Clave (Part 1) – Introduction to Clave

Claves are concussion idiophones which are pivotal to Cuban music. They are mainly used to produce a guide-pattern known as clave throughout a given song. The clave rhythm has been incorporated into western pieces such as the song “Desire” by U2 or “Mona” by the Rolling Stones but they are predominantly used in African and Latin-American music.

The instruments are two sticks which tend to be between 20cm and 30cm long and were traditionally made of hardwood such as rosewood, granadilla, mahogany, teak or ebony. In modern times they are also made of fibreglass, metal or plastics. These sticks are hit together to produce a distinct sharp sound by holding them in such a way that the wood is allowed to resonate. The technique of holding claves can optimise the sound they produce and usually involves holding the claves with the fingertips and making a hollow with the hand holding the bottom clave stick to enhance its resonance. When playing this instrument, the resting clave at the bottom is called la hembra ("the female") and the one which is striking is called el macho ("the male") while the person playing the clave is sometimes referred to as clavero.

Claves can be of equal size or asymmetrical with one of them being larger and hollow containing a cut-away sound chamber. The hollow claves are sometimes marketed as “African Claves” although this is a neologism that has no historical base as all types of claves are believed to have originated in Africa.

The clave pattern is thought to have originated in the music traditions of sub-Saharan societies and the word “clave” can be translated as “key” from Spanish to represent a key pattern that holds the rhythm together throughout a song. According to Fernando Ortiz the name originally derived from “clavija,” meaning wooden peg which reflects the instruments used to play the pattern. This being said it is to date impossible to determine the exact origin of clave historically as well as geographically, and some scholars have suggested that the rhythm itself is one of the oldest rhythms in existence and that it may have originated not only in one place but rather as a result of polygenesis i.e. independent discoveries of this rhythm in different places at different times. While some of the earliest records point to an origin in Africa, clave became an intrinsic part of Cuban music with the arrival of the 700,000 African slaves deported to Cuba during the 1770s.

Our Company Name & Logo

Choosing a name and a logo for a new company is never a straight forward endeavour. It is the first thing people will connect with when joining a new school and any goodwill generated through the successful operation of the business will become directly associated with both the name and the logo in the long run.

While we might be teaching different styles of dances in the future, our school is centred on Cuban salsa so it seemed natural to give it a salsa related name. The only problem with that was the plethora of schools with salsa in their title. It seemed like any name we could come up with already existed somewhere and to add yet another school with a salsa based title to the mix would make it nearly impossible to differentiate our teachings.

Eventually we came up with the name “Tiempo España Dance Academy” as it appealed to us in various ways:

-          “Tiempo España” is the name of a formation in Cuban Salsa which uses the close-hold and is generally danced at the start of a song both for dancing in pairs as well as in Rueda. This is one of our favourite dance positions and as a result we teach more moves in the Tiempo España position than any other school we have come across so far.

-          While the name “Tiempo España” is not grammatically correct from a Spanish linguistic perspective, we like the way it looks and sounds and it is generally easy to pronounce and remember even for people who have no connection to the Spanish language. The name is not to be taken as a Spanish expression but rather as a reference to the aforementioned dance position called “Tiempo España” (we will elaborate in a later post why there are grammatical inconsistencies between dance moves with Spanish names and the Spanish language).

-          The origin of the name Tiempo España lies in the way this dance move was introduced to Cuba.

Salsa has a very rich history which has been influenced by many dances over various time periods. African and European dance influences were the main contributors to the Casino dance that emerged in Cuba in the 1950s. The close hold in dancing had been introduced to Cuba by the European colonialists in the form of Waltz which they danced on the island as early as 1814. There is evidence to suggest that it influenced the way Guaracha was danced but the popularity of this close-hold increased significantly with the development of Danzón in 1879 and its subsequent influence on Son and Casino. While the term Tiempo España refers to the time of Spanish colonial control that plagued the island when the close hold was introduced into Cuban dancing, it is a somewhat misleading description as it is likely that the French rather than the Spanish brought Waltz to Cuba, possibly as a result of the Haitian revolution. Nevertheless, as the Spanish were the colonialists in power at the time, most western cultural influences became linked to their control and therefore Tiempo España can be understood as a general description of the new way of dancing which Cubans discovered from the Western world i.e. the close hold form of dancing.

Cuban salsa can be danced in close hold as well as open hold and Tiempo España has evolved to refer to the close hold as opposed to “Guapea” based dancing which is Cuban salsa danced in open hold.

Calling our school Tiempo España Dance Academy not only reflects the fascinating history of Cuban salsa in our company name but also draws a parallel to the idea of the European influence on Cuban salsa juxtaposed with the popularity Cuban salsa now has in Europe which has allowed us to open our dance school in the UK.

Our logo comprises of two dancers which perform exibela, one of the main moves that are done in the Tiempo España formation, as well as a clock face combined with the Spanish flag to symbolise “Tiempo” and “España” respectively.

Casino vs. Cuban Salsa (Part 2)

As discussed in the previous article there is a huge debate on whether Casino as a dance should be allowed to be called such names as “Cuban salsa”, “Salsa a la cubana” etc. To the beginner Casino dancer this may seem a rather pointless pursuit of semantic purity but to the more advanced student the significance of this discussion will already be clear.

I have heard of cases where people being asked to dance Casino responded “sorry, I only dance Cuban salsa”. On the one hand, this level of ignorance is quite embarrassing if they have spent a lot of time trying to get good at something but fail to know what their hobby is actually called, on the other hand, it becomes an even more serious problem if the person asking the question does not realise that both parties are talking about the same dance and walks away.

On the other side of the scale, I have seen students so proud of their historical knowledge that they will not attend courses advertised as “Cuban salsa”. While this might seem extreme, it happens relatively frequently as the modern Casino dance field is completely unregulated and non-standardised with a plethora of so called “cowboy” instructors teaching the dance without having had much training or an in-depth understanding of the dance. More advanced students therefore sometimes view classes advertised as “Cuban salsa” to be an indication that the instructor does not even know what the dance they teach is called or even worse, they have that knowledge but choose to ignore it in order to appeal to the masses with the catchy “salsa” term being thrown into their marketing strategy.

Finally, criticism has emerged on whether it is correct to call something “Cuban salsa” when the vast majority of people practicing this dance are not Cuban. While the name makes reference to the geogra
phical and cultural origin of the dance, Casino is an ever-evolving dance with new figures being introduced all the time from people all around the world. Therefore while the original idea came from Cuba, where Cubans were dancing a specific subset of today’s moves, it is now being danced by people with all kinds of nationalities in most parts of the world with new moves being invented predominantly outside of Cuba. 

At Tiempo España Dance Academy we use the terms “Casino” and “Cuban salsa” interchangeably. Whichever term we use, we are not trying to make any political statements or mislead people with marketing terminology that we know to be incorrect. While we are aware of the aforementioned problems and respect people’s view regarding the originality regarding “Casino” we strongly believe that this is a discussion of the past. There might have been a time when arguing for one terminology or another would have resulted in an internationally recognised name but given the usage popularity in today’s world we have to accept that there are now various names that can be used for this dance which are used frequently and synonymously. I.e. while we prefer the term Casino for its historical purity we have to recognise that most people will call the dance Cuban salsa which has entered the English language as an acceptable term being mentioned in this form by various dictionaries. For instance the wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa_dance_%28Cuban_style%29 shows that these words are now completely equivalent notwithstanding the historical path they took to become part of the language.