depression. Issues, such as racism and cultural nationalism, were resolved through “stylization” or “blanqueamiento” that Europeanized black musical styles and culture. White Cuban intellectuals began to accept Afrocuban roots of the past to avoid contemporary issues, including discrimination and black poverty, and eventually integrated Afrocubanismo into their sense of Cuban nationalism to give rise to feelings of a more unified nation.
Elizabeth Humphrey
ReplyDeleteBlack Musics in Latin America
Professor Birenbaum Quintero
After the anti-United States sentiment grew to not only consist of economic and political issues but also all “Americanisms”, it was thought to the best interest of the country to disassociate themselves with American culture and promote their own national genres of music (Moore, 120). However, this was seen as difficult with the presence of different ethnic sources that comprised what was Cuba. In order to capture the essence of Cuban music, Cuban intellectuals had to realize that the music deemed valuable by groups like the Pro-Arte musical and also among the white elite were not the only music that was present in Cuban society. In order to represent all Cubans through this nationalization process, they had to include the music of the urban, working-class, which was predominately Afro-Cuban music (Moore, 126). However, the gradually attainted acceptance of the Afro-Cuban music would not be used in its natural state. In order to meet the needs of Cuban intellectuals and nationalist agendas, Afro-Cuban music went through a process of whitening, taking it further away from black and working class expression that of which was not approved in their society (Moore, 117). When Afrocubanista music, the “whitened” version of Afro-Cuban music, became the national symbol of Cuban music, it was seen as white élite having a “more tolerant position toward Afro-Cuban culture" while it still “demonstrate[d] intolerance to anything but ‘universalized folklore’” (Moore, 146).
Ben Hill-Lam
ReplyDeleteWhite Cuban intellectuals took up Afro-Cuban music in their search for a Cuban national culture in order to define a new and more inclusive Cuban community. At this point in the history of Cuba, many were profoundly upset at the economic situation and political corruption in Cuba. The fact that there was a national Cuban culture defined at all was a reactionary measure against the heavy U.S. presence in the Cuban economy and prominence of U.S. culture among the elites of Cuba. As the economy collapsed, many Cubans felt a strong backlash against the American contamination of Cuba, generating a desire for an authentic Cuban national identity and culture. Despite heavy racial antagonism against blacks in Cuba during the period of upheaval, this ideal was increasingly challenged by anti-imperialists (those against US intervention in Cuba). There was growing support for all forms of Cuban expression in the wake of strong anti-foreign sentiment. Seeing the popularity and appeal to the masses, the Cuban middle class tentatively accepted Afro-Cuban music as part of their own national culture in order to unify and solidify the Cuban national identity. Cuban society at this moment in history was so heavily divided by race and class that only arts with mass appeal could overcome these barriers. Saying that the white Cuban intellectuals accepted Afro-Cuban music must be taken with a grain of salt, however. Afro-Cuban music most often underwent commercial "interpretation" by white musicians who "purified", "made sophisticated", "dressed with elegance", and "universalized" the popular Afro-Cuban street music to make it more appealing and acceptable to the middle and upper classes of Cuba. Thus, white Cuban intellectuals made Afro-Cuban music part of the Cuban national culture in order unify the diverse racial and social classes that make up Cuba, while clearly using a certain amount of reinterpretation by white musicians to make it seem more acceptable to the upper classes.
While searching for a Cuban national culture, Cubans experienced many conflicts. The main examples of this are the conflict between Cuba and the United States, the conflict between la alta sociedad (elite society) and las clases dirigidas (the masses), and finally the conflict between whites and blacks. This made it quite difficult to create a single, pan-national culture. However, such widespread conflict forced Cuban intellectuals to realize that a nationalized culture could only come from what was popular and accepted by a majority. Thus, many societies and institutions began working to discover a national culture. There was also a significant influence from individual artists. What became of most importance, however, were the anti-foreign dominance sentiments throughout Cuba, which eventually allowed Cuba to find it’s own nationalized Afrocuban musical expression. Moore also emphasizes the fact that there wasn’t a sudden white elite acceptance of afrocuban music, but rather an evolution that served as a mix between the white elite and the lower class’ music and dance practices.
ReplyDeleteSarah Nelson
ReplyDelete2/27/11
The economic state of Cuba catalyzed a movement in which Afro-Cuban music was taken up as part of Cuba’s national culture. United States businesses heavily invested in Cuba, and when they were successful and Cubans were reaping the benefits, North American culture became a readily accepted part of Cuban society. However, the Great Depression lead to economic distress in Cuba and raised many anti-American sentiments, as Cuban people began to realize that the infiltration of American political, economic, and cultural influence in their country had contributed to the downfall. Suddenly, the Cuban people were looking to develop a strong nationalized culture through which they could express their frustration. Music and dance became a way through which suffering Cubans could escape their problems temporarily. Between 1920 and 1933 there was an “afrocubanism” movement in which Afro-Cuban music was gradually accepted, challenging the anti-black sentiments many of the white elites in Cuba felt. The development of the railroad and highways helped spread new Cuban music that spoke of domestic historical events and included “stylized” or “purified” Afro-Cuban influences. Through salon music, zarzuela, and dance band repertory different Afro-Cuban musical techniques were expressed, however white Cubans did the vast majority of these performances. In fact, many Afro-Cubans found the “afrocubanism” movement slightly offensive. White intellectuals were attempting to create a nationalized culture that represented the many facets of Cuba, but there was hypocracy in this system. Black Cubans were still regularly discriminated against, and this acceptance of Afro-Cuban culture was not entirely genuine, but can be viewed more as an acceptance “on middle class terms.”
