Music came to Cuba with the ocean breezes, with the fusion of different African rhythms and European influences, but it germinated with the natural seeds of the island.

Son
Son, one of the most important Cuban music styles, was born in an area of southeast Cuba, based on elements derived from Bantu African music, already totally fused with native Cuban sounds, generating a melodious rhythm of refrains, beats, intonations and the sonorities of the string.

Cuban Son has numerous variants, among them "Son Montuno", the "Guaganco", the "Son Habanero", the "Bolero Son" and the eastern "Bachata". But the element that brings them all together and given them a common identity is the rhythm that sinks into your soul and makes you take to the dance floor waist-to-waist with your partner, cheeks almost touching.

The Cuban government ended up prohibiting this musical genre in 1990s, considering it immoral, and therefore it was initially danced in out-of-the-way places, neighborhood courtyards, and dance academies only frequented by the lower classes, and then almost furtively.

However, the rhythm was so melodious that the ban gave way to passions. Its rhythm filled the dance halls of Havana and the most important cities in Cuba, while in the 1950s record stores spread this musical style far and wide.

Thus, classical song writers emerged, such as Bienvenido Julian Gutierrez and Ignacio Pineiro, and interpreters like trumpet player Felix Chapottin, and the singer transformed into legend.

Mambo
The mambo is danced, left, and sung. It first had its root in the new rhythm imposed by the Orquesta de Arcano y sus Maravillas, which functioned as a type of stylistic guideline for Prestes Lopez to compose his "Mambo" danzon (1938), a Latin dance style.

In Mambo, the metal section achieves extra-ordinary feats with melody, harmony and rhythm, with the support of the saxophones, while the Cuban percussion provides the necessary base to make the mambos that would inaugurate the style worldwide, systematically arise, such as "Rico Mambo", in 1951, which was the first to popularize the rhythm.

Thus, with elements extracted from Son, variations in the use of flute, and jazz orchestra arrangements, Damaso Perez Prado, "King of the Mambo", also known as "Seal Face", experimented around, creating a rhythm that ended up spurring a true musical revolution in the dance halls.

Between Perez Prado's flavorful moans and groans and his speedy and well coordinated foot and arm movements, the stage was set for men and women to move in for the conquest, raising to the challenge of translating the best of the voices, the voices of mambo, with their body.

Danzon (dance of the jet set)
Danzon was born as a result of the customs inherited from Haitian and French migrations that took place during the second half of the 18th century.

Its name is a play on the word dance and refers to a collective dance of figures, formed by couples with bouquets and other floral arrangements, which was very common in the second half of the 19th century.

Miguel Failde was the creator of the first-known danzon, "Las alturas de Simpson", performed for the first time in the Cuban city of Matanzas, in 1879.

Danzon has maintained its statues through time as the music of sensual elegance par excellence, featuring the raised elbow, two-tone shoes, and fan in hand, while the clarinet's role is to echo the genre's sounds throughout the hall, where it is performed.

Rumba and other demons
The rumba was born in 19th century on the outskirt of different cities in western Cuba, possibly between Havana and Maranzas. The word "rumba" has Afro-American roots and it is recognized as a synonym for "party". Rumba is accompanied by songs and ballads, as well as the rhythm of different drums that gives spirit to the dance.

On the other hand Conga, Bolero, Chachacha, Guajira, Criolla and Salsa music are also part of popular Cuban music.