Zoom in

Zoom in

Zoom in

French Tambour became a representative element of the culture of black slaves in eastern Cuba, particularly in the southern part: Baracoa, Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba.
Before 1895, many French tambour dance companies sprung up in Santiago de Cuba, yet only La Caridad de Oriente lived out, which together with Pompadour in Guantánamo and Bejuco in Sagua de Tánamo, Holguin, turned out to be genuine bearers of eastern Cuban culture. 
These companies, which clustered Africans of different ethnics and free blacks, had their origins in the coffee plantation drying barns. During the patron saints’ holidays, the French masters used to allow their slaves to have fun by the hand of a cultural expression that eventually went down in history as the French Tambour. It’s a tambour because it is musically made up of African drums (in this case hailing from Niger, Congo and Benin) and French, slaves owned by French masters were the ones that used to star the show. Furthermore, the interpretation of these African roots added lyrics to the songs stemming from the masters’ vocabulary and garments.   
After the abolition of slavery in Cuba in 1886, this French-African-Cuban cultural expression was allowed to settle in Recreational, Mutual Aid and Relief Societies, made up of wage workers, former slaves and their descendants.
At the onset, French Tambour was hierarchical arranged with a king and a queen to represent the most important figures in a court that also included princes, princesses and captains. This organizational structure changed in the 20th century and began to recognize a chairman and a chairwoman as the top leaders, revered and respected figures to this day by each associate member. With this new layout, the ball dance engaged in new forms as a self-financed association, capable of preserving its ancestral spiritual precepts: cohesion and internal identification.           
Founded on February 24, 1862, the origins of La Caridad de Oriente French Tambour Society harken back to the plantations owned by Monsieur Antonio Venet, and to the San Nicolas farmhouse run by Monsieur Santiago Danger. It has three large drums or tumbas, named tambú or bulá after the French word tambour. All made of hardwood and tanned goatskin.
For La Caridad de Oriente, the work conducted by Mrs. Consuelo Venete Danger (Tecla) as queen of this society is one of a kind due to the magnificent performances she made of this instrument. She passed on her mastery to her great granddaughter, young Keila Quiala Venet, the daughter of the society’s current chairwoman, Mrs. Andrea Venet.
The use of Cha-Cha or marugas, a sort of cone-shaped bead instruments, added sound to the vocal chorus. They are exclusively played by women. Its dance repertoire includes such highlights as Yubá, Fronto or Fronté, as expressions of strong African roots.
The “La Caridad de Oriente” French Tambour Society holds the status of Masterpiece of the World Oral and Intangible Heritage granted by UNESCO on November 3, 2003.
Currently, they perform their artistic evolutions called French Tambour Nights in a building on 268 Carniceria between Havana and Trinidad streets, in the Urban Historic Center of Santiago de Cuba, where visitors and locals can revel in the color and mastery of their frolicking performances.