Have you ever imagined living your life with a soundtrack playing through key scenes? Do certain songs evoke special moments or eras in your past? This is what I've been doing with my "Soundtrack of My Life" series of posts: Looking back and putting my life to music.
Robin has been doing the Soundtrack of my Life posts on her blog Your Daily Dose. I had done a few of my own "life soundtracks" on my Tossing It Out blog as well as the song series (starting at this post) I did for my 2014 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge on Wrote By Rote. Be sure to visit and follow Your Daily Dose for more Life Soundtrack info.
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| A set of juggling clubs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
"El Cumbanchero"
For effect you can listen to the music as you read the story below.
"El Cumbanchero"
My earliest memories of music are the ones that involve the musical backing for my parents juggling act. When they performed they had live music. This was the performance norm in the 1950's. Any nightclub that provided entertainment had a house band. Stage show productions assembled union musicians to play the dates.
A professional act had to provide orchestral scores to the musicians if they wanted music back up. My father bought sheet music copies for a number of different instruments and eventually even went to the expense of hiring a professional to orchestrate some of the songs they used for their acts. All of the music was neatly organized into folders for each section of the orchestra. He was ready for a small combo or a big band--whatever the producers had provided for the acts.
Early on for my parents passing act they used songs like "Fine and Dandy" and "Happy Days Are Here Again". But my father wanted to create a perception of greater speed for an act where fast juggling was becoming what they were most noted for. They had developed an exciting act and wanted the music to match.
Though Latin music had been popular for decades, the fifties saw a surge in popularity of the Latin rhythms of the cha-cha, rumba, mambo and many other snappy percussive styles. The bands of Perez Prado, Xavier Cugat, and Desi Arnaz were well known to American audiences. This music did not slip past my father's ears as music ideal for fast juggling.
"El Cumbanchero" was a gold standard song of circus acts and entertainers looking for fast rhythms to back up what they were performing. The song was quite popular during the 1950's appearing on many albums and released as a single by many artists. I'm not sure when my parents first started using "El Cumbanchero", but I believe it may have been around 1957. The song became a staple performance song for the Juggling Jacksons duo act and then later for our four people act. Due to the fast paced excitement of the song it was used as the grand finale number for the fastest part of the act.
Sometimes the strains of "El Cumbanchero" echo in my mind as I recall the clap clap rhythm of juggling clubs flying among my family members slapping firmly into our hands. The driving rhythms made us want to pass the clubs faster and harder. If it was exciting for us I can only imagine the excitement the viewing audience must have felt. The applause during the performances and the accolades heard afterwards indicated that the audience enjoyed what they saw when we performed.
There are several songs that we, the Juggling Jacksons, used in our act, but "El Cumbanchero" is one that stands out most for me. Not only did I hear the song repeatedly as a child watching my parents perform, but it became my soundtrack feature song when I became part of the juggling act. Even now I'm juggling in my mind as I listen to the frantic strains of "El Cumbanchero".
Have you heard the song "El Cumbanchero" before? Is there any particular memory or situation that you associate with Latin rhythmic music? Is there a certain song that you would associate with a work situation in your own life?
My dad was from South America so he loved Latin music. He would listen to it sometimes. He owned the albums by Los Indio Tabajaras and apparently the story is that I was about 2, and would 'ride' my wooden stick horse, and gallop around and around the diningroom table singing along in flawless Spanish.
ReplyDeleteJoJo, two years is probably the ideal age to begin speaking a foreign language. Too bad someone was able to help you with the language so you could now be proficiently bilingual. A person who speaks more than one language well can find great work opportunities.
DeleteLee
Good memories. Being a part of your parent's act was a terrific piece of your life.
ReplyDeleteMy dad always loved Mexican music. He liked men singing in harmonies. I don't know if Tejano music is recent nomenclature, but that kinship to hillbilly music cannot be missed.
Ann, I hear a lot of influences in Mexican music that come from other cultures. American country music is definitely to be heard in Mexican music as is the music of Germany, Poland, France, and various Arabic styles. Like the U.S. Mexico has had a lot of cultural influx.