Rebecca Centanni
ReplyDeleteThe political and economic situation in Cuba was largely responsible for the acceptance of Afro-Cuban music in the search for national Cuban culture. Afro-Cuban music had always been looked down upon, as racial and class distinctions were a prominent part of Cuban society. While Americans invested in Cuban sugar and the economy boomed, American culture heavily infiltrated everyday Cuban life. However, a change in the US interest level in Cuban sugar as well as the crash of the US stock market left Cubans in economic and political chaos. The nationalist movement was a means for Cubans to separate themselves from the negative influences of American culture, but also as an escape from oppressive political rule. Even so, during this time most of what was accepted as national culture was heavily influenced by European forms and was almost entirely of the higher class. Even groups such as the Sociedad Folklore Cubano, as well as indigenismo and guajiro nationalism, which focused on less popular forms such as Hispanicisms, “el indio”, and peasant music, still viewed Afro-Cuban culture as low class. However, many people soon began to see that blacks held a special role in Cuban history because of their participation in the revolution against Spain. Ortiz even challenged popular views by noting that nationalism should focus on the identification of a cultural heritage, not ancestry. Consequently, Afro-Cuban music began to become integrated into the search for national Cuban culture, though it often had to be transformed within a white context before it became popularly accepted by mainstream society.
Laura Connolly
ReplyDeleteAn anti-American sentiment was growing in Cuba. Because of this there was a push to distance themselves from American culture and to more heavily incorporate the Cuban culture into what would become their national culture. In distancing themselves, they were able to put a higher value in their music and make it their own identity instead of borrowing the identity of people who were suppressing them. It cannot be said that white elite completely accepted Afro-American music without any changes to it and this is in part due to the racial stratification that is found in Cuba. Because the races are so separate in Cuba and the distinction between their cultures is so deeply engrained, Afro-American music had to go through a whitening process before it could be accepted as mainstream in order to appease all parties involved. Because of this whitening process, we do not hear the authentic Afro-American music but rather we hear a more Westernized or “whitened” version of it. This way, the white elite were able to accept a culture that was not entirely their own and vice versa. Through the whitening, it seemed to satisfy both sides as it managed to incorporate even a little of each culture.
In his description of the Afro-Cuban nationalization between 1920 and 1933, Moore emphasizes the importance of ideology to politics both then and now. He uses many reasons that, although are not specific to Cuba, provide a justified explanation as to why Afro-Cuban music was absorbed into Cuban national culture. For example, political dominance isn’t just achieved (if at all) via physical control; it “entails the creation of a sense of moral legitimacy” that give authorities the “right” to rule (115). Any particular government, such as Cuba, must put in place specific constructs distinguishing the citizens of that country from others, while also having the flexibility to incorporate all of the ethnicities and classes represented by that population (115). In the case of Cuba, a country with a large black population, the act of trying to include all racial groups/cultures was essential to realizing true Cuban national culture. This is the process of nationalization that we talked about in class, specifically with music—the idea that a country or group of people take up particular musical practices and incorporate them so that they become part of the national music. “Culture is central to nationalism,” Moore explains further, where music often plays a central role in political developments. Cuban nationalist movements are often linked to 19th-century economic factors, which in turn relate to the political stance at the time. As a result of the political relationship between the nation and its culture, political discourse affected Cuba’s musical production. Cubans especially upheld the distinction between Cuban culture and the United States because at the time North American culture “came to be viewed with suspicion” (120). Overall, what Cubans desired most was to feel distinct from other nations. For example, they did so by increasingly referring to themselves as isleños (Cuban islanders) instead of peninsulares (Cubans from the Iberian peninsula) (117). Moore’s argument is that this distinction was most easily accomplished by culture and that is the Cuban culture that we see today was adopted.
ReplyDeleteMoore also mentions various social and technological factors that contributed to the growing interest in Cuba’s national forms of expression, such as: the railroad construction between the isolated rural areas and other parts of the island, the stock market crash that significantly affected the Cuban economy, and the political unrest that followed. In that period of time in Cuba, the popularity of Cuban culture, music and dance, grew exponentially because it became a form of escapism (122). This in turn inspired artists and intellectuals to establish national music institutes, performance ensembles, and cultural organizations, among other things, to continue the already growing cultural movement in Cuba.
Moore discusses Argeliers Leon’s essay “Of the Axis and the Hinge” in his exploration of Cuban national culture. Leon wrote about Cuban artistic nationalism as two separate periods: the first when Afro-Cubans were not accepted as a part of national culture, the second when Afro-Cuban music became an important part of Cuban national culture. The height of the second period came in the late 1920’s when the younger generation challenged the middle-class by searching for a new way to express nationalism. (116)
ReplyDeleteMoore goes on to explore the influence of politics on Afro-Cuban music. Two distinct social groups, la alta sociedad (elite society) and las clases dirigidas (the masses) prevented a syncretism of culture simply because they were isolated from each other. The white middle-class was motivated to create a “Cuban” culture, but wanted to remain disconnected from the black working class culture. The white Cuban intellectuals eventually accepted Afro-Cuban music as a part of Cuban national culture in light of “political and economic circumstances” during the machadato period. (117-118)
Hannah Wurgaft
Brendan McDermott
ReplyDeleteFrom the mid 19th century into the 20th century white culture and music was the national music of Cuba. There was a big divide between the white elite’s culture and that of the black masses. This began to change however come the 1920’s when a younger generation was using afro-Cuban music as a new form of nationalist expression. This was the period where the President, Machadato, was overthrown. Middle class intellectuals began to accept Afrocuban cultural forms as that of national importance. After the administration of US President William McKinley, Cuba was essentially an American protectorate. American business quickly invested in Cuba and many businessmen eventually became oligarchs in Cuba with a monopoly on many key industries. When the demand for sugar dropped and the Cuban economy went downhill many Cubans began to openly question and be critical of US imperialism in their country. People also started to question the growth of American culture into Cuba. American music’s such as Jazz became discouraged from being played and the US supported government was overthrown. Nationalists Afrocuban music became more accepted as way to express national unity and also to buffer US influences. Blackness was still looked down upon during this time period but increasingly intellectuals and others began to call for more incorporation into black culture. Much Afrocuban music that was brought in the Cuban culture was whitened or “made sophisticated” by the Cuban elites. Overall white elites slowly did accept and incorporate Afrocuban culture into Cuban nationalist culture but only after whitening the music.
