Cuban Bufo theatre is an example of a form of comedy, ribald and satirical, with stock figures imitating types that might be found anywhere in the country. Bufo had its origin around 1800-15 as an older form, tonadilla, began to vanish from Havana. Francisco Covarrubias the 'caricaturist' (1775–1850) was its creator. Gradually, the comic types threw off their European models and became more and more creolized and Cuban. Alongside, the music followed. Argot from slave barracks and poor barrios found its way into lyrics that are those of the guaracha:
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- Una mulata me ha muerto!
- Y no prendan a esa mulata?
- Como ha de quedar hombre vivo
- si no prendan a quien mata!
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- La mulata es como el pan;
- se debe comer caliente,
- que en dejandola enfriar
- ni el diablo le mete el diente!
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- (A mulata's done for me!
- What's more, they don't arrest her!
- How can any man live
- If they don't take this killer?
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- A mulatta is like fresh bread
- You gotta eat it while it's hot
- If you leave it till she's cool
- Even the devil can't get a bite!)
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So the bufo theatre became fertile ground for that typically Cuban musical form, the guaracha.
Read more about this topic: Cuban Musical Theatre