DeleteLee
Wow! That was a great instrumental and a great installment for your 'Soundtrack' series, LEE!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I've heard this before. Probably so, but if so, it surely wasn't performed this well! I'm listening to it now a third time because it goes great with my morning cuppa joe.
I love Latin rhythms, and the arrangement with its interplay of the instruments on this is simply fantastic! It starts out sounding like a James Bond piece, but then bounces into that wonderful Latin rhythm and tone.
Also, kudos for the concept here. This is really my idea of a 'The Soundtrack Of My Life' song choice. It's not just a song that reminds you of a time, due to lyrics that kind of explain a similar situation, but it's a recording that's really from the era you're writing about.
For the most part, that's what I'm also trying to do with my 'Soundtrack'. The songs I'm using are not just relevant to the situation I'm trying to illustrate, but they were contemporaneous with that "epoch" of my life. They're songs I was really hearing at the time the action was taking place.
Really nice installment.
~ D-FensDogG
'Loyal American Underground'
Thanks, STMcC, coming from you this is a great affirmation of what I've been trying to do.
DeleteThis is such a catchy tune (just noticed the pun int that), or infectious tune that seemed like a family theme song at times. I don't know how many recorded versions my parents had of this song besides Cugat's version--there was Perez Prado, Francis Bay Orchestra, and some really cool percussive version I found on a 45 that my dad like so much that he recorded it on tape and we started using that version.
It's really like the ideal piece of fast juggling music that I'd say you'd still hear used if you went to a traditional style circus that was not Cirque Soliel or some such permutation.
I agree that the Life Soundtrack should be actual picks from the era described as much as possible.
Lee
Just a great post. We learned something about show business and you. I have a soundtrack to my novels as I write them. And music goes on in my head all through the day, too.
ReplyDeleteOh, I wanted to say that "Whispering Pines" is an instrumental though it is SUNG by Loreena McKinnett. Leave it to me to have my favorite instrumental be one that is sung, right? But sometimes instrumentals are able to "speak" the words our hearts cannot speak.
ReplyDeleteI guess you mean "Ancient Piines"? That's all I could find by the artist. I had to look because "Whispering Pines" is one of my favorite songs by "The Band".
DeleteLee
Another aspect of your life, Lee! I think that was a great choice for music in the juggling act, and juggling of life events.
ReplyDeleteNo music in my mind that accompanies my life, at least I can't think of any right now. Maybe the one that goes "...ain't got a bundle of money...dadada...but traveling along, side by side..."
Susan, oh, I can almost hear the song you're talking about. Now it's be bugging me.
DeleteLee
"Is there a certain song that you would associate with a work situation in your own life?" Hah hah, other than I've been hearing 21 Pilots doing Stressed Out a lot lately...
ReplyDeleteCW, I think a lot of people have been hearing a song like that lately. Keep in mind that some stress can be good for you.
DeleteLee
I have never heard of that song before. But anything 80's throws me back in time.
ReplyDeleteShelly, this song goes way back to the 20's or 30's I guess. Not many recordings of it from the 80's I don't think.
DeleteLee
Wonderful post! I have heard the music before, though I could not have named it. But it is truly stimulating and clearly the answer as to how the heck my shoes come untied while sitting at my desk :-)
ReplyDeleteMy soundtrack is quite a jumble, I'm afraid. Consisting of songs such as "Reina de mi amor", "Moon River" and "Ventura Highway", with many more in between! Often, I'll have a song in my head for days on end; never quite knowing why. Picturing you re-living the joy of juggling I can't help but recall my years of ballet and now I can't get "A Summer Place" out of my head!
Diedre, we hear so many great songs in our lives and so many are tied to memories good and bad. No wonder that songs will pervade our thoughts and often without rhyme or reason.
DeleteLee
This is a great song. I heard it a lot for plate-spinners on "Ed Sullivan" and "Bozo's Circus." And, when Mary played the organ, she played this one and "Tico-Tico." I personally prefer Desi Arnaz's version. He was a hell of an entertainer.
ReplyDeleteJohn, yes you would have such songs on those shows and others. I don't hear those old standards much anymore.
DeleteLee