Culture is a direct component of Nationalism. The unity of the country depends largely on the acceptance of the cultural identity. As we have already discovered, music plays a vital role in culture, especially following the African Diaspora. When Afrocubans were finally accepted by society, their cultural expressions were barred from representation. However, this period transitioned into an “epoch” where Afrocuban music expanded rapidly, in which it ultimately became embodied by the by the people as a whole. Cuba had many economic ties with the United States, and was often linked to their economic crests and troughs. As the Cuban economy declined, unity within labor forces grew, and the Cuban Communist party was formed. Before long, many Cubans believed that the “ubiquity of North American culture might be detrimental, an insidious counterpart to economic control” (121). Stemming from these sentiments were Cuban aspirations to mark their own national identity. Perhaps one reason why Cuban intellectuals took up the Afrocuban music was because it “provided a form of escapism, a means of temporarily forgetting the realities of the moment and focusing only on the romantic sentiments that proliferated in contemporary song lyrics” (122-3). In addition, Afrocuban music was also created as a form of political protest. The middle class embraced the Afrocuban culture, and as a result it gained recognition in national festivals. Much of the music had classic European roots, such as the waltz. The fusion of genres and styles presented by Afrocuban music was soon viewed as “sophisticated”. This label garnered the music attention from many Cuban intellectuals.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Ho:
ReplyDeleteEver since the USA butted in toward the end of the Cuban Revolution against the Spanish foreign interests increasingly pressed deeper into the welfare of Cuban people. Cubans wanted to break away from foreign dependence and influence. To do that they needed a solidifying, unique national identity. They tried a lot of things to identify Cuban art. One thing they used to do was this grand operatic musical style, but it did not do justice to the Cuban people that it depicted. Intellectuals realized that they needed their art to also include the lower classes and blacks who contributed a great part to the history of Cuba.
So because of Cuba's need for a unique identity, and the fact that Cuba as a nation was driven by a large population of blacks who were extremely pervasive, and Cuba's desire to wrest themselves away from foreign influence and dependence Cuban national identity became heavily incorporated with black culture.
Racial and economic strata were important categories when analyzing the interactions between the white elite and Afro-Cuban peoples of Cuba. Afro-cuban culture and its associated music was not highly regarded by the whites in power in Cuba. Yet when the economic crash came down on America and in turn led to turmoil in Cuba, a movement toward Nationalism occured in Cuba in an attempt by Cubans to create their own completely separate identity from their days of US dependency for their sugarcane economy. Additionally, Cubans strived to improve their treatment politically and socially. It was soon recognized among the elite (and even middle class) that the creation of a powerful movement would rely on the popular opinions of all Cubans and many already recognized the importance of Afro-cuban music and culture. Afro-cuban people were also important in the overthrow of the Spanish protectorate previously and thus their value had to be considered in culture and the creation of a Cuban identity. With such an available tool in their feet, the power holding whites in Cuba adopted a watered down form of Afro-cuban music as their banner. I call it watered down because the culture and music were not taken on wholesale - to appease the masses, the music had to be partially redefined with many white elements incorporated so that all could identify. The music underwent a bleaching of sorts, since whites wanted more sophistication, purity, and elegance. This reinterpretation holds the key to understanding the creation of a Cuban national culture and identity.
ReplyDeleteRodolfo Edeza
ReplyDeleteIn order to establish a national culture in Cuba, White Cuban intellectuals started to take up Afro-Cuban music. The U.S. was not only involved in Cuba’s economy, but the tops elites were influenced by U.S. culture. When Wall St crashed the whole island was on economic desperation. The creation of the carretera central began to “unite the nation.” Radio and record distribution contributed to the mass popularization of recent “nationalized” music’s of the period. Salon music and zarzuela were different Afro-Cuban music, but they began to be expressed by white Cubans. Many white Cubans saw the poor working class “Afro-Cubans” as inferior and discriminated them. However, the support for foreign anti sentiment was big during the time and therefore the masses began to agree on certain arts and dances. Even though the middle class “accepted” different Afro-Cuban musical techniques they were responsible for purifying and making the dances more sophisticated and elegant. This was very important because it placed a level of respect to the music and had European roots like we can see in the Waltz that was highly valued by the Cuban white elites.
The United States had had a tight grip on Cuba leading up to the Cuban Revolution, and Cuba often relied on American music, among other things, to represent the country. As anti-American sentiments were on the rise following the Revolution, Cubans decided that it was time to separate themselves from US culture. Many different groups decided that it was time to create a style of music that was representational of Cubans, which was part of a greater attempt by the island nation to create a unique national identity. Though white elites in Cuba were not particularly ken to incorporate Afro-Cuban music into this new identity at first, it soon became apparent that in order to successfully unite under this new identity, popular opinions of members of all social classes would have to be taken into consideration. Though Afro-Cuban music was not taken on wholesale, it was incorporated with white elite understandings of music and came to be viewed as the popular and promoted genre in Cuba.
