Rumba Ensembles Ensembles – Artists

The percussion-and-voice groups that preserve Cuba's deepest African-rooted music — Yambú, Guaguancó, and Columbia performed without melody instruments, as the tradition demands.

Rumba needs nothing but drums, claves, voices, and bodies. The ensembles that perform it are defined by their drum setup — typically caja, segundo, and quinto (or cajones in the older style) — and by the quality of their clave, their coro, and their dancers. These groups are the keepers of Afro-Cuban tradition at its most direct.

• Los Muñequitos de Matanzas — Rumba (1952)
  Los Muñequitos de Matanzas is the single most important traditional rumba ensemble in Cuba — the reference point for authentic Matanzas-style yambú, guaguancó, and…
• Yoruba Andabo — Rumba, Afro-Cuban religious music (1961)
  Yoruba Andabo began as a dock workers' peña at the port of Havana and formalized into one of the essential rumba ensembles — keepers of the rawer, street-level Havana…