The cuatro: Puerto Rico's national instrument

Latin Beat Magazine, June-July, 2002 by Frank M. Figueroa

When early Spanish settlers crossed the Atlantic to come to America, they had to be very selective about what they brought with them. They sailed in small ships in whose cramped quarters there was room for only the bare necessities. The fact that many of them brought their guitars is evidence of the deep affection they felt for the instrument. The Spaniard's love for the guitar is of long standing. It can be said that throughout the years, most Spanish men and women have played the instrument. Even today, one can see Spanish men carrying their guitars under their arms as they go out to visit friends and family or when they go for a stroll in the park. It's not surprising, therefore, that they could not leave the guitar behind when they came to America.

Some historians have said that if the Spaniards didn't contribute anything else but the guitar to American culture, it would have been sufficient. This musical gift from the Mother Country has given identity to many national groups. Can you imagine a gaucho in the Argentine pampas, a llanero in the Venezuelan plains, a charro in the Mexican countryside, a North American cowboy or a Puerto Rican jíbaro without his guitar?

It's important to note that the Spaniards brought several varieties of guitars. Among them were the following: the Spanish requinto, a small guitar with six strings, the tiple, also a small instrument with a high sound, and the vihuela, a guitar to which a belly had been added for more resonance. It has five single courses of strings. They also brought guitarrillas, bordonúas and laudes with them. The Creoles, in turn, modified these guitars and produced instruments that were peculiar to specific regions. As a result, one finds guitarritas, American requintos, guitarrones, and several varieties of cuatros and tres guitars in different parts of Latin America.

Puerto Rico is one of the island nations that developed its own variety of guitar, the Puerto Rican cuatro. This instrument is derived from several string instruments of seventh century Spain.

One of them was the tiple (treble-guitar). Famous Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra mentioned it in one of his works as bajo de uñas (plucked bass guitar). The tiple was a highly portable instrument with a treble or high sound played by troubadours in Southern Spain. Other ancestors of the cuatro were the requinto español, a small six-string guitar, the vihuela and other small instruments with three and four strings mentioned earlier.

It has not been definitely established which group made the first Puerto Rican cuatros. Some historians say that it could have been the descendants of African slaves and others say it was the jíbaros, considered the first real Puerto Ricans, who were a mixture between the indigenous people, the Spaniards and the African slaves.

Living in the highlands of Puerto Rico, away from the population centers, the jíbaros had to make their own utensils and implements. As a result, they became excellent carvers and could make almost anything they needed out of wood. Since they had no access to traditional guitars, the jíbaros designed and made their own instrument to provide music for their rituals and celebrations.

The old tiple brought to the island by the Spaniards served as a model. Using primitive tools, they carved a hole into a wooden plank. Next they gave it the shape of a small guitar with the body and neck in one piece. The artisans then scraped out the wood inside the hole until it became a shell. The soundboard was crafted from a piece of light wood that was scraped almost paper thin leaving a bump in the middle that would serve as the bridge. The artisans glued the thin slab to the shell with a homemade sticky substance derived from cactus sap or from the pulp inside ceiba seed pods. In addition, they secured the sound board to the shell by tapping thorns or cactus-spine tips into the shell's rim. The jíbaros sealed the wood with oil, egg or melted candle wax. The strings were made from leather strips or dried animal gut. They were tied to the bump or bridge on the sound board and at the other end on pegs attached to the end of the cuatro's neck. It was a primitive instrument, but the jíbaros were able to produce music with it.

There was another type of primitive cuatro known as the cuatro de higüera. The sound box was made from a gourd produced by the higüero (calabash tree). The cuatros de higüera were notas popular as the wooden cuatros because of their fragile nature and lower sound quality.

Originally, the cuatro had only four strings, hence the name "cuatro." Music historians have discovered that there was an earlier version with three strings known as the jabao taíno. By the end of the XIX century, the Puerto Rican cuatro had five double-strings or 10 strings in total. The tuning scheme is as follows: first string -G, second -D, third -A, fourth -E and fifth -B. Technological advancements have made it possible for craftsmen to produce cuatros that are truly beautiful instruments. Today's cuatros are made from a variety of woods ranging from imported ebony to such local varieties as laurel cedar, mahogany, acacia and oak. With its brilliant finish and traditional keyhole shape, the Puerto Rican cuatro has graced the most elegant ballrooms and prestigious stages in many countries of the world.