Son Groups
The son dates back to the latter part of the 19th century. Actual names of players and musical groups appear after the then Cuban President, José Miguel Gómez, sent the battalions of the Ejército Permanente away from their native provinces. It was the Permanente from Oriente that brought the son to Havana.
There are a few early recordings which survive from before the famous sextetos were formed. Some of the theatre music was interesting, for example, the Teatro Alhambra had a group of which Adolfo Colombo was the leading personality. He was a singer and regular recording artist, though few of these recordings have survived. One that has been reissued by Harlequin reveals a funky number which is hard to categorize. Listed as a rumba, it is perhaps best described as a guaracha-son. The artists singing are Colombo and Claudio García, the guitar probably Alberto Villalón, plus an unknown tres player. All three named players were white, yet the number is creole, almost Afro-Cuban, in style.
Read more about this topic: Early Cuban Bands
Famous quotes containing the words son and/or groups:
“Skepticism is unbelief in cause and effect. A man does not see, that, as he eats, so he thinks: as he deals, so he is, and so he appears; he does not see that his son is the son of his thoughts and of his actions; that fortunes are not exceptions but fruits; that relation and connection are not somewhere and sometimes, but everywhere and always; no miscellany, no exemption, no anomaly,—but method, and an even web; and what comes out, that was put in.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Under weak government, in a wide, thinly populated country, in the struggle against the raw natural environment and with the free play of economic forces, unified social groups become the transmitters of culture.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)