Strings & Bass

Charanga

Dances

• Danzón – The quintessential Cuban ballroom dance, elegant and formal, often seen as the "national dance of Cuba."
• Danzonete – A sung variant of danzón that became popular in the 1920s–30s.
• Cha-cha-chá – Created in the 1950s by Enrique Jorrín while playing with a charanga; specifically designed for charanga orchestras.
• Pachanga – A playful dance and rhythm from the late 1950s/early 1960s, closely linked to charanga bands.
• Mambo (in its earlier Cuban form) – Before the big-band New York mambo, charangas also played early mambo-style danzones.
• Charanga is a Cuban ensemble style and musical tradition that dates back to the early 20th century. It became especially popular in the 1940s–50s and played a crucial role in the evolution of salsa, timba, and Latin jazz.

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.

Son

Types of son

Oriente

Oriente, the eastern region of Cuba, is the cradle of vibrant music and dance traditions like Son, Changüí, Nengón, and Kiribá, which shaped the roots of Cuban and Latin music.

Marímbula

The marímbula is an Afro-Cuban bass instrument derived from African lamellophones (thumb pianos). It provided the bass voice in early son ensembles before being replaced by the upright bass.

Tres

The tres is a Cuban guitar-like instrument with three pairs (courses) of strings. It is the defining melodic-rhythmic instrument of son cubano and its ancestor genres.

Tumbao

A tumbao is a rhythmic and melodic pattern that is repeated over and over, usually in a cycle of two, four or eight bars. Piano, bass, tres, guitar and percussion each have their own tumbao; together they make up the groove a song rests on.

Violin

The violin came into Cuban popular music through the charanga, where violins and flute give danzón and cha-cha-chá their elegant sound. In timba it is not a core instrument, but it still turns up as a colour and a nod to that charanga tradition.

The Bass

Timba, the explosive and rhythmically rich genre of Cuban dance music, transformed how the bass functions in popular music. In Timba, the bass is not just foundational — it’s fiery, funky, and free.

Sextetos

When son first hit Havana, the sexteto format (6 instruments, no brass) was the model: guitar, tres, bongó, claves, maracas, and bass. These groups were lighter, closer to the rural sound but polished for urban dance halls. Famous example: Sexteto Habanero.