Son Cubano Clasico

Cuba · 1920s

Dancing Happy Romantic Sentimental Chill

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Description

Son cubano clásico is the foundational Cuban dance-music style that crystallized in the early 20th century from eastern Cuba (Oriente) and then flourished in Havana.

It blends Spanish-derived string and song forms with Afro-Cuban rhythms, organizing the music around the clave pattern, the tres guitar’s guajeos (ostinatos), and a two-part form (verso and montuno) that moves from narrative song to call-and-response coro-pregón over a propulsive groove.

The classic sexteto/septeto format—tres, guitar, bongó, maracas, claves, bass (botija, marímbula, or string bass), and later trumpet—defines the signature timbre and repertoire that seeded mambo, cha-cha-chá, salsa, and much of modern Latin music.

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Influenced by

Changüí

Changüí is a rural Afro-Cuban genre that emerged in the eastern province of Guantánamo. It is a lively, dance-driven music that predates and directly informs son cubano. Typical ensembles feature the Cuban tres (providing guajeos/montunos), marímbula (a plucked lamellophone acting as the bass), bongó de monte (a rustic bongo with driving martillo patterns), and the guayo (a metal scraper whose steady, sparkling texture locks the groove). Vocals are organized around call-and-response between an improvising lead singer (pregón) and a chorus (coro), often using witty, topical, or improvised verses. Rhythmically, changüí leans on syncopations related to the tresillo and cinquillo, creating a forward-leaning, propulsive feel in duple meter. Harmonically it favors simple, vamp-like I–V or I–IV–V loops in major or mixolydian modalities, leaving space for percussive interplay and vocal improvisation. The overall effect is raw, communal, and celebratory, with strong ties to agricultural dances and local festivities.

Bolero

Bolero is a romantic Cuban song genre that emerged in the late 19th century in Santiago de Cuba within the trovador tradition. It is characterized by a slow to moderate tempo, lyrical melodies, and intimate, sentimental lyrics centered on love, longing, and heartbreak. Unlike the Spanish dance of the same name, the Cuban bolero is a vocal, guitar-led form that later expanded to trios and orchestras. Its rhythmic backbone often draws on the habanera/tresillo feel, while harmony ranges from simple tonic–dominant motion to lush progressions with secondary dominants and jazz-inflected extensions in later styles. Bolero became a pan–Latin American idiom during the 20th century, shaping the repertoire of trios románticos and crossover stylings in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and beyond, and laying crucial foundations for later romantic currents in Latin pop and ballad traditions.

Guajira

Guajira is a Cuban rural song-and-dance style that evokes the life and landscape of the countryside (the world of the guajiro, or peasant). It typically features gentle, lyrical melodies in major keys, a relaxed but swaying groove, and strophic verses often set to poetic décimas. Instrumentally, guajira draws on Spanish guitar traditions alongside Cuban string instruments like the tres, and it often incorporates light Afro-Cuban percussion (claves, bongó, maracas) and call-and-response coros. In the 20th century it fused with son practices to create the widely known guajira-son, whose guajeo patterns and montuno sections made the style more dance-oriented. The best-known example associated with the style is Guantanamera, popularized in the mid‑20th century and later adopted by international folk singers. While there is also a separate flamenco "guajira" in Spain, the Cuban guajira is the original rural genre that inspired ida y vuelta exchanges across the Atlantic.

Rumba Cubana

Rumba cubana is an Afro‑Cuban secular music and dance tradition born in the working‑class solares and dockyards of Havana and Matanzas in the late 19th century. It is percussion‑driven, sung in call‑and‑response, and danced in a highly interactive way. The genre revolves around the rumba clave (in 3‑2 or 2‑3 orientation), interlocking conga (tumbadora) parts, wooden sticks (palitos) on the drum shell, and often cajones (wooden boxes) and chekeré. Its main substyles are yambú (slow and graceful), guaguancó (medium tempo, playful “vacunao” courtship gesture), and columbia (fast, often in 12/8, originally a solo male competitive dance). Rumba cubana is distinct from the ballroom “rhumba.” It is a community practice that blends Central/West African rhythmic logics with Spanish song poetry, improvisation, and dance theater.

