Luis Nubiola & Los Cubanitos
Good morning , today we would like to show you our beloved Cuban culture.
Luis Nubiola is with us today together with Los Cubanitos. Nando del Rio is playing the piano and we are
also hosting Carlos Chavarria. And my name is Jeremy Cortos.
Today we are going to talk about our Cuban culture. We are one of the biggest Caribbean islands , where
it is hot all the time, that is why our music is hot too. Our music is active, hot, made for dancing. Cuba is
associated with cigars, salsa and of course rum. However music is most important. Music that goes
through the whole body and gives joy. Our music is a fusion of Spanish and Arfican culture. Our history
speaks of Indians, aborigines and for a moment includes the time when Spaniards joined us. When they
arrived, they added their classical point to our musical history Then the Africans joined us and added
drums to our music. Each of these elements merged and it gave birth to our music. We are about to
present you the Cuban bongo. You can see a little drum consisting of two parts, one of which is an upper
and the other a lower musical key.
Please show how it looks like.
Talking about our rhytmic we want to show you just another instrument which is called a cowbell. Please
remember salsa is not an original name for cuban music- salsa is a commercial name for our music.
And this is the cowbell. It is like a bell. Now I will show you another drum like instrument – a plastic one
made out of a cuban fruit called guiro. We take out all the inside of guiro and we let it dry in hot sun for
some days. A small shield is then formed, we attach a small stick – and that is the way we make our
cuban musical instrument. We have a real drum and guira is like a small extra drum.
The next instrument is the piano, which is associated with classical music.
Now let’s present tumbao rhytm. In this way, we have a sequence that is repeated four times and on the
basis of this sequence we create different versions of music. If we want to create a cha cha cha rhytm –
we add guiro and we have this rhytm.
Now Luis Nubiola will present aother instrument – a saxophone, which is more classical than African.
Cuban music is always rhytmical. It does not really matter what instrument is being used. The rhytm is
crucial. Rhytm for dancing.
Now we will show you maracas.Here they are. Original maracas are made of cow’s leather. We may put
some beans, some rice inside to make better sound if we want to make home made maracas .
And it sounds like that .( sound of maracas).
Let’s see now what Son Cubano is. It comes form Santiago de Cuba, a place I highly recommend. Son
Cubano is the root of Cuban music – it comes out as a fusion of classical rhytm and African one – a
Cuban style. Most Son Cubano songs tell us about love, social issues, lifestyles.
Now we are going to show you tumbao to Son Cubano.
That’s the way it is .
Now we come to another most important element of music – that is a singer. A singer is needed to
communicate with the audience. Someone who is open-minded, friendly, expressive , can move to the
music and dance. The saxophone and the trumpet are responsible for mambo part, which is a frequently
repeated melody in cuban rhytm. Improvistation plays a crucial role. The singer improvises and so do the
saxophone and the trumpet. One song equals plenty of improvisation. Spontaneity and joy are just another
significant things.
Now we want to show you cha cha cha rhytm. My cousin says that in Poland one cha is stolen – in Poland
people say they are going to dance cha cha – but in fact it is cha cha cha rhytm.
We add our cuban dance here with one two cha cha, one two cha cha rhytm, which is quite a simple thing
to do.

Having presented the Cuban music we would like to invite you warmly to Cuba, Havana, Santiago de
Cuba- the place where you can trace a big part of our musical history. Santiago de Cuba and Havana are
gorgeous places full of our beautiful music, which people live every day.
Before we end our meeting Luis Nubiola with Los Cubanitos will play for you.
And a little bit about us. We live in Poland. We have come across people in Poland who are fond of
Cuban music and history. We may proudly say that Polish people play Cuban music too.
To end our meeting Luis Nubiola and Los Cubanitos will play El Manicero for you.
Thank you very much for listening.