Miguel Faílde
Miguel Faílde Pérez (23 December 1852, in Guacamaro, Matanzas – 26 December 1921) was a Cuban musician and bandleader. He was the official originator of the danzón, composer of the first danzón, Las alturas de Simpson, and the founder of the Orquesta Faílde.
Faílde's father was a
His orchestra was highly successful, though his major achievements were the creation of the danzón and the compositions he wrote, many of which have been adapted since for other rhythms. The danzón was, in his own words, a development of the danza, and that was the child of the contradanza. "De la danza al danzón había un simple paso." (from the danza to the danzón is a simple step)[4] Actually, it was not quite such a simple step. For a start, the danzón was a much slower dance than both the contradanza and the danza; and it allowed for pauses between the different sections of a number. Both these features were welcomed in the tropical climate of Cuba. Perhaps even more significantly, the danzón was a couple dance, though not a moving one like the waltz. The contradanza and danza were both sequence dances involving the whole dance-floor, as were all ballroom dances before the waltz.
The
Did Faílde really invent the danzón? The doubt is caused by the work of
After his death in 1921 he was interred in the
References
- ^ The phrase used on his birth registration for his mother was "la parda libre Justa Pérez". Failde, Osvalde Castillo 1964. Miguel Failde: créador musical del Danzón. Consejo Nacional de Cultura, La Habana. p39
- ^ Orovio, Helio 1981. Diccionario de la música cubana. La Habana. p138
- ^ An interesting account of Faílde is given in Chasteen, John Charles. 2004. National rhythms, African roots: The deep history of Latin American popular dance. Alberquerque N.M. Chapter 5: Faílde's Orchestra (Havana) p71 et seq.
- ^ Failde, Osvalde Castillo 1964. Miguel Failde: créador musical del Danzón. La Habana.
- ^ see Carpentier, Alejo 2001 [1945]. Music in Cuba. Minneapolis MN. p191
- ^ Failde, Osvalde Castillo 1964. Miguel Failde: créador musical del Danzón. La Habana. Here the official document is reprinted in full: El danzón, baile nacional de Cuba.
- ^ "Miguel Faílde, le père du Danzón". Last Night In Orient. 23 December 1852.