Before I write about the rumba complex I want to analyse the difference between international dance forms that claim the title “Rumba” and the original Cuban dances as it is a great source of confusion even for people who actively try and make sense of the terminology. The biggest culprit of world-wide confusion around the subject is also the most documented and internationally famous dance which is also known by the description “Ballroom Rumba”, “International Rumba”. “Rhumba” (with an h) or “Latin Rumba”. Many of these descriptions can be combined to form extended descriptions such as “International Ballroom Rumba”, “Ballroom Latin Rumba” still referring to the same dance.
What is paradox about the history of Ballroom Rumba is the fact that even though it takes its name from a Cuban category of dance (Rumba) and is in fact based on a Cuban dance, it is not actually derived from Rumba but rather from the Cuban dance Son Cubano. The reason for this blatant affront to Cuban culture lies in a deplorable oversimplification of Cuban music which started with one of the most famous pieces of music ever created by a Cuban musician (Moisés Simons) called “El Manisero” or “The Peanut Vendor” in English. The song has been recorded more than 160 times and was the first authentic Cuban song that was played live in the USA when Don Azpiazú and his Havana Casino Orchestra performed at the New York Palace Theater in 1930. Unfortunately, when the recording was released in the U.S. by Victor Records it was categorised as rhumba-fox trot using not only the completely wrong musical category to describe this song but also misspelling rumba with an h.
It is lost in history as to who started to write rumba with an h or who first categorised other Latin songs under this name but certainly from the moment Victor Record adapted this approach to “The Peanut Vendor” the mistake was irreversible. The song became such a hit that for most people in the western world it was their first exposure to Cuban culture but instead of identifying it with son-pregón which would have been the correct musical category to choose they started thinking of this as rumba.
While this mistake was an act of complete ignorance at inception there is some evidence to suggest that even before “The Peanut Vendor” was mislabelled some North American sources were aware of the fact that the category “Rumba” for Latin music completely misrepresented a number of differing musical styles. However, the commercialisation of this misnomer certainly reached a tipping point when this single sold over a million times making it the first million-selling record of Latin music.
