Piano Strings – Music
The piano is the harmonic and rhythmic heart of Cuban popular music. In timba, it is one of the most demanding and expressive instruments in the ensemble.
From Europe to Cuba
The piano came to Cuba in the 19th century as a European parlour instrument. According to Wikipedia, in dance music it found its place in the charanga francesa, which arose around 1900 and played danzón with flutes, violins and piano.
The Montuno / Tumbao
The piano's core function in Cuban popular music is the montuno (also called tumbao) — a repeating, syncopated melodic-rhythmic pattern that:
- Locks into the clave pattern
- Provides both harmony and rhythm simultaneously
- Creates a hypnotic groove for dancers
The montuno is a guajeo, the repeating figure of the tres. According to Wikipedia, in the late 1930s Arsenio Rodríguez put the piano in his son conjunto in place of the guitar; since then the piano has been a staple of Cuban popular music and salsa. With the piano, jazz chords also entered the guajeos in the 1940s.
Typical structure:
- Right hand: plays the syncopated melodic figure (the montuno riff)
- Left hand: plays bass notes or chord stabs that anchor the harmony
Role in Timba
In timba, the piano does far more than repeat a montuno pattern:
- Song-specific tumbaos — according to Wikipedia, NG La Banda was among the first bands to standardise gears and song-specific piano tumbaos
- Long patterns — a timba tumbao often lasts two or four clave cycles. This gives the pianist leeway to choose where, and how strongly, to mark the clave
- Against the clave — according to Wikipedia, many salsa pianists are alarmed when they first meet measures that contradict the clave or fail to mark it decisively
- Influences — according to Wikipedia, timba pianists sometimes use elements of baroque music, such as Bach
Notable Timba Pianists
- César "Pupy" Pedroso — pianist of Los Van Van from 1969, later leader of Pupy y Los que Son, Son
- Iván "Melón" Lewis and Rolando Luna — pianists for Issac Delgado; Luna also played with Paulito FG