Using dance anthropology to illuminate the values and attitudes embodied in rumba, Yvonne Daniel explores the surprising relationship between dance and the profound, complex changes in contemporary Cuba. From the barrio and streets to the theatre and stage, rumba has emerged as an important medium, contributing to national goals, reinforcing Caribbean solidarity, and promoting international prestige. Since the Revolution of 1959, rumba has celebrated national identity and cultural heritage, and embodied an official commitment to new values. Once a lower-class recreational dance, rumba has become a symbol of egalitarian efforts in postrevolutionary Cuba. The professionalization of performers, organization of performance spaces, and proliferation of performance opportunities have prompted new paradigms and altered previous understandings of rumba.

Kalif Brown is an inspiring basketball star, who has what it takes to make it to the NBA. He's a high school senior with big dreams. But his off the court lifestyle of drugs and guns, may land him in jail or dead. Growing up in a drug infested neighborhood filled with junkies, and criminals, doesn't make his situation any better. And like most young black men and women he's living in a single parent home with his mother. He doesn't have a father figure; therefore he turns to a local dealer to fill that image of a father. Kalif must make a choice. Will it be "Hustling or Hooping"? And he must make this decision fast because his dreams and life may depend on it. Many young inner city athletes and those not into sports, deal with the pressures of everyday life. And many find it hard to deal with especially if they don't have anyone to talk to. Hustling or Hooping may be a fictional book, but there is a Kalif Brown in every urban city in the U.S. Many young black men grow up fatherless, and turn to the streets for a family. The out come is usually negative. But many do make it out of their situations. This book is highly recommended for any young man, or woman who is growing up in a negative environment, and feels as though he or she cannot make that change for the good. This book can be a tool, to make that negative situation a positive one. But also this book reveals the consequences of not making that change for the better.

Welcome to the exciting world of rumba strums and some of the most fun you can have with the guitar! In these pages, authoritative flamenco guitarist, founder of New York Guitar Academy, Quarantined Quartet and Jay & Lee Rumba Flamenca Group, Elysa Hochman demonstrates 25 rumba strumming patterns plus two combinations, giving each a name so that they might be accurately discussed and combined to form other hybrid patterns. Having originated among African slaves in Cuba, the term rumba can represent several unrelated musical styles; by the early 20th century, however, an up-tempo version had caught-on with flamenco musicians in Spain and the cultural cross-fertilization process was complete. Like the rasgueado techniques common to flamenco, rumba strumming has remained largely a mystery to non-flamenco guitarists— until now! Using standard notation, tablature and online audio and video recordings, Hochman clearly defines each rumba strumming pattern and illustrates them in typical chord progressions and voicings used in Spanish, classical, and flamenco guitar. This book is essential for any guitarist interested in becoming proficient in rhythm guitar and/or the nuevo flamenco genre of music. The book culminates with a useful “Index of Rumba Strums” enabling you to build your own rumba strumming patterns and bring your audience to their feet!

Interact and Learn is the overriding theme of this outstanding book and companion online audio. This progressive self-study course is designed to exposethe percussion student to the seductive and complex Cuban rumba style knownas guaguanco. The author offers a generous dose of text and percussion charts to be used with the recorded exercises. The rumba ensemble typically includes: claves; low, midrange, and high-pitched conga drums; the madruga (shaker) palitos (sticks applied to a hollow wooden cylinder), and vocal elements. The comprehensive quality of this book might best be illustrated by the author's emphasison using the three conga drums as pitched, melodic instruments. Sitting and hand positions and drum techniques are clearly illustrated with photographs as is the convenient instrumental glossary.This book also provides useful courseand lesson objectives for self-evaluation. The companion Audio presents percussion concepts and instruments individually and in conversation. All in all, this Book/Audio package offers a fabulous introduction. Includes access to online audio

Arising in the heyday of the music recently made famous by the Buena Vista Social Club, afrocubanismo was an artistic and intellectual movement in Cuba in the 1920s and 1930s that tried to convey a national and racial identity. Through poetry, this movement was the first serious attempt on the part of mostly white Cuban intellectuals to produce a national literature that incorporated elements from the Afro-Cuban traditions of lower-class urban blacks. One of its main objectives was to project an image of Cuban identity as a harmonious process of fusion between black and white people and cultures. The notion of a unified nation without racial conflicts and the idea of a mulatto Cuban culture and identity continue to play a prominent role in the Cuban imagination. The first book-length treatment of the poetry of this movement, Writing Rumba: The Afrocubanista Movement in Poetry questions the assumption that the poetry did manage to symbolize racial reconciliation and unification. At the same time it reveals a process of literary transculturation by which the dominant literature of European origins was radically transformed through the incorporation of formal principles from Afro-Cuban dance and music forms. To make his case, Miguel Arnedo-G mez establishes the nature of the movement s connections to Cuban blacks during this time, analyzes the poetry's links with the represented cultures on the basis of anthropological and ethnographic research, and explores the thought of leading figures of the movement, tying their discourse to specific sociocultural factors in Cuba at the time. Relating the poetry to music and dance, he further illuminates the interplay of power and culture in a social context. Essential for understanding Cuban nationalism and race relations today, Writing Rumba will appeal to an interdisciplinary audience not only in regional, cultural, and anthropological fields but also in the fields of music, dance, and literature.

