Over the centuries, the ethnic and cultural makeup of Cuba's population has undergone several major changes, each of which has shaped and contributed to the unique heritage of the island nation. Formed within the changing dynamics of Cuba's population since its appearance nearly two centuries ago, the Cuban rumba complex has evolved alongside the culture of the Cubans who perform it, shaped and reinvented by los rumberos and the powers of authority (Bodenheimer 2013; Daniels 1991).

Originally inhabited by Taíno Amerindians, Cuba was colonized by Spain in the fifteenth century. The Spanish brought Central and Western African slaves to the island until slavery was outlawed in 1886. During the colonial era, Africans and their descendants lived within cabildos de nación, mutual-aid societies in which Afro-Cubans lived with others of the same ethnic background (including, for example, Yoruba and Bantu). During this time, slaves in the cabildos developed long-standing, rich traditions. Derived from Western and Central African, Spanish, and Amerindian music and dance traditions, the Cuban rumba complex emerged during this period, as did Carnaval  (Bettelheim 1991; Daniel 1991). Descriptions from that time of "'wild' celebrations of African Caribbeans" paint a picture of a world in which folk art and racial inequality were profoundly intertwined (Bettelheim 1991, 66). Even after emancipation, "rumba was a marginalized and criminalized cultural practice" and became increasingly so as former slaves moved from rural areas into the cities in search of work and racial tensions deepened (Bodenheimer 2013, 178). 

A representation of a cabildo de nación in Cuba from the Spanish colonial era; photo source: Lucas Garve

By the time the Republic of Cuba became an independent nation in 1902, cabildos had all but disappeared. Before long, the rumba was appropriated by the government as a national symbol. After the Cuban Revolution in the mid-twentieth century, the government sought to outwardly embrace the lower classes in order to reduce racial tensions and institutionalized the rumba and its performance (Bodenheimer 2013). The rumba complex came to symbolize true Cubanidad ("Cubanness") the possession of which was most marked by "los humildes, los jíbaros, los negros pobres, los trabajadores [the humbles, peasants, poor blacks, workers]" (Daniel 1995, 114). As Professor Joan Gross (2008) has shown through her research of the Puerto Rican décima, cultural identity can be shaped and reinvented by folkloric expressions in ways that valorize popular images of traditional folk artists and laborers. For rumberos, performance of the rumba is tied to the social heritage of slaves and their descendants.

Photo source: NY Daily News

Nationalist attempts by governments to reach "the people" often involve the appropriation of traditional folklore practiced by marginalized folk groups, often with mixed results and unintended consequences (Leitch 2003). One such unintended consequence of the institutionalization of folklore can be the removal of control from the hands of the folk group itself. When a form of folklore is practiced without the involvement of the government or other powers of authority, it is shaped by its performers and evolves over time, reinvented again and again by the folk group it is practiced by. When institutionalized, its forms can become more rigid and controlled, leading to the exclusion of casual performers and preventing the natural evolution of form and context (Gross 2008).

The economic struggles that arose following the fall of the Soviet Union and the installation of Fidel Castro at the head of the Cuban government exacerbated class- and race-related inequalities, producing a populace that professed to value the Cuban rumba as an essentially Cuban form of music and dance while simultaneously turning a blind eye to racial inequality (Bodenheimer 2013). Along with these socioeconomic woes and political upheaval came  the Cuban diaspora, the migration of Cuban peoples out of Cuba and throughout the world (Bodenheimer 2013; Daniels 1991).

The tumultuous history of Cuba and its people, including the Cuban government's attempts to make the rumba a symbol of Cuban identity and the diaspora that has carried the rumba and its performance outside of Cuba, have led to the reinvention of rumba as it is practiced today in Cuba and throughout the world. 

Next: The Present & Future