Violin Strings – Music
The violin came into Cuban popular music through the charanga, where violins and flute give danzón and cha-cha-chá their elegant sound. In timba it is not a core instrument, but it still turns up as a colour and a nod to that charanga tradition.
Timba song with its own violin solo part:
- Violin solo
The violin in the charanga
According to Wikipedia, the charanga francesa came about when the upper classes began dancing indoors: flutes and strings replaced the brass and woodwinds of the orquesta típica. From the 1940s charangas made Cuban dance music popular, with Antonio Arcaño y sus Maravillas as a well-known example. In that orchestra, in 1948, played violinist Enrique Jorrín, later credited as the inventor of the cha-cha-chá.
The violins play not only melody but also guajeos, repeating figures like those of the tres and the piano. According to Wikipedia, Orquesta Aragón set its own violin guajeo against the piano in No me molesto (1955).
The violin in songo and timba
- Los Van Van started in 1969 with a charanga base: flute, strings and rhythm section. The first line-up had four violinists and a cellist.
- In Ritmo Oriental, according to Wikipedia, the violin tumbaos were endlessly inventive.
- David Calzado, who played violin with Ritmo Oriental in the 1980s, started La Charanga Habanera as a traditional charanga, before the band became one of the great timba bands.
- According to Wikipedia, many timba bands kept the charanga ensemble of the 1940s, with violins and flute, plus an expanded horn section.