Music & Dance

The Son Cubano is the foundation of Cuban music — and the father of Salsa, Mambo, Cha-Cha-Chá, and a dozen other genres. Emerging at the end of the 19th century in eastern Cuba (Oriente), the Son combines Spanish guitar tradition with African rhythms: the Tres (Cuban three-string guitar) provides the melody, the Claves (two wooden sticks) the rhythm, Bongos and Maracas the percussion, with bass and trumpet added later.

The Son became popular throughout Cuba in the 1920s thanks to the Sexteto Habanero and the Trío Matamoros. In the 1940s, musicians like Arsenio Rodríguez further developed the Son — more instruments, more complex arrangements — laying the groundwork for Salsa, which exploded in New York from the 1970s onwards.

The best place to experience Son live is the Casa de la Trova in Santiago de Cuba — the genre's motherhouse. Here, musicians who have been preserving the tradition for decades play in a small room full of photos and history.

In 1996, American guitarist Ry Cooder brought together a group of forgotten Cuban music legends at the Egrem Studios in Havana — musicians who had been stars in the 1940s and 50s and had fallen into obscurity after the revolution. The result was the album “Buena Vista Social Club" — a recording that took the world by storm.

Ibrahim Ferrer (singer, then 71, working as a shoeshiner), Compay Segundo (guitarist, 89, already retired), Rubén González (pianist, 77, no longer had a piano) and Omara Portuondo (singer, then 66, the only one still living) — they all became world stars overnight. Wim Wenders' documentary (1999) made them even more famous.

The album sold over 8 million copies and sparked worldwide enthusiasm for Cuban music. It brought the Son back into consciousness and made Cuba a dream destination for music lovers.

The Egrem Studios (Calle San Miguel, Centro Habana) can be visited — occasionally, concerts are held here. The Buena Vista Social Club as a club no longer exists (the building was demolished), but the name lives on as a concept and brand.

In Cuba, Salsa is officially called Timba — and it is more aggressive, complex, and rhythmically wilder than the "polished" New York or Colombian Salsa. Bands like Los Van Van, NG La Banda, and Charanga Habanera are the stars. Timba combines Son, Jazz, Funk, and African percussion into an explosive sound that you can't sit still to.

Rumba

The Rumba is the most African of Cuban music styles — pure percussion (Congas, Cajones) and vocals, originating in the slums of Havana and Matanzas among the descendants of slaves. There are three forms:

• Yambú: Slow, elegant, for older dancers
• Guaguancó: Faster, with the famous "vacunao" — a symbolic erotic gesture by the man that the woman tries to fend off
• Columbia: Solo dance of the men, virtuosic and acrobatic

The best Rumba can be experienced on Sundays at Callejón de Hamel (Centro Habana) — an alley painted with Santería art, where Rumba groups play from 12 noon and the neighborhood dances.

Reggaetón

The Cuban youth listens to Reggaetón — the bass-heavy Latin-Urban sound that came from Puerto Rico and conquered Cuba. Although viewed critically by the older generation and partly by the government, Reggaetón is omnipresent in clubs and on the streets. Cuba's biggest star: Gente de Zona (known for "Bailando" with Enrique Iglesias).