Pedro Celestino Fariñas Meneses

Pedro Fariñas is an authentic rumbero. He has always lived among drums and percussion instruments, and among Afro-Cuban parties: an environment of the emotional climate of rumba, a street party in the tenement of people with few economic resources who want to have fun. In 2014, along with other prominent figures in the genre, he was nominated as Rumbero Mayor.

Fariñas recounts: "In my house we were poor and food was scarce. So I would go to the bembé, where you could eat various types of sweets, soft drinks, brandy, cornmeal, cake..."

Fariñas was born in the very center of rumba, in the surroundings of Timba, exactly in Callejón in the Pelusa neighborhood, across from the national bus station. Pelusa formed a triangle with Callejón Méndez, where the Plaza de la Revolución is located and the periphery of Cementerio Colón. "This triangle was the great center of capital rumba. All the great drum music masters from all the rumba zones came there: Salguera, Virulilla, Juan Bosco, Chavalonga, Macho, Boncó, Primitivo Rodríguez Cú, the entire abakuá brotherhood from Matanzas, the Muñequitos, the Chappottin family, in short all the flower and cream of timba."

Those rumbas were dangerous, they sounded with much life. "In rumba where there are no fights, it's not authentic rumba -Fariñas assures-, in the controversy rivalry is formed through the puyas. The brandy, the frenzied rhythm, leads to an unmeasured ecstasy. The police would appear and bring order to the situation. There were police notorious for their violence: Fantasmita, Garrido and Piñeiro (nicknames of these characters)."

Fariñas acquired great experience playing all types of rumbas, with their different variants such as Yambú and Columbia, also played at the bembé, congo parties and dead-box rumbas.

"The beginnings of rumba -he says- were with humble means since it was music of the poor. Two cod boxes, a bamboo cane, two spoons and a pair of claves. With these elements you could achieve very rich music, with very emblematic, expressive and versatile rhythm. These musicians resort to an extensive range of touches to achieve the essential timbral quality."

The cod or candle boxes were very valuable for requinting: a term that designates an instrument with a sharp sound, like the clarinet family. The spoons and claves occupy another timbral plane, which develops constant rhythmic figurations; structures with short impulses. Sometimes rattles (a kind of small maracas) are also used, made of tin and metal, also used in Bantu music, which the requintador places on his wrists.

Every rumba begins with a part of song with an expository, proposal character, followed by another part where the chorus intervenes. Later the rumba is interrupted with the intervention of the spectators and participants, in a very characteristic dance, only when the rumba is of the Columbia modality. These three acts of rumba have their own development, whose variants determine different modalities of the same folkloric complex that is rumba.

We can find three variants of rumba:
-Yambú, is a slow ritual, where the dancers adopt an attitude of old age, showing difficulty in their movements. It is a short song preceded by a humming called Diana and serves to prepare the entry of the chorus.
-In Guaguancó the rhythm is more figurative and faster. The steps are more disjointed and the couple initiates a game of attraction and repulsion.
-Columbia has a dance, gestures and postures that are very mimetic: it imitates a lame person, an epileptic, gestures like bullfighting, fishing, shooting, etc.

Fariñas achieved great mastery in the touches of Congo Parties, also called palo music; where two boxes or three tumbadoras and a guataca hoe are used. At the party you eat cake and ajiaco, and drink brandy. The palo can last up to three days, then a pig or calf is roasted. On many occasions the extinction of the party provokes machete fights, something very primitive.

At age 15, Fariña was initiated in congo, he crowned the dead. He is the son of 7 rayos in congo, he is abakuá (barundi in potency). In congo he is 7 rayos brillumba, gajo musundi. He is omoa añá, an oath made on a ceremonial drum, authorized to play foundational drums.

With several productions; together with Merceditas Valdés he recorded Congas y Comparsas and Babalú. Together with Ángel González (Conjunto Folklórico Nacional), Alfredo Lafita and Luís Crespo, he released with Envidia, the production Ecué Tumba (tumbador friend) "Buenavista en Guaguancó", which included different rumba genres: Guaguancó, Columbia, Yambú, Abakuá...

Fariñas traveled with rumba to Canada, Venezuela and Colombia and in his career has made several appearances in various films. His performance in the film "Maria Antonia" stands out, and in documentaries such as: "Who Dances Here?" with Yoruba Andabo, "I Love María" and "Damned Tenement", receiving several awards for his performances.

Fariñas is a rumba and percussion teacher in several schools, belongs to Percuba and is also a member of UNEAC. With this backing, Fariñas is positioned among the great figures of rumba.

Groups:
-Los Muñequitos de Matanzas
-Rumboleros
-Ventú Rumbero
-Yoruba Andabo
-Écue Tumba

Compositions:
Discography:
-"Fariñas el Rumbero" (Envidia A70 7124)

Filmography:
-"Who Dances Here?"
-"I Love María"
-"Damned Tenement"