Tresillo ( ; ) is a rhythmic pattern (shown below)Garrett, Charles Hiroshi (2008). Struggling to Define a Nation: American Music and the Twentieth Century, p. 54. . Shown in common time and then in cut time with tied sixteenth & eighth note rather than rest.Sublette, Ned (2007), Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo, p. 134. . Shown with tied sixteenth & eighth note rather than rest. used in Latin American music. It is a more basic form of the rhythmic figure known as the habanera.
Tresillo is the most fundamental duple-pulse rhythmic cell in Cuban and other Latin American music. It was introduced in the New World through the Atlantic slave trade during the Colonial period. The pattern is also the most fundamental and most prevalent duple-pulse rhythmic cell in Sub-Saharan African music traditions.
The cinquillo pattern is another common embellishment of tresillo. Cinquillo is used frequently in the Cuban contradanza (the "habanera") and the danzón.
Triplet (formal usage) Tresillo is a Spanish word meaning "triplet"—three equal notes within the same time span normally occupied by two notes. In its formal usage, tresillo refers to a subdivision of the beat that does not normally occur within the given structure. Therefore, it is indicated by the number 3 between the halves of a horizontal bracket over the notes, as shown below. The first measure divides each beat in three: one, and, ah, two, and, ah. The second divides the span of two main beats by three (hemiola): one-ah, two-ah, three-ah.
Duple-pulse correlative of 3:2
Tresillo-over-two
In sub-Saharan rhythm, the four main beats are typically divided into three or four pulses, creating a 12-pulse (), or 16-pulse () cycle.Ladzekpo, C. K. (1996). "Main Beat Schemes," Foundation Course in African Music. Web. Every triple-pulse pattern has its duple-pulse correlate; the two pulse structures are two sides of the same coin. Cross-beats are generated by grouping pulses contrary to their given structure, for example: groups of two or four in or groups of three or six in .Peñalosa, David (2010). Rumba Quinto p. 180. Redway, California: Bembe Books. The duple-pulse correlative of the three cross-beats of the hemiola, is known in Afro-Cuban music as tresillo. The pulse names of tresillo and the three cross-beats of the hemiola (3:2) are identical: one, one-ah, two-and.Peñalosa, David (2010: 43). The Clave Matrix; Afro-Cuban Rhythm: Its Principles and African Origins. Redway, California: Bembe Inc. .
Cross-beat generation The composite pattern of tresillo and the main beats is commonly known as the habanera,Roberts, John Storm (1979: 6). The Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin American Music on the United States. Oxford. congo,Manuel, Peter (2009: 69). Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. tango-congo,Acosta, Leonardo (2003: 5). Cubano Be Cubano Bop; One Hundred Years of Jazz in Cuba. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Books. or tango.Mauleón (1999: 4) Salsa Guidebook for Piano and Ensemble. Petaluma, California: Sher Music. . The habanera rhythm is the duple-pulse correlate of the vertical hemiola (above). The three cross-beats of the hemiola are generated by grouping triple pulses in twos: 6 pulses ÷ 2 = 3 cross-beats. Tresillo is generated by grouping duple pulses in threes: 8 pulses ÷ 3 = 2 cross-beats (consisting of three pulses each), with a remainder of a partial cross-beat (spanning two pulses). In other words, 8 ÷ 3 = 2, r2. Tresillo is a cross-rhythmic fragment. It contains the first three cross-beats of 4:3.Peñalosa (2010). Rumba Quinto p. xxx.
Basic rhythmic cell (common usage in Cuban popular music) Habanera (Cuban contradanza) The Cuban contradanza, known outside of Cuba as the habanera, was the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African motif (tresillo and its variants). Tresillo is used as an ostinato figure in the left hand. The habanera was the first dance music from Cuba to be exported all over the world. Because of the habanera's global popularity, tresillo and its variants are found in popular music in nearly every city on the planet. Later, Cuban musical exports, such as the son, son montuno, and the mambo continued to reinforce the use of tresillo bass lines and vamps.
"La Paloma" (1863) is one of the most popular habaneras, having been produced and reinterpreted in diverse cultures, settings, arrangements, and recordings over the last 140 years. The song was composed and written by Spanish composer Sebastián Iradier (later Yradier) after he visited Cuba in 1861. In the excerpt below, the left hand plays the tresillo rhythm.
The "three-side" of clave As used in Cuban popular music, tresillo refers to the "three-side" (first three strokes) of the son clave pattern.
The most basic duple-pulse cell Although the triplet divides the main beats by three pulses (triple-pulse) and tresillo divides them by four pulses (duple-pulse), the two figures share the same pulse names: one, one-ah, two-and.Peñalosa (2010: 43). The Clave Matrix. The common figure known as the habanera consists of tresillo with the second main beat.
The cinquillo pattern is another common embellishment of tresillo. Cinquillo is used frequently in the Cuban contradanza (the "habanera") and the danzón. The figure is also a common bell pattern found throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Bass tumbao Tresillo is the rhythmic basis of many African and Afro-Cuban drum rhythms, as well as the ostinato bass tumbao in Cuban son-based musics, such as son montuno, mambo, salsa, and Latin jazz.Peñalosa (2009: 40)."Alza los pies Congo," Septeto Habanero. (CD: 1925). The example below shows a tresillo-based tumbao from "Alza los pies Congo" by Septeto Habanero (1925).