Danzón

Danzón is a refined Cuban dance-music genre that emerged in the late 19th century and became the island’s national dance. It is characterized by an elegant, measured tempo, a promenading introduction called the paseo, and a succession of graceful, melodically rich themes. Rhythmically, danzón is anchored by Afro-Cuban syncopations such as the tresillo and the cinquillo, articulated by güiro and timbales (paila) over a steady bass. Traditionally performed by charanga ensembles—featuring wooden flute, violins, piano, string bass, güiro, and timbales—the style epitomizes salon sophistication while retaining a distinctly Afro-Caribbean rhythmic identity.

Trova

Trova is a Cuban singer‑songwriter tradition that emerged in the late 19th century, centered on itinerant guitar‑accompanied vocalists who composed and performed their own songs. Characterized by intimate, lyrical delivery and refined guitar accompaniment, trova blends Spanish poetic songcraft with Cuban rhythmic sensibilities (notably the habanera pulse). Themes commonly include love, longing, social observation, and patriotic sentiment, often presented in strophic forms suitable for serenades or small gatherings. The tradition laid the groundwork for Cuban bolero and later songwriter movements, preserving a focus on melody, poetic text, and expressive, ornamented vocal lines.

Has influenced

Salsa

Salsa is a pan–Latin dance music forged primarily in New York City by Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Caribbean diasporas. It synthesizes Afro‑Cuban rhythmic blueprints, Puerto Rican bomba and plena, jazz harmony, big‑band horn writing, and Nuyorican street culture into a tightly arranged yet improvisation‑friendly style. The music lives on the clave (either 2‑3 or 3‑2), with layered percussion (congas, bongó, timbales, cowbell, güiro, maracas), a tumbao bass that anticipates the beat, and piano montuno guajeos that interlock with the rhythm section. Call‑and‑response vocals (coro/pregón), punchy horn mambos and moñas, and instrumental solos energize the montuno section. Tempos range from medium to fast in 4/4, optimized for social dancing (commonly “on1” or “on2”). Across decades, salsa has branched into harder, percussion‑forward “salsa dura,” smoother “salsa romántica,” and regional scenes in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Colombia, while continuing to influence—and be influenced by—neighboring tropical and jazz idioms.

Salsa Dura

Salsa dura ("hard salsa") is a gritty, high-energy branch of salsa built for dancers and live band firepower rather than pop polish. It foregrounds intense rhythmic drive, brassy horn mambos, extended montuno vamps, and instrumental solos, keeping the spotlight on the groove. Developed in New York City by Afro-Caribbean musicians, salsa dura draws directly from Cuban son and mambo, Puerto Rican bomba/plena, and Latin jazz jam traditions (descargas). Arrangements emphasize heavy trombone lines, call-and-response coros, and vigorous percussion that stays locked to the clave. Compared with later salsa romántica, salsa dura sounds tougher, faster, and more streetwise.

Salsa Romántica

Salsa romántica (sometimes called salsa sensual) is a smoother, ballad-oriented branch of salsa that foregrounds love, longing, and intimacy. It keeps salsa’s core Caribbean rhythm section and call-and-response coros, but favors crooning vocals, lyrical themes of romance and heartbreak, and polished, radio-friendly arrangements. Compared with the harder, streetwise energy of 1970s salsa dura, salsa romántica typically uses slightly slower tempos, more diatonic harmonies, warm string pads and synths, and streamlined brass lines. The result is danceable yet tender music that bridges tropical dance floors and mainstream Latin pop audiences.

