Artists & Projects Directory
Los Muñequitos de Matanzas
Over more than 50 years, the musicians and dancers of Los
Muñequitos de Matanzas have become recognized as members of one of the most
vital ensembles to sustain and continue to popularize the African roots of
Cuban culture.
Los Muñequitos de Matanzas have toured extensively in Canada, Brazil,
the U.K., Europe and the U.S.
They have released five CDs on QbaDisc, including Los Muñequitos de Matanzas Live
in New York, recorded at Symphony Space on their wildly successful
debut U.S.
tour in 1992. In that ten-week tour to 16 U.S.
cities (organized by Dance Theater Workshop's Suitcase Fund), the group
performed their electrifying music and dance for sold-out houses at every stop
from D.C. to Detroit, from New
York to San Francisco,
with many people following the tour from city to city. The overwhelming
enthusiasm that greeted them and the continuing impact of their music and dance
resulted in four additional U.S.
tours, organized by and by MAPP International Productions in 1994, 1998, 1999
and 2002. In 1995 the group made its historic first visit to Puerto Rico where thousands turned out for their
performances.
The history of Los Muñequitos dates back to the first days of October 1952 when a group of young rumberos
found themselves enjoying their evening's rest in the bar "El Gallo"
in the city of Matanzas, which lies 60 miles east of Havana on Cuba's north
coast. They heard the chords of a son by Arsenio Rodriguez on
the bar's Victrola. Inspired by the rhythm and the contagious melody, they
began to play percussion on the counter, on the glasses and on the bottles,
accompanying Arsenio and his group. The other customers as well as passers-by
stopped to listen, and to the astonishment of the young men they received their
first applause.
In a rush of enthusiasm they decided to form a musical group to entertain on
Sundays and holidays at fiestas and barrio dances. They named their group Guaguancó
Matancero and agreed that each member would find a way to get
instruments made according to their respective means. They would interpret the
"Guaguancó," the contemporary rumba born in the dockside areas of Havana and Matanzas,
the patrimony of the humblest quarters of Cuban life. Once the group was
together with their instruments they began performing in barrios throughout Matanzas province.
In 1953 they were invited to perform in fiestas in the barrios of Old Havana
and Central Havana. Performances on
radio and television followed, and they recorded their first record for the
Puchito label, with "Los Beodos" on one side and "Los
Muñequitos" on the other. The lyrics of the latter
number told of characters in the comic strips that appeared in the weekend
newspapers. "Los
Muñequitos" was such a hit that the public of Havana
and Matanzas
renamed the group Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, the name by which they are now
known throughout the world.
In 1989, Los Muñequitos began to add ritual and religious music and stories to
their stage repertoire in addition to various forms of the rumba. These
range from pieces which represent the oldest form of African religious music
and ritual existing in Cuba today (such as Palo Kongo "Gangá" from
the Kongo or Bantu people, who began arriving in Cuba the early 1500's) as well
as the newest (such as Tambores, Cantos y Danza "Arará" of
the Arará slaves, who arrived as late as 1887).
Parts
excerpted from the Official Biography of Los Munequitos de Matanzas (with special thanks to Yvonne Daniel, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Dance and
Anthropology at Smith College and to Ned Sublette, author of Cuba and its
Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo and Executive Producer of
QbaDisc).