In art music Because of the popularity of the Cuban contradanza (habanera), the tresillo variant known as the habanera rhythm was adopted into European art music. For example, Georges Bizet's opera Carmen (1874) has a famous aria, "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" based on a habanera pattern. The first seven measures are shown below.
In addition, Louis Moreau Gottschalk's first symphony, La nuit des tropiques (lit. "Night of the Tropics") (1860) was influenced by the composer's studies in Cuba.Sublette, Ned (2008:125). Cuba and its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. Gottschalk uses the tresillo variant cinquillo extensively. With Gottschalk, we see the beginning of serious treatment of Afro-Caribbean rhythmic elements in New World art music. Tresillo and the habanera rhythm are heard in the left hand of Gottschalk's salon piano compositions such as Souvenir de la Havane ("Souvenirs From Havana") (1859).
Cinquillo-Tresillo in the French Antilles Bélé (also called belair) was developed in rural Martinique and is played on a drum of the same name. The drum is played by two performers: one straddles the drum, playing on the drumhead with both hands and a foot (which is used to dampen and dry the drumhead in order to produce different pitches); the other performer uses a pair of sticks (called tibwa) to beat out characteristic and intricate cross-rhythms on the side of the drum.
In bélé, the cinquillo-tresillo is beat out by the tibwa, but it translates very well to the chacha (a maracas) when the rhythms are applied for playing biguine music. The biguine, a modern form of bélé, is accompanied by call-and-response singing and by dancing. The tibwa rhythm also provided inspiration for the chouval bwa and then for zouk (two Antillean popular music).
In zouk, the rhythm is often simplified to an almost-constant motif and played with rimshots on the snare while the chacha or hi-hats play the cinquillo-tresillo rhythm.
In African music
Gqom Tresillo is present in South African music, particularly gqom music and its variants core tribe and taxi kick.
In African-American music
Ragtime and jazz African-American music began incorporating Afro-Cuban rhythmic motifs in the 1800s with the popularity of the Cuban contradanza (known outside of Cuba as the habanera). The habanera was the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African motif (1803).Manuel, Peter (2009: 67). Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Musicians from Havana and New Orleans would take the twice-daily ferry between both cities to perform and not surprisingly, the habanera quickly took root in the musically fertile city of New Orleans. The habanera was the first of many Cuban music genres which enjoyed periods of popularity in the United States, and reinforced and inspired the use of tresillo-based rhythms in African American music.
From the perspective of African American music, the habanera rhythm can be thought of as a combination of tresillo and the backbeat.Peñalosa, David (2010: 42). The Clave Matrix: Afro-Cuban Rhythm: Its Principles and African Origins. Redway, California: Bembe Inc. .
Tresillo in African American music is one of the clearest examples of African rhythmic retention in the United States. There are examples of tresillo-like rhythms in a few African American folk musics such as the foot stomping patterns in ring shout and the post-Civil War drum and fife music.Kubik, Gerhard (1999: 52). Africa and the Blues. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. Tresillo is also heard prominently in New Orleans second line music. Wynton Marsalis considers tresillo to be the New Orleans "clave", although technically, the pattern is only half a clave."Wynton Marsalis part 2." 60 Minutes. CBS News (26 Jun 2011).
John Storm Roberts states that "the habanera reached the United States 20 years before the first rag was published."Roberts, John Storm (1999: 12) Latin Jazz. New York: Schirmer Books. Scott Joplin's "Solace" (1909) is considered a habanera. For the more than quarter-century in which the cakewalk, ragtime and proto-jazz were forming and developing, the habanera was a consistent part of African American popular music.Roberts, John Storm (1999: 16) Latin Jazz. New York: Schirmer Books. Ned Sublette postulates that the habanera rhythm "found its way into ragtime and the cakewalk",Sublette, Ned (2008:155). Cuba and its Music; From the First Drums to the Mambo. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. while Roberts suggests that "the habanera influence may have been part of what freed black music from ragtime's European bass."Roberts, John Storm (1999: 40). The Latin Tinge. Oxford University Press.
Early New Orleans jazz bands had habaneras in their repertoire and the tresillo/habanera was a rhythmic staple of jazz at the turn of the 20th century. For example, "St. Louis Blues" (1914) by W.C. Handy has a tresillo bass line. Jelly Roll Morton considered the tresillo/habanera (which he called the Spanish tinge) to be an essential ingredient of jazz. Morton stated, "Now in one of my earliest tunes, "New Orleans Blues", you can notice the Spanish tinge. In fact, if you can't manage to put tinges of Spanish in your tunes, you will never be able to get the right seasoning, I call it, for jazz."Morton, “Jelly Roll” (1938: Library of Congress Recording) The Complete Recordings By Alan Lomax. An excerpt of "New Orleans Blues" is shown below. In the excerpt, the left hand plays the tresillo rhythm, while the right hand plays variations on cinquillo.