How Did Afro-Cuban Culture Change

Ashanté Charles

4U

Ms. Hauch

November 13th, 2017

The term Afro - Cuban refers to Cubans of mostly West African ancestry and, consist of four major ethnic groups of the African population; Bantu, Yoruba, Igbo, and Arara. This convergence of African and Cuban descent was prompted by the slave trade, thousands of Africans were transported to Cuba. The people of Cuba were reluctant to accept the cultural and religious beliefs of Africans into their nation. Soon oppression commenced in the West African community, and all religious and cultural practices were prohibited and rebuked.

Through the many years of oppression and slavery, Cuban’s eventually welcomed the African community. This change was introduced by an “artistic and social movement,

There is no specific genre that is played, the rhythm, tempo, sound levels and beats of the drums being played are what makes their music one of a kind. In addition drums played by men while the women dance, also drums are meant to be performed at a certain ritual, ceremony, and celebration. Sometimes someone would sing over the drums, the group of female dancers would be performing. There is a huge family of drums, which are used to communicate with the dancer’s, one example is bata drums, the dancer's body is supposed to react through the drumming. In an article about Yoruba bata drums, it says, “ The rhythms and sounds of the bata drums dictate the dancers' movements, and different Bata drums correspond to different areas of the body. Rhythms communicated through the large and medium drums relate to the shoulders and chest, while rhythms communicated by the smallest drum signal dancers to move their waist, [the torso, arms] hips, and feet.” Every part of the body reacts, the drums are almost connected to the body. The strong influenced by the Africans hardships of slavery and oppression are used in the dance to tell stories of their ancestors and historical past, using expressive movement through the rhythm of the batá drums, to convey

The long skirt receives most of the attention, which is in fact used as a prop in the dance, one-hundred percent of the time, the dancers grip remains on their skirts as they physically interact with them while dancing. These skirts are long, flowy and offered in various colors and styles. The females would hold onto both sides of the skirts, swaying them side to side as they jump, rise and twirl around, and as they move their skirts with the rhythm it ripples. Men also have their own costume; they would wear either a shirt, sleeveless vests, hat, dress shirt, and pants. Costumes distinctly relate to the certain style of dance that is chosen to be performed. During ceremonial performances, their costumes are more decorative and