Have you ever been told: "Just follow the clave"?? Can
you not hear la clave" ? You are not dancing with la clave!!!
You have to feel la clave...
So... what are they talking about??
What
is La Clave??
Clave is the rhythmic pattern that forms the basis of Latin music.
And it is also the name of the instrument used to create that rhythmic
sound and is comprised of two sticks that are struck together to
get a sharp, cracking sound
. The striker (which is usually smaller) is the male
and the other (regularly bigger) is the female.
When talking about the instrument, normally plural nound is used:
"Las Claves" or also known in some countries as "Los
Palitos" (the sticks). When talking about the Rhythmic pattern,
the singular noun is used: "La Clave".
An instrument shared by many cultures. There are examples from
all over the globe where wooden sticks are used as percussion instruments.
Types
of Claves
There are many types of claves and each manufacturer
may use different names, but generally the most known are:
Traditional Clave:
The
Clave and Striker are the same size. The sizes of these claves are
10"L x 1"W. But they can be anywhere from 8"L -10"L
and 1"W - 1 1/4"W. The material can be maple wood or other
types of Exotics hardwood (rosewood, etc). These are the most common
and known claves, used all over Latinamerica.
African Clave:
This pair is made from a tropical hardwood. The larger stick is
12' long and 1-3/4" diameter and has a hole bored through the
center, forming a sound chamber. The smaller stick is 10" long
and 1" diameter. This particular set is made by Latin Percussion,
which they call an African Clave.
These are the most common ones, but there are many other types.
Most music stores will have simple rose wood cylinders that are
both roughly 8" long by 1-1/4" diameter.
Claves are played holding the larger stick in your non-dominant
hand, with the fingers cupped to form a sound chamber behind the
stick (and keep your fingers out of harm's way), and it is struck
with the smaller stick. You can flex your fingers to and from the
body of the clave, opening and closing the sound chamber, and create
a high-low pitch change.
A five-note, two-bar rhythm pattern which generates rhythmic measurement
and is the foundation and backbone of Salsa (and all Afro-Cuban
based music). There are 4 common rhythms, the Rumba and Son clave
and a 6/8 (or "Afro") variation of each. In "Salsa,"
the Son Clave is prevalent. Clave rhythm is the basis of Afro-Latin
musical styles and is considered the key, the identity, the root,
and the "soul" of the music. It is the temporal key, the
main organizing principle, to which every element of arrangement
and improvisation in the music must be aligned. The clave rhythm
pattern ("La Clave" in Spanish) is therefore embedded
in all parts of a piece, from vocals to violins, whether the instrument
(claves, below) is actually played, or not ("implied clave").
Clave is the primary rule and the chief factor that defines all
the music called "Salsa."
Clave is phrased in what is known as a 3/2 or 2/3 feel (three
beats then two beats or two beats then three beats).
Clave means "key," and it is the key to Afro-Cuban music.
You may not hear the clave pattern outwardly, but it is explicit
in the music-- the rhythm moves in and through the clave beat.
Here is the Western notation for the 3-2 son
clave:
Or in a more simple way:
And the 3-2 rumba clave:
Dance Timing - Most musically connected, authentic, or culturally/traditionally
trained dancers use the clave rhythm as a focus or "metronome"
in salsa music to stay in time to the foundation and "soul"
of the music, allowing for a natural appearance and rhythmic, free
expression of the music.
A study made by the Cuban Center of Study and development of Cuban
Music finds the origin of this instrument in Africa, where the percussion
using two sticks is spread all over that continent. In Cuba, the
first uses of these two sticks as instruments, date back to the
XVI and XVII century. In that time, Habana was a busy port, where
a lot of naval construction and restauration was taking place. To
construct those embarcations, thousands of wood pegs/sticks where
used. It is thought that those pegs where the first claves used
by the arsenal free and slave workers, as the "key" notes
that guided their singing.
From there, Clave became the focal point, the key or “llave”
which moves most Cuban music.
Alex Alvear is one of the finest Latin musicians that Boston has
had. Born in Ecuador, his passion for Latino Music expels in every
note and word he sings. He was interviewed by Jose Conde in New
York, in an article that the later wrote about "Unlocking the
mysterious key to Cuban music "
Here is the interview:
Interview: Alex Alvear On Clave
by Jose Conde
What is your definition of Clave?
Hmmm... I find many non-Afro-Caribbean musicians like myself trying
to come up with that answer. It is something you "feel."
