Familia Valera Miranda’s Caña Quema:
All Pieces
BACKGROUND
- Familia Valera Miranda are a group of musicians from Cuba that perform
traditional Cuban music handed down through generations of their ancestors,
many of whom were Spanish immigrants
- Have toured in Europe, USA and Canada since 1995, gaining worldwide
success.
- Both songs are in the genre of the son, which is a fusion of Spanish and
African elements and the most important Cuban musical form.
↪ It became popular during the 1920s.
● West African elements:
Syncopation, layered rhythms, call and response, percussion.
● Spanish (European) elements:
functional chords, guitar, cuatro and double bass.
- ‘Se quema la chumbambà’: A son montuno (rural origin) that narrates an
incident when a piece of land caught fire.
↪ The song is about an incident in the family’s history when a piece of land caught
fire. It is a son montuno
- ‘Alla vá candela’: A cuban bolero with a son section that expresses the intense
joys of love.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Traditional Cuban styles
- Spanish (European) influences
- West African influences
, Se quema la chumbambá
Main features of Son in the piece:
- Call & Response between the singer Pregón and the Coro
(described as Lead Vocal and Backing Vocal in the anthology)
- Simple and short texts about everyday life
- Duple metre
- Strongly rhythmic off-beat bass line
- 2-3 clave pattern (5-note syncopated rhythm) played on claves
- Restricted harmonic vocab (mainly chord I and V)
- Verse scheme based on Spanish metrical patterns
STRUCTURE
Point Explanation Reference(s)
Strophic
- Verse, chorus, verse, chorus
- Performed by Pregón and Coro alternatively
Repetitive
- Bars 9-12 repeated throughout
Built around 4-bar foundation
- Repeats continuously throughout the song
Refrain (Candela) performed by both Pregón and Coro
All Pieces
BACKGROUND
- Familia Valera Miranda are a group of musicians from Cuba that perform
traditional Cuban music handed down through generations of their ancestors,
many of whom were Spanish immigrants
- Have toured in Europe, USA and Canada since 1995, gaining worldwide
success.
- Both songs are in the genre of the son, which is a fusion of Spanish and
African elements and the most important Cuban musical form.
↪ It became popular during the 1920s.
● West African elements:
Syncopation, layered rhythms, call and response, percussion.
● Spanish (European) elements:
functional chords, guitar, cuatro and double bass.
- ‘Se quema la chumbambà’: A son montuno (rural origin) that narrates an
incident when a piece of land caught fire.
↪ The song is about an incident in the family’s history when a piece of land caught
fire. It is a son montuno
- ‘Alla vá candela’: A cuban bolero with a son section that expresses the intense
joys of love.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Traditional Cuban styles
- Spanish (European) influences
- West African influences
, Se quema la chumbambá
Main features of Son in the piece:
- Call & Response between the singer Pregón and the Coro
(described as Lead Vocal and Backing Vocal in the anthology)
- Simple and short texts about everyday life
- Duple metre
- Strongly rhythmic off-beat bass line
- 2-3 clave pattern (5-note syncopated rhythm) played on claves
- Restricted harmonic vocab (mainly chord I and V)
- Verse scheme based on Spanish metrical patterns
STRUCTURE
Point Explanation Reference(s)
Strophic
- Verse, chorus, verse, chorus
- Performed by Pregón and Coro alternatively
Repetitive
- Bars 9-12 repeated throughout
Built around 4-bar foundation
- Repeats continuously throughout the song
Refrain (Candela) performed by both Pregón and Coro
