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Contradanza

The contradanza was the first European-derived dance form to take root in Cuba and begin transforming under African influence. It is the starting point of the Cuban salon dance lineage that would eventually produce danzón, mambo, and cha-cha-chá.

Danzón

Danzón was the first national dance of Cuba — the form that unified the island's popular music identity in the late 19th and early 20th century, and the ancestor of mambo, cha-cha-chá, and ultimately timba.

Danzón

Danzón was the first national dance of Cuba — the form that unified the island's popular music identity in the late 19th and early 20th century, and the ancestor of mambo, cha-cha-chá, and ultimately timba.

Timba

Timba is the music this site is dedicated to exploring. It emerged as a distinct genre in the late 1980s and crystallized in the early 1990s — born in a moment of social crisis, built on the full accumulated history of Cuban music, and still evolving today.

Rumba

Rumba is the most African-rooted of all Cuban music and dance forms — born in the streets, courtyards, and docks of Havana and Matanzas in the late 19th century, with no European instruments, no salon setting, and no pretense of European propriety.

Bolero Cubano

The Cuban bolero is one of the great romantic song traditions of the world — slow, intimate, and deeply emotional. It is entirely distinct from the Spanish bolero (a fast 3/4 dance) and emerged in Cuba as a vehicle for the island's most heartfelt lyric expression.

Bolero Cubano

The Cuban bolero is one of the great romantic song traditions of the world — slow, intimate, and deeply emotional. It is entirely distinct from the Spanish bolero (a fast 3/4 dance) and emerged in Cuba as a vehicle for the island's most heartfelt lyric expression.

Cha-cha-chá

The cha-cha-chá was born from a simple observation: dancers were struggling to follow mambo. Its creator gave them a rhythm they could feel in their feet — and the result became one of the most danced music styles in history.

Mambo

Mambo was Cuba's first global music explosion — the form that put Cuban rhythms on dance floors from New York to Tokyo in the late 1940s and 1950s, and the direct ancestor of the Latin big band sound.

Cuba

Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and the birthplace of some of the world's most influential music and dance traditions. African, Spanish, and French cultural streams collided here over centuries of colonial history, producing an extraordinary creative culture that exported itself across the globe.

Casa de la Trova Matanzas

Matanzas has its own Casa de la Trova, reflecting the city's deep musical culture. Often called the "Athens of Cuba" for its cultural richness, matanzas"> Matanzas is the birthplace of Danzón, the stronghold of Rumba (particularly Yambú and Guaguancó), and home to the oldest living Abakuá and Arará traditions.

Santiago

Easternmost province of Cuba.

Casa de la Trova

The Casa de la Trova in Santiago de Cuba is the spiritual home of Cuban traditional music — Son, Bolero, Changüí, and Trova. Founded in 1968 on Calle Heredia in the heart of Santiago's historic center, it has been the gathering place for the city's musicians for over half a century.

Egungun

Egungun is the Yoruba masquerade tradition honoring the collective ancestors — the Egun, the dead who remain present and active in the lives of the living. In Cuba, the Egungun tradition survived within the broader world of Santería (Regla de Ocha) and the related Arará and Abakuá communities, though in a form shaped by the specific conditions of the island.

Guitar

The Spanish guitar arrived in Cuba with the colonizers and became the seed of Cuban music, blending with African rhythms. From inspiring the tres to shaping son, conjuntos, and even modern timba"> timba, its influence runs through every note of Cuba’s musical history.

Timba music

A Cuban popular dance music genre that emerged in the 1980s–90s

• emerged in the 1980s–90s
• influenced by songo, rumba, funk, blues, jazz, pop, rock and Afro-Cuban rhythms.
• Known for complex rhythm shifts, aggressive bass lines, and high energy that push dancers to improvise.

Mambo

In Cuban music, especially in salsa and son, the " mambo" section typically refers to a brassy, rhythmically intense instrumental break, often featuring repetitive horn lines, call-and-response patterns, and building energy toward the climax of a song.