Timba & Songo Ensembles – Artists

The electric bands that defined Cuban popular dance music from the 1970s onward — the groups behind Songo and Timba, the sounds most Cuban dancers are dancing to today.

Songo emerged in the early 1970s with Los Van Van — a fusion of Son, Rumba, and funk that replaced the classic conjunto format with electric bass, drum kit, and synthesizers. Timba arrived in the late 1980s, harder and more complex, with NG La Banda setting the template. The bands here are the primary reason Cuban popular dance exists as a living, evolving tradition.

Jazz & Fusion

Cuban ensembles that bridged Afro-Cuban tradition with jazz, classical music, and international influences — the experimentalists who expanded what Cuban music could do.

Cuba produced some of the 20th century's great jazz musicians, and the tension between Cuban popular dance music and jazz-influenced experimentation runs through the entire history of the island's music. Irakere pushed into that territory — and in doing so trained the musicians who went on to define Timba.

📝 Sources

  • Elito Revé y su Charangón — Changüí, charanga, timba (1956)
    Elito Revé y su Charangón, founded by Elio Revé in 1956: changüí in a charanga, breeding ground of Los Van Van and under Elito a major timba band.
  • Los Van Van — Songo, Timba (1969)
    The most important band in Cuban popular music history — Los Van Van invented songo in the early 1970s and remain the definitive bridge between classic Cuban son…
  • Irakere — Cuban jazz, Afro-Cuban fusion (1973)
    Irakere is Cuba's most important jazz ensemble — a band that legitimized musical complexity and experimentation in Cuban popular music, trained a generation of musicians…
  • Charanga Habanera — Timba (1988)
    Charanga Habanera is one of the most commercially successful and controversial timba bands — known for their flashy choreography, provocative lyrics, and the 1997…
  • NG La Banda — Timba (1988)
    NG La Banda — Nueva Generación — is widely credited as the band that invented timba, building an entirely new genre from songo, funk, jazz, and Afro-Cuban ritual…
  • Paulito FG y su Élite — Timba, salsa (1992)
    Paulito FG y su Élite, the band of singer Paulito FG since 1992: Sofocándote, Con la conciencia tranquila and the romantic side of timba.
  • Manolito y su Trabuco — Timba (1993)
    Manolito y su Trabuco, pianist Manolito Simonet's timba band since 1993: a super-charangón with strings, flute, horns and synthesizer.
  • Bamboleo — Timba (1995)
    Bamboleo is one of the most innovative timba bands of the late 1990s — distinguished by their use of female lead vocalists in a male-dominated genre and a more polished,…
  • Klimax — Timba (1995)
    Klimax, drummer Giraldo Piloto's timba band since 1995: refined arrangements, jazz and funk, and lyrics that were sometimes banned on Cuban radio.
  • Pupy y Los que Son Son — Timba (2001)
    Pupy y Los que Son Son, pianist César "Pupy" Pedroso's timba band since 2001, after 30+ years in Los Van Van: a balance between son and timba.
  • Havana D'Primera — Timba (2007)
    Havana D'Primera, Alexander Abreu's timba band since 2007: Haciendo historia, Pasaporte, La vuelta al mundo and several Cubadisco awards.