ReplyDeleteSteven Borukhin
ReplyDeleteIn order for the Cubans to have broken away from national dependency, they needed to get in touch with their true culture on order solidify identity. Cubans began to riot and protest European rule and American influence on Cuban life. White Cuban intellectuals looked towards Afrocubanismo music and art because as Moore describes it, “it was uniquely popular Cuban sound that sound sophisticated (144). While blacks were not equals in Cuba at the time, their culture had made contributions and fusions with the Cuban people street performers and theatres of mixed race were not uncommon. While, the afrocubanismo worked to give a culture that lacked unique identity, a culture, it also made moves to devalue what it meant to be black in Cuba. Moore also explains that a downside to the use of Afrocuban music was the fusion and segmentation it went through in order to be accepted. The music was whitened quite a bit.
Chelsea Young
ReplyDeleteWhite Cuban intellectuals took up Afro-Cuban music in their search for a Cuban national culture because they realized that national expression would have to incorporate “blackness” in at least a rhetorical sense. By rejecting symbolic representations of Cuba that foregrounded the Indian or guajiro, Cuban intellectuals and Cuban musicians were able to create songs with a uniquely popular and Cuban sound that were also viewed as “sophisticated,” which were clearly distinguishable from working-class expression. Afrocuban presence in national culture became more apparent in the late 1930s, when music festivals and ceremonies became prevalent, featuring afrocuban artists. It is also important to remember that blacks did not have the right to form political parties of their own and were subject to job discrimination and policies of segregation enforced by many clubs and businesses. Thus, under such context, the meanings of afrocubanismo were hard to define. Therefore, during this time period, artistic leaders managed to define a new and more inclusive representation of the Cuban community with the compositions. Afrocubanista composition foregrounds the commonalities of Cuban citizens and obscures hierarchies of internal difference. The emergence of Afrocubanista constitutes a new period of hegemonic concession in which black street culture is accepted.
A nationalist movement accepts a certain cultural aspect as the nations own as a statement of unity. Cuba’s search for national cultural forms became very important during machadato when they wanted to become independent of American cultural influence. Within the country there were strong divides between the elite class and the working class; the anti-imperialists and the anti-black; and whites and blacks. Intellect Fernando Ortiz proposed that Cubans define themselves in terms of shared cultural heritage rather than shared ancestry. White elitist thought that an effective means of representing the nation was through afrocuban music during the political and economic circumstances of the 20’s. Although white intellects acknowledged black music as Cuban national culture, the whites still had to purify and sophisticate (what they called universalize) afro-Cuban music to make it more tolerable for the nation, aka the elite class.
ReplyDeleteStephen Sullivan
ReplyDeleteAround the 1920’s, anti-United States sentiment grew large and there was a movement by Cuban nationalists to create a stronger and more unified image of Cuba. Cuban people felt that everything, from the constitution to their educational reforms, was derived from North American influence. Nationalists wanted to create new image of Cuba that would be free of U.S. influence and empower national self worth (124). Cuban intellectuals realized Afro-Cuban music, grounded in the working-class, would help promote nationalizion. Many of these Afro-Cuban musical forms did not have as much popular appeal thus, in order to yield these cultural forms as a political force they needed to have more mainstream appeal. Best stated in the article itself, “A promotion of ‘whitened’ Afrocuban music would reinforce images of the nation already accepted by many at home and abroad. It would ensure that Cuban culture remained vital rather than succumbing to North American Influences.”
Moore argues that culture is central to nationalism and how music contributes to cultural unity and political discourse to reinforce nationalism, along with the common experiences and customs. Thus, it is logical that white intellectuals would look towards music in search for national culture. In Cuba specifically, the periods of machadato brought about cultural differences between the white upper class and the masses thus this prompted the intellectuals to look towards afro-Cuban music in search for culture. Also, during the early 1900’s Cubans began to denounce American culture and create their own music. Thus to appeal to the masses in a political sense during troublesome and changing times of Cuban society, intellectuals had to look towards the music of the working class which included Afro-Cuban music.
ReplyDeleteOscar Pena
Cuba was essentially an American protectorate in the late 19th century and early 20th century, and along with heavy economic involvement, the culture of North America had spread widely throughout the island. But with the economic crisis of the 1920s, Cubans began to see the flaws in their dependence on America, and there was an effort to replace the North American culture that had permeated throughout Cuban society with one that was distinctly Cuban. The push to assert this Cuban identity has not been easy due to race relations in Cuba, with its policies that discriminate against blacks. In trying to find a national expression of music, African influence has been denied; elements of music found in Cuba have even been attributed to indigenous influence, without substantial evidence, in order to deny the presence of an African tradition. But eventually Cuban intellectuals realized that in order to create a pan-Cuban sense of unity and identity, they would have to accept the inclusion of the music of the urban, working class – and most of this music was Afro-Cuban. But the country’s white elites would not permit this music to remain in its original form. These diluted forms of black music that are found in Cuba are largely the result of the racial tensions and antagonisms found there. Moore quotes Emilio Grenet saying that “the music of the black which becomes popular is always an interpretation by a white musician.” (Moore, 135). In other words, black music had to go through a whitening process to rid it of its “crude” and “regressive” characteristics. Only after this could it be accepted into mainstream society; thus acceptance and recognition of this Afro-Cuban culture was far from genuine.