The Western approach to learning has given many headaches to musicians
who try, many times unsuccessfully, to pin it down in an intellectual
context, i.e. when I was just starting to play this music, I met
some Cuban musicians. In my thirst for enlightenment, I asked "So,
fellas, when do you play 3-2 or 2-3 clave?... How do you all agree
on what to play?" ... and many questions along that line. After
a couple of perplexed looks, one of the guys responded that the
clave, if not respected, makes any attempts to play in the [Latin]
style futile. Basically, when these guys play the music they don't
sit down and say "OK, this song has this clave..." It
is just a natural rhythmical sense derived from decades of tradition,
not only from music but very much so from dance. You can try to
intellectualize it all you want, but until you feel it, you will
not be able to begin to comprehend what it means!
However, what I can say is that clave has many definitions:
a) A rhythmic pattern that repeats itself throughout the music and
that establishes the foundation for all the rhythmic events that
take place in the music. This simple pattern must be respected fully
while writing/composing/arranging, as well as when playing, in order
to make the music groove properly and therefore move the dancer
to move!
b) A quality that a musician has in expressing his music. "Ese
tipo tiene clave" implies the guy has a knowledge of the tradition
and complies with the right "feel" that singing or playing
appropriately in the style implies. Carrying a tune in a Salsa song,
like many of the newest megastars of the Salsa scene today, does
not imply that the singer has clave. Many of these guys have never
sung a Rumba, a Guaracha, a Son Montuno, etc... It's sort of like
trying to play bebop without ever playing the Blues. Everything
has a root, and in this (or any) style, you must pay your respects
to the tradition where it all comes from.
c) Claves - a pair of sticks. [Editor's Note: also see clave in
University of Salsa Glossary]
When I began to play Cuban music 2,400 meters above sea level in
my native Quito, Ecuador, I used to think clave was just an instrument
that you could indiscriminately add to the music, to add a "color."
How wrong I was! My very first arranging gig, which I got when I
arrived to Boston, never made it to the 12th bar because I was completely
"cruzado" ["crossed" or turned around on the
clave pattern - AT.]. I thought, "What in hell are these guys
talking about? Clave? What the hell is that!" With my ego completely
destroyed, I had to go back to the drawing board. So I began to
talk to percussionists and other musicians to try to make some sense
of this new discovery. Many could not give me a coherent explanation,
but were very eloquent in introducing me to recordings of traditional
artists, and later, teaching me basic patterns: tumbao, montuno,
etc, as well as drum beats for Rumba, Mambo, etc, and how each pattern
has a place within the clave. I must say I'm still learning, and
perhaps will always be a bit behind somebody who was born to the
tradition and to whom clave is "second nature."
What is singing in clave? Specifically, does the singer weave thru
clave, use it to mark space in phrasing, or does he or she use it
as a springboard of rhythmic accentuation?
I addressed this a bit, above, but I think your question is in itself
the answer, for the three points you bring into question are, in
my opinion, correct by definition. In all African-derived music
you find a constant dialogue -- drummer and dancer, singer and drummer,
coro and singer, etc. However, all this dialogue revolves around
the clave. The drums play patterns and improvise in the appropriate
spaces that the clave implies. So do the singers, the coro and the
dancers. When you play, sing, and improvise in relationship to the
clave -- and so does everyone else in the group -- then, despite
being a very complex mixture of patterns, it all makes sense because
everyone is playing parts that complement each other.
That's why you may hear an ensemble of 6 drummers, 5 hand percussionists,
8 horns, piano, bass and singers, where everyone is playing something
different. What makes everything come together is the unity of all
in accordance to the clave. When this does not happen, you end up
with what sounds like a dishwasher being thrown down several flights
of stairs, while still running! Of course, when this happens, lots
of people don't notice a thing and either start a Conga line, do
the Limbo, the Macarena or simply start yelling andele, andele,
arriba, arriba, yippee, etc... a truly beautiful sight, indeed.
What kinds of Cuban music have clave?
Perhaps a better question would be "what types of popular music
in the world have clave"? Even though for many of us the concept
of clave has been brought to our attention through Cuban music,
we must acknowledge that clave is not just a Cuban phenomenon, but
an African one -- and that almost every style of "popular"
music, from Merengue to Rap, from Salsa to Funk, etc, etc... has
clave. As long as there is an African root, there is clave. Ergo,
even the most Spanish-influenced musical expressions of Cuba have
clave as well.
Where does clave come from?
As I mentioned before, Africa. Many different peoples from mostly
West Africa brought their traditions to the Americas. Some of these
later evolved into their own unique expressions, while still maintaining
the basic essence of clave. Candomble in Brazil, the sacred chants
of the Lucumi; Rumba, Abacua, Palo, etc in Cuba, and so forth --
and the list goes on....
The
Clave and Striker are the same size. The sizes of these claves are
10"L x 1"W. But they can be anywhere from 8"L -10"L
and 1"W - 1 1/4"W. The material can be maple wood or other
types of Exotics hardwood (rosewood, etc). These are the most common
and known claves, used all over Latinamerica.
