The Melody Web what each genre heard, and what it passed on

heard passed on Click or tap a node to recenter. Use a connecting line, or Influence, for the story.

Heard

Bolero genre · 1885–

Filin keeps bolero’s slow amatory song span and recodes it as a close-microphone nightclub lyric.

Influence
Jazz genre · 1910–

Filin takes jazz’s extended harmony and intimate delivery into 1940s Havana bolero song.

Influence

Filin

style · 1940–

Also called feeling, feeling cubano

1940s Havana bolero-jazz song: intimate guitar or piano, jazz harmony, and a close microphone (Portillo de la Luz, Méndez). It hears Bolero for the slow amatory song span and Jazz for the extended harmony and close-voice delivery. It already gives Nueva trova the jazz-colored song craft Milanés brings from this school. Empty extra Received/Given is historically checked.

Listen

  1. Contigo en la Distancia César Portillo de la Luz (1946) YouTube · Spotify
  2. La gloria eres tú José Antonio Méndez (1940s) YouTube · Spotify
  3. Tú me acostumbraste Frank Domínguez (1955) YouTube · Spotify
  4. Novia mía José Antonio Méndez (1940s) YouTube · Spotify
  5. Deuda César Portillo de la Luz (1940s)

Passed on

Nueva trova movement · 1967–

Nueva trova takes filin’s jazz-colored intimate song — close voice, extended harmony, guitar or piano — into the 1960s civic circuit.

Influence

Bolero → Filin

form and structuremelodyfunction and contextstrength: highscholarly consensus1940–1955oralrecordingradio

Mechanism

Filin keeps bolero’s slow amatory song span and recodes it as a close-microphone nightclub lyric. Strength high. jazz filin is the harmonic donor; this hop is the Cuban song parent. filin nueva trova is the later civic child.

Evidence

Portillo de la Luz and Méndez writing slow boleros with jazz chords; Sublette and Manuel on filin as bolero-jazz.

Debate

Whether filin simply is bolero. Bolero is the dance-and-song genre; filin is the named Havana jazz-colored school of that song.

Mediators

artist: César Portillo de la Luz; artist: José Antonio Méndez

Jazz → Filin

harmonyperformance practicetimbre and productionstrength: highscholarly consensus1940–1955recordingradiooral

Mechanism

Filin takes jazz’s extended harmony and intimate delivery into 1940s Havana bolero song. Strength high. bolero filin is the song-span parent; this hop is the U.S. harmonic and nightclub craft. Pointed at the jazz umbrella because the transfer is the long-term language, not one named jazz child.

Evidence

Portillo and Méndez citing jazz records; guitar and piano voicings beyond dance-bolero cycles; Sublette on Havana filin as jazz-bolero.

Debate

Whether filin is already a jazz style. It remains a Cuban song school; jazz is the donor harmony, not the genre rename.

Mediators

artist: César Portillo de la Luz; artist: José Antonio Méndez

Filin → Nueva trova

harmonymelodyperformance practicestrength: mediumwell documented1967–1975oralrecording

Mechanism

Nueva trova takes filin’s jazz-colored intimate song — close voice, extended harmony, guitar or piano — into the 1960s civic circuit. Strength medium. trova nueva trova is the older Santiago guitar-song job; this hop is the Havana bolero-jazz craft Milanés carries. Bolero leftover as filin’s own parent until that node is curated.

Evidence

Milanés’s filin years before ICAIC; Portillo de la Luz and Méndez as the named 1940s school; Grove and Manuel on filin as a parent of some nueva-trova singers.

Debate

Whether nueva trova is only trova plus politics. For Milanés the jazz-bolero grammar is filin’s; Rodríguez’s line is closer to the trova hop.

Mediators

artist: Pablo Milanés