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Beyond the Archive: The Cabrera-Tarafa Collection of Afro-Cuban Music, circa 1956: Congo and Gangá Songs. Florinda Diago and family.

Beyond the Archive: The Cabrera-Tarafa Collection of Afro-Cuban Music, circa 1956
Congo and Gangá Songs. Florinda Diago and family.
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table of contents
  1. Beyond the Archive: The Cabrera-Tarafa Collection of Afro-Cuban Music, circa 1956
  2. An Introduction to the Collection
  3. Música de los cultos africanos en Cuba (Music of the African Cults in Cuba): The Liner Notes
    1. Oro. Marcos Portillo Domínguez [Até Borá] and ensemble.
    2. Rezos. Fernando Hernández, Inés Sotomayor, and Domingo Hernández.
    3. “Guarachitas” para los Orishas (Instrumental Batá Drumming). Miguel Santa Cruz, Gustavo Díaz, and Juan González.
    4. Songs for Osain. Cándido Martínez, Baba orisha from Havana.
    5. Oro. Inés Sotomayor and Ensemble.
    6. Oro de Tambores (Batá Drum Instrumental Oro). Miguel Santa Cruz, Gustavo Díaz, and Juan González.
    7. Oro (Batá Drums with Chorus). Cándido Martínez, Antonio Alberiche, chorus, and the Batá drums of Miguel Santa Cruz and Juan González.
    8. Moforibale. Palo Gangá Ñongobá. Cantos de Palo. Congo Musunde and Gangá. Florinda Pastor, Agustín Diago, and ensemble.
    9. Oro. Silvino Baró, M. Catalá, S. Rodríguez, R. Viart.
    10. Mayimbi. Toque de Palo. Silvino Baró, Martín Catalá, Sergio Rodríguez, and Rodolfo Viart.
    11. Canto Lucumí. Silvino Baró, Martín Catalá, Sergio Rodríguez, and Rodolfo Viart.
    12. Cantos Arará. Silvino Baró, Martín Catalá, Sergio Rodríguez, and Rodolfo Viart.
    13. Rezos. Petronila Hernández.
    14. Babaluayé. A. Alberiche.
    15. Bembé & Tambores (Instrumental Drumming). Domingo Hernández, Marcelo Carreras, Ángel Rolando, and Domingo Hernández, hijo. Tambores and guataca.
    16. Oro. Alberto Yenkins (Yin) and ensemble.
    17. Itutu. Fernando Hernández and ensemble.
    18. Oro. Cándido Mártinez and ensemble.
    19. Congo and Gangá Songs. Florinda Diago and family.
    20. About This Site.

Disc 14 Side A (24’51”)

Congo and Gangá Songs.[1] Florinda Diago and family.

Changó lo ún meló. Changó charó meló

Don Antonio Guinda Guinda kerebénde ché uré.

Oyá yá yá yá obé obé obé koriyanyeo omá.

Ñamuñale tokota sokora yo

y aré tá cuello.

Añó, añó, añó bé wa vá comé pan.

A china réngua arengue china, chin

lo quiero abaó.

Oba ó china yáweo.

Marengue eri wá Cholá akerebén kerebenkerebenguenguén.

Muchacho i e muchacho, arí bongó

Guirigui tongó un méne méne ó.

Yari yámbo bon bón bó.

E! lo yéngueré[2] gatibó má otokúe bindo

Talango oyendo va un tengue agüe.

Kinyá ochobá kinyaó mengüengue ya kuá ti mama yana.

Gondó keré keré que niña má bonita, no hay saya má bonita que Oyá.

Mariguánga Sóya[3].

que quiere comá, (Oyá)

Wai wánde wanioo wanioo wai sandé.

Sandemania ngoró ma bó.

Umbé amambé core mámba

tángu lémbe. (Mámba: Madre Agua).[4]

Vamo tuñé tuñé a casa Mangoya.

(Bidding farewell to the deceased who is going to “casa Mangoya,” the cemetery.)

Disc 14 Side B (26’31”)

Chémbe yán güe i o aomaó kere bá yubá.

Silencio morilé, vamo llorá mori lé ma yá yá se acabó.

Inglé inglé inglé son de baina camino carretero.

Dónya Dónya Sónya, dorán yo, ¿pasado mañana si yo me muere quien mendora yó?

Kikiriwé mia so wé yo.

Banglé, yengue iban gleo.

Iyengue para bu bana, yo manda pá bi bana.

Bán koromá é ñénguere ñénguere ban koro maé.

Yao gómbe ya ó vá lloré

Oyá yá yá yambu kere

ya lloro.

Guéngue unché yamba uma uché, no me gusta criollo bozal.

Mamba chó wanguengue Kende yao kende yao.

Llama ó ó ó a Tá Kongo.

E wéngue se me sale loriné,

Oyá lofé mandingé fati ueno

Kaonani kamulengue.

All of these songs, like the previous ones by the Diago family (Disc 6-1 and 6-2), mix together Castillian Spanish words as they would be pronounced by negros bozales, and many Black people in the countryside speak like bozales. They are funerary songs for a wake, “to mourn, cry, and bid the muertos farewell.”

  1. DF-N: cf. Christopher 2013, et al. ↑

  2. DF-N: Cabrera’s use of two diacritical accents in one word is unorthodox in terms of Spanish orthography. This tiny typographic detail — informed by her lifelong, virtuosic relationship to the written word — suggests an experimental approach to Spanish orthography which conveys stress and/or — more ambiguously — tonality (e.g., YEN-geh-REH and/or High-Low-High). cf. Cabrera (2023). Compared to El Monte, published only a few years earlier, Cabrera’s use of diacritical accents here demonstrates 1) a more acute sensitivity to transcribing/transliterating musical and/or tonal language, and/or 2) a keener awareness of modern standard Yorùbá orthography. ↑

  3. DF-N: In Spanish orthography, Cabrera’s use of a diacritical accent is sometimes redundant (e.g., Sóya, Sónya, etc.), often suggesting an experimental approach to transliteration that emphasizes the stress and/or tonal contours of language — that is, its audible, musical qualities of language. ↑

  4. DF-N: Analogous to Mami Wata. [cf. ***.] ↑

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