The ‘routes’ and ‘roots’ ofdanzón: a critique of the history of a genre

Abstract

In this article, I examine the history of a genre that spans several continents and several centuries. I bring together material from Mexico, Cuba, France and the UK to create anew, expand upon and critique the ‘standard’ histories of danzón narrated by Mexico's danzón experts (and others). In these ‘standard’ histories, origins and nationality are key to the constitution of genres which are racialised and moralised for political ends. Danzón, its antecedents and successors are treated as generic equivalents despite being quite different. From the danzón on, these genres are positioned as being the products of individual, male originators (and their nations). ‘Africa’ is treated as a conceptual nation, and ‘Africanness’ as something extra which racialises hegemonic European music-dance forms. Political leanings and strategies determine whether these music-dance forms are interpreted, adopted or co-opted as being ‘black’ or ‘white’.

Aficionados, Academics, and Danzón Expertise: Exploring Hierarchies in Popular Music Knowledge Production

“…Its popularity waned slightly in the 1960s and 1970s, and from the 1980s people talked about "rescuing" danzón, formalizing its transmission and choreography, and ritualizing its performance in spectacles. Demand for talks rose during the late 1980s and 1990s, as a form of danzón revival spread throughout urban Mexico, attracting thousands of new 50-plus-year-old dancers, and some younger people (see Malcomson 2012). This revival was primarily spurred by the formation of dance groups, the decentralization of Mexican cultural institutions, and María Novaro's acclaimed and widely-disseminated film, Danzón (1991).…”

“…This revival was primarily spurred by the formation of dance groups, the decentralization of Mexican cultural institutions, and María Novaro's acclaimed and widely-disseminated film, Danzón (1991). Although danzón had been overshadowed by tropes of Mexican nationalism before the 1980s (Malcomson 2010a), it was then that it became more explicitly entangled with the cultural nationalism that had transformed many regional "folkloric" music-dance forms earlier in the century. As Turino (2003) explores, regional Mexican folkloric music-dance forms were performed in schools, on stages and in the media, forming a canon over time where each regional form came to index the nation.…”

“…However, some dancers, particularly in Mexico City and the Port of Veracruz, opted not to join groups and continued to perform in the older dance style (see Malcomson 2010b). The music did not change as much as the dance, and mostly male, lower-class musicians continued to perform danzón.…”

Making claims on echoes: Dranem, Cole Porter and the biguine between the Antilles, France and the US

“…If none of these songs is technically a biguine in musical terms, as Hettie Malcomson asks, through what dimension of musical practice does one define the boundaries of a genre? ‘[S]hould the invention of a genre (such as mambo ) be characterised by: instrumentation; orchestration; rhythmic, harmonic or melodic strategies; a notated version of these; a name; or other markers?’ (Malcomson 2011, p. 268) We can see that the boundaries of a genre's discourse can extend completely beyond the musical or choreographic dimensions of the genre itself. Considering all these versions of ‘the biguine’, we can see the way the genre and its cultural practice served as a meeting place – between cultural traditions, beyond the boundaries of continental French, beyond the French West Indies.…”

New generations, older bodies:danzón, age and ‘cultural rescue’ in the Port of Veracruz, Mexico

“…Danzón , a precursor of the mambo and the cha-cha-chá , emerged in Cuba in the 19th century and, like other fashionable genres, was soon performed in Mexico and beyond (as I discuss more extensively elsewhere, Malcomson 2011). Danzón was particularly popular in Mexico's Gulf coast Port of Veracruz and in the capital.…”