CubanaDanza Repertoire

Congo

The Congo dance and culture originates from the Africans brought to Cuba between the 16th and 19th century from the shipping ports near to the basin of the Congo River and Zaire. The main ethnic groups here were the Bantú and today this musical culture can still be distinguished by its particular melodic intonation, rhythms, and linguistic expressions. Most of the Congo societies or ‘chapters’ were to be found in the central-occidental region of Cuba. After slavery was abolished many of the old slaves migrated to urban areas in search of work. Where high numbers of Congos and their descendants settled in the same area the neighbourhood was known as a conguería.

The groups of Congo origin maintained religious and ceremonial practices that included music and dance. However during the 20th century these societies started to disintegrate and diminish in number. A scarce nucleus of practitioners managed to preserve valuable examples of the festive ritual celebrations, the most frequent being the Makuta dances and beats which have a ceremonial nature and pay homage to the heads (or kings) of the chapters. Nowadays, with fewer and fewer practitioners able to sing the relevant responses, the dance and song of the Congo is becoming a dying art and the Congo dance culture today will often include substitute genres such as bembé or palero’s singing.