Cuban journalist Rafa Escalona joins Rebecca to talk about the latest trends in Cuban music, including how hard it is to track this information on the island and how recent out-migration has affected the evolution and definition of "música cubana." While contemporary Cuban music is of course dominated by reparto, the songs shared by Rafa provide a broader look into the latest trends. Songs played: Un Momentico + — Melanie Santiler & Dale Pututi Andala Remix — Wildey, Musteerifa & Raydel ...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 20 min
Kevin Moore is back to help us pay tribute to one of timba's brightest stars, Paulito FG (EPD), who died tragically on March 1. Songs played: El humo o la vida, Dan Den feat. Paulito FG Y ahora que, Percussion and vocal track for Entre Dos Amigos No te lo creas, Laura (demo track) El punto Send us a text Support the show You can support this independently produced podcast by becoming a monthly subscriber - even $3/month helps! If you like this podcast, please hit "Follow" and give us a 5-star ra...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr
Finally, we're back with a brand new episode, inspired by Bad Bunny's love letter to Puerto Rico, Debí Tirar Más Fotos ! We get deep into the weeds of the Puerto Rican musical and political traditions that are referenced in Bad Bunny's wide-ranging, exquisitely produced album. Joining Rebecca are Puerto Rican musician and educator Hector Lugo (founder of the Bay Area Latin roots band La Mixta Criolla ), and Puerto Rican writer, translator and Bad Bunny scholar Carina del Valle Schorske . Songs p...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 29 min
Send us a text Support the show You can support this independently produced podcast by becoming a monthly subscriber - even $3/month helps! If you like this podcast, please hit "Follow" and give us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts Find The Clave Chronicles on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @clavechronicles https://theclavechronicles.buzzsprout.com Intro and outro music: "Bengo Latino," Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions...
Nov 11, 2024•5 min
Cuban journalist Jesús Jank Curbelo joins Rebecca to speak about a range of topics, including the legacy of El Taiger, one of Cuba's most popular artists who was killed recently in Miami. We also talk about Curbelo's career in Cuba reporting on the reparto movement, as well as the pain of leaving Cuba and challenges of building a new life in Texas. Curbelo has published several pieces at the Texas Observer and Palabra . Conversation in Spanish. Follow along with an English-language transcript he...
Nov 01, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Part 2 of Rebecca's conversation with Cuban music historian Rosa Marquetti. The second edition of her book Celia en Cuba (1925-1962) was recently published in Spanish, and will be translated into English next year. Conversation in Spanish. Follow along with an English-language transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W8qgbzs7DHwP2JlTl3FDZfbCc2aLSFovv2SVxZSw3Xc/edit?usp=sharing Songs played: Quédate Negra, Celia con La Orquesta Leonard Melody La Sopa en Botella, Celia con La Sonora Ma...
Oct 18, 2024•44 min
Rebecca speaks with Cuban music historian Rosa Marquetti Torres , author of several books, including one on Chano Pozo and another one on Celia Cruz's career in Cuba—the Celia book has just been released in a new edition! Part 1 of our conversation covers the challenges of conducting research in Cuba and her work on Chano Pozo Conversation in Spanish. Follow along with an English-language transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WKJZoLnQJHo3t85_AMxsZ08p_nwPNZ_rZTBDTKmgoSQ/edit?usp=sh...
Oct 04, 2024•56 min
Ethnomusicologist Edwin Porras joins Rebecca to speak about Chinese musical influences in Cuba, which date back to the mid-19th century. The double-reeded suona was adopted by Santiago conga groups around 1915, becoming an unmistakable musical signifier for conga santiaguera. **Fun fact: Cuba was the first destination for Chinese laborers in the Americas, before even the U.S.** Songs played: Example of Cantonese opera Lion dancing musical accompaniment (field recording) Caridad Amaran and Georgi...
Sep 19, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Eva Silot Bravo joins Rebecca again to talk about her recently published book, Cuban Fusion: The Transnational Cuban Alternative Music Scene , which focuses on Cuban musicians who have migrated to New York, Madrid, and other major cities since the 1990s. They have created new transnational musical scenes, with some traveling back and forth between Cuba and abroad, fusing jazz, Afro-Cuban folkloric music, nueva trova and other genres. Songs played: Levitando, Ramon Valle Bolero Filin, Gema Y Pave...
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr 2 min
This week The Clave Chronicles is sharing an episode of Cuban Serenade , a podcast exploring the history of Cuban music in Canada that's hosted by Freddy Monasterio and Karen Dubinsky. This episode focuses on the genius of Cuban-Canadian pianist/composer/arranger Hilario Durán. Follow Cuban Serenade on your favorite podcast platform! Send us a text Support the show You can support this independently produced podcast by becoming a monthly subscriber - even $3/month helps! If you like this podcast...