ReplyDeleteAggie Kelly
ReplyDeleteDuring this time period, Moore discusses the large U.S. presence and influence throughout the Cuban economy and society. As the United States suffered during The Great Depression, resultantly the Cubans also suffered heavily. After seeing this correlation, many Cubans began to display anger towards the U.S., feeling that the U.S. had “contaminated” their society and brought Cuba to its fall. As a result, the Cuban people began establishing a new nationalized culture, one that bonded everyone together through their frustration and annoyance. Thus the whole country was working together to redefine a new culture to embrace, free of any foreign influence. The biggest problems of the country began to fade away in light of everyone working together to find a new identity. The conflict between blacks and whites, as well as the differences between the wealthy elite and rest of society, were diminished. Music became the defining aspect of this innovated culture, as the Cuban people found this was the best way to express their emotions. Cuban white intellectuals began to take up Afro-Cuban music in an effort to establish a national Cuban culture. However, as they did so, their own interpretation of the music lead to producing a new genre, similar to the original Afro-Cuban music that was popular before, but a new version that the white intellectuals changed to be more appealing to the middle and upper classes of Cuba. Thus the white intellectuals adopted Afro-Cuban music into their own culture in order to help unify Cuban culture, but at the same time, their actions in interpreting music offended some of the original practitioners in the country.
On the path to discovering their own Cuban national culture the people experienced many roadblocks along the way. The United States was deeply rooted in Cuba, this was a mutually progressive relationship but the down part was that North American culture found its way into the Cuban streets. However, a large anti-American sub-culture soon developed as the Great Depression caused grief between the two nations. Also the conflict between the Cuban elite, or “la alta sociedad”, and the public, or “las clases dirigidas”, causes confusion as to how to see one’s countries’ culture. Thus, a search for a national Cuban identity was on minds throughout the country.
ReplyDeleteIn attempting the create distance between the North American cultural influence and their own national culture the Cuban people began to place much emphasis on their music. Afro-American music was not accepted at first by the majority. Due to the wide discrepancy in races in Cuba the music had to undergo a sort of whitening to gain acceptance. In this way the white population in Cuba were able to identify with a culture and a music that was not their own, but then again, it was not completely authentically African either do to the changes that took place. Thus, this process of change in the music was necessary in order for all aspects of Cuban civilization to accept it.
U.S. culture previously infiltrated the lives of Cubans—particularly the elite—because of Cuban dependence on the U.S. economically. However, when economic crises stirred, Cubans not only responded with wanting economic independence, but wanting a sense of national culture as well. That is, there was such a strong sentiment of anti-Americanism in Cuba because of the fall of the Cuban economy, that Cubans wanted to eliminate U.S. presence in their cultural forms as well. Cubans’ desire for national pride naturally caused them to search for cultural elements that they felt were unique to their country. Initially, their search did not include any sort Afro-Cuban cultural forms. This exclusion of Afro-Cuban culture was largely due to the popular notion that blacks were an inferior race that did not have any significant impact on Cubans’ sense of national pride. Interestingly, Cuban elites acknowledged the indigenous culture as impacting the national identity prior to embracing Afro-Cubans cultural forms. However, they eventually incorporated Afro-Cuban music into what constituted national Cuban culture. These Cuban elites did, though, significantly alter the authentic Afro-Cuban musical forms in order to make them “socially acceptable” and worthy of incorporation into a national sense of pride. Cuba’s history of acknowledgement—and lack thereof—of African-derived musical forms seems to be indicative of the histories of many other countries we have discussed thus far. There appears to be a popular struggle between viewing blacks as inferior on the social hierarchy and being drawn to their musical forms. The common solution, as displayed in Cuba, seems to be to incorporate African musical forms into a common sense of national culture, but to reinterpret them to be more sophisticated and acceptable to the elite.
ReplyDeleteDominique Johnson
ReplyDeleteThe ever-present national conflicts between Cuba and the United States, the inner country divide between the elite and the working classes, as well as the racial conflict between whites and blacks, made it difficult for the creation of a single pan-national Cuban culture. As a result of the political and economic situations in Cuba and the ever-present anti-American sentiment, there was a strong push for Cuba to distance and distinguish itself from {U.S.} American culture. In distancing themselves and constructing a national culture, there was a higher value placed on musical authenticity; making an individual identity through music instead of borrowing musical styles and frameworks from their oppressors. However, it must be noted that due to the racial conflicts within the country there was not a complete acceptance of Afro-American music without minor changes, largely due in part to the racial stratification found in Cuba. In Cuba, races are very separate and the distinction between black and white cultures is overt and deeply engrained within society, the Afro-American music underwent a “whitening” process before it was deemed suitable to mainstream audiences. Furthermore, this “whitening” process has removed the authenticity and distinct Afro-American ties and made way for a more westernized version. In this respect, whitening is seen as a way to utilize aspects of white and black culture in an effort to appease all races.
Moore explains that the isolation of distinct social groups and classes in different locations in Cuba was a major issue when trying to create a pan national culture. Not only did the two groups, la alta sociedad (elite society) and las clases dirigidas (the masses), share little in common in terms of cultural expression they also had difficulty when attempting to reconcile the differences to fit under one genre or style. “The class consciousness and cultural orientation in this case conflicted directly with nationalist aspirations.” (117) The machadato period marked the first time middle class masses began to accept Afrocuban culture as their own. Later in the piece Moore speaks about a promotion of “whitened” Afrocuban music that would reinforce images of the nation already accepted by many people. Accepting ‘whitened’ Afrocuban music would ensure that Cuban culture remained most important in Cuba and that the Cuban culture did not adopt the North American influences. The invasion of the United States sparked the need for a unifying culture. Although black music ‘culture’ was accepted as Cuban national culture the white elites changed many aspects of the culture before accepting it to be the Cuban national culture.
ReplyDeleteWhite Cubans appropriated Afro-Cuban music into the national culture because during a time of political unrest and change, the machadato, younger people sought out new forms of cultural expression. Afrocuban culture cautiously became a part of the national culture as the international community understood its "syncretic musics" as representative of "Cubanness". In this sense the incorporation of Afrocuban culture is the result of an ascription from the outside. The use of Afrocuban culture expression also became more pronounced in the construction of nationalism as an attempt by the Cuban publics to reclaim their nationality in opposition to North American and European influences.As these forms of music became widely accepted they served as forms of political expression and an escape from the hardship of daily reality for Cubans during their economic decline.
