BLACK HISTORY MONTH: “LA BAMBA” AND ITS AFRICAN ROOTS

I came in from work today to see my next-door-neighbors (Mexican Americans) having a get-together, with company over. They were barbequing, and playing music. At the home, was a group playing the song La Bamba. As I listened to the song, I wondered. . . .

How many of them sitting around jammin’ to that song knew of its true origins? How would they respond if I was to tell them the history behind La Bamba?

 

La Bamba.

 

When you hear the song La Bamba, what image comes to mind? A Mexican singer, or a Black singer? When you question what the words mean, do you envision black people from Mexico, or do you envision brown people, from Mexico singing the song? If you are like most people, you think of Ritchie Valens who made the song very popular in the 1950s before he died tragically in a plane crash, or you may even think of Los Lobos’ version, but, you would not be able to conceive of a Black singer serenading their listeners to the lilting cadences of La Bamba.

 

If you are like most people, you have never thought of La Bamba with an African/Black connection, but, it does have an African origin, and the song owes its creation to enslaved Africans.

 

 

The song ‘La Bamba’, a traditional folk song and dance, was originally a song sung by African slaves in Veracruz as they worked, since many of the enslaves brought to Mexico by the Spaniards, came from Angola and Congo, with the Africans who originated the song hailing from the MBamba peoples of Angola. Bamba is the name of an African tribe in Angola and in Congo, from the Bamba River, where the  MBamba peoples lived. As enslaves, they brought their beautiful culture with them, and the original origins of this song, over 500 years ago, and as so very often, with enslaved Africans in the new world, they fought against enslavement, running away and joining up with the indigenous peoples in the rain forests and mountainous areas. The song also refers to a specific incident which occurred in the year 1683, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, when  pirates attacked the people, free and enslaved, living there. The Spanish officials of Veracruz mistreated the enslaves so horribly that they rebelled in what was known as the “Bambarria”, an enslave uprising that pitted the African enslaves and Indians against the Spanish. (New Spain as it was called, because at the time, the country we now know as Mexico, did not exist as a nation, until approximately 200 years later, when in 1810, Mexico/New Spain gained its independence from Spain).

 

 

Influenced by Afro-Mexican and Spanish flamenco rhythms, the song uses the violin, jaranas, guitar, and harp. Lyrics to the song greatly vary, as performers often improvise verses while performing La Bamba which is a folk song whose origins can be traced to the Mexican state of Veracruz over 300 years ago. It is best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll’s best-known songs. (The Los Lobos variation is my favourite, because it stays more faithfully with the origins of the original song where they speed up the song’s ending.) The name of the dance, which has no direct English translation, is presumably connected with the Spanish verb, bambolear meaning “to shake”, or perhaps “to stomp”.

 

“The traditional “La Bamba” was often played during weddings in Veracruz, where the bride and groom performed the accompanying dance. Today this wedding tradition is mostly lost, but the dance survives through the popularity of ballet folklórico. The dance is performed in much the same way, displaying the newlywed couple’s unity through the performance of complicated, delicate steps in unison as well as through creation of a bow from a listón, a long red ribbon, using only their feet.

 

“The “arriba” (literally “up”) part of the song suggests the nature of the dance, in which the footwork, called “zapateado“, is done faster and faster as the music tempo accelerates. The repeated lyric, “Yo no soy marinero, soy capitán” (lit: “I am not a sailor, I am a captain”), refers to Veracruz’s marine locale and the husband’s promise that he will remain faithful to his wife.”  SOURCE:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Bamba_(song)

 

The African influence in Mexico, and the rest of this hemisphere for that matter, encompasses all of this hemisphere, from jazz, to blues, to gospel, to rhythm & blues, to the syncopated beat that still permeates much of American music, a beat that comes from African slaves in America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

 

 

Syncopation is a major component of contemporary American music. Syncopation was at one time practically unheard of in the mainstream United States, except among Black Americans. Syncopation refers to placing the stress on a beat that is normally unstressed. There are several ways to create syncopated rhythms, by stressing, quickening, or skipping certain beats in a measure.

 

Rumba, habanera, Argentine tango, bolero, merengue, cumbia, salsa, and even the mambo that was so popular in the States during the 1950s and 1960s all have roots in African (and Latin) traditions.

