Explore the Cuban music genres. Learn the Cuban music history, read about the traditional Cuban music styles, and discover the Cuban music artists and instruments.
Updated: 11/21/2023
Cuban Music History, Artists & Genres
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Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of music is popular in Cuba?
Cuban music has many popular genres. Some of the most popular are son, danzon, and rumba. Cuban music has influenced everything from jazz to hip-hop.
How would you describe Cuban music?
Cuban music is an amalgam of styles that have resulted from Cuba's diverse and complicated history. It generally combines African rhythmic structure with with European melody and harmony.
Table of Contents
ShowThe traditional music of the island nation of Cuba is an amalgam of influences from a variety of regions, but its main influences are mainly West African and European (especially Spanish) music. Because of its fusion of different genres, Cuban music is often widely regarded as one of the most acclaimed and enduring regional styles of music in the world. It's variety of influences can be heard in its diverse instrumentation. For example, the Cuban genre of son cubano combines the tres (a form of Spanish guitar), European melodic and harmonic vocal sensibilities, and Afro-Cuban percussion and rhythms. Cuban music has influenced numerous musical styles around the globe, most notably in Latin America, the Caribbean, West Africa, and Europe. Some examples of music genres influenced by Cuban music include rhumba, Afro-Cuban jazz, salsa, jazz, hip-hop and soukous.
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The history of traditional Cuban music, from its development to its maturation, can be traced to multiple musical styles that coalesced on the island during the eighteen and nineteen hundreds. The foundation of most Cuban musical forms can be found in the cultural institution of the cabildos. Cabildos were African ethnic organizations that preserved African cultural traditions. and were sanctioned by the Cuban government. Cabidos were considered a necessary evil by the Spanish that ruled Cuba. They allowed the enslaved Africans to keep their cultural traditions, worship their deities, and observe their At the same time, a religion called Santeria, formed when an African diasporic belief system called Lucumi fused with Roman Catholicism, created a syncretic religion that and had soon spread throughout Cuba, Haiti and other nearby islands. Santeria, greatly influenced Cuba's music, as percussion and African rhythm are an integral part of the belief system. Each deity, known as orishas, are commonly identified with particular colors, emotions, natural phenomenon, Roman Catholic saints ,and drum rhythms called toques. By the 20th century, elements of Santería music had explicitly and implicitly infiltrated and influenced most of Cuba's popular folk forms.
Cuban Music Instruments
Congas, also known as tumbadora, is a percussion instrument that has its roots in Africa. It is one of the most widely played drums in traditional Cuban music. In essence, congas are long barrel-like single-sided drums which are used in genres like conga and rumba. The drums get the name conga from the music genre itself. There are three types of conga drums. These are quinto, which is the lead drum and the tallest, the tres dos or tres golpes, which is the middle drum, and the tumba or salidor, which is the shortest. Congas have become immensely popular among western countries due to the growing popularity of Latin music genres. They are heavily used in several genres including salsa, Latin rock and Afro-Cuban jazz. They are usually played by hand; however, there are several musicians who often use mallets. Many other Latin American countries, including the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Colombia, also use conga drums in their music.
Bongos are another kind of drums that are very famous throughout the world. Although their exact history is not clear, it is believed that they were introduced by enslaved Africans in the eastern regions of Cuba in the 19th century. Since then, Bongos have gone on to define some of the influential Cuban music genres including Son Cubano, Afro-Cuban Jazz and Salsa. Of these genres, Son music was the reason for the meteoric rise of Bongo drums. As this kind of music became widespread in Cuba from the onset of the 1900s, so did the Bongo drums. Bongo players are called bongoseros and history has seen some of the best bongoseros come from Cuba, especially after the 1930s. These include Jose Manuel Carriera Incharte and Oscar Sotolongo, both of whom were influential in the rise of these drums. The 1940s saw many Cubans migrate to the US, many of whom brought the bongos with them, which introduced these to American listeners for the first time. For example, many America were introduced to the bongos and congas by the Cuban actor Desi Arnaz in the 1950's sitcom I Love Lucy.
Bata along with the congas and the bongos form the trinity of Cuban drums. Collectively, these three are the most popular Cuban musical instruments. Most music groups use all three types of drums in their songs with different players. Bata is different from the other two drums that we have mentioned before. Firstly, it has a unique hourglass shape and is double-sided, with one side larger than the other. Secondly, it is supposed to be held by the player. Like the other two drums, bata has its origins in Africa and is believed to be the instrument of choice of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Thought to be more than 500 years old, bata was brought to Cuba in the 1800s during the slave trade from Africa and has found a place in Cuban culture since then. The Yoruba people used it primarily for religious ceremonies, and more recently it found its way into secular music as well. Since the 1970s, the use of bata became widespread as musicians began using it in modern music genres like Hip-Hop and Cuban timba.
