Cuban Comparsa Styles and Coordination for the Drum Set

© Bertram Lehmann, 2016

Comparsa is the umbrella term applied to street-parade style carnival styles in Cuba, which are similar in many ways
to other settings such as Brazilian samba batucada, maracatu or Uruguayan candombe, all dating back the colonial-
era ‘Three King’s Days’ celebrations by African slaves, who were allowed to parade in many of the urban centers of
the Americas under the watchful, yet similarly intrigued eyes of the authorities and general public on January 6th
eahh year.
Often displaying characteristics that would be based on a loosely-defined distinction of so-called “nations” into
which Africans from various geographic and ethnic backgrounds had been allowed to group (in Cuba called cabildos),
based on their assumed cultural similarity, these parades over time adopted elements of European military-band
instrumentation, in addition to African-derived hand drums and bells. Staged by community organizations from local
Afro-Cuban working-class neighborhoods (barrios) in both Havana and Santiago, a rich conga de comparsa tradition
developed over time, that in the 1960s led to a style more commercial style called mozambique, popularized by Pello
El Afrokan and adopted by 70’s New York salsa artists such as Eddie Palmieri.
There are two distinct conga styles, with quite different patterns, especially in the bombo (bass drum) parts: the
more mainstream Havana version, and a still very folkloric-sounding one from Santiago de Cuba, were this genre is
said to have originated.
The comparsa genre’s textural affinity to the contemporary drum set lends itself to adaption by a drum set player
who very effectively can use bass drum, snare, floor tom, and cowbells to interpret some of the main elements of
these rhythms, especially when playing together with a conga player taking care of the fundamental hand-drum
component.
In this handout a number of scores and individual exercises from various sources have been combined, to allow for a
number of ways to enhance one’s clave-based coordination skills (comparsa music uses the rumba clave), as well as
develop personal interpretations based on the rhythmic features of these styles. Of particular interest and use will
be the bombo-, snare drum-, as well as bell/brake drum patterns, all of which can be combined with each other or
even just the clave to create challenging accompaniment grooves, which in turn will fit a variety of settings from
comparsa itself to rumba, mozambique, songo, and contemporary Latin Jazz or Fusion adaptations.
First, let’s look at a couple of adaptations suggested for the full drum set, each treating the rhythmic
components of the original source in a unique way. The first one is by drummer/percussionist Alex Acuña, one of
the most renown Latin music percussionists of all time through his work with the legendary jazz-fusion group
Weather Report. Jesus Diaz, Michael Spiro, and Dave Garibaldi’s excellent book Talking Drums features a
transcription of Alex’ approach to conga for the set, but in the lower staff adds the typical bell pattern
combination used in this music as another alternative. This bell combination sounds great if played with the
same addition of a bass drum kick on the 2+ of every bar, as in the full drumset groove above. The lowest of the
three bell pitches is the rumba clave, and hence also sounds good on a wood block.

1.
 Next is a version provided by Horacio Hernandez in his book Conversations in Clave. Here we again find that
typical two-pitched comparsa bell pattern, played on two separate bells like a cha-cha and mambo bell as in the
example above (orginally a single hand-held bongo bell played at the mouth and on top of the body would get
these contrasting pitches), but a set of Brazilian Ago-go bells can also be substituted for this effect. Horacio’s
bass drum outlines more fully one the possible bombo patterns that are usually played with a stick in one hand
and muffling the head on certain attacks with the other. Emphasing 2+ on the bass drum will make this groove
sound more authentic.

2.

By contrast, the example below from Frank Malabe and Bob Weiner’s book Afro-Cuban Rhythms for Drumset is
not using any of the comparsa bell patterns as part of its structure, but features the snare drum that is a
prominent instrument in the Havana version of conga de comparsa, and reinforces the 2+ on the 3-side of the
clave with an added floor tom attack. That 2+ is also known as the “bombo note,” which gives the Havanas-style
conga de comparsa a particular push that has been retained in the otherwise often not so authentic “conga line”
dance steps that are a mainstay of even North American weddings! A key feature is to phrase the 8-note a bit
looser, with ternary inflection akin to what may be already familiar from New Orleans’ second-line music.

