Miguel "Angá" Díaz
One of the key percussionists in timba's development — Miguel "Angá" Díaz was a conga player whose deep Afro-Cuban religious background informed the percussive character of the timba groups he worked with.
About
Angá Díaz was a percussionist rooted in the Afro-Cuban religious traditions of Havana — batá, rumba, and conga — who brought that foundation to the timba context. His work helped establish the character of timba percussion: the way Afro-Cuban religious rhythms are incorporated into the popular dance framework, the dense polyrhythmic layering, the energy level that distinguishes timba's rhythmic texture from earlier Cuban popular music.
He died in 2006, cutting short a career that was central to understanding how Afro-Cuban tradition and contemporary popular music connect in timba.
Timba is the music this site is dedicated to exploring. It emerged as a distinct genre in the late 1980s and crystallized in the early 1990s — born in a moment of social crisis, built on the full accumulated history of Cuban music, and still evolving today.
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Havana, the cultural heartbeat of Cuba, played a central role in the creation and evolution of several iconic Cuban dances. Some were born directly in the capital, while others were transformed there into the forms we know today.
Lees meer >Cuban music is built on percussion. The extraordinary density and variety of Cuban rhythmic culture reflects the meeting of West and Central African drumming traditions with Spanish, Haitian, and creole musical practices over four centuries. The instruments below form the core percussive vocabulary heard across Son, Rumba, Timba, Danzón, and their descendants.
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The conga (also called tumbadora) is the primary hand drum of Cuban music and the rhythmic backbone of timba, son, rumba, and salsa.
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