Salsa music rivalries and battles

Latin Beat Magazine, August, 2003 by Max Salazar

It was the Spring of 1935. The movie had just ended in the Campoamor Theatre on 5th Avenue and 116th Street when suddenly the people in the theatre were startled by a message that flashed across the screen in Spanish: "FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!" and then: WAR! WAR! WAR! BETWEEN CUBA AND PUERTO RICO ... at the Park Palace located on 110th Street & 5th Avenue ... between Alberto Socarrás of Cuba and Augusto Coen of Puerto Rico...."

Alberto Socarrás, who earned a doctorate's degree in music, was an Afro-Cuban musician renowned during the thirties and forties for his composing, orchestrations and flute playing. Augusto Coen, a composer, arranger and hot trumpeter of Puerto Rican heritage, directed one of the most popular Latin music bands of the late thirties and early forties. During the evening of their battle, Socarrás performed on one stage, and Coen on another at the extreme end of the ballroom. A third band played at the Golden Casino, directly underneath the Palace. Its entrance was on 111th Street, just off 5th Avenue. The dance hall bulged from the overcrowding, thus the "Cuba vs. Puerto Rico music war" took place after one month of constant daily publicity incited by two of the hottest bands at the time.

Rivalry among Latin musicians did not officially begin at that time. According to vocalist Alfredito Valdés (once vocalist for Septeto Nacional), it may have begun in Cuba in 1916, a year after the son, a rhythm believed to have been created in the province of Oriente. Guajiros (rural peasants) brought the son into being in the mountains surrounding Santiago de Cuba. It began when the guajiros returned to their bohios (Antillean huts), after a tiring day of cutting sugar cane. After his evening meal, a guajiro tuned his guitar, sat on a wooden box, leaned back against the wall out of his home, plucked the strings and began singing about his experiences. The rhythm evolved from this daily evening ritual and produced a crop of singers and instrumentalists who specialized in singing and playing son. They banded together and formed groups that performed at house parties, cantinas, and town festivals, and were hired to play in nearby communities. By 1916, these son groups were already traveling to other provinces. Other son groups began to sprout up throughout the island. The popularity of a son ensemble depended mostly on its vocalist. He not only had to possess a pleasing tone and sing in key, he also had to be imaginative, quick-thinking and able to improvise on the spot. He had to invent lyrics about what he saw, and the resulting words had to rhyme and make sense. The popular vocalists, as well as the son instrumentalists were called soneros (son singers). This is how their rivalry began, and professional jealousy was the cause.

When one group visited another neighborhood or town, it was always trying to prove that it was better than the homegrown groups. The double-entendres in the lyrics would heat up the rival musicians and their supporters. The double-meaning lyrics were always interpreted to be humiliating and demeaning. Through cryptic lyrics, a sonero would question someone's intelligence, a woman's fidelity, a daughter's virginity, a man's clothes and facial attractiveness; and there were many other words which would elicit a glare of hatred. This duel of lyrics would continue until one soneto would utter something so brilliantly humiliating that would ignite a brawl. Wherever the son was performed, brawls invariably ensued.

In mid-1916, the son reached Havana and as anticipated, a brawl broke out after one sonero got underneath someone's skin. According to Alfredito Valdés, the incident started when one sonero sang: "Sí no puedes cantar / y tu pecho no te ayuda / coge una canasta / y ponte a recoger basura." (If you don't know how to sing and your chest is no help to you, grab an old basket and pick up garbage).

The rival sonero countered with "Yo no cojo la canasta / ni tampoco la basura / que recoja tu madre / que tiene la cara dura." (I don't need a basket, nor will I pick up garbage, let your mother pick it up, she has an unbearable face). A brawl erupted and many people were injured.

Valdés described the resulting dance hall, with chairs and rabies overturned, as resembling General Custer's 7th Calvary's Last Stand at Little Bighorn. The following day, the Governor banned the playing of son, and the use of African percussion instruments in Havana.

The only musical aggregations permitted to play music were the ones that utilized tuba, clarinets, saxophones and bass drums, and played danzones.

In 1920, Mr. Arrechabola, the CEO of Rum Bocoy Company in Havana, wanted a music group to promote his product in the yearly carnival that was a strong tourist attraction. He contacted a musician nicknamed Sinsonte, who directed a trio named after him. Sinsonte enlarged his group by adding guitarist Guillermo Castillo, bongocero Alfredo Bologna, tresero Eliseo Silvela and a maraca player known as Nery.

During the carnival, the Rum Bocoy-sponsored group became one of the most popular groups in the gala affair. They played son without double-entendres; the listeners enjoyed them and no riots erupted. After the carnival ended, a few of the musicians formed a new group headed by Carlos Godíñez and called themselves Sexteto Habanero. The sextet became the hottest musical group in Cuba. Son gained well-deserved respect, and all of Cuba loved it. The ban on the son rhythm and the percussion instruments was lifted, and the era of the Cuban sextetos began.