Fernando Ortiz and the Areito

Although Fernando Ortiz's La musica y los areitos de los indios de Cuba is rather outdated, it still offers some very interesting insights on the areito and Cuba's indigenous musical influences. Written after his also dated essay on hurricane as a god to the Taino or indigenes of the Antilles, Ortiz sets out to establish the character of the areito, its social, religious and economic functions, and the weakness or general absence of indigenous influences in Cuba's music today. A large part of this is demolishing the wrong-headed notion of a surviving areito by Anacaona, which is nothing but a song or chant of Kikongo origin and which was sung in colonial-era Haiti. Interestingly, Ortiz sees the maraca as a possible example of indigenous influence on Cuban music but otherwise, Cuba's music is largely of European and African origin. The areito itself is demonstrated in its various facets, including drawing upon accounts of it we are not familiar with (such as one describing Indians in Trinidad, Cuba, singing and dancing during a hurricane). Ortiz, drawing from the Spanish chroniclers and ethnographic analogies with other indigenous people, sees the areito as something which was associated with war, divination, genealogies, history, and cemis. And, perhaps, like Moscoso once wrote, as "forced" redistribution that helped prevent the accumulation of too much wealth for the elites. 

That songs were taught to the sons of caciques suggests the rise of rank and status as important parts of the areito, particularly for those who hosted them due to the exorbitant costs involved (in providing food and drink). The areito's religious associations, particularly with the prominence of behiques and the association with decisions that affected the collective were particularly important. What we found interesting however, was the notion of some areitos as rites of passage, an idea substantiated by indigenous cultures in other parts of the Americas. Sadly, we lack any real notion of what the music really sounded like, but since it was mainly based on voice and rhythm, Ortiz rejects notions that see fine melodies in Cuban music as a legacy of the indigenous past. For him, Cuba's musical and dance heritage is of European and African origins. One wonders what he would make of the theory of the ceremonia del cordon being partly influenced by the areito? After all, indigenous Cubans did survive for a long time in Cuba, perhaps retaining aspects of the areito dance long after the dissolution of Taino communities.