Genres

The Cuban music genres on this site, from their rural roots to modern timba.

Discover timba ›

• Timba
  Timba is the high-energy Cuban dance music that emerged in the late 1980s from son, songo, and rumba, with funk and jazz influences — explosive, full of gear changes, and the music this site is built around.
• Songo
  Songo is a Cuban music and dance style that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It bridges Afro-Cuban rhythms with modern influences like funk, rock, and jazz.
• Son
  The foundation of Cuban popular music: born in eastern Cuba from Spanish and African traditions, built on tres, bongó and clave, and the root of salsa and timba.
• Charanga
  The Cuban orchestra format with flute, violins, piano and timbales, known from danzón, danzonete and cha-cha-chá, and later from songo and timba.
• Danzón
  Cuba's elegant "national dance" from 1879: a salon dance of the orquesta típica and later the charanga, and a key step towards mambo and cha-cha-chá.
• Contradanza
  The first Cuban salon music, from the 19th century: a European form with an African-coloured bass, the source of the habanera, the danza and the danzón.
• Changüí
  Changüí is one of the oldest surviving forms of Cuban popular music, originating in the Guantánamo province of eastern Cuba in the early 19th century. It is widely regarded as a direct precursor to Son Cubano, and its raw, syncopated energy offers a window into what Cuban popular music sounded like before Son was refined and urbanized in Havana.
• Nengón
  Nengón is a traditional Cuban music and dance style that originated in the mountainous region of Guantánamo (eastern Cuba). It is considered one of the precursors to changüí and later son cubano, which went on to influence salsa and other global genres.