ReplyDeleteMoore initially begins her discussion of music in Cuba by telling how it did not have a prominent position. Then she begins to discuss how music has direct ties to national and how in the 1920’s different groups of Afro-Cubans began to use music to bring across their political messages. Nationalists wanted to create new image of Cuba that would be free of U.S. influence and encourage national self worth (124).They achieved nationalism through different methods of culture and one of these methods was infusing their music with their message and promoting their music within Cuba. White Cuban elites initially hesitated in accepting the push for more afro-Cuban music but eventually they realized that it was an important way to separate themselves from the US culture that was dominating their home. The different groups worked to promote the music, to separate themselves from American culture and make a statement of independence and this was in turn accepted by the Cuban elites and the afro-Cuban music became the national or popular music. For this reason it is clear that Cuban intellectuals really had no other choice than to take up Afro-Cuban music, because they were deciding between nationalism and anti-nationalism essentially. This played an essential role in this turn of culture for Cuba and should be seen as a positive form of fusion.
ReplyDeleteFollowing the Cuban Revolution, Cuban leaders wanted to create nationalism not only to unite the country for its own support but to unite it under an anti-American sentiment. To do this, they first had to incorporate aspects of all Cubans into national culture/symbols. So the white and intellectual Cubans took up African music to help unite the Cuban people. Also, Cubans were aware of the image placed on Americans as white, wealthy, and elitist (only white wealthy elite Americans had lived in Cuba). As a way of promoting support in the years following the revolution they adopted Afro-Cuban music as a method of cultural contrast to Americans in order to fuel the anti-American sentiment among Cubans that had helped white intellectual Cubans maintain political support.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Robin Moore's piece, Cuba had many aspects that came into play when the country tried to find it's National Cultural Identity. The main conflict that was seen was that between Cuba and the United States. As seen in many different ways, America wanted to Americanize Cuba. However after Cuba was able to form their revolution many Cuban leaders attempted to separate the country from American influence. The White Cuban elites had a tougher time separating from the American influence. For a while they encouraged white music to be the prominent form of music in Cuba. However, they did soon realize that in order to fully be a free nation, and separate from American influence, they would need to turn to a more Afro-Cuban music. This time of music is able to give Cubans a stronger sense of National Culture, for over 90% of Cuba is Afro-Cuban.
ReplyDeleteWhite Cuban intellectuals sought to promote a sense a solidarity by defining a Cuban national culture in the face of the United State's imperial presence. Formerly the white Cuban elite had distanced themselves from Afro-Cuban music and not acknowledged its importance to Cuba's overall culture. Realizing that a national Cuban culture had to encompass the majority of Cuba's population, the white elite adopted forms they once refused to accept. The white elite chose Afro-Cuban music - which was majorly and widely prevalent in the working/lower classes of Cuba. Despite the "afrocubanism" movement to promote Afro-Cuban music as an element of national culture, the elite still felt the need to ironically, "purify" it by diluting its African roots so it could be a suitable representation of Cuba.
ReplyDeleteAlthough during the first phase of nationalism in Cuba, Afro-Cuban cultural expression was prohibited in what was termed “white nationalist” nationalism, during the second phase, white Cuban intellectuals actually took up Afro-Cuban music in their search for a Cuban national culture. In fact, the music of working class blacks was actually most symbolic of Cuban national culture. When white middle class intellectuals accepted Afro-Cuban culture as their own culture for a period, this subsequently linked white and black Cuban nationalism together.
ReplyDeleteMoore describes why the white Cuban intellectuals adopted Afro-Cuban music tentatively, as they searched for a Cuban national character. The United States’ involvement in Cuba made them seem inferior. In addition, because of unrestrained investments on the part of the United States, Cuba faced severe economic difficulties, which eventually gave way to a nationwide depression. Upset, workers and intellectuals built up an anti-U.S. sentiment that extended beyond economic and political issues and to “include all ‘Americanism’” (120). Thus, during the 1920s and 1930s, nationalistic flavor to the arts was encouraged. The intellectuals saw it a possibility for the Cubans to unify because it had mass support and appeal and transcended the class and racial conflicts. Consequently, musicians were encouraged to play national music genres. Son, danzón, rumba, and toques de santo are examples. Anti-black sentiment was still largely at play, but anti-imperialists challenged this racism in favor of emphasis on Cuban forms of expression. It was therefore this repulsion of foreign influence and dominance and a turn towards finding something uniquely Cuban to bring a sense of pride and progress for the country that made white Cuban intellectuals adopt Afro-Cuban music for a period of time. However, many more conservative white Cuban intellectuals still denounced Afro-Cuban street culture and took on their own versions of Afro-Cuban music, which were more Westernized, European, and “white” in nature.
Mackenzie Schleicher
ReplyDeleteFebruary 28, 2011
Blog #7
The first state of modern Cuban nationalism was between the mid-nineteenth century and extended into the early twentieth century. This was also known as the “white nationalist” phase in which Afrocubans, “though accepted grudgingly as members of society, were excluded from representation in cultural expression” (Moore 116). Moore includes that Afrocuban music was rarely included in painting and literature from this period and that the music industry excluded virtually all forms of working-class street genres. Starting in the late 1920s and continuing through to present day, “Afrocuban musics grew increasingly central to national culture” (Moore 116). It served as a source of inspiration. The economic state of Cuba during this time period served as a movement in which Afrocuban music was taken up as part of Cuba’s national culture. Cuba benefited from investments from the United States, and because of this, the North American culture became widely accepted as part of the Cuban society. The demand for sugar decreased significantly in Cuba and the economy went downhill—the Great Depression led to much economic distress. The way the Cubans dealt with their frustration from the economic distress was through dancing and performing music. Many white elitists attempted to create a nationalized culture that represented the different characteristics that made up Cuba, and in order to accomplish this, they had to include the music of the working class which consisted of mostly Afrocuban music. Afrocuban music went through a process of “whitening”, and these versions of Afrocuban music became the national symbol of Cuban music. Although it took many years, whites incorporated various aspects of the Afrocuban culture. It is important to note, however, that black Cubans are still regularly discriminated against.
