Sextetos - type
When son first hit Havana, the sexteto format (6 instruments, no brass) was the model: guitar, tres, bongĂł, claves, maracas, and bass. These groups were lighter, closer to the rural sound but polished for urban dance halls. Famous example: Sexteto Habanero.
Rumba is the most African-rooted of all Cuban music and dance forms â born in the streets, courtyards, and docks of Havana and Matanzas in the late 19th century, with no European instruments, no salon setting, and no pretense of European propriety.
Lees meer >The Casa de la Trova in Santiago de Cuba is the spiritual home of Cuban traditional music â Son, Bolero, ChangĂźĂ, and Trova. Founded in 1968 on Calle Heredia in the heart of Santiago's historic center, it has been the gathering place for the city's musicians for over half a century.
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The bongo is a pair of small open-bottomed drums played with fingers and palms. It originated in eastern Cuba and became one of the defining percussion voices of son and timba.
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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.
Lees meer >The Spanish guitar arrived in Cuba with the colonizers and became the seed of Cuban music, blending with African rhythms. From inspiring the tres to shaping son, conjuntos, and even modern timba, its influence runs through every note of Cubaâs musical history.
Lees meer > 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 â itâs fiery, funky, and free.
Lees meer >The trombone is the defining brass voice of timba. Where earlier Cuban popular music relied primarily on trumpets, timba shifted the brass weight toward trombones â giving the music a deeper, darker, more aggressive horn sound.
Lees meer >Sextetos
When son first hit Havana, the sexteto format (6 instruments, no brass) was the model: guitar, tres, bongĂł, claves, maracas, and bass. These groups were lighter, closer to the rural sound but polished for urban dance halls. Famous example: Sexteto Habanero.