Habanera

The habanera is the name used outside of Cuba, for the Cuban contradanza, a genre of popular dance music of the 19th century.It is a creolized form which developed from the French contradanza. It has a characteristic "habanera rhythm", and is performed with sung lyrics. It was the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African motif, and the first dance music from Cuba to be exported all over the world.

The habanera rhythm is an embellishment of tresillo, and one of the most basic rhythmic cells in Afro-Latin music, and sub-Saharan African music traditions. In sub-Saharan rhythmic structure, every triple-pulse pattern has its duple-pulse correlative; the two pulse structures are two sides of the same coin. The habanera rhythm is the duple-pulse correlative of the most basic triple-pulse cell—the three-against-two cross-rhythm (3:2), or vertical hemiola.

The habanera rhythm is known by several names, such as the congo, tango-congo, and tango. Thompson identifies the rhythm as the Kongo mbilu a kakinu, or 'call to the dance.' The pattern is in fact, heard throughout Africa, and in many Diaspora musics. It is constructed from multiples of a basic durational unit, and grouped unequally so that the accents fall irregularly in a one or two bar pattern. Put another way, the pattern is generated through cross-rhythm.

Some vocalizations of the habanera include "boom...ba-bop-bop", and "da, ka ka kan." When sounded with the Ghanaian beaded gourd instrument axatse, the pattern is vocalized as: "pa ti pa pa." The "pa's" sound tresillo by striking the gourd against the knee, and the "ti" sounds main beat two by raising the gourd in an upward motion and striking it with the free hand. As is common with many African rhythms, the axatse part begins (first "pa") on the second stroke of the habanera (one-ah), and the last "pa" coincides with beat one. By ending on the beginning of the cycle, the axatse part contributes to the cyclic nature of the overall rhythm.