RUMBA A PANCHO QUINTO *pics inside* - One year since his death. We pay homage.
46 posts
• Page 1 of 4 • 1, 2, 3, 4
by ABAKUA » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:02 pm
Today February 11, 2006 marks 1 year since the passing away of Pancho Quinto.
A small group of local rumberos and dancers got together today as we organised a day of rememberance and celebration, paying homage to the life of un gran Rumbero.
Below are pics from today.
Francisco Mora, better known as Pancho Quinto, passed away on 11 February 2005, from complications resulting from several strokes he had suffered in recent days. Pancho will be remembered as a pioneer in Cuban music for his innovations in the use of traditional instruments and rhythms. His career spanned six decades, and he started as an apprentice drummer studying the traditional rhythms and songs played on the bata drums from the Yoruba tradition, retained and passed on in Cuba over centuries. Pancho ultimately attained the status of a master drummer or ‘Olubata’. His spiritual and musical expertise allowed him to play the sacred bata drums in religious ceremonies, and he taught hundreds of others complex drumming and the traditional methods of making drums. Later he was instrumental in sparking a rumba renaissance in the late 1980s in Cuba and collaborating and working with many of the new emerging groups such as Clave Y Guaguanco, Raices Profundas and Yoruba Andabo.
A veteran dockworker, Pancho was very proud of his work as a skilled crane operator in the Havana port, where he and his fellow dockworkers/musicians played drums, sang and danced as they waited in between ships. Workers from different neighbourhoods both competed and shared their knowledge with each other on the Havana docks, which were a hotbed of musical activity during the 1940s and 1950s. Pancho participated in many of the carnival groups that paraded down the Prado in Old Havana with vibrant costumes, drawing inspiration from African traditions. In the early 1950s, Pancho recorded the classic song ‘Nuevo Ritmo Omelenco’ with Celia Cruz and Sonora Matancera, one of the first popular recordings to feature bata drums. He frequently performed impromptu rumbas in the solares of Havana and was the bata drummer of choice for many powerful santeros.
After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Pancho Quinto was chosen as one of the founding members of the newly formed Conjunto Folkloric Nacional in the early 1960s. He left shortly after, as the institutional nature of the group didn’t sit well with his restless personality. Back on the docks, he became part of percussion groups organized through the Dock Workers Union and performed frequently with Merceditas Valdes, one of Cuba’s most prolific performers of traditional Yoruba music. Pancho mastered many of the different rhythmic traditions associated with the variety of African religions in Cuba-Abacua, Palo Monte and Arara. He became one of the innovators in the ever-evolving rumba tradition that blended many of these religious music forms with popular music. He was a pioneer in the incorporation of bata drums into the rumba along with many other rhythmic elements in a style called guarapchangueo. He also pioneered the use of the cajón, a wooden box used by dockworkers and neighbourhood percussion groups as a drum in rumba jam sessions. The group Yoruba Andabo, which emerged in the late 1980’s accompanying Merceditas Valdes, made this style popular.
In the 1990s, Pancho began performing in many new musical contexts, collaborating and touring with Canadian saxophonist Jane Bunnett, Cuban flautist Maraca and many other new percussion ensembles that emerged in Cuba. Generous with his knowledge, Pancho Quinto taught thousands of Cubans and many foreigners, who had sought him out from Germany, Spain, Mexico and other places.
Pancho Quinto: Rumbero Sin Fronteras
In 1995, Robert Leaver and Greg Landau invited Pancho to record his first solo record with his own dream team of percussionists and singers. This recording highlighted his percussion innovations and his fusion of many different styles and influences. In 1998, he toured the United States with his group performing in New York, New Orleans, Lafayette and California. During the tour, he recorded an album for Leaver and Landau – Rumba Sin Fronteras (‘Rumba Without Borders’) – that brought together John Santos, Omar Sosa and Octavio Rodriguez in a ground breaking fusion of rhythms and musical styles from the African Diaspora. ‘La Gorra’, featured on Rumba Sin Fronteras, is a unique combination of funk and Pancho’s guarapachangueo. His many recordings with Jane Bunnett also highlight the virtuosity and innovation in Pancho’s playing and the rhythmic concepts he introduced into Cuban music.
