Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean - Temple University
Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean - Temple University
Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean - Temple University
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Introduction 17<br />
In certa<strong>in</strong> contexts, <strong>the</strong> musical and choreographic aspects of <strong>the</strong> contradance<br />
and quadrille styles have seem<strong>in</strong>gly operated <strong>in</strong>dependently of each<br />
o<strong>the</strong>r. In <strong>the</strong> 1840s–50s, spirited campaigns were waged <strong>in</strong> Puerto Rico and<br />
<strong>the</strong> Dom<strong>in</strong>ican Republic aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>the</strong> merengue as a dance form, but its evidently<br />
dist<strong>in</strong>ctive music was not seen as objectionable. Meanwhile, such genres<br />
as tumba francesa and certa<strong>in</strong> styles of West Indian quadrille comb<strong>in</strong>e patently<br />
European-style choreographies with syncopated, drum-dom<strong>in</strong>ated music of<br />
overwhelm<strong>in</strong>gly Afro-<strong>Caribbean</strong> flavor. In o<strong>the</strong>r contexts, forms of <strong>the</strong> contradance—especially<br />
Cuban and Puerto Rican light-classical piano danzas—<br />
took on <strong>the</strong>ir own lives <strong>in</strong>dependent of dance, as salon or concert pieces, <strong>in</strong><br />
which capacity <strong>the</strong>y can be enjoyed today as performed from notations. On<br />
<strong>the</strong> whole, however, <strong>the</strong> contradance and quadrille as musical entities tended<br />
to develop <strong>in</strong> tandem with <strong>the</strong>ir existence as dance genres, exhibit<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> same<br />
general processes of creolization and <strong>in</strong>digenization, and <strong>the</strong> same sorts of orientations,<br />
depend<strong>in</strong>g on context, toward class, race, and local or panregional<br />
characters.<br />
Dur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>ir heydays—especially <strong>the</strong> n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century—local contradance<br />
and quadrille styles were often pre-em<strong>in</strong>ent music genres, constitut<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>the</strong> focuses of musical <strong>in</strong>terest for many <strong>Caribbean</strong> composers, performers,<br />
and listeners. At <strong>the</strong> same time, as dance-music genres <strong>the</strong>y also coexisted<br />
with a variety of o<strong>the</strong>r dance-music styles, whose presence is sometimes<br />
obscured <strong>in</strong> studies devoted to <strong>the</strong> contradance or quadrille. At one end of<br />
<strong>the</strong> <strong>Caribbean</strong> music spectrum flourished <strong>the</strong> varied Afro-<strong>Caribbean</strong> or neo-<br />
African dance-music genres, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g those associated with Haitian Vodou,<br />
Jamaican Kum<strong>in</strong>a, or Cuban Santería, or <strong>the</strong> diverse secular enterta<strong>in</strong>ment<br />
dance musics, such as Cuban rumba, Puerto Rican bomba, Dom<strong>in</strong>ican palo,<br />
or <strong>the</strong> “big drum” music of Carriacou. As music forms, such genres exhibited a<br />
strongly Afro-<strong>Caribbean</strong> flavor <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir emphasis on syncopated rhythm, <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
formal structures based on repetition of ost<strong>in</strong>atos and call-and-response patterns,<br />
and <strong>the</strong>ir ensembles consist<strong>in</strong>g solely of percussion <strong>in</strong>struments—most<br />
typically, three drums. At <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r end of <strong>the</strong> sociomusical gamut lay music of<br />
purely classical European style or orig<strong>in</strong>, from <strong>the</strong> motets of eighteenth-century<br />
Cuban composer Esteban Salas to <strong>the</strong> Italian operas performed <strong>in</strong> various port<br />
towns by local or visit<strong>in</strong>g troupes. On <strong>the</strong> whole, contradance and, to a lesser<br />
extent, quadrille flourished <strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>termediate stratum of social dance music<br />
<strong>in</strong> which European and African, black and white, and elite and plebian participants<br />
m<strong>in</strong>gled and <strong>in</strong>spired each o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>in</strong> a grand process of creolization.<br />
The realm of colonial-era social dance music <strong>in</strong>cluded various genres that<br />
were quite dist<strong>in</strong>ct from <strong>the</strong> contradance <strong>in</strong> orig<strong>in</strong> and style. One example<br />
would be <strong>the</strong> Cuban zapateo, with its Spanish-derived str<strong>in</strong>g-based <strong>in</strong>strumentation,<br />
modal-t<strong>in</strong>ged melodies, and fast, hemiola-laden rhythms <strong>in</strong> 6/8 meter.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> French and Spanish <strong>Caribbean</strong>, strictly European-style genres, such as<br />
waltz (vals), rigodón, paso doble, polka, schottische, lanceros, mazurka, and