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Why ?.. because if you study "latin " rhythm, you would know that "4" is the stressed note in Cuban Son, which along with Clave, is the foundation for ALL latin rhythms.
The European "ear " has concentrated on the down beat forever ( it seems ) . |
| Cuban Son music and Clave is played in 8-beats cycle ( 1, & after 2,4,,6,7) and have no relation to international Rumba played in 4-beat cycle with step on 2,3,4. If you know the history of the int. rumba dance, you will see it is different to Cuban rumba
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The Q was " WHY " the 4 was dominant..
and, I was probably dancing and teaching indigenous ( and BR )latin rhythms, before you were born ( IN the States with latinos )also trained with Laird in the 40s, and, DO you know Intern. Rumbas origins, and its antecedent ? and its NOT danzon.
ALL indigenous latin, in the Rumba genre ( an umbrella term ) is Son and Clave driven.
If you have a dis agreement with this, then may I suggest you take your posit to Salsa Forums, where there has just been a discussion on this very topic,( Son ) by NY latin musicians.
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| In 1947 Mr. Pierre visited Havana, modified the Cuban Rumba which is played with 6 or 7 steps in a phrase (2 bars) of 8 beats. This Cuban Rumba is played with the Clave and Conga.. The modified Rumba (now is the int Rumba) is played only 3 steps in a bar of 4 beats. It is very different, can you dance int Rumba with the Clave? |
| To dance a Rumba we do not have to know what is a Clave or a Son. Leave that for the musicians. Most of them couldn't dance their way out of a paper bag. In 1947 the Rumba was that square thing which today would be considered a joke I used to have a tape by Doris Laval who with Pierre helped to standardize Competition Latin American.It only has a fleeting resemblence to todays Latin in particular the Rumba. Who among us can remember when The Rumba was played at 30 BPM. Today it is officially down to 25 BPM. |
| Thanks OZ and terrence2, maybe you are old people playing rumba for a long time. But the question " WHY the beat 4 was dominant" is still unclear. |
| Because thats the way the music is written.. the 4 , is stressed on Conga, Base and Tumbao .
It occurs on the 2nd bar ,of a 2 bar phrase. Latinos ,and the prof. teachers in Cuba ,teach that to their students .
There is a discussion ongoing in another site that, ALL latin music in the dance scene is Son based . Its been posited by some very well respected biographers ( latinos )ergo. "4" is the anchor, if you will .
Go to Salsa Forums.. there is a discussion on the Music section that ,has great detail on this subject. Its under" Son " .
To remember.. this rhythm structure ( Clave and Son ) has been around long before the dances we see today, were invented . |
| As per many times, and not unusual in the BR world, your lack of complete info is showing.
Firstly..The current form of Rumba was based upon 2 Americanised dances.. namely Bolero and Mambo . The ORIGINAL break pont in Mambo was taught on FOUR, and Bolero was "3".It changed in 46/47 to "2" .
The break in Mambo was changed to "2", primarily to co-incide with the clave strike on 2 of the 2nd bar ( as salsa is danced today and Son " which is 4 dominant " ).
So.. you only had half of the "story ". Most of the basic foundation steps in Bolero and Intern. style Rumba are identical, and, you can also add WCS as a contributor..
To add a little more confusion to the discussion, Rumba is really an all encompassing term ,and in reality ,is incorrect in its current usage .
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| That " square " thing, is the VERY foundation of a Cuban dance genre, namely Danzon, it, and Guaracha, are both forms of indigenous square Rumba styles still danced in Cuba ( and many exiled cubans in the States// also, taught in all the chain schools ). Intern. latin is about as far removed from its antecednet, as one can get.Its become a caricature .
And Im sure, you , like many others, believe that what you are dancing as " Rumba " is correct.. its a HYBRID . And by the way , I was trained in the UK style of BR and latin.. I only got my eyes opened , after moving to the US.
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| Many thanks for your knowlege sharing, terence2! I still have one question: Walter Laird said beat 2 in Rumba music is still dominant. Is this right? I still have doubt about something written in Walter Laird book, it is not repaired for a long time. |
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