Pancho Quinto will be missed for his positive spirit, his generosity and his groundbreaking contributions to Cuban percussion. His work should stand with other musical pioneers such as Charlie Parker, Chano Pozo and Miles Davis, who brought fresh musical concepts to the world.
This is a pic I took of a photo we pasted onto the main wall where we held the rumba.
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2552.JPG
A small group of local rumberos and dancers got together today as we organised a day of rememberance and celebration, paying homage to the life of un gran Rumbero.
Below are pics from today.
Francisco Mora, better known as Pancho Quinto, passed away on 11 February 2005, from complications resulting from several strokes he had suffered in recent days. Pancho will be remembered as a pioneer in Cuban music for his innovations in the use of traditional instruments and rhythms. His career spanned six decades, and he started as an apprentice drummer studying the traditional rhythms and songs played on the bata drums from the Yoruba tradition, retained and passed on in Cuba over centuries. Pancho ultimately attained the status of a master drummer or ‘Olubata’. His spiritual and musical expertise allowed him to play the sacred bata drums in religious ceremonies, and he taught hundreds of others complex drumming and the traditional methods of making drums. Later he was instrumental in sparking a rumba renaissance in the late 1980s in Cuba and collaborating and working with many of the new emerging groups such as Clave Y Guaguanco, Raices Profundas and Yoruba Andabo.
A veteran dockworker, Pancho was very proud of his work as a skilled crane operator in the Havana port, where he and his fellow dockworkers/musicians played drums, sang and danced as they waited in between ships. Workers from different neighbourhoods both competed and shared their knowledge with each other on the Havana docks, which were a hotbed of musical activity during the 1940s and 1950s. Pancho participated in many of the carnival groups that paraded down the Prado in Old Havana with vibrant costumes, drawing inspiration from African traditions. In the early 1950s, Pancho recorded the classic song ‘Nuevo Ritmo Omelenco’ with Celia Cruz and Sonora Matancera, one of the first popular recordings to feature bata drums. He frequently performed impromptu rumbas in the solares of Havana and was the bata drummer of choice for many powerful santeros.
After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Pancho Quinto was chosen as one of the founding members of the newly formed Conjunto Folkloric Nacional in the early 1960s. He left shortly after, as the institutional nature of the group didn’t sit well with his restless personality. Back on the docks, he became part of percussion groups organized through the Dock Workers Union and performed frequently with Merceditas Valdes, one of Cuba’s most prolific performers of traditional Yoruba music. Pancho mastered many of the different rhythmic traditions associated with the variety of African religions in Cuba-Abacua, Palo Monte and Arara. He became one of the innovators in the ever-evolving rumba tradition that blended many of these religious music forms with popular music. He was a pioneer in the incorporation of bata drums into the rumba along with many other rhythmic elements in a style called guarapchangueo. He also pioneered the use of the cajón, a wooden box used by dockworkers and neighbourhood percussion groups as a drum in rumba jam sessions. The group Yoruba Andabo, which emerged in the late 1980’s accompanying Merceditas Valdes, made this style popular.
In the 1990s, Pancho began performing in many new musical contexts, collaborating and touring with Canadian saxophonist Jane Bunnett, Cuban flautist Maraca and many other new percussion ensembles that emerged in Cuba. Generous with his knowledge, Pancho Quinto taught thousands of Cubans and many foreigners, who had sought him out from Germany, Spain, Mexico and other places.
Pancho Quinto: Rumbero Sin Fronteras
In 1995, Robert Leaver and Greg Landau invited Pancho to record his first solo record with his own dream team of percussionists and singers. This recording highlighted his percussion innovations and his fusion of many different styles and influences. In 1998, he toured the United States with his group performing in New York, New Orleans, Lafayette and California. During the tour, he recorded an album for Leaver and Landau – Rumba Sin Fronteras (‘Rumba Without Borders’) – that brought together John Santos, Omar Sosa and Octavio Rodriguez in a ground breaking fusion of rhythms and musical styles from the African Diaspora. ‘La Gorra’, featured on Rumba Sin Fronteras, is a unique combination of funk and Pancho’s guarapachangueo. His many recordings with Jane Bunnett also highlight the virtuosity and innovation in Pancho’s playing and the rhythmic concepts he introduced into Cuban music.