 

Here, Bobby Vaughn, the maestro of Afro-Mexican culture, discusses the African influence on Mexican music and the rest of Latin America as well:

 

 

“VERACRUZ AND THE SON JAROCHO
Perhaps the music that best personifies the culture of Veracruz is the son jarocho.² Jarocho is the moniker by which most Veracruzanos identify their regional identity, regardless of their race. But the word’s origins have everything to do with Blackness. In the colonial era, the word was used to refer to Blacks of mixed race (Aguirre Beltrán 1989 [1946]):169), and or to Blacks in general. The son jarocho is a musical genera that has strong African elements, as well as a lyrical structure that suggests its European heritage. It is a festive genre in which the center of attention is the pairs of male and female dancers who dance atop a wood platform. Their rhythmic stamping provides the percussion to accompany the strumming of the all-important jarana, which is a smaller cousin of the guitar.

 

“The most curious of the instruments is one that is almost certainly of African origin: the marimbol³.

MARIMBOL (also known as  marimbula/rhumba box; manimba; malimba; marimbol; bass box/calimba; church & clap; jazz jim and box lamellophone): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADmbula

“The marimbol is a wood box with a round sound hole cut in the center of it. Across this hole, a number of metal strips are attached. These metal strips are tuned to different pitches, and are plucked to produce a deep basslike sound. The marimbol provides a driving bassline for the music. The vocals are often a series of repeating verses sung by two male or female soloists, one responding to the other. A kind of melodic shouting in falsetto creates a curious vocal timbre. The themes are generally lighthearted love longs, and are often quite comical. The popular song “La Bamba” is a traditional son jarocho. I have found historical evidence of the son jarocho being danced as early as 1816 by blacks in Veracruz, where the observer describes a large dance contest of men and women. (“Todos negros atezados y una y uno de ellos bailando un zapateado sin moverse de un lugar/all of them darkskinned Blacks and each of them dancing a tap-dance without moving from their spot.) (Poblett Miranda and Delgado 1992:v.2, 209).”

 

“The son jarocho is not simply a relic from the past, preserved by the older generations, however. There are countless performers throughout the central and southern parts of the state. In addition to Afro-Mexican towns, like El Coyolillo, and mestizo towns, like Tlacotalpan, the son jarocho is also performed in indigenous communities in indigenous languages. Thus, the son jarocho is an example of the confluence of cultures in Veracruz, where the son, in spite of being a product of different heritages or perhaps precisely because of this is embraced by nearly all Veracruzanos as an important part of their jarocho identity.

 

“DIABLOS IN THE COSTA CHICA
In the Costa Chica, one of the regional dances that is most associated with the negros is the danza de los diablos [dance of the devils]. While the dance is performed in any number of Afro-Mexican towns in the region, the town of Collantes is most renown for its performance of it. In Collantes, the energetic dance is performed during Todos Santos [All Saints’ Day] celebrations in November, and the group of about 20 male dancers and 3 musicians wander through the streets, stopping to dance in front of homes that wish to give them a small ofrenda of money, or food. In contrast to Veracruz’s son jarocho, the danza de los diablos is not a couple’s dance, but is a performance in which all participants wear elaborate masks. The basic elements of the dance have 3 rows of dancers, all dressed alike, executing a syncopated stomping, all in unison, while the terrón, also called the diablo mayor, whips the dancers and otherwise intimidates them. In addition to the terrón, there is the dancer called la minga, who is always a male dancer dressed as a woman in a long dress. La Minga is the terrón’s wife, and flirts with the dancers in order to get them into more trouble with her husband. There is a slapstick quality to the dance, and the terrón will often go after children in the audience to further excite the laughing crowd.

 

“The instruments used in the danza de los diablos are typically a harmonica, a jicada, or a cow’s jawbone, whose teeth are raked with a stick to keep rhythm, and a peculiar instrument called an arcusa. The arcusa is a large hollow gourd with a thin waxed stick fastened to the mouth. As the musician strokes the stick, a low grunting sound is produced. The dance’s origins appear to be in part of African origin, and it is speculated that in the colonial era it was overtly part of an African cult to the god Ruja. While no mention of Ruja or religious cults exists in the way the dance is performed today, it certainly dramatizes the more recent historical conflicts between Black workers and cruel overseers. While the son jarocho is danced by Veracruzanos irrespective of ethnic heritage, the danza de los diablos is not performed, neither in indigenous, nor in mestizo communities, but is essentially an Afro-Mexican tradition.

