Danzonete

Danzonete is the sung evolution of danzón — the bridge between the purely instrumental danzón of the 19th and early 20th century and the vocal popular music that would follow.

Origins

Danzonete was created in 1929 by composer and bandleader Aniceto Díaz with the piece "Rompiendo la rutina" ("Breaking the Routine"). The title was apt — he did exactly that by adding a vocal section to the danzón format for the first time.

Danzón had previously been purely instrumental. Adding the human voice — with improvised or composed lyrics, call-and-response between the singer and the orchestra — opened the form toward son and mambo.

Dance Character

The danzonete dance is essentially danzón with a vocal section:

• The same structure and movement as danzón (see the Danzón page)
• The paseo (opening promenade walk), the pauses, the close-couple dancing
• When the vocal section enters, the music intensifies slightly and the dancing becomes more rhythmically engaged
• The vocal call-and-response gives the dancer more musical material to respond to

Historical Significance

Danzonete is important as a transitional form. It shows the direction Cuban popular music was heading in the 1930s — toward vocal music, toward the son-influenced montuno structure, toward what would become the big band mambo sound of the 1940s.

It was popular through the 1930s and into the 1940s before mambo and son-based music eclipsed it. Like danzón itself, it is preserved today in Cuba and Mexico (especially Veracruz) by devotees of the traditional forms.