3.

Last in the line of original conga rhythm interpretations for the drum set is this groove by David Garibaldi, again
developed in combination with his colleagues from the Talking Drums trio, but this time emulating the ensemble
sound as played in Santiago de Cuba. This pattern follows the different bombo parts typical for this eastern
Cuban variety of the comparsa tradition, which put the main accents on the 4 of the 2-side and 4+ of the 3-side
of the clave (the example below hence is written in 2-3 clave direction).

4.
 These next notational examples show the full percussion scores for the conga styles, as played in Havana and
Santiago. First is the Havana style, where one can work with the redoblante part on the Snare, the sartenes
pattern on two cowbells or perhaps just the Hi Hat, or maybe combine a bombo and the salidor conga part!

5.
 The bombo patterns in Ex. 6 are an excellent resource to practice a more advanced independence against the
rumba clave, which should be played on the side of the floor tom or a cowbell with one hand, while the other
hand other plays these patterns on the floor tom, pressing onto the head (dead sticking) on the notes marked
“+” and keeping them open for the ones marked “o”. When further orchestrated around other toms for
example, these patterns - in combination with the clave and a complementary bass drum ostinato as in the
drum set examples above – make for excellent raw material for drum set solo construction.

6.

Similar to the challenge in the previous exercise, but now with a longer and more distinct bombo phrase, is the
following, inverted combination of the comparsa bell phrase and bombo featured in the aforementioned
‘Talking Drums’ book. It was played by the renown Rumba group ‘Los Papines’, and this ensemble is of particular
interest to drum set players as its instrumentation included a somewhat unusual timbale/bell setup, that in
many ways provides an excellent model as to what a drum set player could be doing alongside the hand
percussionists in styles such as rumba, songo, or comparsa.

7.
8.

The percussion score in Ex. 7 above shows the very different Conga de Santiago style, with for example the high
bombo and conga #2 patterns outlining a distinct two-pitched phrase that may be the origin of the so-called
“Afro” or “Afro-Son” pattern, a son subgenre that was a hallmark of Cuban music around the 1940s and can be
heard in compositions such as Arsenio Rodriguez’ “Bruca Manigua”. It is still often played on a two-pitched
cowbell set as well, sometimes in a double-time relationship to the actual tempo. Also note that the alternate
low bombo part (4th staff system from top) is what likely inspired Dave Garibaldi’s groove in Ex.4, at least when it
comes to the anticipated 4+ bombo attack in the second measure.
Very interesting would also be to try out the three brake drum pattern against each other and look for a
particular composite flow, or just individually against the rumba clave. The three conga patterns can also be
interpreted with a combination of rim clicks and open tones on snare or toms, or perhaps like the bombo
 pattern via press/open stroke combination on a smaller tom size.

Fact of the matter is that the key towards making the most out of all these folkloric resources is to try always
things out, combine different parts, and hopefully arrive at a personal choice that reflects whatever is appealing
to a player and needed at in the music context one find oneself in.

The following, final score shows the percussion parts for the related Mozambique style, which was derived from
the conga tradition but also featured a number of innovations, most notably a new bell phrase and a unique
lead conga part that spans two clave cycles. Pedro Izquierdo aka ‘Pello el Afrokan’ was the inventor of this new
rhythm and associated dance movement in the early 1960s, featuring a large group of up to 11 congas and a
sizeable horn section with multiple trombones, as well as an rhythm section including the at the time novel
electric bass. As in the pervious styles, it is especially useful to try to both the bombo patterns against the rumba
clave, the bell phrase against the clave, or perhaps find a way to emulate the lead conga part (for example try
the snare drum with a combination of rim clicks in LH and open tones in the RH, perhaps playing the low drum
attacks on the bass drum … the sky is the limit!

9.