Roots History

Alongside the salons grew music without European refinement: in the countryside of eastern Cuba (nengón and changüí) and in the courtyards of Havana and Matanzas (rumba). From these roots came the son and, much later, the rhythms of songo and timba.

The countryside of eastern Cuba

Changüí arose in the early 19th century around Baracoa, in Guantánamo province, in the sugar refineries and rural communities of enslaved people. It combines the form of the Spanish song (canción) and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion. The ensemble: marímbula, bongó, tres, güiro or guayo, and singers. Notably, changüí does not use the clave: the tres plays guajeos between the beats, while the guayo plays on them.

Changüí descends from the older nengón and is related to the kiribá. Together they are seen as predecessors of the son montuno.

The courtyards of Havana and Matanzas

Rumba arose in the late 19th century in the solares, the courtyards of poor neighbourhoods in Havana and Matanzas: dance, percussion and song, with claves and three conga drums. At first people played on wooden boxes (cajones), later on tumbadoras. Three styles developed: the slow yambú, the popular couple dance guaguancó, and the fast solo columbia.

Genres in this era

  • Nengón and Changüí
    Before son, before danzón, before any of the named genres — there was Nengón and Changüí in the mountains and valleys of eastern Cuba (Oriente, especially Guantánamo province). These are the oldest surviving roots of Cuban popular music.
  • 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.

On to the next era

From the mountains of eastern Cuba came the son, with changüí, nengón and kiribá as its ancestors. Rumba kept coming back: in the quinto-like bongo phrases of 1920s son, in the bell patterns of 1940s mambo, in the songo of the 1970s, and in timba, whose musicians often name rumba as their main inspiration.

📝 Sources