In the eight century, during the Crusades, the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) began to keep contact with the Moors of North Africa. This contact together with the conquest of the British Empire by the Turkish made easier to bring the timbal to Europe. Most of musicologists agree that the European timpani or timbal is one of the previous musical instruments of the present timbal. We already know that a pair of timpani were used for the first time in Europe, in 1670.

Cuban Pailas (kettledrums)

  According to Ortiz, Curt Sachs believes that the first tímpani was used in Europe in the 14th century. In his book “Las Artes en Santiago de Cuba” ( Arts in Santiago de Cuba), Laureano Fuentes affirms that timpanis were played for the first time in 1852 in Cuba when the Italian opera “Lucia di Lammermoor” of Donizzetti was performed by Antonio Boza. The Cuban style timbal was played for the first time in the most eastern regions of the oriental provinces of the island, principally in Holguín and Manzanillo. It was frequently found in typical groups that included among their instruments an organ which is very famous in those regions. The timpani could also be found in circus. Among other instruments typical of the Afro-cuban music, Ortiz discribes the “paila”, an alternative name given by many musicians to the timbals or to a musical direction, or when the “cáscara” is played.

  According to Pichardo, the writer, the “paila” is a half an orange shaped iron or copper vessel. These vessels were used in sugar mills to contain the sugar cane juice known as “guarapo”. They were also used to form the Cuban timbal. The “paila” was frequently used because it was easier to carry a single drum. The musical technique of the “pailero” (paila player) made possible that all sounds needed by the different musical rhythms were obtained. The instrument was played with drumsticks and most of the time, the “pailero” had to use his hand to obtain a high or a low musical note. His free hand will increase the tension of the skin stretched played with the drumstick. At that time, there was no male or female timbal like today, and according to Carlos Borbolla, an organ player and “pailero” of the first half of the 20th century “a timbal should only manipulate the acoustic tasks of both sexes”. In the most eastern provinces of Cuba, until this century, musical groups composed of an organ, a “guayo” (big güiro), and a “pailero” made their music in the streets or in dances for the Cuban lower classes. The oldest of these “pailas” or vessels were taken to Africa in the 15th century and played as a musical instrument in Guinea and by the Mayombé people.

  Ortiz believes that the Africans tried to imitate the Europeans that have brought this instrument to their continent. In Zaire, for example, the people copied the timbales (remember that these are what we know as timpanis) and even the costumes and ornaments used by the musicians that were frequently soldiers. Military men and soldiers have often greatly influenced the musical styles in many parts of the world. Drums have always been used in one way or another in the military domain. The first Cuban musicians that played in musical groups were former soldiers. There was a racial distinction between the military battalions. Those battalions with black soldiers were called the “pardos”, and those composed of black and white soldiers, were called “morenos”. The orchestras of that time reflected this racial distinction that was maintained by the Spanish military men. The influence on the “pardos” battalions and their bands began to materialize with the inclusion of the güiro and rhythmic standards as well as the improvisations performed by the timbalero (timpani or timbal player).

  Ortiz also has many interesting ideas about the present timbal origins. He believes that the Bongoes are one of the previous versions of the timbales because the Bongoes were joined by a central piece like our timbales.

  The musician is also seated when he played the Bongoes and, finally, they had only one skin head, and they were opened in the bottom. Ortiz also believes that the origin of all these instruments is the kitchen. Some time in the Cuban history, frying pans were covered by a skin, probably a goat skin, tightened with a rope or a certain kind of adjusting screws connected to a ring. These drums were also played with a drumstick and the hand. The word “paila” derives from the French word “poêle”, that comes from the Latin “patella”, a sort of metal dish. In modern French language, poêle means frying pan.

  When do the timbales we know at present come up from the timpani?

At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a great demand of timpani because of the great popularity of certain musical rhythms, as the Contradanza that gave birth to typical Cuban rhythms, like the Danza and the Danzón, in which the timbal derived from the timpani played a central role.

As time went by with its constructive transformation, we begin to observe its presence during the fifties in the 20th century, in the Son reformed band of Arsenio Rodríguez and the new jazz band in the Cuban style among other formats. Nowadays, the timbal is playing a principal role in non Cuban musical rhythms like the Latin jazz, the Pop and the Rock. The successful presence of this instrument on a worldwide scale is due to the “King of the Timbal”: Tito Puente.