Bruca Maniguá

The afro-son that put the enslaved African's voice at the center of a dance record. Arsenio Rodríguez — the blind tres genius who would soon rebuild the son...

The afro-son that put the enslaved African's voice at the center of a dance record. Arsenio Rodríguez — the blind tres genius who would soon rebuild the son into the conjunto — writes 'Bruca Maniguá' in 1937, its lyric a lament sung in bozal, the creolized Spanish of enslaved Africans. Miguelito Valdés sings the hit version with Orquesta Casino de la Playa, and Xavier Cugat carries it into the ballrooms of the north the same year. Sixty years later Ibrahim Ferrer reclaims it for the Buena Vista Social Club. A song that smuggled real grief and real Africa onto the mainstream bandstand.

Composer

Arsenio Rodríguez

Year

1937

Lineage

afro