Part II: Different Types of Bloques

For the purposes of this article we're going to stretch the definition of the term "bloque" to include a broad range of rhythmic figures of different types. The most obvious bloques are played together by all the percussionists while the other instruments are silent.[example 1]. Here it is in context [example 2] Note that this particular bloque also serves the important structural function of changing the clave from 2:3 to 3:2. Clave changes almost always involve some sort of bloque.

Some bloques are played by only one percussionist while the others lay out. [example 3]. This opens up the possibility of improvising the bloque, although in this case, CH timbalero Eduardo Lazaga played this exhilarating percussion fill the same way each night.

It can be frustrating to try to distill "Timba" down to some kind of rhythmic system -- a task to which traditional Salsa lends itself readily. One of the reasons is that each Timba group adopts such a different approach to instrumentation and bloques, among other things. For example, Manolito y su Trabuco and Los Van Van use a rhythm section consisting of güiro, fairly conservative congas, and one monster trap drummer (Roicel Riverón and Samuel Formell, respectively) who covers all of the bell parts and most of the bloques by himself, and is thus free to include a considerable amount of improvisation. Klimax and Manolín use separate players for traps and timbales but nevertheless include a lot of improvised bloques, sometimes with one player finishing a bloque the other has started. Extensive study of Charanga Habanera's live performances reveals that although there is improvisation, Calzado generally prefers more of a "classical music" approach in which not only bloques, but guías are worked out and intensively rehearsed in advance. Bamboleo uses still a different approach, augmenting composed and improvised bloques with special generic bloques which can be called out by number and used interchangeably in different places from night to night.

One of the most likely places to find bloques in both traditional Salsa and Timba, and probably the easiest place for the musicians to keep track of them, is in the cuerpo, or head. [example 4 ]

The most common type of bloque, present in all types of music, is played by the horns, with the percussionists simply reinforcing key accents [example 5] or [example 6] Timba percussionists sometimes vary this by answering the horns [example 7], by playing a skeletonization of their melody [example 8]. or even by playing a completely independent countermelody against them. [example 9]

Likewise, a bloque can be used to reinforce a coro [example 10], or even a guía [example 11] or [example 12], or can play counterpoint to a coro [example 13] a guía [example 14], or both [example15].

For maximum power and drama, the bloque can be performed by the whole band in unison, voices included, like this riveting example from "Usa Condón". [example 16]

The most obvious role of a bloque is to provide an exciting transition from one section to the next [example 17], but an extremely exciting Timba innovation is to play another bloque after the beginning of the next section, catching the listener off guard. This frequently happens during the first guía after a new coro section has begun. [example 18]

Endings are course perfect places for bloques [example 19] or [example 20 ], but so are false endings [example 21], breakdowns for rapping to the crowd, and followup punches to those breakdowns [example 22].

In summary, one of the defining characteristics of Timba is its approach to bloques, which are present in every song and serve any number of important functions. But in the very best Timba, such as that of Charanga Habanera, the bloque is a creative end in itself. [example 23].