Home > Music of Cuba
The Caribbean island of Cuba has been influential in the development of multiple musical styles in the 19th and 20th centuries. The roots of most Cuban musical forms lie in the cabildo s, a form of social club among African slaves brought to the island. Cabildos preserved African cultural traditions, even after the Emancipation in 1886 forced them to unite with the Roman Catholic church. At the same time, a religion called Santería was developing and had soon spread throughout Cuba, Haiti and other nearby islands. Santería's influenced Cuba's music, as percussion is an inherent part of the religion. Each orisha, or deity, is associated with colors, emotions, Roman Catholic saints and drum patterns called toque s. By the 20th century, elements of Santería music had appeared in popular and folk forms.
1 Genealogy of Cuban music
See Genealogical chart
Cuban music has its principal roots in Spain and West Africa, but over time has been influenced by diverse genres from different countries. Most important among these are France, the United States, and Jamaica. Reciprocally, Cuban music has been immensely influential in other countries, contributing not only to the development of jazz and salsa, but also to Argentinian tangoTango may have one of the following meanings. Tango (dance) is a dance style. Tango music is a musical style from Argentina; there is a type of Spanish flamenco called tangos Tango province, an old province of Japan. Tango no Sekku Children's Day in Japan, Ghanaian high-lifeHighlife is a type of music that originated in Ghana and spread to other West African English-speaking countries near the end of the 19th century. It is characterized by jazzy horns and multiple guitars which lead the band. The African Brothers Band A., West African AfrobeatAfrobeat is a combination of American funk rhythms fused with African percussion and vocal styles, popularized in Africa in the mid to late 1960s. Afrobeat's most famous artist is the Nigerian multi- instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti who actually c, and Spanish "nuevo flamencoFlamenco is a song, music and dance style which is strongly influenced by the Gitanos, but which has its deeper roots in Moorish musical traditions. Flamenco culture originated in Andalusia ( Spain), but has since become one of the icons of Spanish music".