What is "cabildo"

n. 1 A local government council in some Spanish-speaking communities. 2 A town hall in some Spanish-speaking countries

Cabildo can refer to:

• Cabildo (council), a former Spanish municipal administrative unit governed by a council
• Cabildo (Cuba), African ethnic associations in colonial Cuba
• Cabildo (magazine), an Argentine nationalist Catholic magazine
• Cabildo (opera), a 1932 one-act opera by Amy Beach
• The Cabildo, a historic building in New Orleans, Louisiana
• Cabildo Canaries, island governments in the Canary Islands
• Buenos Aires Cabildo, a historical building in Buenos Aires, government house during colonial times
• Cabildo, Chile

Cabildos de nación were African ethnic associations created in Cuba in the late 16th century based on the Spanish cofradías ( guilds or fraternities) that were organized in Seville for the first time around the 14th century. The Sevillian cofradías had the tutelage of a Catholic saint and were held in the saint’s chapel.

"One of the earliest known cabildos de nación in Cuba was Mandinga Zape (1568)" The first cabildo on Compostela street in Havana was built in a lot purchased in 1691 by the Arará family. The same lot is still known as el solar de los Arará (the Arará’s lot). At the time the African population in Cuba was not as significant as it was after the 19th century with the sugar boom. Cabildos were organized by slaves belonging to the same ethnic group and became very popular in the urban areas.

Cabildo is an Argentine magazine which is considered the main press organ of nationalist Catholicism in the country. First published in the 1970s and then inactive during most of the 1990s, the magazine has become notorious for its xenophobic and anti-Semitic editorial line.

A cabildo or ayuntamiento was a Spanish colonial, and early post-colonial, administrative council which governed a municipality. Cabildos were sometimes appointed, sometimes elected; but they were considered to be representative of all land-owning heads of household ( vecinos). The colonial cabildo was essentially the same as the one developed in medieval Castile.

The cabildo was the legal representative of the municipality—and its vecinos—before the Crown, therefore it was among the first institutions established by the conquistadors themselves after, or even before, taking over an area. For example, Hernán Cortés established La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz to free himself from the authority of the Governor of Cuba.

The word cabildo has the same Latin root (capitulum) as the English word chapter, and in fact, is also the Spanish word for a cathedral chapter. Historically the term ayuntamiento was often preceded by the word excelentísimo ( English: "most excellent") as a style of office, when referring to the council. This phrase is often abbreviated Exc. Ay.

Cabildo is the only opera by the American composer Amy Beach, her opus 149. This chamber opera is in one act and has a libretto by Nan Bagby Stephens. Beach composed the music in 1932 and made use of folksong and Creole tunes. However, the work was not performed in her lifetime and received its first performance in 1947. Subsequent performances were in 1981, at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and in 1982, at the American Musicological Society meeting and the Sonneck Society. The first fully professional production was on May 13, 1995, as part of the "Great Performers at Lincoln Center" series, led by Ransom Wilson and directed by Hans Nieuwenhuis.

The Texas premiere of Cabildo was performed by Houston's Opera Vista on September 22, 2007 at the Museum of Fine Arts' Bayou Bend, conducted by Opera Vista's Artistic Director, Viswa Subbaraman and stage directed by Chuck Winkler. This performance led to Opera Vista being invited to perform Cabildo at the actual Cabildo in New Orleans on April 18, 2009. The performance was again conducted by Viswa Subbaraman with stage direction by Joe Carl White.