Que es timba?? The 1:30am drunken debate at EGREM - part 1

The endless debate over the word "timba." This took place in the summer of 2003, in that little bar on the side of studio EGREM. A lot of strong opinions. The guy tending the bar had some good points, especially when he listed the three dominant national powers of popular music; Cuba, Brazil, and the United States. I would add to his list; 'Jamaica' as well, as undoubtedly reggae is a huge force in the music market.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• timba
• salsa
• cuba
• havana
• pupi
• manolin
• el
• medico
• egrem
• buena
• vista

[morriscet]

I am not against Cuban timba but i cannot stand more than 3 songs, unless i want to get overstressed. It's over arranged, no balance in groove and it is similar as a horse racing however van van's got good stuff and less saturated. Isaac Delgado (my hero)...

[koimogenos]

Well Delgado plays more comercial mainstream salsa. And that's the point, timba, as it's played in Cuba, isn't for mass appeal. The songs are driven and arranged for the dancers in Cuba and nothing more. Slow grooves would be rejected by the public down there. Songs which you feel are unnecassarily fast, over-arranged, and full of breaks, is because the public in Cuba is capable of dancing to it.

[morriscet]

I totally agree with your point, however i have to be fair and i should acknowlege timba is a rich rythm with full influences but its character doesn't make it universal, just compatible with its own culture. klimax for example is considered one of the top bands in terms of music arrangements and performers, but despite of its quality, their music wouldn't be able to capture the taste of general audience which are after a balanced form to perceive music without a huge bulk of information.

[koimogenos]

Very true. I would add that the notion that music should be "universal" is silly, it never was meant to be that way. Music, when left to it's own devices, expresses a particular cultural outlook. Klimax is an interesting case as for a long time it made music strictly for other Cuban musicians, even to the point of alienating much of the Cuban populace.

[fisherman80]

I'll try to answer their question. To me, and this is just my opinion, timba incorporates the drums, something that salsa doesn't do, and the bass is "turned up" or played "louder." I'd say that's the difference between timba and salsa.

[koimogenos]

I agree that the *drumset* plays a big role (no pun intended). But that music itself is completly different. Just the idea of having gears in the music that are changed from one sound to another when the leader/singer holds up a certain hand signal, is very different to anything labeled "salsa" before.

[elchinodiaz]

Muy bueno esto. Quiero aclarar que se le llamaba timbero al rumbero que tenia corazon para tocar, Esta palabra no es nueva, el Benny la mencionaba en alguno de sus temas, Ahora bien, le comienzan a llamar timba a este nuevo movimiento porque tiene muchos elementos de la Runba, el Son, el Jazz, el Rap y otros generos mas, tienes que conocer bien la clave y la tradicion Afrocubana. ser timbero es tener alma y corazo para tocar y sentir la musica.

[AdrianD2010]

jajajaja muy buena la conversacion,, que bueno escuchar este tema de conceptos musicales de los mismos cubanos ,porque todo el mundo habla mierda de donde origina la salsa bla bla pero esta gente sabe de lo que habla , con fundamentos y ron blanco jaja, gracias hermanos por la catedra de la musica cubana de hoy..

[jboii11]

timba es lo mejor



[BRILLIANTCORNRS]

que bien oir esas opiniones. y coincido con la gran mayoria de los puntos del bartender.

la mayoria de la gente es mas afecta a escuchar los ritmos puertorriqueños que los cubanos y esta misma gente que escucha estos géneros no considera a cuba dentros de los grandes paises generadores de musica.

pero en mi opinion es solo ignorancia ó incapacidad de percepcion. la musica cubana no copia a nadie (por obvias razones) y sus raices son muy, muy profundas. (perez prado, i. piñeiro..)

[nnnnnsssssssssllllln]

increible...smfh ... debate tonto en este video...

[chsn09]

Que pendejos son! Todo del mundo saben que timba es CUBANO Y PUNTO! OBVIAMENTE esto es cubano y nuncamas sobre todo! hay mucho ignorancia aqui! VIVA CUBA

[mambomambo1]

@jhonsito17 y que viva PERU

[superche10]

@cubanodesangre Eso es muuy cierto hermano. Pero poco a poco se dan las cosas. Y la gente se va dar cuenta lo que es popular cuando lo oigan. Ya se oye mas y en mas partes del mundo. La timba tiene solo un funcionamiento, y es dominar.

[superche10]

Viva la Timba Cubana !!!

[superche10]

I think both salsa and timba can be appreciated by everyone, but in my opinion timba is more adaptable to an audience. Unless your a salsa dancer, salsa is hard to relate to. ( for other cultures). And not to say its less of music or such, it does not have a groove that makes people form every walks of life, dance. Its too straight. Not changes. Timba is the more adaptive version. You can adapt timba to anything prettty much.