Son Montuno

Son montuno is a seminal variant of Cuban son distinguished by its extended montuno section: a vamp-based, call-and-response passage that spotlights coro–pregón vocals, cyclical piano or tres guajeos, and a propulsive rhythm section centered on the son clave. Compared with earlier septeto son, son montuno adopts a fuller conjunto format (trumpets, piano, conga added to bongó, maracas, claves, bass, and tres), thicker horn riffs, and more syncopated tumbaos. It balances a lyrical, narrative verse (canto or verso) with a highly danceable, improvisatory montuno, making it the bridge between rural son traditions and later big-band and urban Afro‑Caribbean dance styles.

Mambo

Mambo is a Cuban dance music style that crystallized in the late 1930s from danzón and son montuno, then exploded internationally in the 1940s and 1950s. It is characterized by layered syncopations under the Afro‑Cuban clave, driving bass tumbaos, piano montunos, and powerful antiphonal horn riffs known as moñas or "mambo" sections. In its classic big‑band form, mambo blends Cuban rhythmic vocabulary with jazz and swing arranging, featuring trumpets, trombones, and saxophones over a rhythm section of congas, bongos, timbales, cowbell, bass, and piano. The result is high‑energy, riff‑driven music built for social dancing and floor‑filling excitement.

Chachachá

Chachachá is a Cuban dance‑music genre that emerged in early‑1950s Havana as a dancer‑friendly offshoot of danzón‑mambo. It is typically performed by charanga ensembles—flute and violins over piano, bass, güiro, and timbales—producing a light, elegant sonority distinct from the brass‑heavy mambo big bands. The groove is mid‑tempo with a clear, even pulse that supports the signature “cha‑cha‑chá” triple step heard in the dancers’ feet. Melodies are tuneful and diatonic, harmonies favor simple I–IV–V movements with occasional II–V turnarounds, and arrangements move from a lyrical cuerpo to a montuno section featuring coro‑pregón call‑and‑response, piano tumbao, and tasteful flute improvisations. The name “chachachá” is often traced to the shuffling sound of the dancers’ steps; composer‑violinist Enrique Jorrín simplified mambo syncopations to make the beat more square and intelligible, which helped the style spread worldwide through social and ballroom dance.

Timba

Timba is a high-energy Cuban dance-music genre that emerged in the 1990s, characterized by explosive rhythmic drive, complex arrangements, and a modern, urban attitude. It extends the lineage of son cubano and salsa by integrating songo’s drumset-driven groove, rumba’s rhythmic vocabulary, and jazz/funk harmony and horn writing. Hallmarks include gear changes (sudden shifts in groove and orchestration), tightly synchronized bloques (arranged hits and breaks), virtuosic piano tumbaos, aggressive bass lines that “gear up” and release tension, and call-and-response coros with streetwise soneos/rap interjections. Percussion sections typically blend congas, timbales, bongó, and a full drum kit, creating a polyrhythmic engine built around the clave while allowing dramatic rhythmic modulation.

Latin Jazz

Latin jazz is a fusion of jazz harmony and improvisation with Afro–Latin American rhythms, song forms, and percussion. It combines the swing, bebop, and big-band traditions with clave-based grooves such as son, rumba, danzón, and mambo, and later integrates Brazilian feels like samba and bossa nova. Typical features include the use of the clave (2–3 or 3–2), piano montunos (guajeos), bass tumbao patterns, timbales cáscara, conga marcha, and call-and-response horn "mambo" figures. While the rhythm section locks into cyclical patterns, soloists improvise using the vocabulary of jazz, creating music that is both danceable and harmonically rich.

Boogaloo

Boogaloo (also called bugalú or Latin boogaloo) is a mid‑1960s New York dance music that fuses Afro‑Cuban and Puerto Rican rhythms with African‑American R&B and soul. It features son/cha‑cha‑chá percussion under a strong backbeat, bluesy horn riffs, call‑and‑response coros, and catchy, often bilingual (English/Spanish) hooks. Compared with earlier mambo and pachanga, boogaloo is leaner, more groove‑driven, and aimed squarely at youth dance floors—think handclaps, cowbell, piano montunos, and punchy brass vamps supporting simple, memorable choruses.

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