Rumba (Part 11)

In 1950 a new musical genre appeared in Spain that originated in Barcelona’s neighbourhoods particularly in Gràcia and Raval. The genre was developed by the Romani community who combined gypsy music, Rock’N’Roll, pop and Rumba Flamenca.

While this musical style has often been wrongly classified as Flamenco, Rock’N’Roll or pop it is a separate musical genre with its own identity that is often seen as one of Catalonia’s most significant cultural achievements of the 20th century. Many Romani have long fought for this musical style to be given the recognition it deserves against the commonplace misclassification of this style as a “Flamenco”. It would be an affront to proponents of this style that has finally achieved international recognition to call it Catalan Rock’N’Roll, Catalan Pop or Catalan Flamenco and all of these titles would be equally wrong in that they would focus on just one musical aspect that influenced this genre rather than recognising it as a new style in its own right. Instead, surprisingly, the term “Rumba” Catalana has become the title of this genre although the terms Rumba Gitana, Rumba Española or simply Rumba have also been used to describe it. All of these terms categorise it as a derivative of Rumba which is factually further from the truth than classifying it as Flamenco or Rock’N’Roll given that the influence of Rumba on this style is tangential at best.

The reason for this deplorable title is that it is seen as closely connected to Rumba Flamenca (another misnomer that should not be referred to as Rumba as discussed in the previous post) but it is not a Flamenco itself. To differentiate the genre from the genre that influenced it “Rumba Flamenca” while illustrating that these genres are connected, the term Flamenca was dropped but the term Rumba remained. The focus was on making sure that people would not confuse different types of Western musical genres but borrowing the title of an Afro-Cuban genre to describe something entirely different was once again not seen as problematic or controversial.

This dilution of the word Rumba meant that with the popularity of Rumba Catalana the word Rumba became more and more associated with musical styles that had next to nothing in common with the original Rumba complex. Particularly in Spain the word Rumba has been used since the end of the 20th century to talk about any derivative of Catalan Rumba such as styles including hip-hop, funk, soul and tecno elements. New titles such as “Rumba Pop”, Tecno-Rumba”, etc. were coined to further differentiate these styles from Rumba Catalana and Rumba Flamenca making the definition of “Rumba” in the Western world increasingly less clear.

Rumba (Part 10)

It is possible that the original Rumba in Cuba as well as Guaracha were influenced to some extent by Flamenco, a dance of Andalusian origin dating back to the 18th century, through the Spanish colonization of Cuba. Spanish colonialists continued to play Flamenco during their entire rule and as well as having an impact on some of the Cuban music and dance elements, eventually the Cuban products that emerged had influenced in turn the Flamenco of Spanish colonists. This type of Flamenco was imported back to Spain, reaching Andalusia in the 19th century where it was referred to as “Rumba Flamenca” or simply “Rumba” by the Spanish to distinguish it from other types of Flamenco.

Rumba Flamenca music is often referred to as a “cante de ida y vuelta” (roundtrip songs) as it is a type of Spanish music that influenced the music in the new world which in turn influenced the Spanish music itself. In this sense the description “Rumba” for this type of music as a reference to the original Cuban Rumba complex is certainly more justified than some of the other western products this description has been used for. However, the specific influence of Flamenco on Rumba is highly debated and minimal at best when comparing it with the influence of Flamenco on other Cuban musical elements. Similarly, while Rumba Flamenca contains some traces of Rumba as well as Son Cubano, musicologists agree that this type of music was predominantly influenced by Guaracha rather than Rumba.

The dance that became known as Rumba Flamenca is essentially of Catalan origin although it is more flirtatious and sexual than other styles of flamenco so this is often seen as the Cuban influence on this style possibly from Rumba.

Whichever way one looks at the history of Rumba Flamenca, the categorization of this music and dance form as “Rumba” is once again regrettable and misleading when it contains at best minor influences from the original Cuban Rumba complex and is more closely related to other Cuban musical and dance styles such as Guaracha. Many Spaniards refer to this genre simply by the term “Rumba” rather than “Rumba Flamenca” adding to the confusion as people quickly believe this form to be the original form of Rumba when they hear it without a modifier. The descriptions gypsy rumba and Spanish rumba may also be heard in this context but this creates further ambiguity as they are more widely used to mean Catalan rumba as discussed in the next post of this blog series.