Aug 09, 2024•35 min
Freddy Monasterio, a Cuban-born researcher, educator and arts administrator based in Toronto, joins Rebecca to talk about the Cuban musical diaspora in Canada. He also co-hosts a podcast on the topic called Cuban Serenade . Songs played: La Reina del Norte, OKAN Cry Me a River, Hilario Duran and his Latin Jazz Big Band La Ceiba de Mayuya, Luis Deniz Group Rebirth, Dee Hernandez Send us a text Support the show You can support this independently produced podcast by becoming a monthly subscriber - ...
Jul 19, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Anthropologist and prolific scholar Umi Vaughan , author of Rebel Dance, Renegade Stance: Timba Music and Black Identity , joins Rebecca to speak about his 25 years of research on timba and how the genre has changed in the past three decades. Vaughan has been conducting research in Brazil more recently, and will soon be publishing a book on the repression of Afro-Brazilian religious practice and music. Songs played: La bola, Manolín El Médico de la Salsa De La Habana, Paulo FG No estamos locos, ...
Jul 05, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Legendary Afro-Cuban hip hop group Krudxs Cubensi (Odaymar Cuesta and Oli Prendes) join Rebecca to speak about their career and the particular challenges they've faced as artists who are Afro-Cuban, queer, non-binary, and immigrants. Their latest album, They/Them Les Elles , features collaborations with Greg Landau and many other Bay Area-based musicians. Songs played: Mi cuerpo es mío You are not better than me They/them les elles Justicia y libertad Send us a text Support the show You can supp...
Jun 21, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Percussionist and educator David Peñalosa, author of the book The Clave Matrix , joins Rebecca for an in-depth discussion on the concept of clave, delving into its origins, variations and the way it works in various Afro-Cuban genres. If you've ever wondered what 3-2 or 2-3 clave means or what the difference is between "son clave," "rumba clave" and 6/8 clave, this episode is for you! Songs played: Eco (bembé-abakuá), Julito Collazo and Mongo Santamaria Los beodos, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas Era...
Jun 07, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Back by popular demand, Mike Levine joins Rebecca again to speak about the latest happenings in Cuban reparto, including a recent controversy related to the genre's popularity in Peru. Check out the new Buzzsprout option below to send Rebecca a message about the episode! Songs played: Reparto, DJ Yus, Wampi, Nesty, Wow Popy, Un Titico, JP El Chamaco Por Ustedes (Pornosotros), Wampi Toma que toma, JP El Chamaco Birribiri, Harryson Wampi live in Lima https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVOxxbOe4Lo&...
May 24, 2024•1 hr 9 min
Scholar and singer Hannah Burgé Luviano joins Rebecca to discuss the career of the "King of Mambo," Dámaso Perez Prado. Unable to achieve much acclaim in Cuba because of his unique compositional style, Pérez Prado struck gold after relocating to Mexico in the 1940s. Songs played: México Lindo Mi Gallo Mambo Politécnico Pianola Send us a text Support the show You can support this independently produced podcast by becoming a monthly subscriber - even $3/month helps! If you like this podcast, pleas...
May 10, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Musicologist Marysol Quevedo joins Rebecca to speak about Cuban art music composers of the mid-20th century, such as Harold Gramatges, Juan Blanco and Argeliers Leon. As she details in her recent book, although their works largely relied on classical music structures and forms, they brought in elements of Cuban popular and folkloric music. Pieces played: Tres preludios a modo de toccata, Harold Gramatges Sonata a la Virgen del Cobre, No. 2, Argeliers Leon Quinteto No. 1, Juan Blanco Cirkus Tocca...
Apr 26, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Cuban dancer, musician, and educator Roberto Borrell speaks with Rebecca about his incredibly versatile career, spanning popular and folkloric styles. He talks about growing up hearing the legendary bands of the 1950s like Orquesta Aragón and Chappottín y Sus Estrellas, and attending the Black social clubs that were eliminated in the early years of the Revolution. Songs played: Linda cubana, Orquesta de Antonio Maria Romeu Mambo, Arcaño y Sus Maravillas La engañadora, Orquesta América de Ninón M...
Apr 12, 2024•1 hr 14 min
Punk cubano emerged during the Special Period crisis, giving young disaffected Cubans an outlet to express their angst and rage, often toward the Cuban government. Carmen Torre Pérez joins Rebecca to speak about the counter-cultural genre and its DIY ethics. Songs played: Jodidos y perdidos, Rotura Eres tú, Eskoria Azul, Akupunktura Esta no es mi puta guerra, Eztafilokoko Ruido en el sistema, Pólvora Soxial Send us a text Support the show You can support this independently produced podcast by be...
Mar 29, 2024•1 hr 1 min
(Rerun of nueva trova episode, first aired in July 2023) Nueva trova is one of the few Cuban genres that is for listening and reflecting instead of dancing - it's sung poetry, much like other Latin American singer-songwriter genres, namely nueva canción. Rebecca has an in-depth conversation with independent scholar and former Cuban diplomat Eva Silot Bravo about the major figures of nueva trova and how it came to be closely identified with the ideology of the Cuban Revolution. The genre's relati...