The three authors worked together for years to create this amazing story of two brave and clever African children. In this first book of a series, Zumba and Rumba experience many exciting adventures after slave-trading warriors separate them from their parents during a raid. G. Alan Brooks "Poppy" is the grandfather of two grandchildren who are the same age as Zumba and Rumba. Poppy lives in Miami, Florida with his wife, and the grandchildren live in the Northeastern United States with their parents. Poppy has two other grandchildren who are now helping with book two: The Searching. The authors all love stories and books. The time spent together between the grandfather and the grandchildren collaborating on the book was super special. There were many hours of fun spinning tales, brainstorming and exploring multiple ideas through different resources. The authors did extensive research on African folklore, African wildlife, and African stories; reading books and learning about numerous aspects of the African Continent. This book has been growing as an idea for many years. In the last two years, it gained more shape and direction as Tyler and Ryan became almost the same age as Zumba and Rumba. His grandchildren helped the characters think and act their age, while Poppy typed the manuscript and helped with ideas for the different adventures The authors hope this book provides an inspiration and opportunity for families to have a special time together, reading and sharing stories.

A professor of poetry uses a deck of playing cards to measure the time until her lover returns from Afghanistan. Congolese soldiers find their loneliness reflected in the lyrics of rumba songs. Survivors of the siege of Sarajevo discuss which book they would have never burned for fuel. A Romanian political prisoner writes her memoir in her head, a book no one will ever read. These are the arts of survival in times of crisis.Rumba Under Fire proposes we think differently about what it means for the arts and liberal arts to be "in crisis." In prose and poetry, the contributors to Rumba Under Fire explore what it means to do art in hard times. How do people teach, create, study, and rehearse in situations of political crisis? Can art and intellectual work really function as resistance to power? What relationship do scholars, journalists, or even memoirists have to the crises they describe and explain? How do works created in crisis, especially at the extremes of human endurance, fit into our theories of knowledge and creativity?The contributors are literary scholars, anthropologists, and poets, covering a broad geographic range - from Turkey to the United States, from Bosnia to the Congo. Rumba Under Fire includes essays, poetry and interviews by Tim Albrecht, Carla Baricz, Greg Brownderville, William Coker, Andrew Crabtree, Cara De Silva, Irina Dumitrescu, Denis Ferhatovic, Susannah Hollister, Prashant Keshavmurthy, Sharon Portnoff, Anand Taneja, and Judith Verweijen.

Learn to play Rumba with Afro-Cuban flavor! In this book, beginners learn basic timing, syncopation, and improvisation. Intermediate to advanced drummers learn to throw down some of the funkiest Afro-Cuban Licks on their favorite drum, whether it is a Conga, Bongo, Timbales, Traps, etc... the revolutionary self-teaching method in this book brings together two different learning approaches for Afro-Cuban drumming. the first approach is to learn by way of reading written notation; the second is to learn solely by listening and feeling. the method simultaneously incorporates the various senses in teaching different improvisation patterns. This approach helps to ingrain the learning process at a deeper psychological level. Each expression can be played with the bass drum downbeats provided on the companion CD. This helpful learning aid will ensure proper pulse and timing. After mastering each expression with the bass drum playing downbeats, the Guaguanco rhythm is introduced to further the learning process.

This book is designed to take your soloing ability from 0 to 90 MPH on the quinto, conga drum, bongo or timbales while mastering the clave rhythm at the same time. It is rich with authentic phrasing. Volume 2 has much to offer for beginners and veterans alike. the book will widened your soloing horizons, and is something you will continually refer back to for ideas and inspiration. You will enjoy learning many of these unique and interesting flavorsThis teaching method brings together two different learning approaches for Afro-Cuban Drumming. the first approach is to learn by way of reading written notation; the second is to learn solely by listening and feeling. Three types of Afro-Cuban syncopated expressions are transcribed in this book: Quinto Ride, Quinto Phrase, and Quinto Solo. the helpful companion CDs allows one to hear these expressions ensuring proper comprehension of the concepts taught in this lesson.

DIVExamines the relationship between popular music and politics in Zaire during the presidency of Mobutu Sese Seko through the author’s participation as musician and ethnographer in a successful Kinshasa band of the mid-1990s./div