 

“A Costa Chica dance that is performed by Afro-Mexicans and mestizos alike is the chilena.⁴ The chilena, as its name suggests, was introduced to the coast by Chilean sailors in the mid 19th century. These sailors were most likely on their way to the California coast during the gold rush, and stopped for a time in Acapulco. There, they taught their music and dance, the cueca, to the Black dockhands, who spread their interpretation of it throughout the Costa Chica. The chilena is now considered the singlemost characteristic artform of the Costa Chica.” (1)

AFRICAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS:

 

 

 

KALIMBA (modernized version of the mbira):  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalimba

Unlike string instruments or flutes, which were widespread around the world, the kalimba family of instruments is uniquely African.

 

 

 

MBIRA (THUMB PIANO): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbira

 Dr. Joseph H. Howard, owner of the largest collection of drums and ancillary folk instruments in the Americas, often stated it is “the instrument most typical of Africa.” By this he meant that the instruments were only found in areas populated by Africans or their descendants. Babatunde Olatunji made a similar statement in his book “Musical Instruments of Africa.” He states the mbira “a finger xylophone, is native to Africa and is common throughout the continent. It is known nowhere else except in parts of the Americas where it was taken by Africans.”

 

MBIRA DZAVADZIM IN A DEZE

 

 

 

 

Much of the original essence of La Bamba have been lost to time, but, the liveliness, the joy of life of La Bamba still remains. Here are the lyrics (Spanish, with English traslation, that many people of today are familiar with:

 

 

 

Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necessita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Para mi, para ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Ay, arriba arriba
Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere

Yo no soy marinero
Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan
Soy capitan, soy capitan
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba, bam

Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necessita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Para mi, para ti, ay arriba, ay arriba

(Guitar solo – instrumental)

Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necessita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Para mi, para ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Ay, arriba arriba
Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere

Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
FADES-
Bamba, bamba.

English translation:

In order to dance The Bamba
In order to dance the Bamba
You need a little bit of grace
A little bit of grace
For me, for you, ah up, ah up(or higher and higher)
Ah, up, up (literally “faster, faster”)
By you I will be, by you I will be, by you I will be
(Por can also mean by and not just for)

I am not a sailor,
I am not a sailor, I am a captain
I am a captain, I am a captain
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba, bam

In order To dance The Bamba
In order To dance The Bamba
You need a little bit of grace
A little bit of grace
For me, for you, ah up, ah up (higher and higher)

(Guitar only – and set of instruments)

In order to dance The Bamba
In order to dance The Bamba
You need a little bit of grace
A little bit of grace
For me, for you, ah up, ah up
Ah, up, up.
For you I will be, for you I will be, for you I will be
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
FADES-
Bamba, bamba.

(Repeats)

 

So. . . .

 

. . . .the next time you hear the song La Bamba, take time to pause and thank the black enslaved people of Mexico for giving us the gift of this song. If not for their contributions to the music of Latin America, with the additions of Indigenous and Europeans influence thrown in, we would not have such a lovely and delightful song to sing, and dance to.

 

LOS LOBOS, “LA BAMBA”

 

 

 

 

HERE IS LA BAMBA AS DANCED BY BALLET FOLKLORICO PASA DEL NORTE:

 

REFERENCES/LINKS:

 

 

(1) “MEXICO IN THE CONTEXT OF THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE”, By BOBBY VAUGHN:   http://www.blackelectorate.com/articles.asp?ID=1373

  

UNHCR – REFWORLD: “WORLD DIRECTORY OF MINORITIES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE – MEXICO: AFRO-MEXICANS”: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,463af2212,49709c232,49749ce5c,0.html

  

“SE HABLA ESPANOL (TAMBIEN SE CANTA, SE BAILA, Y SE ESCRIBE), By Alexander J. Reyes:  http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2006/2/06.02.06.x.html

  

LA BAMBA: CANCION DE VERACUZ:  “A SONG THAT STARTED IN 1683”:  http://www.johntoddjr.com/143%20Bamba/bamba.htm

  

  

OTHER RELATED LINKS:

 

“SON JAROCHO MUSIC: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WORLD MUSIC”:   http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/son_jarocho_789/en_US

  

INSTRUMENTOS DEL SON JAROCHO: http://www.veracruzpuerto.info/2006/06/instrumentos-del-son-jarocho.html 

 

 

 

“FIRST LOOK INSIDE (KALIMBA VIDEO):

WEBSITE ON KALIMBA MUSIC: http://www.kalimbamagic.com