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Cuba basically has five genres of Afro-Cuban music; these include rumba, son, cancion Cubana, danzon, and punto guarjira. The traditional music in Cuban culture has its roots in African heritage. These musical traditions have helped keep the people of Cuba aware and appreciative of their beginning; the culture of Africa can be observed in Afro-Cuban music.
Danzon
Danzon is the official music genre and dance of the island nation, and is also very popular in Mexico as well, although it originated in Cuba. Its roots lay in European ballroom dances like the English country dance, French contredanse and Spanish contradanza. Danzon developed in the 1870s in the region of Matanzas, where African culture remained strong. It had developed in full by 1879. Played by orquesta tipica, an informal military marching band, danzons evolved from the habanera by incorporating African elements, and were played by artists like Miguel Failde. Failde added elements from the French contredanse, and laid the way for future artists like Jose Urfe, Enrique Jorrin and Antonio Maria Romeu.
Son Cubano
Son Cubano (which literally means "the Cuban sound") is a major genre of Cuban music, and its popularity and reach quickly spread to other Hispanic Caribbean countries. It developed from folk music in the Sierra Maestra in Cuba's Oriente region. It is thought to have been derived from changui, which also merged the Spanish guitar and African rhythms. Son's characteristics today are as diverse as it's origins, with the defining characteristic a bass pulse that comes before the downbeat, giving son and its derivatives (including salsa) its distinctive rhythm; this is known as the anticipated bass. Son traditionally concerns itself with themes like love and patriotism, though more modern artists are socially or politically-oriented. Son lyrics are typically decima (ten line), octosyllabic verse, and it is performed in 2/4 time.
Rumba
Outside of Cuba, rumba is a classy affair for gentlemen and ladies in tuxedos and ballgowns, but its true origins are spontaneous and improvisational ,arising from the collective songs of the dockworkers of Havana and Matanzas. Percussion (including quinto and tumbadoras drums and "palitos", or sticks, to play a cascara rhythm) and vocal parts (including a leader and a chorus) are combined to make a danceable and popular form of music. The word rumba is believed to stem from the verb rumbear, which means something like to have a good time, party. The rhythm is the most important part of rumba, which is always music primarily meant for dancing. There three kinds of rumba rhythms, with accompanying dances: colombia, guaganco and yambu. The colombia, played in 6/8 time, is danced by one man and is very swift, with aggressive and acrobatic moves. The guaganco, played in 2/4, is danced with one man and one woman, and is much slower. The dance simulates the man's pursuit of the woman, and is thus sexually charged. The yambu, known as "the old people's rumba", is a precursor to the guaguanco and is played more slowly. Yambu has almost died-out and is played almost exclusively by folkloric ensembles.
Salsa
In the 1970s and onwards, son montuno was combined with other Latin musical forms, such as the mambo and the rumba, to form contemporary salsa music, currently immensely popular throughout Latin America and the Hispanic world.
Trova
Paralleling nueva cancion in Chile and Argentina, Cuba's political and social turmoil in the 60s and 70s produced a socially aware form of new music called nueva trova. Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanes became the most important exponents of this style. It arose from travelling trovadores in the early 20th century, including popular musicians like Sindo Garay (best-known for "La Bayamesa"), Nico Saquito, Carlos Puebla and Joseito Fernandez (best-known for "Guantanamera"). Nueva trova was always intimately connected with Castro's revolution, but its lyrics frequently expressed personal rather than social issues, focusing on intense emotional issues. Nueva Trova began to evolve after the fall of the Soviet Union, adapting to the new times. Examples of a new, non-political line in the Nueva Trova movement could be Liuba María Hevia, whose lyrics are focused on other subjects like love and solitude, sharing with the rest a highly poetical style. On the other side of the spectrum, Carlos Varela is famous in Cuba for his open criticism of some aspects of Castro's revolution, while at the same time being included in the Nueva Trova genre. The term novisima troma (literally 'newest song') is often used to describe a new generation of songwriters whose main references are Silvio Rodriguez and Pablo Milanes.
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- Damaso Perez Prado- He is better known as El Rey del Mambo, or king of the mambo.
- Celia Cruz- Celia Cruz is an iconic salsa singer, who achieved fame around the world.
- AfroCuba Matanzas- One of the most popular folklore groups in Cuba.
- Ibbu Okun-An all female Afro-Cuban folkloric group.
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Cuban music is a syncretic amalgam of European and African influences. Combining African rhythms and Europeans harmonic and melodic sensibilities, Cuban music is gone on to become one of the most influential genres of music in the world. Combining African drums like the conga, bongos, and bata, Cuban music has created many genres like danzon, son, and rumba. Some famous Cuban artists are Celia Cruz, Damaso Perez Prado, and Ibbu Okun.