Pancho Quinto will be missed for his positive spirit, his generosity and his groundbreaking contributions to Cuban percussion. His work should stand with other musical pioneers such as Charlie Parker, Chano Pozo and Miles Davis, who brought fresh musical concepts to the world.
This is a pic I took of a photo we pasted onto the main wall where we held the rumba.
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2552.JPG
-
ABAKUA - Site Admin
- Posts: 3189
- Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:59 pm
- Location: Earth
by ABAKUA » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:06 pm
Carlos on clave/canto, Steve on Super Tumba, myself on 3 golpes, Dominic (aged 14) on quinto.
Edited By ABAKUA on 1139708089
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2555.JPG
Edited By ABAKUA on 1139708089
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2555.JPG
-
ABAKUA - Site Admin
- Posts: 3189
- Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:59 pm
- Location: Earth
by ABAKUA » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:07 pm
Osvaldo joins in with some cantos...
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2561.JPG
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2561.JPG
-
ABAKUA - Site Admin
- Posts: 3189
- Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:59 pm
- Location: Earth
by ABAKUA » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:08 pm
Carlos and Osvaldo chilling between rumbas inside... (was very hot outside!)
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2564.JPG
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2564.JPG
-
ABAKUA - Site Admin
- Posts: 3189
- Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:59 pm
- Location: Earth
by ABAKUA » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:09 pm
Cindy on clave... Dont let the girl image fool you! She is pure rumbera!
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2565.JPG
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2565.JPG
-
ABAKUA - Site Admin
- Posts: 3189
- Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:59 pm
- Location: Earth
by ABAKUA » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:12 pm
Dominic, 14 yrs old.. A young prodigy discovered by Carlos jamming in the markets alone some time ago, now under his wing and guidance.
He has tremendous potential and at 14 yrs old can hold all rumba parts with us grown up more experienced rumberos. Plays a mean quinto and has impecable timing.
Here he holds up the super tumba as he plays base in guaguanco.
Edited By ABAKUA on 1142337272
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2566.JPG
He has tremendous potential and at 14 yrs old can hold all rumba parts with us grown up more experienced rumberos. Plays a mean quinto and has impecable timing.
Here he holds up the super tumba as he plays base in guaguanco.
Edited By ABAKUA on 1142337272
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2566.JPG
-
ABAKUA - Site Admin
- Posts: 3189
- Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:59 pm
- Location: Earth
by ABAKUA » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:13 pm
Lunch break, some domino games with some good rum to drink.
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2569.JPG
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2569.JPG
-
ABAKUA - Site Admin
- Posts: 3189
- Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:59 pm
- Location: Earth
by ABAKUA » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:15 pm
Our trumpet player and close friend Marty, with Mike our band lawyer who has become a great friend of ours and also percussion student, and a lady friend in the background..
Edited By ABAKUA on 1139660204
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2570.JPG
Edited By ABAKUA on 1139660204
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2570.JPG
-
ABAKUA - Site Admin
- Posts: 3189
- Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:59 pm
- Location: Earth
by ABAKUA » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:18 pm
marty carrying in some BBQ of pork, beef, ribs, chorizos, fish and chicken to join the rice con frigoles and salad we had for lunch..
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2572.JPG
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2572.JPG
-
ABAKUA - Site Admin
- Posts: 3189
- Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:59 pm
- Location: Earth
by ABAKUA » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:22 pm
left to right...
me on super tumba, Dominic on 3 golpes, Steve on quinto, Cindy on chekere, Osvaldo on quinto/canto, El Moro in the background very much into the rumba guaguanco....
Edited By ABAKUA on 1139708190
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2576.JPG
me on super tumba, Dominic on 3 golpes, Steve on quinto, Cindy on chekere, Osvaldo on quinto/canto, El Moro in the background very much into the rumba guaguanco....
Edited By ABAKUA on 1139708190
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CN2576.JPG
-
ABAKUA - Site Admin
- Posts: 3189
- Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:59 pm
- Location: Earth
46 posts
• Page 1 of 4 • 1, 2, 3, 4
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests