The Cuban Music Influence

a)Briefly discuss the history of each: Cuban son, Afro-Cuban music, timba.
(b) Watch the following three videos:
(c) Describe the musical sights and sounds emerging from each of these performances. You may
mention how the performances might relate to each other and/or make mention of the musical
instruments used, the way the singers sing or dance, the beat, and/or the musical arrangements.
Attempt to make reference to Afro-American, big band swing, rock, R&B, rumba, and/or merengue, if
you feel that these styles influenced the performances.

The Cuban Music Influence

Many different styles of music have developed over the last few centuries And new styles continue to evolve daily. For instance, a variety of genres of music have been inspired from Cuban music, specifically within the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America in addition to West Africa (Alves, 2013). Rumba salsa, jazz hip-hop, and soukous are just a few of the genres whose music has been influenced with Cuban music. This article, therefore, will examine music styles from the Son Cubano, Afro- Cuban Jazz as well as Timba styles of music.

The History of Cuban Music

As per Canun (2021), Son Cubano is a term used to describe a popular musical style that originated in eastern Cuba’s highlands. It incorporates instruments and techniques originated from as well as Africa as well as Europe. Music for vocals and Spanish guitars are among the main source of the melodic and harmonic structure in Son Cubano. The well-known percussion section comprises bongos, congas and Timbales, claves as well as other instruments. One of its biggest accomplishments is the introduction of other genres like rumba and salsa. The 1940s were the beginning of the development of the Latin jazz genre dubbed “Afro-Cuban jazz” in New York City. Afro-Cuban jazz blends Ancient Afro-Cuban rhythms and advanced rhythms, and also the development of Afro-American merengue and jazz (Saigo 2022). This genre of music has for a long time served as the base of Latin jazz music in Cuba and the USA and many other countries.