Mar 22, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Ethnomusicologist and percussionist Johnny Frias joins Rebecca to speak about one of the lesser known Afro-Cuban folkloric practices, the tonada trinitaria, from the central Cuban city of Trinidad. We then delve into the rumba percussion style that has become dominant in recent decades, guarapachangueo, created by a group of brothers from the outskirts of Havana known as Los Chinitos. Songs played: Una corona al General Maceo, Conjunto Folclórico de Trinidad Plegarias, Grupo Abbilona (Los Chinit...
Mar 08, 2024•1 hr 9 min
Afrocuba de Matanzas is widely considered one of the best preservers of Afro-Cuban folkloric music and dance on the island, but the group also created one of the funkiest and most exciting musical innovations in 1973 when they blended rumba percussion and batá drumming to create batarumba . As the years went on, batarumba became even more complex and versatile, as Afrocuba musicians added in instruments and rhythms from son , Abakuá, Iyesá and adapted the songs of Celia Cruz to a batarumba forma...
Feb 29, 2024•40 min
Grammy-nominated percussionist, recording artist and educator Michael Spiro joins Rebecca to speak about his apprenticeship in Matanzas with masters of Afro-Cuban folkloric drumming, differences in drumming styles between Havana and Matanzas, and his innovative recordings, which fuse batá drumming with other Afro-diasporic traditions, such as Brazilian samba, Candomblé, and Zimbabwean mbira music. Songs played: Inspiración a Santiago, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas Para Clave y Guaguancó, Clave y Gu...
Feb 22, 2024•1 hr 21 min
Acclaimed pianist/bandleader/composer/author/educator Rebeca Mauleón discusses the long and incredibly versatile career of pianist/composer Chucho Valdés, who founded the groundbreaking jazz fusion group Irakere 50 years ago. In 2018, Mauleón and Valdés co-authored the book Decoding Afro-Cuban Jazz . In both his Irakere compositions and in his solo career, Valdés has often drawn from Afro-Cuban folkloric music—rumba, batá drumming—for inspiration. Songs played: Misa Negra, Irakere El Tata Cimarr...
Feb 15, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Ethnomusicologist and prolific scholar Peter Manuel joins Rebecca to speak about the many centuries of musical exchange between Cuba and Spain, which birthed genres like the Cuban punto and contributed to the evolution of flamenco in Andalucía. Author and editor of numerous books on Caribbean and Indian popular music, including an important anthology of Cuban musicology , Manuel's newest book is Flamenco Music: History, Forms, Culture . Songs played: Fandango, Antonio Soler Controversia, Justo V...
Feb 01, 2024•1 hr
In our first episode en español (!!!), Rebecca interviews Mario Seguí Correoso, a Santiago-based percussionist who has worked with various groups over the course of his career: an innovative rumba group (Kokoyé), a son/salsa group (Sonora La Calle), and currently a more traditional son group (Los Jubilados), as well as a percussion-based group (Los Tambores de Enrique Bonne). We talk about how difficult the situation has been for musicians since the pandemic. **IF YOU DON'T SPEAK SPANISH, CHECK ...
Jan 25, 2024•46 min
Congolese scholar Ribio Nzeza Bunketi Buse joins Rebecca to speak about the many sub-styles and evolutions within Congolese popular music over the past 60 years. While many in the West refer to the music as "soukous," that's only one specific style of rumba, which also includes rumba chachacha (Joseph Kabasele & African Jazz), rumba odemba (Franco Luambo & OK Jazz), rumba cavacha (Zaiko Langa Langa), and ndombolo (Wenge Musica, Koffi Olomide, Papa Wemba). Dr. Nzeza also explains the sign...
Jan 18, 2024•1 hr
Rebecca is joined by reggaeton scholar Petra Rivera-Rideau , who co-created the Bad Bunny Syllabus to provide historical and social context for Bad Bunny's music. His massive hit Un Verano Sin Tí was the most globally streamed album of 2022 and the first Spanish-language album to be nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys. We speak about what makes him such a unique, versatile artist, and then delve into the ways Cuban and Puerto Rican music have diverged in recent decades. Songs played: ...
Jan 11, 2024•1 hr
Franco-Haitian cultural influences in Cuba date back over two centuries, beginning with the "refugees" from the Haitian Revolution who fled to eastern Cuba in the early years of the 19th century. However, a much larger wave of Haitian migrants arrived in the first decades of the 20th century to fill labor shortages on sugar plantations, and most stayed. Anthropologist Grete Viddal joins Rebecca for an in-depth conversation on this history, the musical and religious practices migrants brought wit...
Dec 07, 2023•1 hr 14 min
Multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and educator Dr. John Calloway joins Rebecca to speak about the Cuban music scene in the Bay Area. Calloway has written for Grammy-nominated projects and recorded several of his own albums. He has spent 35 years as a music educator in San Francisco public schools and at San Francisco State University, founding the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble and the Afro-Cuban Ensemble at SF State. Songs played: Aprovecha que me voy, John Calloway Dime si te gusta, Jesús D...
Nov 30, 2023•57 min