Robin Moore starts off the discussion of “Nationalizing Blackness” and Afro-Cubanism with the early assertion that “nationalism affects all forms of cultural expression” (114). She goes on to prove that in Cuba, this claim holds true, and Cuban intellectuals took note of this. Afro-Cuban music became an important part of the Cuban national culture because it represented the blending and mixing of the different people living in Cuba, so it made sense that Cuban intellectuals would look at Afro-Cuban music when looking at Cuban national culture. However, they went a step further and actually took on Afro-Cuban music because this action allowed them to experience an important aspect of the Cuban national culture firsthand, indirectly giving them a chance to experience the Cuban national culture, whether or not they themselves were actually Cuban. Taking up this music that now represented Cuba, these intellectuals could have a better understanding of the culture and hopefully avoid misrepresenting it in their studies.
ReplyDeleteBlack music was accepted and celebrated by the lower classes, who made this music popular. Initially, because of the pro-US and the anti-black sentiments, Afro-Cuban music was shunned by the upper-classes and intellectuals. As United States imperialism continued through economic crises, Cubans from every class became disillusioned by the United States and looked for a means to represent themselves, free from imperialist influence. The revolution against Machado highlighted this displeasure. Afro-Cubanista compositions highlighted this promotion of the exclusively Cuban. Although at the forefront of national pride expression, Afrocubans held an ambivalent place in society. They were subjugated and exploited, although their music was celebrated. Blacks were not necessarily accepted for themselves, but rather the European representation of themselves was accepted.
ReplyDeleteAn important factor that was instrumental in the rise of afrocubanismo in twentieth century Cuba was the complex political and economic relationship between Cuba and the United States. The United States had all but taken over Cuba, enforcing its own political, fiscal, and ultimately social agenda on the Cuban people. For the time in which this relationship was prosperous most Cubans turned a blind eye to the oppression of the United Sates influence and enjoyed the wealth and style of their new Americanized life. As a consequence many afro-Cuban traditions were looked down upon. The United States was providing wealth so everything not associated with them was therefore deemed inferior. This sentiment, however, came to a screeching halt in the wake of the United States stock market crash and the ensuing depression. Cuba was hit hard by such an economic downturn and formerly lucrative businesses were forced into bankruptcy. Now that United States control in Cuba no longer reaped prosperity the mutterings against such oppression grew louder and a strong anti-American sentiment began to grow. One of the strongest ways Cubans asserted their own nationalism was through promoting their own forms of music and dance. While formerly European dance forms predominated, music schools now started promoting art with a stronger afro-Cuban influence. Asserting a sense of nationalism through promoting their own cultural traditions was empowering. While for some music and dance acted as an escape, for others it served as the voice of a revolution a means of once again finding a voice from under the power of the Untied States control.
ReplyDeleteWhite Cuban intellectuals adaptation of Afro-Cuban music in their search for a Cuban national culture is greatly influenced by anti-foreign sentiment. As United States continued to play key rule in Cuba’s economic and political problems and continue to influence white Cuban culture through the presence of American culture and values, Cubans felt it is best to disassociate themselves from American cultures. As a result of anti-foreign sentiments, Cuba began to promote a search for Cuban national culture free of American culture. The search for an authentic Cuban national identity and culture then lead to the White Cuban intellectuals’ incorporation of Afro-Cuban music into the national culture. Although the problem of color line between white Cubans and black Cubans existed, the popularity and wide-accepted sentiments of Afro-Cuban allowed for black music to be part of national culture. The fact that white Cubans expressed strong anti-foreign sentiment made way for all forms of cultural development and allow for unification of Cuban society along shared cultured. Thus, somewhat overcome the color line barriers between white Cubans and Afro-Cubans. Although white Cuban intellectuals stylized Afro-Cuban music and dance movements as means of “purifying” the offensive part of Afro-Cuban music in order to make it more appealing to the middle and upper class masses, the white Cuban intellectuals incorporated Afro-Cuban music into national culture. Thus, using shared experiences and customs as powerful markers of Cuban national identity.
ReplyDeleteThe main cause behind the adoption of Afro-Cuban music in the search for a Cuban national culture was Cuba's relationship with the United States. Originally, Cubans turned to musical and art forms that were more influenced by European culture. This was the culture of the upper classes, who were leading this movement, and therefore they adopted this as the national culture and rejected the Afro-Cuban music of the lower classes. However, after contact with the United States, who tried to impose their authority and culture on Cuba, Cuban intellectuals who were leading this nationalistic movement began to shy away from music that was influenced by any outside culture. They focused solely on musics that were traditionally Cuban, even though these more popular musics were mostly practiced by lower classes. Therefore, these musical forms were more widely embraced and accepted as a major part of Cuban culture and a strategy used in the creation of Cuban national culture. Therefore, although this culture was essentially co-opted by leaders in order to form this movement, this also led to greater acceptance and celebration of Afro-Cubans as members of Cuban society.
