Category
page 1Cuban styles of music
salsa
Latin American dance music genre

bolero
Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has been called the "quintessential Latin American romantic song of the twentieth century".
son cubano
style of dance and music genre originating in Cuba
Cuban rumba
music genre originating from Cuba
Latin jazz
genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms
tumba francesa
music genre and type of dance
danzón
Danzón is the official genre and dance of Cuba. It is also an active musical form in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Written in time, the danzón is a slow, formal partner dance, requiring set footwork around syncopated beats, and incorporating elegant pauses while the couples stand listening to virtuoso instrumental passages, as characteristically played by a charanga or típica ensemble.

pachanga
Pachanga is a genre of music which is described as a mixture of son montuno and merengue and has an accompanying signature style of dance. This type of music has a festive, lively style and is marked by jocular, mischievous lyrics. Pachanga originated in Cuba in the 1950s and played an important role in the evolution of Caribbean style music as it is today. Considered a prominent contributor to the eventual rise of salsa, Pachanga itself is an offshoot music played by charangas. Very similar in sound to Cha-Cha but with a notably stronger down-beat, Pachanga once experienced massive popularity

guaracha
The guaracha () is a genre of music that originated in Cuba, of rapid tempo and comic or picaresque lyrics. The word has been used in this sense at least since the late 18th and early 19th century. Guarachas were played and sung in musical theatres and in working-class dance salons. They became an integral part of bufo comic theatre in the mid-19th century. During the later 19th and the early 20th century the guaracha was a favourite musical form in the brothels of Havana. The guaracha survives today in the repertoires of some trova musicians, conjuntos and Cuban-style big bands.
guajira
music genre
punto guajiro
Cuban music genre
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tonadilla
thumb|"La Tonadillera", gouache painting by Carlos Raygada.
Tonadilla was a Spanish musical song form of theatrical origin; not danced. The genre was a type of short, satirical musical comedy popular in 18th-century Spain, and later in Cuba and other Spanish colonial countries.
nueva trova
movement in Cuban music that emerged around 1967/68 after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, and the consequent political and social changes
Afro-Cuban jazz
music genre
timba
thumb|Cuban salsa dancers in [[Havana.]]
Timba is a Cuban genre of music based on Cuban son with salsa, American
FunkoPop/R&B and the strong influence of Afro-Cuban folkloric music. Timba rhythm sections differ from their salsa counterparts, because timba emphasizes the bass drum, which is not used in salsa bands. Timba and salsa use the same tempo range and they both use the standard conga marcha. Almost all timba bands have a trap drummer. Timbas also often break the basic tenets of arranging the music in-clave. Timba is considered to be a highly aggressive type of music, with rhythm and "s
cha-cha-chá
genre of Cuban music
son montuno
music subgenre of son cubano
changüí
Changüí () is a style of Cuban music which originated in the early 19th century in the eastern region of Guantánamo Province, specifically Baracoa. It arose in the sugar cane refineries and in the rural communities populated by slaves.
Changüí combines the structure and elements of Spain's canción and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of African origin. Changüí is considered a predecessor of son montuno (the ancestor of modern salsa), which has enjoyed tremendous popularity in Cuba throughout the 20th century.
Guaguancó
Guaguancó () is a subgenre of Cuban rumba, combining percussion, voices, and dance. There are two main styles: Havana and Matanzas.
songo music
music genre
trova
Trova is a style of Cuban popular music originating in the 19th century. Trova was created by itinerant musicians known as trovadores who travelled around Cuba's Oriente province, especially Santiago de Cuba, and earned their living by singing and playing the guitar. According to nueva trova musician Noel Nicola, Cuban trovadors sang original songs or songs written by contemporaries, accompanied themselves on guitar, and aimed to feature music that had a poetic sensibility. This definition fits best the singers of boleros, and less well the Afrocubans singing funky sones (El Guayabero) or even
Orquesta típica
band
Danza
Danza is a musical genre that originated in Ponce, a city in southern Puerto Rico. It is a popular turn-of-the-twentieth-century ballroom dance genre slightly similar to the waltz. Both the danza and its cousin the contradanza are sequence dances, performed to a pattern, usually of squares, to music that was instrumental. Neither the contradanza nor the danza were sung genres; this is a contrast to, for example, the habanera, which was a sung genre. There is some dispute as to whether the danza was in any sense a different dance from the contradanza, or whether it was just a simplification of
Mozambique
style of vigorous music, developed by Pello el Afrokan (Pedro Izquierdo) in Cuba in 1963, and subsequently adapted by Eddie Palmieri in New York in the 1960s in a quite different form
pregón
thumb|right|alt=gathering of well-dressed people in a black-and-white photo from 1948|Festivities in 1948
Pregón, a Spanish word meaning announcement or ''street-seller's cry, has a particular meaning in both Cuban music and Latin American music in general. It can be translated as a song based on a street-seller's cry or a street-seller's song'' ("canto de los vendedores ambulantes").
canción
Canción ("song") is a popular genre of Latin American music, particularly in Cuba, where many of the compositions originate. Its roots lie in Spanish popular song forms, including tiranas, polos and boleros; also in Italian light operetta, French romanza, and the slow waltz. Initially, even when written by the creole population of Cuba, who opposed the ruling hierarchy, the music retained its European style of "intricate melodies, and dark, enigmatic and elaborate lyrics".