470 PART 4 | SINCE WORLD WAR II
songwriter: Tito Puente
genre: rock
date: 1970
performers: Santana; instrumentation:
guitar, organ, bass, drums, Latin percussion
(two players)
meter: duple
form: strophic with vampsListening Guide 19.1 “Oye como va” CARLOS SANTANA
timing section text comments0:00 intro/vamp 8 bars, starting with organ and bass to establish a clave^
(an organizing rhythm in Latin music). Bar 4, timbales
(high-pitched tom-toms) enter; bar 5, guïro (scraper),
conga (a tall Afro-Cuban drum played with the hands)
and agogo (cowbell) join to establish a cha-cha rhythm
(long-short-short).
0:15 Electric guitar enters with 2-bar phrase, repeated 4 times.
0:30 4 bars of rhythmic unison, followed by silence and a
fi nal chord.
0:38 chorus Oye como va, mi ritmo,
Bueno pa’ gozar, mulataThe band sings 8-bar chorus in unison over the same
2-bar chord progression heard throughout the song,
followed by a 2-bar version of the rhythmic chords that
ended the vamp.
0:57 guitar solo Begins with 8 bars of plangent, slightly distorted
playing in the middle register.
1:12 For the next 8 bars the melodic line becomes more
intense, moving to a higher register.
1:26 Staying in the high register, guitar suggests a quick
triple meter against the basic medium duple meter of
the band (4 bars).
1:34 6 bars of rapid repeated chords alternating with a
unison melodic phrase in guitar and bass.
1:45 vamp 4-bar return to the introduction.
1:52 interlude New 8-bar vamp, with sudden drop in volume and
changes of texture, featuring the Latin percussion.
In bars 7–8 the full band plays repeated chords with a
crescendo.WHAT TO LISTEN FOR- use of Latin rhythms and percussion
instruments with standard rock instruments - lyrical, expressive electric guitar solos
- dominance of long instrumental solos
(guitar, organ) over vocal sections
CD 3.24172028_19_468-494_r3_sd.indd 470 23/01/13 11:04 AM