Puerto Rican Culture - El Cuatro

The cuatro [kwah' tro] is Puerto Rico’s national instrument. It belongs to the lute family of string instruments. Its origins are unclear, though it is believed to have existed on the island in various forms for about 400 years. Its name derives from the original four-stringed instrument, which over time evolved into the current version of ten strings paired in five courses.

The cuatro is the uniquely identifying sound of the island’s folkloric music. Always popular in Puerto Rico, cuatro music is experiencing a surge of popularity on the mainland, with cuatro festivals, schools, and concerts now appearing across the U.S. In addition, the cuatro has expanded its range beyond its traditional folk sound into Latin big bands, soloist performances with symphonic orchestras, and even into hip-hop, pop, and jazz. Its traditional sound, though, is still beloved and is represented in the background music of the following video about the fabrication of a cuatro.





The soloist CDs of accomplished cuatro artists like the standard bearer Pedro Guzmán and the gifted Prodigio Claudio are still mostly available through specialty websites such as musicaboricua.com. In the following appearance at a Puerto Rican community center in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Prodigio Claudio demonstrates his virtuosity and range. I apologize for the “home movie” quality of the video but, after viewing all the available YouTube cuatro music clips, I am convinced that the mainstream world is still not paying attention and therefore not generating the polished videos one might hope for.





I end with a personal note about my own experience with the cuatro. Like so many things Puerto Rican, my introduction to the cuatro was at my childhood Pentecostal church. Most of the parishioners of my father’s church were first-generation Puerto Rican immigrants to the mainland. It is not surprising, then, that church music would incorporate the traditional sounds of the cuatro, guitar, maracas, güiro, tambourines, and drums. The music was no less lively or seductive than its secular counterpart. As a consequence, I need only hear the first bars of cuatro music to be carried back, as if I’d never left, to my childhood church. In the process, I am reminded that music, possibly more than any other genre, seems particularly capable of piercing the cognitive barrier that daily living erects.