El Temba [click here for full lyrics]

"El Temba" was the album's biggest hit after "Nube Pasajera". The lyrics are hilarious, but understanding them is no mean feat. Anyone skillful enough to make it through the sea of Cuban slang ("güaniquiqui", "temba", " 'ño", "papiriqui", etc.) may yet be stumped by the litany of mispronounced European cars ("búscate un temba como Calzado que tiene Lada que tiene Jetta que tiene güaniquiqui"). See our special section on Cuban slang (or your used car dealer) for information on these terms. To make a long story short, when the protagonist's girlfriend starts thinking about marriage, he suggests that she'd better find herself a middle-aged guy ("un temba") with a lot of money ("güaniquiqui") who can give what she has to have ("lo que tenía que tener") to live the good life.

Musically, "El Temba" was the first of three Calzado compositions based on a slower, funky, grinding groove, each of which became a huge hit. [audio example 14] He later applied a similar approach to "Lola" [audio example 15] on the fourth album, "Tremendo Delirio", and "Riki Ricón" [audio example 16] on the 2000 release, "Charanguero Mayor".

But with "El Temba", Calzado also introduced an even more significant stylistic element, the "rapped coro", for lack of a better term. Instead of singing, the coristas would chant or "rap" the coro part. [audio example 17]. This caught on like wildfire with almost all of the Timba groups. For example, Issac and Melón made brilliant use of it in "Se Te Fue la Mano" [audio example 18]; Bamboleo used it in the signature coro used to open two of their CD's and all of their concerts [audio example 19]; and perhaps the most powerful application was in the song which became the mantra for the Timba movement in the mid to late 90's, Manolín's incredible "Somos lo que Hay". [audio example 20]. This was so effective that Calzado brought the creative exchange full circle by stealing the idea back a few years later, rewriting the words, and incorporating it into the live version of "Riki Ricón". [audio example 21]

Unfortunately, the rapped coro has also been overused (and abused) by many of the second-echelon Timba groups. It's a deceptively difficult device to use effectively and its less inspired applications have led to undeserved criticism of the Timba genre as a whole as being overly aggressive and cacophonic. Since the coristas aren't singing musical notes, getting a good blend is more a matter of timbre than intonation, and the absence of melody also requires the arrangers to create interest in other areas. Let's take a look at the skillful way the rapped coros of "El Temba" are handled. [audio example 17] The rapping voices have a smooth timbral blend; the underlying bass and piano parts supply melodic and harmonic interest; the rapped section alternates with a melodic one; and most important, the words, rhymes and rhythms of the rapped section itself are extremely creative.

que pase de los treinta
y no llegue a los cincuenta
eh! pa' que te de la cuenta

(a "temba" being someone between the ages of 30 and 50, preferably with a lot of money)

To provide contrast to the rapping, the subsequent coro section features some exceptionally melodic guías from Michel, before the next, and more famous, rapped coro:

pa' que tengas
lo que tenías que tener
pa'que tú goces pa'que tú apriendas
[audio example 22]