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Additional Info
Cuban Music
Let's play a little word association. What comes to mind when you read the word Cuba? How about Havana? How about Cuban?
What probably came to mind were Cuban sandwiches, Cuban cigars, and Cuban nightlife. These are the things we associate with Cuba, but perhaps while you imagined these things, a subtle soundtrack began playing in the back of your mind. Let's face it- it's nearly impossible to think of Cuba without also thinking of Cuban music. Music is a quintessential part of Cuban life and society. So, if you really want to understand Cuba, let's get to know its music.
History of Cuban Music
For starters, we have to define the concept of ''Cuban'' music itself. Cuba has had music since the first people arrived there thousands of years ago. So, when did music become Cuban as we define it today? It's an interesting question. In the colonial era, Cuba was a major population center of the Spanish Empire. It was Spain's largest producer of sugar and one of its most lucrative agricultural colonies. So, the island was populated by a number of Spanish farmers (both poor and wealthy), as well as a huge number of African slaves. Each of these groups brought their own musical traditions to the island, and some learned the fading arts of Cuba's indigenous population as well, which was diminishing rapidly from colonialism.
We know very little about folk music in Cuba prior to about 1800, but more records have survived in the 19th century. For much of this time, the most celebrated forms of music were very European in character and similar to folk music played in other European-based cultures. The Afro-Cuban population produced music, but it was not recognized.
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This began to change in the late 19th century. Perhaps the most notable figure in this was Ignacio Cervantes (1847-1905), the first Cuban musician to really start searching for a national style of music. Cervantes turned to Cuba's African heritage for answers, and blended European piano with Africa rhythms. It was the birth of a uniquely Cuban sound.
That sound took off, explored further by a number of prominent musicians in the 1920s and 1930s. Chief among them was Amadeo Roldan, who brought Afro-Cuban rhythms into the national spotlight with hits like La Rumba (1933) and Tres Danzas Cubanas (1937). By the 1940s, Cuba had turned the folk traditions of the island into a definitive national aesthetic.
Cuban music has also had a major influence on an international scale, becoming a definitive sound across the Caribbean, many parts of Latin America, and even parts of the United States. In fact, the musical style known as salsa was created from blending Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican music with American New York-based jazz. The most influential musician in orchestrating this (literally) was Cuban bandleader and composer Arsenio Rodríguez.
Cuban music lost some of its international popularity in later decades, but saw a major revival in the 1990s with the release of the hugely influential Buena Vista Social Club, an album that sought to record aging Cuban musicians before their styles were lost.
Types of Afro-Cuban Music
Afro-Cuban music is the national aesthetic, but this is a broad term for a number of musical styles found on the island. These styles can be categorized into five rough styles: the rumba, son, canción Cubana, danzón, and punto guarjira. In this lesson, we're just going to focus on the three most influential.
Let's start with the danzón, which may be the oldest. Danzón music is slow, elegant, and deliberate. Like all forms of Cuban music, it's made to be danced to- in this case by couples. Danzón music is based in Afro-Cuban folk traditions around Matanzas, where it emerged around 1870, but is unique for its emphasis on European instruments, like strings and flutes.
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Later musicians tried to pull out more of the African roots in Cuban music, leading to the development of son Cubano around 1917. Son music is often considered the unofficial official music of Cuba, so you won't have to search hard to find it. Son is generally performed with a driving 2/4 meter and has a strong emphasis on percussion instruments. This elevation of rhythm is where we really see the African influence on Cuban music. Son music features a strong vocal lead, with lyrics covering topics from love to politics in ten-verse lines called the decima.
The third of Cuba's most influential musical styles is the rumba, where African influence is most obviously present. Rumba also has a 2/4 beat, which is dominated by a set of three conga drums, as well as sets of percussion sticks called claves. Rumba is almost entirely focused on rhythm, which is consistent with African folk music, but can also be performed with instruments ranging from guitars to trumpets. Rumba emerged in the slums of Cuba, where anything from plastic bottles to empty boxes could be employed instrumentally, so the genre is open to lots of improvisation and flexibility. Rumba was a social music, played in the streets by neighbors and used to unwind from the hard and demanding labor faced by many in these neighborhoods. Now, it's part of the national aesthetic, and it is as Cuban as it gets.
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Lesson Summary
Cuban music is defined by the prominence of Afro-Cuban themes and rhythms, blended with European-style harmonies. Drums are definitive instruments of Cuban music, which is made for dancing and based in folk traditions from across the island. The three most influential genres of Cuban music are the danzón, using European instrumentation in slow dances, the son, which presents lyrical verses alongside Afro-Cuban rhythms, and the rumba, an improvisational style focused heavily on rhythm. Cuban music has influenced other styles across the hemisphere, and remains an integral part of Cuban life, right up there with quality cigars and really good sandwiches.
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Cuban Music History, Artists & Genres
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