Congas and comparsas are two different but related parts of the Cuban Carnaval. A conga is an informal group of percussionists that forms in the street and gains momentum as the procession goes on. Comparsas are teams of musicians from particular neighborhoods or social groups, that have a long history of performing with one another. Usually members of a comparsa wear the same costume and follow a practiced choreography.
The bocu (boku) is a tall, thin Cuban drum that’s a close relative of the African ashiko. The bocu is a key instrument in a “comparsa,” an ensemble of percussionists that marches in the streets of Santiago de Cuba during Carninval playing a style of music called conga.
COUNTRY: Cuba
KEY GENRES: Conga
“Campanas” means “bells” and, musically, can refer to pretty much any bell that one plays as an instrument–anything as “formal” as a cowbell could be considered campanas, or anything metal anyone finds on the street and hits with a stick. In conga street processions during Carnival in Santiago de Cuba, members of sprawling, everyone-in percussion parades are known to grab any kind of bell to make joyful noise, from official percussion instruments to kitchen implements to metal wheel hubs and other car parts.
COUNTRY: Cuba
KEY GENRES: Conga
COUNTRY: Cuba
KEY GENRE: Conga
When you’re about to head out onto the street in Santiago de Cuba to participate in a conga comparsa during Carnival and you realize you’ve left all your customary percussion instruments at the office, you’re well within your rights to grab a frying pan and a stick and make music!
There are no frying pans in this “kiddie comparsa,” but there may as well be:
Conga music developed from rhythmic street parade performances by groups of musicians called comparsas which play music and dance in Cuban streets during festivals like Carnival. The genre in the Western Cuban city of Havana is different from that of the Eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, which features a “Chinese horn.” SantiagoDeCubaCity.org says it like this: “I believe that there is not to have born for not feeling the contagious rhythm of La Conga, because still being dead, Oriental conga or Conga Santiaguera makes you resuscitate.” More | Learn to drum the genre’s basic rhythms | An all-star Comparsa
COUNTRY: Cuba
KEY INSTRUMENTS: Bocu, Bombo, Bottles, Campanas, Chinese horn, Frying pan, anything anyone can use as a drum
SONG ON AATW: LATIN AMERICA CD: Ahora es Cuando es
[mappress mapid=”16″ center=”-8, -60″ zoom=”3″]
A Spanish carnival song arranged in the style of a conga from Santiago de Cuba. You can hear a bit of percussion from original from the Smithsonian Folkways album “Carnaval in Cuba.” In Havana, Cuba’s capital, musical performances during “carnaval” are most often presented to the community as a formal performance, while in Santiago de Cuba the Carnival parade is composed of members of the community–the audience and the parade are one.
Country: Cuba
Language: Spanish
Genre on CD: Conga
Instruments on CD: much hand percussion, Bottles, CampanasLYRICS OF ALL AROUND THIS WORLD VERSION
Ahora es cuando es, ahora es cuando es
Now is the time, now is the time
Join the conga party in Santiago de Cuba
Percussion, vocals, engineering: Arturo Stable
Vocals: Jay Sand
Trombone: James Negron
Trumpet: Nelson Miranda
Some vocals engineered by Erich Muller
Original is "Ahora es Cuando es -- Now is the Time," © Alpha Film Music on behalf of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, translation and arrangement by Jay Sand with permission, Instrumental arrangement by Arturo Stable
Listen to an original version on the Smithsonian Folkways release, "Carnaval in Cuba."
