Episode 12: Drum Roots 1

Last week we heard music from around the Caribbean with a country feel and a heavy dose of Spanish guitar heritage...

This week we will look at the other major influence in American tropical music: African drumming. 

We start the show with a collection of tracks from Brazil's African religious traditions, including Candomble and Umbanda. These religious and musical traditions have their roots in Africa; they were kept alive in the Americas by enslaved peoples, often at the cost of persecution and punishment. We will move on in the second set to see how these African drumming traditions form the backbone of afro-samba in Brazil today.

After we hear from Brazil we will pivot to Cuba. Again, we will start with afro-religious drumming music showing deep roots in the motherland. Whereas true African drumming was rarely celebrated or recorded in Brazil until the 1970s, African drumming made its first jump into the realm of popular music in Cuba as far back as the late 19th Century. We will start the second hour today with a sampling of some of the first African drumming to be recorded in Cuba (or anywhere) back in the 1930s and 40s, hearing from Cuban musical pioneers including Conjunto Los Astros, Conjunto Modelo, and the great rumbero Chano Pozo. I will share a set devoted to the godfather of guaguanco and rumba, Arsenio Rodriguez, a blind tres player who did more to pioneer African drumming in Cuban popular music than anyone else... then we will head out with a few modern takes on the rumba/guaguanco sound.