ReplyDeleteAfter decades of denying the presence and role of Afro-Cubans in Cuba, white Cuban intellectuals ultimately took up Afro-Cuban music in the 1920s and 1930s as part of their search for a Cuban national culture. Cuban nationalism reached its fever pitch during the political and economic upheaval during that time period; plummeting sugar prices and overall economic decline in the 1920s led to a reexamination of the omnipresent role of the United States in nearly every aspect of Cuba (particularly in business and culture) (119). As worldwide economic conditions deteriorated, Cuba’s did as well; by the early 1930s, about a third of the Cuban population was unemployed (122). A rejection of United States’ influence encouraged Cubans to identify and celebrate their own music and culture, and music with a nationalist bent exploded throughout the 1920s and 1930s (123).
ReplyDeleteInitially, white intellectuals tried to focus on music inspired by indigenous populations and rural Hispanic peasant populations, often heavily influenced and driven by European musical forms (127, 131). Ultimately, however, the white intellectuals turned to nationalize Afro-Cuban music, as there was a growing influence of “anti-imperialists who supported all forms of Cuban expression” (133). The presence of a foreign enemy enabled Afro-Cuban music to be nationalized; as Moore writes, “ideological reactions to foreign dominance thus proved central to the valorization of Afrocuban musical expression” (133). Despite ongoing segregation and subjugation of Afro-Cubans, whites began to adopt and adapt Afro-Cuban music and make it an indelible part of popular Cuban music.
The author argues, “Shared language, geographic region, and religious faith can all serve as powerful symbolic markers of a nation.” Therefore, it is also likely that music can serve as a powerful symbolic marker of a nation. Thus, perhaps white Cuban intellectuals took up Afro-Cuban music in hopes of uniting Cuba through common musical forms. These African forms could serve as a “barrier to natural disintegration and the possibility of cultural subsumption by the United States.” At the same time, some musicologists argue that Cuban music derives from indigenous culture, rather than African culture. Thus is important to recognize that Cuban music does not just have African roots, but also indigenous Cuban roots. Also, white Cuban intellectuals studies Afro-Cuban musics in order to convince themselves that these practices were not barbaric. They hoped to understand “certain morbid practices such as witchcraft and ñáñiguismo”. Whites adopted these musics also to gain the acceptance of the general population of both home and abroad. This “would help ensure that Cuban culture remained vital rather than succumbing to North American influences. So, white Cuban intellectuals adopted Afro-Cuban music for their own political benefit.
ReplyDeleteIn the Moore reading, “Nationalizing Blackness”, white Cuban intellectuals took up Afro-Cuban music in the search for Cuban national culture, because of the conflicts they faced while trying to identify a national culture. Three major conflicts as noted by Moore included conflict between Cuba and the United States, conflict between the upper class and the working class, and conflict between blacks and whites. The combination of these conflicts made it remarkably difficult for Cubans to create and identify a national culture.
ReplyDeleteCubans desperately wanted to break away from relying on other and be self-sufficient and one way to do this was to create an identity all their own. One way they did this was to incorporate Afro-Columbian music into their culture. Each socioeconomic class in Cuba accepted Afro-Columbian music in different ways and for different reasons. Most importantly, Moore explains that white Cubans took up Afro-Columbian music because other classes accepted it, which made it the typical Cuban national culture. Also the presence of political and economical circumstances during the machadato era influenced white Cubans to accept this culture at this very time.
While trying to colonize Cuba White Americans would also start to listen to Afro-Cuban music and accept the Cuban culture. Although at first they excluded the native Cubans from "culture expression" (Moore 116). Soon AfrocCubanism music would become inspirational to the people. White Cubans also showed their aspect of how music should be played. By recording artist and introducing the Afro-Cuban people to there kind of music
ReplyDeleteThe appeal of Afro-Cuban music comes from very specific historical interactions and sentiments. Through the early 20th century, relations with the world outside of Cuba directly pinned anti-imperialist interests against those who sought to maintain distance between what was “Cuban” and what was simply “popular”. In simplest terms, Afro-cuban music became popular against the onslaught of North American jazz (which ironically was experiencing its own racial tensions with its incorporation into national North American identity).
ReplyDeleteThe first steps of the nationalization process was the construction of the railroad and the physical bringing together of the previously isolated, stratified social (and racial) classes. The “economic desperation” and political turbulence of the 1920’s and 30’s also created the appeal of music as a “form of escapism” and the public “delivered themselves up to dancing”, presumably regardless of race or social class (123). Coincidentally this could be viewed as the same uses of music among the former slave populations in rural Cuba: music as a moral weapon of differentiation against hardship and a source of refuge from the difficult realities of the slave narrative.
I wonder, though, how much of the change in White-Cuban intellectual opinion of Afro-Cuban music had to do with simple “vogue” tendencies instead of these specific moments of history and a realization of “lo cubano”. How much of it is coincidence, and how much is historically, economically or intellectually founded?
Vanessa Rendon
ReplyDeleteBlack Musics in Latin America
3/1/11
In their search for a clear sense of nationalism, a feature that unifies a nation and “enables certain groups to effectively represent their interests” as a whole, white Cuban intellectuals explored different representations of “cubanismo” and ended up recognizing African roots in their culture and music. Because nationalism attempts to achieve specific qualities that characterize a nation and simultaneously hopes to “incorporate all of the ethnic subgroups and classes represented among the population,” Cuban culture gradually embraced African traditions, such as black street culture, but only “on European or middle-class terms.” In addition, Cuba could not ignore for long the impact of African musical elements that became popular and appealed to a greater market in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s. Black popular music served a venue for escapism, a way to forget the harsh reality of life and The Great Depression. Issues, such as racism and cultural nationalism, were resolved through “stylization” or “blanqueamiento” that Europeanized black musical styles and culture. White Cuban intellectuals began to accept Afrocuban roots of the past to avoid contemporary issues, including discrimination and black poverty, and eventually integrated Afrocubanismo into their sense of Cuban nationalism to give rise to feelings of a more unified nation.